Cambridge University Library Genizah Series – serie

This collection of original contributions by an international group of experts summarizes recent developments in Genizah research. Stefan Reif's overview of a century of work on the famous Taylor-Schechter Collection of Hebrew manuscripts at Cambridge University Library is followed by Menahem Kister's textual interpretations of the Ben Sira fragments. Michael Klein uncovers targumic contexts and renderings, while Menahem Kahana demonstrates how Genizah texts permit the reconstruction of early midrashim. Neil Danzig's analysis sheds light on ninth-century prayers and homilies, and Joseph Yahalom chronicles Judah Halevi's last years. Haggai Ben-Shammai assesses S. D. Goitein's contribution to Jewish historiography and touches on Jewish theology, and Paul Fenton reveals that Muslims and Jews often co-operated professionally and sometimes enjoyed close social contact. Mordechai Friedman concentrates on child brides, family violence and Jewish marriage documents, while Joel Kraemer describes letters between women and their relatives. There are extensive indexes as well as 22 plates.

This is the second volume of the bibliography of published material from the Cambridge Genizah collections, the first having appeared in 1988. It is an indispensable tool for scholars, serving as a guide to every book, article and reference dealing with the 140,000 Genizah fragments at Cambridge. Most areas of Jewish studies are represented here. The data is presented in large format, and the main reference section contains over 25,000 items of information. In addition, the book contains listings of material arranged according to author, and of works cited, as well as addenda and corrigenda to the first volume.

Following the successful publication of the first two volumes of Hebrew Bible Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, the substantial process of describing the MS fragments is now complete. These third and fourth volumes present a comprehensive catalogue of the Hebrew Bible fragments in the Taylor-Schechter Additional Series, describing in detail an impressive tally of 14,679 items. Besides the identification of the exact content of each fragment, the volumes contain thorough physical and linguistic descriptions, as well as notes on additional features of interest. Addenda and corrigenda for the previous volumes are included in Volume 4. A canonical index, compiled by biblical book and chapter, provides easy searching of relevant fragments. Taken together, these four volumes now provide the researcher with data on all 24,260 biblical fragments in the Cambridge Genizah collections and will be an indispensable tool for those with special interests in Hebrew Bible, Jewish Studies and Semitics.