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4. Questions - Got a question about Cairo Geniza then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
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6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Cairo Geniza wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Cairo Geniza then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Cairo Geniza site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Cairo Geniza, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Cairo Geniza, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
The
Cairo Geniza is an accumulation of almost 200,000 Judaism manuscripts that were found in the genizah of the Ben Ezra
synagogue (built 882) of
Fustat,
Egypt (now Old Cairo), the Basatin cemetery east of Old Cairo, and a number of old documents that were bought in Cairo in the later 19th century.
The significance of the Cairo genizah was first recognized by the Jewish traveler and researcher Jacob Saphir in the mid 1800s, but it was chiefly through the work of
Solomon Schechter at the end of the 19th century that the contents of the genizah were brought to scholarly and popular attention.
These documents have now been archived in various American and European libraries. The Charles Taylor (scholar)-Schechter collection in the University of Cambridge runs to 140,000 manuscripts; there are a further 40,000 manuscripts at the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Also, the John Rylands University Library in Manchester holds a collection of over 11,000 fragments, which are currently being digitised and uploaded to an online archive.
Contents and significance
These documents were written from about 870 to as late as 1880 CE. The normal practice for genizas was to periodically remove the contents and bury them in a cemetery. Many of these documents were written in the
Arabic language using the Hebrew alphabet. As Hebrew was considered the language of God by the Jews, and the Hebrew script to be the literal writing of God, the texts could not be destroyed even long after they had served their purpose. The Jews who wrote the materials in the geniza were familiar with the culture and language of their contemporary society. The documents are invaluable as evidence for how colloquial Arabic of this period was spoken and understood. Goitein demonstrates that the Jewish creators of the documents were part of their contemporary society: they practiced the same trades as their Muslim and Christian neighbors, including farming; they bought, sold, and rented properties to and from their contemporaries.
The importance of these materials for reconstructing the social and economic history for the period between 950 and 1250 cannot be overemphasized; the index the scholar Goitein created covers about 35,000 individuals, which included about 350 "prominent people" (which include Maimonides and his son
Avraham son of Rambam), 200 "better known families", and mentions of 450 professions and 450 goods. He identified material from Egypt, Palestine,
Lebanon,
Syria (but not
Damascus or Aleppo),
Tunisia, Sicily, and even covering trade with India. Cities mentioned range from
Samarkand in Central Asia to Seville and
Sijilmasa, Morocco to the west; from
Aden north to Constantinople; Europe not only is represented by the Mediterranean port cities of
Narbonne, Marseilles,
Genoa and Venice, but even Kiev and Rouen are occasionally mentioned.
The materials include a vast number of books, most of them fragments, which Goitein estimated number 250,000 leaves, including parts of Jewish religious writings and fragments from the
Qur'an. The non-literary materials, which include court documents, legal writings and the correspondence of the local Jewish community, are somewhat smaller, but still impressive: Goitein estimated their size at "about 10,000 items of some length, of which 7,000 are self-contained units large enough to be regarded as documents of historical value. Only half of these are preserved more or less completely."
Goitein remarks that the number of documents dropped in number about 1266, and saw a rise around 1500 when the local community was increased by Spanish expulsion. The geniza remained in use until it was emptied by Western scholars eager for its material.
See also
References
- A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, by Shelomo Dov Goitein (6 volumes)
External links
- Princeton Geniza Project Website
- A Window into Jewish Medieval Life
- University of Cambridge Taylor-Shechter Geniza Research Unit
- Penn/Cambridge Genizah Fragment Project
The
Cairo Geniza is an accumulation of almost 200,000 Judaism manuscripts that were found in the
genizah of the Ben Ezra synagogue (built 882) of Fustat, Egypt (now Old Cairo), the Basatin cemetery east of Old Cairo, and a number of old documents that were bought in Cairo in the later 19th century.
The significance of the Cairo genizah was first recognized by the Jewish traveler and researcher Jacob Saphir in the mid 1800s, but it was chiefly through the work of Solomon Schechter at the end of the 19th century that the contents of the genizah were brought to scholarly and popular attention.
These documents have now been archived in various American and European libraries. The
Charles Taylor (scholar)-Schechter collection in the University of Cambridge runs to 140,000 manuscripts; there are a further 40,000 manuscripts at the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Also, the John Rylands University Library in Manchester holds a collection of over 11,000 fragments, which are currently being digitised and uploaded to an online archive.
Contents and significance
These documents were written from about 870 to as late as 1880 CE. The normal practice for genizas was to periodically remove the contents and bury them in a cemetery. Many of these documents were written in the
Arabic language using the
Hebrew alphabet. As Hebrew was considered the language of God by the Jews, and the Hebrew script to be the literal writing of God, the texts could not be destroyed even long after they had served their purpose. The Jews who wrote the materials in the geniza were familiar with the culture and language of their contemporary society. The documents are invaluable as evidence for how colloquial Arabic of this period was spoken and understood. Goitein demonstrates that the Jewish creators of the documents were part of their contemporary society: they practiced the same trades as their
Muslim and
Christian neighbors, including farming; they bought, sold, and rented properties to and from their contemporaries.
The importance of these materials for reconstructing the social and economic history for the period between 950 and 1250 cannot be overemphasized; the index the scholar Goitein created covers about 35,000 individuals, which included about 350 "prominent people" (which include Maimonides and his son Avraham son of Rambam), 200 "better known families", and mentions of 450 professions and 450 goods. He identified material from
Egypt, Palestine,
Lebanon,
Syria (but not Damascus or
Aleppo), Tunisia, Sicily, and even covering trade with India. Cities mentioned range from Samarkand in Central Asia to
Seville and Sijilmasa,
Morocco to the west; from Aden north to Constantinople; Europe not only is represented by the Mediterranean port cities of Narbonne, Marseilles, Genoa and Venice, but even
Kiev and
Rouen are occasionally mentioned.
The materials include a vast number of books, most of them fragments, which Goitein estimated number 250,000 leaves, including parts of Jewish religious writings and fragments from the Qur'an. The non-literary materials, which include court documents, legal writings and the correspondence of the local Jewish community, are somewhat smaller, but still impressive: Goitein estimated their size at "about 10,000 items of some length, of which 7,000 are self-contained units large enough to be regarded as documents of historical value. Only half of these are preserved more or less completely."
Goitein remarks that the number of documents dropped in number about 1266, and saw a rise around 1500 when the local community was increased by Spanish expulsion. The geniza remained in use until it was emptied by Western scholars eager for its material.
See also
References
- A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, by Shelomo Dov Goitein (6 volumes)
External links
- Princeton Geniza Project Website
- A Window into Jewish Medieval Life
- University of Cambridge Taylor-Shechter Geniza Research Unit
- Penn/Cambridge Genizah Fragment Project
