Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 13.pdf/142

 Two Legal Documents.

TWO LEGAL DOCUMENTS OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. BY DAVID WERNER AMRAM. I HAVE recently come into possession of a number of Hebrew and Arabic manu scripts which were formerly deposited in the Genizah of the synagogue of Ezra the Scribe, in the City of Cairo, Egypt. Among these manuscripts are legal documents of various kinds, fragments of books of devo tion, of Mishnah, Talmud, works of ethics, philosophy and Kabbalah. The history of these documents is interesting. Some of the legal documents are dated, and are from six to nine hundred years old. The undated fragments are probably of equal antiquity. The word "Genizah" means "a hiding place," or a treasure house, and as here used refers to a special apartment in or above a synagogue where old books and manuscripts of all sorts, which have lost their practical value, are deposited. The synagogue of Ezra the Scribe stands in the city of Cairo, and has a recorded his tory extending back more than one thou sand years. It was in the Genizah of this synagogue that the manuscripts, of which those in my possession are a part, were found. The question naturally arises, how did such a mass of diversified literary material come to be gathered in such a place? It must be borne in mind that every piece of writing containing Hebrew letters was thereby invested, in the eyes of the ortho dox Jews, with a certain character which saved it from profanation. A Hebrew busi ness letter or legal contract, not to speak of a prayer book or a portion of the Bible or Talmud, instead of being destroyed or cast away as rubbish, was by virtue of the fact that it was written with Hebrew characters deposited in the Genizah. The Genizah thus became a storehouse for all sorts of literary material written in the Hebrew language. A scroll of the law that had become mutil ated or otherwise made useless for ritualistic

purposes was laid away to rest in the dark ness of the Genizah. Prayer books, law books, works of poetry and philosophy which had become torn or soiled were de posited in the same place; and in a similar manner letters, contracts and other docu ments which were no longer of any practical value at last found their way into this ceme tery for old manuscripts. In the course of generations the mass of material thus accumulated grew great and heavy, and constant struggles for existence took place. The weaker manuscripts, those written on poor parchment or papyrus, were literally pulverized in the course of cen turies. How did the contents of this treasure chamber become known to the world? It appears that enterprising business men in Cairo and in Jerusalem, by means best known to themselves, probably by bribing the care-takers of the synagogue, obtained possession of old manuscripts which they afterwards sold to European libraries and amateurs. Professor Solomon Schechter of Cam bridge University, England, having discov ered the source from which the aforesaid enterprising merchants, obtained their curios, conceived the plan of purchasing the entire contents of the Genizah and transporting it from Cairo to Cambridge. He went down to Egypt, and there entered into negotiations with the rabbi and wardens of the syna gogue, with the result that he carried away with him many great boxes full of manu scripts in a more or less perfect condition. During the past few years he has devoted himself chieflv to the examination, classifica tion and publication of these literary treasures. Upon information received from him. T entered into correspondence with dealers in