Editing Cairo Geniza

{{Short description|Collection of Jewish manuscript fragments}}
{{Infobox archives
| name                  = Cairo Geniza
| image                 = Bab voc fragment 2.jpg
| image_size            = 
| image_caption         = A document with [[Babylonian vocalization]]
| logo                  = 
| logo_size             = 
| archive type          = Genizah
| creation              = 
| dissolution           = 
| affiliation           = 
| title of director     = 
| director              = 
| collection size       = Approximately 400,000 fragments
| period covered        = 6th to 19th centuries CE
| employees             = 
| building              = Ben Ezra Synagogue
| architect             = 
| construction date     = 
| heritage status       = 
| country               = Egypt
| subdivision title     = 
| subdivision           = 
| city                  = Cairo
| coordinates           = {{Coord|30.0058|31.2310|display=title|format=dms}}
}}
The '''Cairo Geniza''', alternatively spelled the '''Cairo Genizah''', is a collection of some 400,000{{sfn | Rustow | 2020 | p= 451 | ps=. "There is no universally agreed-on methodology for counting Cairo Geniza fragments....Nonetheless, four hundred thousand is the best count we currently have."}} [[Judaism|Jewish]] manuscript fragments and [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]] administrative documents that were kept in the ''[[genizah]]'' or storeroom of the [[Ben Ezra Synagogue]] in [[Fustat]] or [[Old Cairo]], [[Egypt]].<ref name="biblical">{{cite web |url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archaeology-today/biblicalarchaeology-topics/text-treasures-cairo-geniza/ |title=Text Treasures: Cairo Geniza |last=Dospel |first=Marek |date=June 1, 2022 |website=Biblical Archaeology Society |access-date=October 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601130432/https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archaeology-today/biblical-archaeology-topics/text-treasures-cairo-geniza/ |archive-date=June 1, 2022}}</ref> These manuscripts span the entire period of Middle-Eastern, North African, and [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian]] Jewish history between the 6th<ref name="Burkitt 1897">{{cite book |last1=Burkitt |first1=Francis Crawford |title=Fragments of the Books of Kings, According to the Translation of Aquila from a MS formerly in the Geniza at Cairo |date=1897 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |page=10 |url=https://archive.org/details/fragmentsofbooks00aquiuoft/page/n13/mode/2up |quote="From the style of the writing the MS must be dated in the end of the 5th or the beginning of the 6th century AD."}}</ref> and 19th<ref name="Posegay 2022">{{cite journal |last1=Posegay |first1=Nick |title=Searching for the Last Genizah Fragment in Late Ottoman Cairo: A Material Survey of Egyptian Jewish Literary Culture |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=2022 |volume=54 |issue=FirstView |page=6 |doi=10.1017/S0020743822000356 |quote="The following is a survey of fifty-seven manuscripts and printed texts dated after 1864, comprising more than one hundred discrete classmarks (i.e., individual fragments or small groups of fragments with a single cataloguing number) from Genizah collections."|doi-access=free }}</ref> centuries CE, and comprise the largest and most diverse collection of medieval manuscripts in the world.

The Genizah texts are written in various languages, especially [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]], and [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]], mainly on [[vellum]] and paper, but also on [[papyrus]] and cloth. In addition to containing Jewish religious texts such as [[Hebrew Bible|Biblical]], [[Talmud]]ic, and later [[Rabbinic Judaism|Rabbinic]] works (some in the original hands of the authors), the Genizah gives a detailed picture of the economic and cultural life of the Mediterranean region, especially during the 10th to 13th centuries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goitein |first1=Shelomo Dov |title=A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza |date=1967–1993 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=0-5202-2158-3}}</ref><ref name="virtual" />

Manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza are now dispersed among a number of libraries, including the [[Cambridge University Library]],<ref name="biblical" /> the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]], the [[John Rylands Library]],<ref name="diverse" /> the [[Bodleian Library]], the [[University of Pennsylvania]]'s [[Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies]], the [[British Library]], the [[Hungarian Academy of Sciences]], the [[National Library of Russia]], [[Alliance Israélite Universelle]], the [[Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library]] at the University of Haifa and multiple private collections around the world.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jefferson |first1=Rebecca J. W. |title=The Cairo Genizah and the Age of Discovery in Egypt |date=2022 |publisher=I.B. tauris |location=London |pages=191–207}}</ref> Most fragments come from the ''geniza'' chamber of the Ben Ezra Synagogue, but additional fragments were found at excavation sites near the synagogue and in [[the Basatin cemetery]] east of Old Cairo.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schechter |first1=Solomon |title=Studies in Judaism: Second Series |date=1908 |publisher=Jewish Publication Society of America |location=Philadelphia |pages=1–12}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hoffman |first1=Adina |last2=Cole |first2=Peter |title=Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza |date=2011 |publisher=Nextbook, Schocken |location=New York |pages=39}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jefferson |first1=Rebecca J. W. |title=Deconstructing "the Cairo Genizah": A Fresh Look at Genizah Manuscript Discoveries in Cairo before 1897 |journal=The Jewish Quarterly Review |date=2018 |volume=108 |issue=4 |pages=422–448 |doi=10.1353/jqr.2018.0028}}</ref> Modern Cairo Geniza manuscript collections include some old documents that collectors bought in Egypt in the latter half of the nineteenth century.<ref>[[Shelomo Dov Goitein|Goitein, Shelomo Dov]]. ''A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza''. 6 vols. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967–1993. {{ISBN|0-5202-2158-3}}.</ref>

== Discovery and present locations ==
[[File:Solomon Schechter studying the fragments of the Cairo Genizah, c. 1898.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Solomon Schechter]] at work in Cambridge University Library, studying the fragments of the Cairo Genizah, c. 1898]]
The first European to note the collection was apparently Simon van Gelderen (a great-uncle of [[Heinrich Heine]]), who visited the Ben Ezra synagogue and reported about the Cairo Genizah in 1752 or 1753.<ref name="virtual" /><ref name=gosh>{{cite book |first=Amitav |last=Ghosh|author-link=Amitav Ghosh|title=In an Antique Land|location=New York|publisher=Vintage Books|year=1992 |page=81 |isbn=0-679-72783-3}}</ref> In 1864, the traveler and scholar [[Jacob Saphir]] visited the synagogue and explored the Genizah for two days; while he did not identify any specific item of significance he suggested that possibly valuable items might be in store.<ref>Ghosh (1992), p. 83.</ref> In 1896, the [[Scotland|Scottish]] scholars and twin sisters [[Agnes and Margaret Smith|Agnes S. Lewis and Margaret D. Gibson]]<ref>{{cite book |first1=Adina |last1=Hoffman|author-link1=Adina Hoffman|first2=Peter |last2=Cole|author-link2=Peter Cole |title=Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza|publisher=[[Schocken Books]]|year=2011 |page=3 |isbn=978-0-8052-4258-4}}</ref> returned from Egypt with fragments from the Genizah they considered to be of interest, and showed them to [[Solomon Schechter]] "their irrepressibly curious rabbinical friend" at Cambridge.<ref name="biblical" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels|last=Soskice|first=Janet|publisher=Vintage Books|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4000-3474-1|location=New York|pages=220}}</ref><ref name="diverse">{{cite web |url=https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=1364 |title=The Cairo Genizah, the Largest and Most Diverse Collection of Medieval Manuscripts in the World |website=History of Information |access-date=October 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705070817/https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=1364 |archive-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref> Schechter, already aware of the Genizah but not of its significance, immediately recognized the importance of the material. With the financial assistance of his Cambridge colleague and friend [[Charles Taylor (Hebraist)|Charles Taylor]], Schechter made an expedition to Egypt, where, with the assistance of the Chief Rabbi, he sorted and removed the greater part of the contents of the Genizah chamber.<ref>Ghosh (1992), pp. 88ff.</ref> Agnes and Margaret joined him there en route to Sinai (their fourth visit in five years) and he showed them the chamber which Agnes reported was "simply indescribable".<ref>Soskice (2009) pp. 230, 232</ref>

The Genizah fragments have now been archived in various libraries around the world. The [[Charles Taylor (Hebraist)|Taylor]]-Schechter collection at Cambridge is the largest, by far, single collection, with nearly 193,000 fragments (137,000 shelf-marks).<ref>{{cite web|title=The Cairo Genizah Collection|url=http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/genizah|publisher=Cambridge Digital Library|access-date=23 September 2013}}</ref>  There are a further 43,000 fragments at the [[Jewish Theological Seminary Library]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Library Special Collections|url=http://www.jtsa.edu/library-special-collections|access-date=2021-07-28|website=www.jtsa.edu|date=2 February 2016 |language=en}}</ref> The [[John Rylands University Library]] in Manchester holds a collection of over 11,000 fragments, which are currently being digitised and uploaded to an online archive.<ref name="diverse" /> The [[Bodleian Library]] at the [[University of Oxford]] has a collection of 25,000 Genizah folios.<ref name=bod>{{cite web|url=http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/historic-rivals-join-forces-to-save-1,000-years-of-jewish-history|title=Historic rivals join forces to save 1,000 years of Jewish history|date=8 February 2013|access-date=23 February 2013|publisher=Bodleian Libraries|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423101355/http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/historic-rivals-join-forces-to-save-1%2C000-years-of-jewish-history|archive-date=23 April 2013}}</ref>

[[Westminster College, Cambridge|Westminster College]] in Cambridge held 1,700 fragments, which were deposited by Lewis and Gibson in 1896.<ref name='BBCFeb'>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21372839|title=Appeal to buy Lewis-Gibson Genizah Collection|publisher=[[BBC News Online]]|access-date=February 18, 2013}}</ref> In 2013, the two [[Oxbridge]] libraries, the Bodleian Library at Oxford and [[Cambridge University Library]], joined together to raise funds to buy the Westminster collection (now renamed the Lewis-Gibson collection) after it was put up for sale for [[Pound sign|£]]1.2 million. This is the first time the two libraries have collaborated for such a fundraising effort.<ref name=bod/><ref name='BBCFeb'/>

== Contents and significance ==
[[File:Fragment of the Cairo Genizah - The Passover Haggadah, page 1 of 4.png|thumb|Fragment of a [[haggada]] from the Cairo genizah]]
Many of the fragments found in the Cairo Genizah may be dated to the early centuries of the second millennium CE, and there are a fair number of earlier items as well as a number of nineteenth-century pieces. The manuscripts in the Genizah include sacred and religious materials as well as great deal of secular writings. The Genizah materials include a wide range of content. Among the literary fragments, the most popular categories are liturgical texts, Biblical and related texts, and Rabbinic literature. There are also materials with philosophical, scientific, mystical, and linguistic writings. Among the non-literary items there are legal documents and private letters. Also found were school exercises and merchants' account books, as well as communal records of various sorts.<ref name="Cataloguing the Cairo Genizah">{{cite journal |last1=Brody |first1=Robert |title=Cataloguing the Cairo Genizah |journal=Judaica Librarianship |date=Spring 1999 – Winter 2000 |volume=10 |issue=1–2|pages=29–30 |doi=10.14263/2330-2976.1149 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The normal practice for genizot (pl. of genizah) was to remove the contents periodically and bury them in a cemetery. Many of these documents were written in the [[Aramaic language]] using the [[Hebrew alphabet]]. As the Jews considered [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] to be the language of God, and the Hebrew script to be the literal writing of God, the texts could not be destroyed even long after they had served their purpose.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=Martin |title=Defending the Bible against "Christians" |date=2014 |publisher=WestBow Press |isbn=9781490824086 |pages=52–53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8V_pAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |access-date=7 January 2021}}</ref> The Jews who wrote the materials in the Genizah were familiar with the culture and language of their contemporary society. The documents are invaluable as evidence for how colloquial [[Arabic language|Arabic]] of this period was spoken and understood.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Shohat |first=Ella |title=The Question of Judeo-Arabic |journal=The Arab Studies Journal |volume=23 |issue=1 |year=2015 |pages=14–76 |jstor=44744899 }}</ref> They also demonstrate that the Jewish creators of the documents were part of their contemporary society: they practiced the same trades as their [[Islam|Muslim]] and [[Christianity|Christian]] neighbors, including farming; they bought, sold, and rented properties.

[[File:Cairo Genizah Fragment.jpg|thumb|A letter signed by [[Abraham Maimonides|Abraham]], the son of [[Maimonides]]]] 
The importance of these materials for reconstructing the social and economic history for the period between 950 and 1250 cannot be overemphasized. Judaic scholar [[Shelomo Dov Goitein]] created an index for this time period which covers about 35,000 individuals. This included about 350 "prominent people," among them [[Maimonides]] and his son [[Avraham son of Rambam|Abraham]], 200 "better known families", and mentions of 450 professions and 450 goods. He identified material from Egypt, [[Palestine]], [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]] (but not [[Damascus]] or [[Aleppo]]), [[Tunisia]], [[Sicily]], and even covering trade with [[India]]. Cities mentioned range from [[Samarkand]] in Central Asia to [[Seville]] and [[Sijilmasa]], [[Morocco]] to the west; from [[Aden]] north to [[Constantinople]]; Europe not only is represented by the Mediterranean port cities of [[Narbonne]], [[Marseille]], [[Genoa]] and [[Venice]], but even [[Kyiv]] and [[Rouen]] are occasionally mentioned.<ref name="ReferenceA">Goitein. ''A Mediterranean Society'', vol. 1, p. 23.</ref>

In particular, the various records of payments to labourers for building maintenance and the like form by far the largest collection of records of day wages in the Islamic world for the early medieval period, despite difficulties in interpreting the currency units cited and other aspects of the data.<ref name="virtual">{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/genizah-cairo |title=Cairo Genizah |website=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=October 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111070357/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/genizah-cairo |archive-date=November 11, 2017}}</ref> They have invariably been cited in discussions of the medieval Islamic economy since the 1930s, when this aspect of the collection was researched, mostly by French scholars.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780804787161-006/pdf |chapter=Four. The Geniza, Jewish Identity, and Medieval Islamic Social and Economic History |last=Ackerman-Lieberman |first=Phillip I |title=The Business of Identity |date=2014 |website=De Gruyter |pages=194–228 |doi=10.1515/9780804787161-006 |isbn=978-0-8047-8716-1 |access-date=October 23, 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Ben Ezra Synagogue-1.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Ben Ezra Synagogue]]]]
Many of the items in Cairo Genizah are not a complete manuscript, but are instead a fragment of one or two leaves, many of which are damaged themselves. Similarly, the pages of a single manuscript often became separated. It is not uncommon to find the pages of one manuscript housed in three or four different modern libraries. On the other hand, non-literary writings often lost their value with the passage of time, and were left in the Genizah while still more or less intact.<ref name="Cataloguing the Cairo Genizah"/>

The materials comprise a vast number of texts, including many parts of Jewish religious writings and even fragments from the [[Quran]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Connolly |first1=Magdalen M. |last2=Posegay |first2=Nick |title=A Survey of Personal-Use Qurʾan Manuscripts Based on Fragments from the Cairo Genizah |journal=Journal of Qurʾanic Studies |date=2021 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=1–40 |doi=10.3366/jqs.2021.0465|doi-access=free }}</ref> Of particular interest to biblical scholars are several incomplete manuscripts of the original Hebrew version of [[Sirach]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cowley |first1=A. E. |last2=Neubauer |first2=Adolf |title=The Original Hebrew of a Portion of Ecclesiasticus |date=1897 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schechter |first1=Solomon |title=Genizah Specimens: Ecclesiasticus |journal=Jewish Quarterly Review |date=1898 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=197–206|doi=10.2307/1450712 |jstor=1450712 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jefferson |first1=J. W. |title=A Genizah Secret: The Count d'Hulst and Letters Revealing the Race to Recover the Lost Leaves of the Original Ecclesiasticus |journal=Journal of the History of Collections |date=2009 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=125–142 |doi=10.1093/jhc/fhp003|doi-access=free }}</ref> Solomon Schechter also found two fragments of the [[Damascus Document]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schechter |first1=Solomon |title=Fragments of a Zadokite Work |date=1910 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge}}</ref> other fragments of which were later found among the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] at [[Qumran]].

The non-literary materials, which include court documents, legal writings, and the correspondence of the local Jewish community (such as the [[Letter of the Karaite elders of Ascalon]]), are somewhat smaller, but still impressive: Goitein estimated their size at "about 10,000 items of some length, of which 7,000 are self-contained units large enough to be regarded as documents of historical value. Only half of these are preserved more or less completely."<ref>Goitein. ''A Mediterranean Society'', vol. 1, p. 13</ref>

The number of documents added to the Genizah changed throughout the years. For example, the number of documents added were fewer between 1266 and circa 1500, when most of the Jewish community had moved north to the city of Cairo proper, and saw a rise around 1500 when the local community was increased by [[Alhambra Decree|refugees from Spain]]. It was they who brought to Cairo several documents that shed a new light on the history of [[Khazaria]] and [[Kievan Rus']], namely, the [[Khazar Correspondence]], the [[Schechter Letter]], and the [[Kievian Letter]].<ref name="virtual" /> The Genizah remained in use until it was emptied by Western scholars eager for its material.

A number of other genizot have provided smaller discoveries across the Old World, notably Italian ones such as that of [[Perugia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://documentiebraici.unipg.it/galleriaENG.php |title=The Fragments of Hebrew Manuscripts discovered in the binding of books in the Biblioteca del Dottorato of the University of Perugia |publisher=[[University of Perugia]]|access-date=23 February 2013}}</ref> An 11th-century [[Afghan Geniza]] was found in 2011.<ref name=cbs>{{cite news|title=Ancient manuscripts indicate Jewish communities once thrived in Afghanistan|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ancient-manuscripts-indicate-jewish-community-once-thrived-in-afghanistan/|access-date=4 December 2013|newspaper=[[CBS]]|date=3 January 2013}}</ref>

The Cairo Genizah fragments were extensively studied, cataloged and translated by [[Paul E. Kahle]]. His book, ''The Cairo Geniza'' was published by Blackwell in 1958, with a second edition in 1959.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8aU8AAAAYAAJ&q=en|first=Paul E. |last=Kahle |author-link=Paul E. Kahle |title=The Cairo Geniza|publisher=Blackwell |year=1959|isbn=9780835779616 |edition=2nd|access-date=2014-01-10}}</ref>

===Accounting===
Jewish bankers in Old Cairo used a [[double-entry bookkeeping system]] which predated any known usage of such a form in Italy, and whose records remain from the 11th century AD, found amongst the Cairo Geniza.<ref name="MEDIEVAL TRADERS AS INTERNATIONAL CHANGE AGENTS 1994 pp. 137-143">"Medieval Traders as International Change Agents: A Comment". Michael Scorgie, ''The Accounting Historians Journal'', Vol. 21, No. 1 (June 1994), pp. 137–143</ref>

== Research ==
The Cairo Genizah Collections at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] and at the Library of the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America|Jewish Theological Seminary]] is the subject of a citizen-science project on the website [[Zooniverse]]. Project volunteers are enlisted to sort digitized fragments of the Cairo Genizah, in order to facilitate research on the fragments.<ref>{{cite web|title=Zooniverse|url=https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/judaicadh/scribes-of-the-cairo-geniza|website=Scribes of the Cairo Geniza|access-date=15 September 2017}}</ref>

The [[Friedberg Geniza Project]] is of great importance to research inasmuch as it includes all Genizah fragments and bibliographical data relating to them.

Since 1986, the [[Princeton Geniza Lab]] has been studying and digitizing geniza manuscripts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Text Searchable Database |url=https://genizalab.princeton.edu/about/history-princeton-geniza-lab/text-searchable-database |website=Princeton Geniza Lab |publisher=Princeton University |access-date=6 October 2023}}</ref> Their projects include the Princeton Geniza Project, a database of more than 30,000 records and 4,600 transcriptions of geniza texts. In early 2021, under the leadership of director [[Marina Rustow]] and in partnership with [[:de:Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra|Daniel Stoekl Ben Ezra]], the Lab began exploring [[machine learning]] as a method of transcribing geniza documents, using [[handwritten text recognition]] applications.<ref>{{cite web |title=Handwritten Text Recognition |url=https://genizalab.princeton.edu/projects/handwritten-text-recognition |website=Princeton Geniza Lab |publisher=Princeton university |access-date=6 October 2023}}</ref>

== Cultural impact ==
Indian anthropologist and writer [[Amitav Ghosh]] recounts his study of the Genizah fragments related to Jewish merchant [[Abraham Ben Yiju]] in the book ''[[In an Antique Land]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hawley |first=John C. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/63679806 |title=Amitav Ghosh : an introduction |date=2005 |publisher=Foundation Books |isbn=81-7596-259-3 |location=Delhi |oclc=63679806}}</ref>

==See also==
{{commons category}}
*[[Afghan Geniza]], similar cache of ancient religious and secular documents
*[[Damascus Document]]
*[[Dead Sea Scrolls]]
*[[Dunhuang manuscripts]], similar cache of ancient religious and secular documents
*[[Elephantine papyri]], similar cache of ancient religious and secular documents
*[[Herculaneum papyri]], similar cache of ancient religious and secular documents
*[[Timbuktu manuscripts]]
*[[Solomon ben Semah]]
*[[Yusuf ibn 'Awkal]], prominent merchant whose correspondence was found in the Cairo Geniza
*[[History of the Jews in Egypt]]
*[[Synagogues in Cairo]]

== References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book | last=Rustow | first=Marina | title=The Lost Archive Traces of a Caliphate in a Cairo Synagogue | publisher=Princeton University Press | publication-place=Princeton | year=2020 | isbn=978-0-691-18952-9 | oclc=1132420189 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Burkitt |first1=Francis Crawford |title=Fragments of the Books of Kings, According to the Translation of Aquila from a MS formerly in the Geniza at Cairo |date=1897 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |url=https://archive.org/details/fragmentsofbooks00aquiuoft/page/n13/mode/2up}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Posegay |first1=Nick |title=Searching for the Last Genizah Fragment in Late Ottoman Cairo: A Material Survey of Egyptian Jewish Literary Culture |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=2022 |volume=54 |issue=FirstView |pages=423–441 |doi=10.1017/S0020743822000356 |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite book |last1=Goitein |first1=Shelomo Dov |title=A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza |date=1967–1993 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=0-5202-2158-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hoffman |first1=Adina |last2=Cole |first2=Peter |title=Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza |date=2011 |publisher=Nextbook, Schocken |location=New York |isbn=978-0805242584}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels|last=Soskice|first=Janet|publisher=Vintage Books|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4000-3474-1|location=New York}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Reif |first1=Stefan C. |title=A Jewish Archive from Old Cairo: The History of Cambridge University's Genizah Collection |date=2000 |publisher=Curzon |location=Richmond, Surrey |isbn=978-0700713127}}
* {{cite book |last1=Glickman |first1=Mark |title=Sacred Treasure - The Cairo Genizah: The Amazing Discoveries of Forgotten Jewish History in an Egyptian Synagogue Attic |date=2011 |publisher=Jewish Lights Publishing |location=Woodstock, VT |isbn=978-1580234313}}
*[[Anthony Julius]], "The Secret Life of Cairo’s Jews", [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/books/review/book-review-sacred-trash-the-lost-and-found-world-of-the-cairo-geniza-by-adina-hoffman-and-peter-cole.html Book Review], May 27, 2011.
*[[Leo Deuel]], ''The Testaments of Time'', Knopf, 1965. Chapter XVIII

== External links ==
*[https://fjms.genizah.org/ The Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society]
*[https://geniza.princeton.edu/en/ Princeton Geniza Project Website]
*[https://guides.library.jhu.edu/jewish-studies/genizah Cairo Genizah] at [[Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries]]
*[https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/taylor-schechter-genizah-research-unit Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit] at the [[University of Cambridge]]
*[https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/genizah-fragments ''Genizah Fragments'' Blog] of the [[Cambridge University Library]]
*[https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/genizah  Taylor-Schechter Collection] on [[Cambridge Digital Library]]
*[https://sceti.library.upenn.edu/genizah/ Penn/Cambridge Genizah Fragment Project]
*[https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/judaicadh/scribes-of-the-cairo-geniza  Scribes of the Cairo Geniza] Project of transcribing the documents using [[Zooniverse]] platform
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040415213647/http://www.tau.ac.il/taunews/97spring/medieval.html A Window into Jewish Medieval Life]
*[https://apcairogenizah.com/ Arabic Poetry in the Cairo Genizah]
*[https://brill.com/fileasset/downloads_products/35120_EJIW_Preview.pdf Cairo Geniza: General Survey and History of Discovery], Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, by Stefan Reif, 2010, pp 7 – 12
*[https://mishpachaveiledreference.podbean.com/e/women-of-the-cairo-geniza-feat-professor-eve-krakowski/ Women of the Cairo Geniza] Podcast episode highlighting women's presence in Geniza texts, Tzipora Weinberg in conversation with Eve Krakowski

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