Genizah
Agenizah(/ɡɛˈniːzə/;Hebrew:גניזה,lit. 'storage', alsogeniza;plural:genizot[h] orgenizahs)[2]is a storage area in aJewishsynagogueor cemetery designated for the temporary storage of worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics prior to proper cemetery burial.
Etymology
[edit]The wordgenizahcomes from theHebrew triconsonantal rootg-n-z,which means "to hide" or "to put away", from Old Median*ganza-( “depository; treasure” ).[3]The derived noun meant 'hiding' and later a place where one put things, and is perhaps best translated as "archive" or "repository".
Description
[edit]
Genizot are temporary repositories designated for the storage of worn-outHebrew languagebooks and papers on religious topics prior to proper cemetery burial, it being forbidden to throw away writings containing thename of God.As even personal letters and legal contracts may open with an invocation of God, the contents of genizot have not been limited to religious materials; in practice, they have also contained writings of a secular nature, with or without the customary opening invocation, as well as writings in otherJewish languagesthat use the Hebrew Alpha bet (theJudeo-Arabic languages,Judeo-Persian,Judaeo-Spanish,andYiddish).
Genizot are typically found in the attic or basement of asynagogue,but can also be in walls or buried underground. They may also be located in cemeteries.[3]
The contents of genizot are periodically gathered solemnly and then buried in the cemetery orbet ḥayyim.Synagogues inJerusalemburied the contents of their genizot every seventh year, as well as during a year of drought, believing that this would bring rain. This custom is associated with the far older practice of burying a great or good man with asefer(either a book of theTanakh,or theMishnah,theTalmud,or any work ofrabbinic literature) which has becomepasul(unfit for use through illegibility or old age). The tradition of paper-interment is known to have been practiced in Morocco, Algiers, Turkey, Yemen and Egypt.
History
[edit]
TheTalmud(TractateShabbat115a) directs that holy writings in other than the Hebrew language requiregenizah,that is, preservation. In TractatePesachim118b,bet genizahis a treasury. In Pesachim 56a,Hezekiahhides (ganaz) a medical work; in Shabbat 115a,Gamalielorders that thetargumto theBook of Jobshould be hidden (yigganez) under thenidbak(layer of stones). In Shabbat 30b, there is a reference to those rabbis who sought to categorize the books of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs as heretical; this occurred before the canonization of theHebrew Bible,when disputes flared over which books should be considered Biblical. The same thing occurs in Shabbat 13b in regard to the Book of Ezekiel, and in Pesachim 62 in regard to the Book of Genealogies.
In medieval times, Hebrew scraps and papers that were relegated to the genizah were known asshemot"names," because their sanctity and consequent claim to preservation were held to depend on their containing the "names" of God. In addition to papers, articles connected with ritual, such astzitzit,lulavim,and sprigs of myrtle, are similarly stored.
According to folklore, these scraps were used to hide the famedGolem of Prague,whose body is claimed to lie in the genizah of theOld New Synagoguein Prague.
By far, the best-known genizah, which is famous for both its size and spectacular contents, is theCairo Geniza.Recognized for its importance and introduced to the Western world in 1864 byJacob Saphir,and chiefly studied bySolomon Schechter,Jacob Mann[4][5]andShelomo Dov Goitein,the genizah had an accumulation of almost 280,000 Jewish manuscript fragments dating from 870 to the 19th century. These materials were important for reconstructing the religious, social and economic history of Jews, especially in the Middle Ages. For all practical purposes, theDead Sea Scrolls,discovered between the years 1946 and 1956, belonged to a genizah.
In 1927, a manuscript containingNathan ben Abraham's 11th-centuryMishnahcommentary was discovered in the genizah of the Jewish community ofSana'a,Yemen. Nathan had served asPresident of the Academyunder the revisedPalestiniangeonate,shortly before its demise in the early 12th century CE. In 2011, the so-calledAfghan Geniza,an 11th-century collection of manuscript fragments in Hebrew, Aramaic, Judaeo-Arabic and Judeo-Persian, was found in Afghanistan, in caves used by theTaliban.[6]
In Germanic lands genizot have been preserved in buildings dating back to the early modern period[7]and till today, dozens of Genizot have been saved. Researchers began to study the material, soon realizing that these findings could provide insight into the life of Jewish rural communities from the 17th to 19th century. TheGenisaprojekt Veitshöchheimand other researchers are dealing with the inventory, the digitization and the publication of the finds.[8]
References
[edit]- ^Chakraborty, Showli (1 September 2014)."Jewish Past, Digital Present".The Telegraph, Kolkata. Archived fromthe originalon September 5, 2014.Retrieved2 November2014.
- ^Webster's Third New International Dictionary,1961
- ^abKatzover, Yisrael. "The Genizah on the Nile".HamodiaFeatures, April 21, 2016, p. 14.
- ^"Mann, Jacob".Jewish Virtual Library.American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.Retrieved1 December2019.
- ^Mann, Jacob (1920–1922).The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine under the Fāṭimid caliphs: a contribution to their political and communal history, based chiefly on Genizah material hitherto unpublished.London: Oxford University Press.Retrieved1 December2019.
- ^"Ancient manuscripts indicate Jewish community once thrived in Afghanistan".CBS News.Retrieved4 December2013.
- ^Singer-Brehm, Elisabeth."Genizot of German Lands".Encyclopedia of Jewish Book Cultures.Retrieved25 March2023.
- ^Singer-Brehm, Elisabeth."Research on Modern Genisot in Germany".Aschkenas.Retrieved25 March2023.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Singer, Isidore;et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Genizah".The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
External links
[edit]
