A collection of essays by international experts summarizing recent developments in Genizah research.

Publisher Description

In the Semitic languages the vowels are not part of the alphabet and each Semitic language has its special method of marking its particular vowel values. In the Hebrew of Late Antiquity, a supralinear method of doing this was first introduced after the Arabic conquest of Palestine in the seventh century. It was used mainly for liturgical purposes in complicated poetic texts, and it was soon displaced by the classical Tiberian system. The oldest existing specimens of this supralinear method are on vellum manuscripts from Cairo where the remaining fragments were deposited by Jewish refugees from Crusader Palestine at the end of the eleventh century. The fragments from the Cairo depository, known as the Cairo Genizah, are best represented in the Genizah Collections at Cambridge University Library. This volume gives for the first time a full description of the scattered and torn fragments, as well as of their notational value.

This catalogue will serve as an essential research tool for scholars studying early manuscriptal evidence of targumic literature. It provides a descriptive entry for every targum fragment in the Cambridge Genizah Collections. 1600 fragments - spanning a period of almost a thousand years - have been identified among the 140,000 items in Cambridge. The freshly identified manuscripts will provide the basis for topical research in the fields of Semitic languages, targumic studies, and the history of rabbinic Bible translation.

The manuscripts of the Cairo Genizah are a unique source for medieval medical history. In Medical Prescriptions in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, Lev and Chipman offer an insight into the everyday practical medicine of medieval Egypt, which reflects medical practice in the Eastern Mediterranean as a whole, by analysing thirty selected prescriptions from the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection (Cambridge University Library). The prescriptions, which are in Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic, are transcribed and translated, with accompanying commentaries, photographs and glossaries. Introductory chapters discuss the theoretical background of the prescriptions and the practical medicine of the Cairo Genizah, while the conclusion considers their significance for the study of the medieval medical tradition.

This volume describes almost 9,500 Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic fragments of the Cairo Genizah.

The contributors and editors dedicate this volume of research to Professor Stefan C. Reif on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Together these twenty papers reflect our appreciation for his exemplary scholarship and lifelong commitment to acquaint our world with the theological and cultural riches of Jewish Studies. This collection reflects the breadth of Prof. Reif’s interests insofar as it is a combination of Second Temple studies and Jewish studies on the roots of Jewish prayer and liturgy which is his main field of expertise. Contributions on biblical and second temple studies cover Amos, Ben Sira, Esther, 2 Maccabees, Judith, Wisdom, Qumran Psalms, and James. Contributions on Jewish studies cover nuptial and benedictions after meals, Adon Olam, Passover Seder, Amidah, the Medieval Palestinian Tefillat ha-Shir, and other aspects of rabbinic liturgy. Moreover, the regional diversity of scholars from Israel, continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland and North America mirrors Stefan’s travels as a lecturer and the reach of his publications. The volume includes a foreword of appreciation and a bibliographic list of Professor Reif's works.

The collection of Hebrew, Arabic and Jewish manuscript material that was deposited in the Cairo Genizah as early as a thousand years ago is of major significance for our understanding of all aspects of life in the medieval Mediterranean world. This volume presents a selection of papers from the third congress of the Society for Judaeo-Arabic Studies: after introductory material by the editors, it ranges over a wide area of Judaeo-Arabic language and literature, giving the reader a clear impression of recent research in the field. Among the topics covered are the early grammarians, translators and commentators; newly discovered texts of poetry, liturgy and legend; and the religious differences between Jews, Muslims and Christians. The various activities of the Maimonides family naturally attract attention; there are studies of contemporary medicine and magic; and an explanation is offered of Jewish trilingualism. As well as presenting the most recent research in this area, the essays offer a unique insight into the medieval symbiosis of Jewish and Arabic culture. They will be of interest not only to scholars in these areas, but also to those interested in medieval history and philosophy, oriental folklore and medicine.

Through the application of scientific methods of analysis to a corpus of medieval manuscripts found in the Cairo Genizah, this work aims to gain a better understanding of the writing materials used by Jewish communities at that time, shedding new light not only on the production of manuscripts in the Middle Ages, but also on the life of those Jewish communities.