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GEONICJURISPRUDENCEFROM THE CAIRO GENIZAH: AN APPRECIATIONOF EARLY SCHOLARSHIP1 BY NEIL DANZIG
David Kaufmann (1852-1899), one of the first scholars to purchase materialfrom the newly discovered Cairo Genizah,2 1 This paper was presented at the AAJR session in celebration of the centenaryof the discovery of the Cairo Genizah.I largely preservedthe form of the oral presentation,addingonly bibliographicreferences.(Referencesare to studies writtenin the English language,wheneverpossible; Hebrewstudies are cited either by Hebrew title in transliteration,or by English or Latin title, if provided.) The present essay is not intended to be a comprehensive examinationof the topic. While focusing on geonic literature,it also touches upon several other publications from the Genizah in the field of Rabbinic literature.For a more thoroughsurvey of the discovery of the Cairo Genizah, and the early publicationsof Rabbinicliteraturefrom its various collections, see Danzig, Catalogue, pp. 3-34. A list of abbreviationsof frequentlycited works appearsat the end of this essay. 2 The process of the "discovery"of the Genizah before the arrival of Solomon Schechter in Cairo in December of 1896 is described in various studies. See S.D. Goitein, A MediterraneanSociety, vol. 1 (Berkley and Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press, 1967), 1 ff.; S. Hopkins, "The Discovery of the Cairo Geniza,"BibliophiliaAfricana4 (1981), 137-181; C. Le Quesne, "The Geniza and the Scholarly Community,"Fortificationsand the Synagogue, ed. P. Lambert(London, 1994), pp. 237-241. See also R. Gottheil and W.H. Worrrell,Fragmentsfrom the Cairo Genizah in the Freer Collection (London, 1927), Introduction,p. xiii, n. 10. For an excellent summaryof the history of the Genizah, its discovery, and its contributionto various disciplines, see EJ, vol. 16, s.v. "Genizah,Cairo,"cols. 1333-1342. Acquisitions from the Genizah in the years preceding the formation of the famed Taylor-Schechtercollection are discussed in several sources, for example, E.N. Adler, "An Eleventh Century Introductionto the Hebrew Bible," JQR o.s. 9 (1897), 669-673; D.R. Smith, "GenizahCollections in the British
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predicted the importance the Genizah would forever have in Jewish studies. With the following aphorism penned in the spring of 1898, Kaufmannplaced Cambridge,which had just recently acquiredits famed collection of Genizah material, at the forefrontof all futureJudaic scholarship:3 n n, 11?33tn,l n a'ln Ptn ~n, nl rpo1-D'n nnrm/ ^l lrt nnr",n'T'l" fnnn ^so f: l3 ...lf: nmnl?r x5r :oNI D^rtulnnxKzp T3YSn3 fC nrtn ny3r x*?^fy 4.y^ir-nap nms hiyrmwnnmT 111OD1IX
While not speaking of geonic studies per se, Kaufmann's words certainly express the sea-change that occurred in the study of the literatureand history of the Babylonian ge'onim with the discovery of the Cairo Genizah.5 Before the Genizah, the relevant data was found in printed books and almost exclusively European manuscripts. The sine qua non was certainly the series of superb bio-bibliographical essays, "Toledot",by the traditionalistWissenschaft scholar Solomon Judah Loeb Rapaport [SHI"R] (1790-1867), such as that on
Library,"Hebrew Studies (The British Library, 1991), 20-25; S.C. Reif, HebrewManuscriptsat CambridgeUniversityLibrary(Cambridge,1997), p. 32; Danzig, Catalogue, 9-16. Despite efforts to locate genizot in other cities throughoutthe East, only the one in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo has afforded such spectacularresults. On these other genizot, see M. Cohen and Y. Stillman, "Genizat Qahir u-Minhagei Genizah shel Yehudei haMizrah,"Pe'amim 24 (1994), 3-35. 3 The variegated nature of material in the Genizah can best be seen by surveying the division of the Taylor-SchechterCollection (Old Series). See S. Reif, A Guide to the Taylor-SchechterCollection,Cambridge,1973 (reproduced in: EJ, v