The Cairo Genizah is considered one of the world's greatest Hebrew manuscript treasures. Yet the story of how over a quarter of a million fragments hidden in Egypt were discovered and distributed around the world, before becoming collectively known as “The Cairo Genizah,” is far more convoluted and compelling than previously told. The full story involves an international cast of scholars, librarians, archaeologists, excavators, collectors, dealers and agents, operating from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, and all acting with varying motivations and intentions in a race for the spoils. Basing her research on a wealth of archival materials, Jefferson reconstructs how these protagonists used their various networks to create key alliances, or to blaze lone trails, each one on a quest to recover ancient manuscripts. Following in their footsteps, she takes the reader on a journey down into ancient caves and tombs, under medieval rubbish mounds, into hidden attic rooms, vaults, basements and wells, along labyrinthine souks, and behind the doors of private clubs and cloistered colleges. Along the way, the reader will also learn about the importance of establishing manuscript provenance and authenticity, and the impact to our understanding of the past when either factor is in doubt.

"The 'discovery' the Cairo Genizah has transformed Judaic Studies and our understanding of the Medieval Middle East more broadly. However, the complete story of how over a quarter of a million Hebrew manuscript fragments were discovered in 19th century Egypt and reassembled in collections around the world is far more convoluted and compelling than previously told. A little-known, forgotten or ignored cast of scholars, librarians, archaeologists, excavators, collectors, dealers and agents, all acting with varying motivations and intentions, utilized hidden networks and created alliances to find, disperse and redistribute these materials. Based on a wealth of archival materials, this book will take the reader on barge boats along the Nile, down into ancient caves and tombs, under medieval rubbish mounds, into hidden attic rooms and basements, along labyrinthine souks, and behind the doors of private club rooms, cloistered colleges and enemy alien internment camps. The journey will prove that provenance matters and that inaccurate, incomplete or simply untrue attributions have serious implications for scholarship. Readers will learn new information about the history of the Cairo Genizah; they will learn more about the Egyptian antiquities trade in the 19th and 20th century; they will gain further insights into late 19th and early 20th century manuscript collecting and archive building; and they will read about the importance of provenance research and the effect on scholarship when provenance is misleading or simply unknown."--

Building on the groundbreaking 2012 exhibition “Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition,” which explored the transformations and continuities in the Byzantine Empire from the seventh to the ninth century, the present volume extends the exhibition catalogue’s innovative investigation of cultural interaction between Christian and Jewish communities and the world of Islam. Eleven essays by internationally distinguished scholars address such topics as the transmission of Christian imagery to the Mediterranean, icons preserved in The Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine at Sinai, interaction between Jewish communities and the Muslim world, the purposeful mutilation of figurative floor mosaics in places of worship, the evolution of classical and Byzantine motifs in a new cosmology for Muslim rulers, and interconnections in the realm of music. Each essay provides compelling evidence that the era of transition from Byzantine to Islamic rule in the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa resulted in unprecedented cultural cross-fertilization and significantly affected the development of the Mediterranean world for centuries to come.

Eisenberg's book dealing with the Spanish Romances of chivalry, the most popular fiction of the Spanish Renaissance, and the preferred reading of Don Quijote, is finally back in print. Originally published in 1982, this important work has been out of print for a number of years. "Dan Eisenberg's work is our best source of knowledge about the Spanish romances of chivalry." -Sydney P. Cravens Texas Tech University "Daniel Eisenberg tiene un profundo conocimiento de los secretos de los libros de caballermas." -Martmn de Riquer Real Academia Espaqola

At the beginning of the 1990s, the Prime Minister of the Castilian provincial government paid an official visit to Israel. His host was Yitzhak Navon, who was the Minister of Education and Culture at the time. Navon later became the fifth president of the State of Israel. At a party for the Prime Minister of Castile, Yitzhak Navon gave a speech in his guest¿s honor during which he mentioned Meir Ben-Dov¿s research on Spanish synagogues. Mr. Navon noted that this research was invaluable to him when he went to Spain in order to do research for a film being produced by the Israel Broadcasting Authority to mark the five hundredth anniversary of the Expulsion. Includes several hundred photos, illustrations, maps and architectural plans.

New research has conspired to unsettle many established ideas about the Jewish past, challenging how historians have thought about and described it, and sometimes making it appear less accessible than it was thought to be in earlier generations. While these recent developments would appear to make a history of the Jewish people more difficult, the authors of The Jews: A History believe it has deepened and broadened our understanding. Though the reader will find in The Jews many familiar names, in its pages will also be found a broader spectrum of people: mothers, children, workers, students, artists, and radicals whose perspectives greatly expands the story of Jewish life from ancient times to the present.

Includes list of members.