Release date: Dec. 14, 2004

Emory Acquires Microfilm Set of Important Cairo Geniza

Emory University has acquired microfilm copies of the entire Cambridge University Cairo Geniza, a collection of 750,000 manuscript leaves from the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat (Old Cairo), Egypt, discovered at the end of the 19th century. The Cairo Geniza is one of the most important modern discoveries of manuscript materials, on the order of the Dead Sea Scrolls, according to Gordon Newby, chairman of Middle Eastern and South Asian studies at Emory.

The collection includes sacred and secular texts in Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, Arabic, Judeo-Spanish and Yiddish, as well as documentary materials that reflect life around the Mediterranean from the ninth century onward. The Geniza collection is not a royal archive or the religious treasure store of a particular group. It comprises a wide range of secular and sacred documents that were in daily use, which gives scholars a serious look at the everyday lives of Jews, Muslims and Christians in the Mediterranean from all walks of life.

"The Geniza also lets us trace both trade and social connections from the Pillars of Hercules to the shores of India. The documents are a window into the center of where our present-day civilization developed, and Emory is the place to look through that window," says Newby.

Study of the Geniza materials has revolutionized scholarly understanding of the religions and cultures of the Mediterranean and Near East. Two thirds of the Geniza was brought to Cambridge at the end of the 19th century, and the rest was distributed among libraries and collections in Europe, North America and the Middle East.

"Emory's acquisition of the microfilms of the Geniza collection, puts scholars in a position to conduct research in its historical treasures," says Newby. "It is significant to get this material at this point in Emory's history, since we are currently home to the largest concentration of scholars outside Israel who study the Geniza, Judeo-Arabic, and the interface between Jewish and Arab cultures."

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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