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Beneath Byzantium Byzantine Studies Have Much to Karaism in the Eleventh Century

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Beneath Byzantium Byzantine Studies Have Much to Karaism in the Eleventh Century No. 27 April 1994 The Newsletter of Cambridge University,s Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit at Cambridge University Library Nearing a milestone in Genizah research It was in the winter of travel to various libraries 1896-97 that Cambridge FROM THE EDITOR' S DESK and museums, with its final University,s talmudic speci- stop possibly at the Israel alist, Solomon Schechter, sions on how best to mark essor Mordechai Friedman, Museum in Jerusalem. made his famous trip to the event, not only for the of Tel Aviv University; A major co-operative Cairo. By the spring of 1897, specialists but also for the Professor Mark Cohen, of effort, rather than individ- thousands of fragments of wider public. Princeton University; Prof- ual activities, is the ideal mediaeval Jewish literature During the most recent essor Edward Greenstein, of way to plan the project, with had been transported to World Congress, in Jeru- the Jewish Theological a steering committee, repre- Cambridge; and in October, salem last year, a meeting Seminary of America; Dr senting the interested 1898, they were formally was held to decide how to Abraham David, of the parties, making all the presented to the University initiate the celebrations and Jewish National and necessary arrangements - by Schechter and Charles how to ensure that the University Library; and perhaps via the World Taylor, Master of St John’s subject of the Genizah myself. Union of Jewish Studies. College. would receive the wide It was agreed that the next Whatever happens, unnec- With the centenary of this scholarly and popular atten- World Congress should essary duplication and momentous event in Jewish tion it deserved. devote part of its scheduling conflicts should scholarly history occurring Attending that meeting programme to Genizah be avoided, and the topic in the academical year were Professor Joshua Blau, research; that special accorded major publicity. 1996-97, and culminating in of the Society for Judaeo- courses on the subject be We owe that much to our the next World Congress of Arabic Studies; Professor taught in 1996-97; that suit- distinguished predecessors, Jewish Studies scheduled for Haggai Ben-Shammai, of able symposia be arranged from Solomon Schechter the summer of 1997 in the World Union of at major centres of Genizah onwards. Jerusalem, a number of Jewish Studies; Professor research; and that an exhi- STEFAN C. REIF scholars and institutions Menahem Ben-Sasson, of bition be mounted and Director, Taylor-Schechter have been engaged in discus­ the Ben-Zvi Institute; Prof­ arrangements made for it to Genizah Research Unit Bible: fact Beneath Byzantium Byzantine studies have much to Karaism in the eleventh century. gain from an examination of Geni- Two further groups of frag- or fiction? zah material. Jews living in medi- ments centre on Byzantine Jews North-West London’s Spectrum aeval Byzantine areas wrote not in Egypt and on Byzantium in Radio interviewed Dr Stefan Reif only in Hebrew, Aramaic and Jewish life, while the remaining on the controversy created by Arabic, but also in Judaeo-Greek two blocks of material contain the Thomas Thompson’s book, The - Greek in Hebrew characters - as correspondence of the tenth- Early History of the Israelite People, well as in Greek itself. century Spanish-Jewish diplomat, and Thompson’s claim that much During the Byzantine Sympo- Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, and of of the Hebrew Bible is fiction. sium held at Cambridge in 1990, Nehorai Ben Nissim, an eleventh- Having first explained the work the University Lecturer in Rab- century businessman in Cairo. of the Genizah Research Unit, Dr binics, Dr Nicholas de Lange, A total of 41 fragments are Reif pointed out that historical working with Genizah Research described, all but one (from approaches to religious documents Unit staff, prepared an exhibition Westminster College, Cambridge) were valuable in helping to explain of items of Byzantine interest for at Cambridge University Library. the origins of Jewish, Christian display in the University Library and Islamic traditions. (see Genizah Fragments 20, 1990). They were, however, often Such was the interest aroused ON OTHER PAGES speculative and should not be that he thought it worthwhile to presented as a superior scientific publish brief descriptions of all the Missing pieces from analysis as opposed to an exhibited items, plus a few more. a Sassoon jigsaw 2 outmoded religious commitment. These have now appeared in The various aspects of human Byzantine and Modern Greek New interpretation endeavour were complementary Studies, 16 (1992), pages 34-47. of circumcision 3 and not mutually exclusive. The first fragments discussed To those for whom the Hebrew belong to the biblical and liturgi- British Academy's Bible is the directly mediated cal fields and include palimpsests £8,500 contribution 3 word of God, said Dr Reif, there dating from the sixth century. is no challenge from history. To Veteran Cambridge Genizah The second area covers the every- Fresh insights into those whose self-awareness is researcher Dr Haskell Isaacs day life of the Jews in Byzantium Schechter's life 4 strengthened by history, there is with a cake specially made to as illustrated in documents and enough archaeological evidence to resemble a copy of Genizah letters; and the third concentrates reconstruct a convincing Israelite Fragments on the occasion on the correspondence of Tobias How you can help: page 2 background to the Hebrew Bible. of his eightieth birthday Ben Moses, a leading figure of Missing2 Genizah pieces Fragments from a Sassoon jigsaw An eighth-century Jewish legal attached leaf covers a portion of code associated with the name of the following chapter. Yehudai Gaon, Halakhot Pesuqot Another bifolium from this fas- (= HP), is the subject of a detailed cicle (T-S F8.97), as well as other study by Dr Neil Danzig. The leaves from ensuing fascicles original text was published in 1951 (among them T-S F2(i ).34), do by the late Rabbi Solomon David indeed parallel sections of Sas- Sassoon, of Letch worth in Eng- soon’s text. The text of Sassoon’s land, from an incomplete unicum manuscript is thus unquestionably manuscript found in his father’s the same work attributed to library. Yehudai by the owner of that Danzig’s book, written in He- Genizah manuscript. brew and recently published by Another puzzle relating to the Jewish Theological Seminary Sassoon’s text has been solved of America, is entitled Mavo Le- using Cambridge Genizah mate- Sefer Halakhot Pesuqot (īntroduc- rial. Sassoon’s manuscript inclu- tion to HP) and relies heavily on des the laws of terefot according his research into Cairo Genizah to the customs of the Land of materials, including those in the Israel. This lent support to those Taylor-Schechter Collection at who questioned the authenticity Cambridge. of Sassoon’s text, since it is Of more than 300 Genizah frag- unlikely that the customs of the ments quoted or cited, half are in Jewish community in the Land Cambridge University Library; 50 of Israel would have been are identified as belonging to HP. accepted by Yehudai, who fought The chapters missing in Sassoon’s fiercely to uphold Babylonian text are published for the first traditions. time, collated from various Geni- Another Cambridge fragment zah fragments. (Or. 1080 4.18) resolves this issue: while it covers the end of the previous chapter and the begin- The nature of this elusive work ning of the next, it does not in- has intrigued scholars since the last elude this section. It appears, then, century. Prior to the appearance of that it was not part of the original Sassoon’s edition, Simcha Assaf work and may have been added by published a Cambridge Genizah the scribe of Sassoon’s manuscript. fragment (T-S K6.188) in his Re- sponsa Geonic a (Jerusalem, 1942), consisting of the first page of a text Danzig’s book includes analyses in which an owner’s signature of allied codes of the geonic identifies the leaf as belonging to period, especially Halakhot the Halakhot (without further Gedolot, written by Simeon specification) of Yehudai Gaon, Qayyara; Halakhot Qesuvot erro- who was head of the academy at neously attributed to Yehudai; Sura in Babylonia. and the anonymous Halakhot Sassoon and other scholars of his Qetanot. The traditions of day assumed that this leaf came Halakhot Pesuqot and of Yehudai from a work alternatively known Genizah other pages belonging to Danzig has, however, discovered are also studied, and the pivotal as HP. This theory was contested Assafs manuscript, no fragments a bifolium from the beginning of role played by Yehudai in trans- and it was claimed that Sassoon’s have been found to verify it as another manuscript (T-S NS mitting these laws is clearly estab- text was not the original code writ- indeed being the opening page of 291.77) that helps to solve the lished. ten under Yehudai’s auspices, but HP. It is likely that only the first puzzle. Although severely dam- Danzig has also recently com- an abridgement of another geonic page became detached from the aged and difficult to read, the first pleted a five-year project to cata- code, Halakhot Gedolot. manuscript and was deposited in leaf contains the same text as that logue the Elkan Nathan Adler Despite efforts to locate in the the Genizah. found in Assafs fragment, and the collection of Genizah fragments at the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, on its New York campus. How you can help the T-S Genizah Unit The project, funded in part by the United States Government If you would like to receive Genizah Frag- All contributions to the Unit, whether for the through its National Endowment ments regularly, to enquire about the Taylor- research programme or for its other activities, for the Humanities, included Dr Schechter Genizah Collection, or to know how are made to the University of Cambridge, Stefan Reif as a member of its you may assist with its preservation and study, which enjoys charitable status for tax and simi- advisory board and consulted please write to: Dr Stefan Reif, Director of the lar purposes.
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