#cairo geniza

[snissel613]

Just got "the earliest Yiddish we have is from the Cairo Geniza" dropped on me

[sanson-ki-mala-pe]

Partial translation of a 10th century Hebrew poem to Samuel ben al-Lebdi from the Cairo Geniza.

[yiddishlore]

The Cairo Geniza illuminates many fascinating aspects of Jewish life under Islamic rule, but one that I find especially interesting is how some Jews used Islamic courts! Under Dhimmi laws, Jews were second-class citizens but retained the ability to have their own courts, known in Hebrew as a “Beit Din.”

To pressure Jewish courts to rule in their favor, many people threatened to turn to the ruling Islamic court for help if they lost their case (Oded Zinger argues that this was a particularly useful strategy for women, who were usually disadvantaged in local Jewish courts)

In some cases, they followed through on this threat. For example, TS 12.16 includes an 11th-century letter from the Jewish community of Rafah (now part of the Gaza Strip) complaining about a member going to an Islamic court after losing an inheritance dispute.

Cairo Genizah : Letter; prayer

Letter, in Judaeo-Arabic with an opening in Hebrew, ca. 1020 CE, from Josiah Gaʾon to Solomon b. Saʿadya and the community

[echoes-of-memory]

Original letter of Abraham, son of Maimonides, found in the Cairo Geniza.

[revolutionaryletters]

shoutout to this kid doodling in Hebrew School around 1100 C.E.

[upennmanuscripts]

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries is partnering with the Princeton Geniza Project and the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary to bring the Cairo Geniza to The Zooniverse community.

The purpose of phase I of Scribes of the Cairo Geniza is to sort Cairo Geniza fragments in order to prepare them for transcription in phase II (launching Spring 2018). In phase I, you will help us sort fragments into different categories based on their script types, whether they are written in Hebrew or Arabic scripts, whether they are written in formal or informal scripts, and whether they contain specific visual characteristics.

Ultimately, your help in phase I will improve the transcription process in phase II.

Please help us out! Sign up for an account on Zooniverse and start sorting fragments!

(Fans of @upennmanuscripts should be aware that we’re launching another Zooniverse project soon, so your new account can serve double duty! Watch this space!)

[mental-mona]

Mysterious trilingual Cairo Geniza vocab list found to be penned by Maimonides

Housed at Cambridge University's Genizah Research Unit, crib sheet with words in Hebrew, Arabic and a Romance dialect gives a glimpse into r