Author: Rebecca J. W. Jefferson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1788319664
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
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.
Author: Rebecca J. W. Jefferson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1788319656
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
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.
Author: Rebecca Jefferson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781788319676
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
"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."--
Author: Rabbi Mark S. Glickman
Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing
ISBN: 1580235123
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
Indiana Jones meets The Da Vinci Code in an old Egyptian synagogue--the amazing story of one of the most important discoveries in modern religious scholarship. In 1896, Rabbi Solomon Schechter of Cambridge University stepped into the attic of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, Egypt, and there found the largest treasure trove of medieval and early manuscripts ever discovered. He had entered the synagogue's genizah--its repository for damaged and destroyed Jewish texts--which held nearly 300,000 individual documents, many of which were over 1,000 years old. Considered among the most important discoveries in modern religious history, its contents contained early copies of some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, early manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, and other sacred literature. The importance of the genizah's contents rivals that of the Rosetta Stone, and by virtue of its sheer mass alone, it will continue to command our attention indefinitely. This is the first accessible, comprehensive account of this astounding discovery. It will delight you with its fascinating adventure story--why this enormous collection was amassed, how it was discovered and the many lessons to be found in its contents. And it will show you how Schechter's find, though still being "unpacked" today, forever transformed our knowledge of the Jewish past, Muslim history and much more.
Author: Adina Hoffman
Publisher: Schocken
ISBN: 080521223X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306
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Book Description
NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST WINNER OF THE 2012 AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION’S SOPHIE BRODY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN JEWISH LITERATURE Sacred Trash tells the remarkable story of the Cairo Geniza—a synagogue repository for worn-out texts that turned out to contain the most vital cache of Jewish manuscripts ever discovered. This tale of buried communal treasure weaves together unforgettable portraits of Solomon Schechter and the other modern heroes responsible for the collection’s rescue with explorations of the medieval documents themselves—letters and poems, wills and marriage contracts, Bibles, money orders, fiery dissenting religious tracts, fashion-conscious trousseaux lists, prescriptions, petitions, and mysterious magical charms. Presenting a panoramic view of almost a thousand years of vibrant Mediterranean Judaism, Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole bring contemporary readers into the heart of this little-known trove, whose contents have rightly been dubbed “the Living Sea Scrolls.” Part biography, part meditation on the supreme value the Jewish people has long placed in the written word, Sacred Trash is above all a gripping tale of adventure and redemption. (With black-and-white illustrations throughout.)
Author: Shelomo Dov Goitein
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004154728
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 949
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Book Description
The annotated and translated letters of 11th-12th century traders of the Jewish Indian Ocean, found in the Cairo Geniza, provide fascinating information on commerce between the Far East, Yemen and the Mediterranean, medieval material, social, and spiritual civilization among Jews and Arabs, and Judeo-Arabic.
Author: Katherine Blouin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009175149
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 675
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Book Description
Tells fascinating stories from across the c.7000-year history of the Nile Delta from the Predynastic period to the twentieth century.
Author: Najat Abdulhaq
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857729926
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 384
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Book Description
In the years following Nasser's rise to power, the demographic landscape and the economy of Egypt underwent a profound change. Related to the migration of diverse communities, that had a distinguished role in Egyptian economy, from Egypt, these shifts have mostly been discussed in the light of postcolonial studies and the nationalisation policies in the wider region. Najat Abdulhaq focuses instead on the role that these minorities had in the economy of pre-Nasser Egypt and, by giving special attention to the Jewish and Greek communities residing in Egypt, investigates the dynamics of minorities involved in entrepreneurship and business. With rigorous analysis of the types of companies that were set up, Abdulhaq draws out the changes which were occurring in the political and social sphere at the time. This book, whilst primarily focused on the economic activities of these two minority communities, has implications for an understanding analysis of the political, the juridical, the intellectual and the cultural trends at the time. It thus offers vital analysis for those examining the economic history of Egypt, as well as the political and cultural transformations of the twentieth century in the region.
Author: Rebecca Kobrin
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231555709
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372
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Book Description
In 1930, Columbia University appointed Salo Baron to be the Nathan L. Miller Professor of Jewish History, Literature, and Institutions—marking a turning point in the history of Jewish studies in America. Baron not only became perhaps the most accomplished scholar of Jewish history in the twentieth century, the author of many books including the eighteen-volume A Social and Religious History of the Jews. He also created a program and a discipline, mentoring hundreds of scholars, establishing major institutions including the first academic center to study Israel in the United States, building Columbia’s Judaica collection, intervening as a public intellectual, and exerting an unparalleled influence on what it meant to study the Jewish past. This book brings together leading scholars to consider how Baron transformed the course of Jewish studies in the United States. From a variety of perspectives, they reflect on his contributions to the study of Jewish history, literature, and culture, as well as his scholarship, activism, and mentorship. Among many distinguished contributors, David Sorkin engages with Baron’s arguments on Jewish emancipation; Francesca Trivellato puts him in conversation with economic history; David Engel examines his use of anti-Semitism as an analytical category; Deborah Lipstadt explores his testimony at the trial of Adolf Eichmann; and Robert Chazan and Jane Gerber, both once Baron’s doctoral students, offer personal and intellectual reminiscences. Together, they testify to Baron’s singular legacy in shaping Jewish studies in America.
Author: Michael David Lukas
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0399181180
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
In this “wonderfully rich” (San Francisco Chronicle) novel from the author of the internationally bestselling The Oracle of Stamboul, a young man journeys from California to Cairo to unravel centuries-old family secrets. “This book is a joy.”—Rabih Alameddine, author of the National Book Award finalist An Unnecessary Woman WINNER OF: THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION’S SOPHIE BRODY AWARD • THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD IN FICTION • THE SAMI ROHR PRIZE FOR JEWISH LITERATURE • Named One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by the BBC • Longlisted for the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Fiction Prize • A Penguin Random House International One World, One Book Selection • Honorable Mention for the Middle East Book Award Joseph, a literature student at Berkeley, is the son of a Jewish mother and a Muslim father. One day, a mysterious package arrives on his doorstep, pulling him into a mesmerizing adventure to uncover the centuries-old history that binds the two sides of his family. From the storied Ibn Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo, where generations of his family served as watchmen, to the lives of British twin sisters Agnes and Margaret, who in 1897 leave Cambridge on a mission to rescue sacred texts that have begun to disappear from the synagogue, this tightly woven multigenerational tale illuminates the tensions that have torn communities apart and the unlikely forces that attempt to bridge that divide. Moving and richly textured, The Last Watchman of Old Cairo is a poignant portrait of the intricate relationship between fathers and sons, and an unforgettable testament to the stories we inherit and the places we are from. Praise for The Last Watchman of Old Cairo “A beautiful, richly textured novel, ambitious and delicately crafted, The Last Watchman of Old Cairo is both a coming-of-age story and a family history, a wide-ranging book about fathers and sons, religion, magic, love, and the essence of storytelling. This book is a joy.”—Rabih Alameddine, author of the National Book Award finalist An Unnecessary Woman “Lyrical, compassionate and illuminating.”—BBC “Michael David Lukas has given us an elegiac novel of Cairo—Old Cairo and modern Cairo. Lukas’s greatest flair is in capturing the essence of that beautiful, haunted, shabby, beleaguered yet still utterly sublime Middle Eastern city.”—Lucette Lagnado, author of The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit and The Arrogant Years “Brilliant.”—The Jerusalem Post
