The Genizah has preserved only a few glimpses of the life of the influential qabbalist Isaac Luria Ashkenazi, the Ari – הארי ז׳׳ל, 1534–72 CE.1 Similarly sparsely attested in the documentary record of the Genizah is his contemporary Joseph Karo, compiler of the Beṯ Yosef and the Šulḥan Aruḵ. Karo spent most of his later career in Safed – about forty years in fact – and was not therefore a firsthand participant in the Egyptian communities preserved in the Cairo Genizah. Luria, on the other... Read More
Hebrew
Melonie Schmierer-Lee and Malachi Beit-Arié
on Wed 26 Jan 2022
Malachi, your book Hebrew Codicology is a classic of the field, and you've recently completed the most up to date version yet. Will the latest Hebrew and English versions be the final versions of the book?
Yes. The Hebrew and English versions, published by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, are now final. They are distributed by Hamburg University with the Open Access DOIs: https://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.8848 (Hebrew) and... Read More
Has tags: codex, Genizah Fragments, Hebrew, palaeography, Q&A
Kim Phillips
on Tue 14 Dec 2021
Studies in Hebrew Linguistics and Masora ● By Aron Dotan ● Asupport 20 ● Bialik Institute, 2021
This volume collects together 35 articles from the full range of Aron Dotan’s scholarly interests. The original publications span more than fifty years: the earliest having first appeared back in 1965, while the most recent is the one hitherto unpublished article appearing for the first time in this volume. The articles are arranged... Read More
Has tags: Book, Genizah Fragments, Hebrew, language, masora
Melonie Schmierer-Lee
on Thu 7 Oct 2021
Our Throwback Thursday this week is taken from issue 42 of the printed edition of Genizah Fragments, published in October 2001, by Ben Outhwaite.
“Many times have we written to our distinguished one, beloved of the academy, and our heart was preoccupied with the lateness of his replies until it became clear to us that the ‘godless congregation’ had been taking them.” So writes the scholar Nathan ben Abraham to a supporter during his protracted struggle to take control of the Yeshivat Ha-Sevi – the... Read MoreHas tags: Arabic, Genizah Fragments, Hebrew, language, letter
Melonie Schmierer-Lee
on Thu 30 Sep 2021
Our Throwback Thursday this week is taken from issue 31 of the printed edition of Genizah Fragments, published in April 1996, by Judith Olszowy (now Olszowy-Schlanger)
As is well known, the Karaites have existed as an independent Jewish sect since their establishment in Babylonia around the eighth century. They have distinguished themselves from Rabbanite mainstream Judaism by rejecting the oral tradition, as recorded in the Talmud, and by considering the Bible as their exclusive source of legal authority.... Read MoreHas tags: calendar, Genizah Fragments, Hebrew, Karaite, ketubba, legal, marriage
Kim Phillips
on Fri 23 Jul 2021
Thesaurus of Quntrese Ha-Masora: Hidden Language Treasures of Old ● By Aron Dotan ● Sources and Studies 18 – A New Series ● Academy of the Hebrew Language, 2020
Do you need a short, memorable overview of when the shewa is silent or sounded, and how to pronounce it? Or perhaps a recap of when the accent tevir is preceded by darga, and when by merkha? Maybe you’d like a... Read More
Has tags: Book, Genizah Fragments, Hebrew, language, masora
Melonie Schmierer-Lee
on Thu 22 Jul 2021
Our Throwback Thursday this week is taken from issue 17 of the printed edition of Genizah Fragments, published in April 1989, by Geoffrey Khan while he was a Research Associate in the GRU:
Among the treasures of the Cairo Genizah collections are a number of Hebrew Bible manuscripts written in the Middle Ages by members of the Karaite Jewish sect. These manuscripts are unusual in that the text is written not in Hebrew, but in Arabic script, sometimes with Hebrew pointing. The synagogue in which the... Read More
Has tags: Arabic, Bible, British Library, Crusaders, Genizah Fragments, Hebrew, Karaite, language, Shapira