Misplaced Pages

#545454

49-668: The Schechter Letter , also called the Genizah Letter or Cambridge Document , was discovered in the Cairo Geniza by Solomon Schechter in 1912. It is an anonymous Khazar letter discussing several matters including the wars of the early 940s, involving the Byzantine Empire , the Khazar Khaganate, and Kievan Rus' . Scholars have debated its authenticity. The Schechter Letter has been interpreted as

98-642: A collection of over 11,000 fragments, which are currently being digitised and uploaded to an online archive. The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford has a collection of 25,000 Genizah folios. Westminster College in Cambridge held 1,700 fragments, which were deposited by Lewis and Gibson in 1896. In 2013 the two Oxbridge libraries, the Bodleian Library at Oxford and Cambridge University Library , joined together to raise funds to buy

147-591: A communique from an unnamed Khazar author to an unidentified Jewish dignitary. Some believe that the Schechter Letter was addressed to Hasdai ibn Shaprut by a Constantinopolitan Khazar after his first, unsuccessful attempt to correspond with the Khazar king Joseph (see Khazar Correspondence ). Some recent historiography has noted the names echoing Jewish mystical traditions and lack of any corroborating historical sources to its account may place it in

196-715: A degree that Alania came to save Khazaria from its enemies (lines 52–53). This is the only evidence corroborating the record of Benjamin of Tudela about Judaism in Alania. In addition, if HLGW in the text refers to Oleg (Helgi), and he participated in these wars, the Genizah Letter would be at odds with the Primary Chronicle , which claims Oleg died in 912, while the Novgorod First Chronicle claims he died in 922. Instead of his successor Igor of Kiev reigning from 912 until his murder in 944, as

245-554: A hundred years. With his broad education and vast knowledge of languages, Benjamin of Tudela is a major figure in medieval geography and Jewish history . The Travels of Benjamin is an important work not only as a description of the Jewish communities, but also as a reliable source about the geography and ethnography of the Middle Ages . Some modern historians credit Benjamin with giving accurate descriptions of everyday life in

294-516: A legend of lost tribes, the letter challenges the conventional narrative of the Khazars. First, its version of the conversion posits a partially Judean descent for Khazar contemporaries of the author. Whether or not this is an accurate account, it indicates that the Khazars saw themselves as fully integrated members of world Jewry. The letter states that in the early days after Khazars' conversion to Judaism, some Alanians already practised Judaism, to

343-493: A popular route frequented by travelers at the time. Benjamin set out on his journey from the northeast Iberian Peninsula around 1165, in what may have begun as a pilgrimage to the Holy Land . It has been suggested he may have had a commercial motive as well as a religious one. Several times the subject shows an interest in the coral trade, perhaps as a professional gem-merchant. On the other hand, he may have intended to catalog

392-518: A struggle that Oleg ultimately lost. Zuckerman posited that the early chronology of the Rus' had to be re-determined in light of these sources. Among the beliefs of Zuckerman and others who have analyzed these sources are that the Khazars did not lose Kiev until the early 10th century (rather than 882, the traditional date), that Igor was not Rurik's son but rather a more distant descendant, and that Oleg did not immediately follow Rurik , but rather that there

441-502: A tradition of fantastical writing about the lost tribes of Israel. The Letter was included in the Genizah Collection donated by Schechter to Cambridge University in 1898. Most of the folio is unreadable and only two surviving blocs of text exist. This makes identifying the precise nature of the letter, communique or legend unclear. The Schechter Letter contains an account of the Khazar conversion that differs from that of

490-415: Is a lost generation between the legendary Varangian lord and his documented successors. Cairo Geniza The Genizah texts are written in various languages, especially Hebrew , Arabic , and Aramaic , mainly on vellum and paper, but also on papyrus and cloth. In addition to containing Jewish religious texts such as Biblical , Talmudic , and later Rabbinic works (some in the original hands of

539-566: Is clearly inspired by Benjamin of Tudela's book. A street in Jerusalem 's Rehavia neighborhood, Rehov Binyamin Mitudela ( רחוב בנימין מטודלה ), is named after him, as is a street in Tel Aviv and another one in the former Jewish Quarter of his hometown Tudela . A high-school in his hometown is named Benjamín de Tudela after him too. The well-known Israeli poet Nathan Alterman wrote

SECTION 10

#1732782442546

588-399: Is noted for citing sources and is generally regarded by historians as trustworthy, some of his claims are faulted as relying on earlier writers. For instance, Benjamin's identification of Laish (Tel Dan) with Baniyas along with Philostorgius , Theodoret , and Samuel ben Samson is given over to dispute. Eusebius of Caesarea locates Dan/Laish more accurately in the vicinity of Paneas at

637-614: 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. 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. Their projects include

686-674: The Arabian Peninsula to Egypt and North Africa , returning to the Iberian Peninsula in 1173. In his travels, he described a significant Jewish community somewhere around modern-day Ethiopia. While it appears clear that such a community existed, scholars still struggle to decide where in Africa he actually visited—a lack of uniform spelling makes it hard to distinguish what places Benjamin and other contemporary writer travel writers are actually referencing. His visit to

735-779: 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. 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

784-550: The Khazar Correspondence and the Kuzari . In the Schechter Letter account, Jews from Persia and Armenia migrated to Khazaria to flee persecution, where they mingled with the nomadic Khazars, eventually assimilating almost totally. Then a strong war-leader arose (in the Schechter Letter, he is named Sabriel ), who succeeded in having himself named ruler of the Khazars. Sabriel happened to be remotely descended from

833-549: The Kievian Letter . 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 . An 11th-century Afghan Geniza was found in 2011. The Cairo Genizah fragments were extensively studied, cataloged and translated by Paul E. Kahle . His book, The Cairo Geniza

882-574: 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." The number of documents added to the Genizah changed throughout the years. For example,

931-493: The Primary Chronicle claims, Constantine Zuckerman (1995) concluded that Igor only reigned from the summer of 941 to the winter of 945. In the years prior, many scholars had disregarded the Schechter Letter account; Zuckerman has suggested that the Schechter Letter's account is in harmony with various other Rus' sources, and it suggests a struggle within the early Rus polity between factions loyal to Oleg and to Igor,

980-618: The Quran . Of particular interest to biblical scholars are several incomplete manuscripts of the original Hebrew version of Sirach . Solomon Schechter also found two fragments of the Damascus Document , 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

1029-568: The Basatin cemetery east of Old Cairo. Modern Cairo Geniza manuscript collections include some old documents that collectors bought in Egypt in the latter half of the nineteenth century. 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. In 1864

SECTION 20

#1732782442546

1078-515: 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 , 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. Agnes and Margaret joined him there en route to Sinai (their fourth visit in five years) and he showed them

1127-414: The Genizah fragments related to Jewish merchant Abraham Ben Yiju in the book In an Antique Land . Benjamin of Tudela Benjamin of Tudela ( fl.   c.  12th century ), also known as Benjamin ben Jonah , was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe , Asia , and Africa in the twelfth century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by

1176-610: 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. The normal practice for genizot (pl. of genizah)

1225-698: The Jewish communities en route to the Land of Israel to provide a guide where hospitality could be found for Jews traveling to the Holy Land, or for those fleeing oppression elsewhere. He stopped frequently, meeting people, visiting places, describing occupations, and giving a demographic count of Jews in each town and country that he visited. Benjamin provided his own evaluations of various cultures he encountered and, sometimes, drew parallels between customs he encountered. His journey began in Zaragoza , farther down

1274-406: The Khazars, HLGW agreed to attack Constantinople (indeed, such an attack took place in 941), where he was defeated and fled to Persia, where he died. If Oleg is indeed Helgi (HLGW) and participated in these wars, the Genizah Letter is at odds with the Primary Chronicle , which claims Oleg died in 912, while the Novgorod First Chronicle claims he died in 922. If taken literally and not as

1323-664: The Letter to survive tells of a recent (to the author) event - an invasion of Khazaria by HLGW (most probably Oleg ), prince ( knyaz ) of Rus , instigated by the Byzantine Emperor Romanus I Lecapenus . Romanus, a persecutor of the Jews, may have been seeking to counter Khazar retaliation for his policies. According to the Letter, HLGW was defeated by the Khazar general Pesakh in the Taman region. Faced with execution by

1372-525: The Middle Ages. Originally written in Hebrew , his itinerary was translated into Latin and later translated into most major European languages. It received much attention from Renaissance scholars in the sixteenth century. His journeys reveal the concurrent interconnectedness and diversity of Jewish communities during this time period. Little is known of his personal life, apart from the fact that he

1421-563: 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 Daniel Stoekl Ben Ezra , the Lab began exploring machine learning as a method of transcribing geniza documents, using handwritten text recognition applications. Indian anthropologist and writer Amitav Ghosh recounts his study of

1470-560: The Westminster collection (now renamed the Lewis-Gibson collection) after it was put up for sale for £ 1.2 million. This is the first time the two libraries have collaborated for such a fundraising effort. 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

1519-891: 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. Manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza are now dispersed among a number of libraries, including the Cambridge University Library , the Jewish Theological Seminary of America , the John Rylands Library , the Bodleian Library , the University of Pennsylvania 's Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies ,

Schechter Letter - Misplaced Pages Continue

1568-584: The chamber which Agnes reported was "simply indescribable". The Genizah fragments have now been archived in various libraries around the world. The Taylor -Schechter collection at Cambridge is the largest, by far, single collection, with nearly 193,000 fragments (137,000 shelf-marks). There are a further 43,000 fragments at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library . The John Rylands University Library in Manchester holds

1617-464: The culture and language of their contemporary society. The documents are invaluable as evidence for how colloquial Arabic of this period was spoken and understood. They also demonstrate that the Jewish creators of the documents were part of their contemporary society: they practiced the same trades as their Muslim and Christian neighbors, including farming; they bought, sold, and rented properties. The importance of these materials for reconstructing

1666-515: The customs of the local population, both Jewish and non-Jewish, with an emphasis on urban life. In his accounts, Benjamin of Tudela describes Baghdad with great enthusiasm, making particular note of the virtues of the Caliph. He often writes of the respect and intermingle that he encounters between Judaism and Islam. He gave detailed descriptions of sites and landmarks passed along the way, as well as important buildings and marketplaces. Although Benjamin

1715-435: The early Jewish settlers, and his wife Serakh convinced him to adopt Judaism, in which his people followed him. What follows in the Letter is largely lost except for a few fragments. The account of the Khazar kingdom matches up with no Muslim, Jewish or Byzantine source from the period regarding wars of migration. It also differs radically from every other alleged source on the Khazar conversion to Judaism and in its naming of

1764-461: The early medieval period, despite difficulties in interpreting the currency units cited and other aspects of the data. 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. 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,

1813-518: The fourth mile on the route to Tyre . The name Benjamin of Tudela was adopted by a mid-19th-century traveler and author, known as Benjamin II . One of the main works of Mendele Mocher Sforim , a major 19th-century Russian Jewish writer, is the 1878 Masoes Benyomen Hashlishi (מסעות בנימין השלישי) ( The Wanderings of Benjamin III ), which is considered something of a Jewish Don Quixote and whose title

1862-453: The hemp smokers, introducing Western Europeans to people and places far beyond their experience. He described his years abroad in a book, The Travels of Benjamin (מסעות בנימין, Masa'ot Binyamin , also known as ספר המסעות, Sefer ha-Masa'ot , The Book of Travels ), which describes the countries he visited, with an emphasis on the Jewish communities, including their total populations and the names of notable community leaders. He also described

1911-492: 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 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

1960-439: 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. The materials comprise a vast number of texts, including many parts of Jewish religious writings and even fragments from

2009-407: The ruins outside Mosul is one of the earliest accurate descriptions of the site of ancient Nineveh . He visited 300 cities in all, including many of importance in Jewish history, such as Susa , Sura , and Pumbedita . In addition, he gathered information on many more areas that he heard about in his travels, including China and Tibet. He recorded details on cultures such as that of Al-Hashishin ,

Schechter Letter - Misplaced Pages Continue

2058-506: The ruling class. The names of the figures involved, Sabriel being the name of an angel in the Jewish mystical tradition, Serah being a biblical figure and the claim of descent from the tribe of Simeon whose demise is chronicled in the Bible, strongly indicate the text is an unreliable source and heavily influenced in a rich Jewish tradition of wish fulfilment and mystical writing about the ten lost tribes of Israel. The next substantial section of

2107-691: 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 Abraham , 200 "better known families", and mentions of 450 professions and 450 goods. He identified material from Egypt, Israel , 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

2156-587: 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. In 1896, the Scottish scholars and twin sisters Agnes S. Lewis and Margaret D. Gibson 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. Schechter, already aware of

2205-494: The valley of the Ebro to Tarragona , Barcelona , and Girona , whence he proceeded north to France , then set sail from Marseilles . After visiting Genoa , Lucca , Pisa , and Rome , he went to Greece and Constantinople , then set off across Asia. He visited Syria , Lebanon , the Land of Israel , and northern Mesopotamia (which he called Shinar) before reaching Baghdad . From there he went to Persia , then cut back across

2254-458: The west; from Aden north to Constantinople ; Europe not only is represented by the Mediterranean port cities of Narbonne , Marseilles , Genoa and Venice , but even Kiev and Rouen are occasionally mentioned. 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

2303-477: Was a native of Tudela in the Kingdom of Navarre , that he lived during the second half of the 12th century and that his father's name was Jonah. He is often referred to as Rabbi by non-Jewish sources, although there is no reliable evidence that he was ever one. There is no consensus among scholars as to Benjamin of Tudela's exact route, although most scholars believe from his itinerary that he travelled on

2352-565: Was published by Blackwell in 1958, with a second edition in 1959. 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. The Cairo Genizah Collections at the University of Pennsylvania and at the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary

2401-530: 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 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. The Jews who wrote the materials in the Genizah were familiar with

#545454