Cairo geniza

Cairo geniza (kō'rō gun'ēzu) [key], archive of ancient Jewish manuscripts found in the synagogue of Fostat-Cairo, Egypt (built 882). In the 1890s western scholars visited the synagogue and removed the materials to the Bodleian Library at the Univ. of Oxford, the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, and other major repositories. The materials are an extremely important resource for the study of biblical writings and translations, ancient Jewish liturgies, communal records, and the relations between Jews and Arabs in medieval Islamic society.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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