Genizah
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A Genizah' or Geniza (Hebrew "burial"; according to S. D. Goitein, from the Persian word gonj "storehouse, treasure") is the storeroom or depository in a synagogue, usually specifically a cemetery for worn-out Hebrew language books and papers on religious topics. It also was traditionally used to store away books viewed as heretical that, due to the presence of the Hebrew name of God, could not be thrown away or burned according to traditional Jewish law.
This custom also included the periodic solemn gathering of the contents of the Geniza, which were then buried in the cemetery or "bet ḥayyim"; synagogues in Jerusalem would bury the contents of their Genizot every seventh year, as well as during a year of drought, believing that this would bring rain. With this custom is associated the far older practise of burying a great or good man with a "sefer" which has become "pasul" (unfit for use through illegibility or old age). In Morocco, in Algiers, in Turkey, and even in Egypt, such paper-interments had been practiced.
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References to Genizah in the Talmud
The Talmud (Tractate Shabbat 115a) directs that holy writings in other than the Hebrew and Greek languages require "genizah", that is, preservation. In Pesachim 118b "bet genizah" = "treasury". In Pesachim 56a Hezekiah hides ("ganaz") a medical work; in Shabbat 115a R. Gamaliel orders that the Targum to the Book of Job should be hidden ("yigganez") under the "nidbak" (layer of stones). In Shabbat 30b there is a reference to those rabbis who sought to categorize the books of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs as heretical; this occurred before the canonization of the Hebrew Bible, when disputes flared over which books should be considered Biblical. The same thing occurs in Shabbat 13b in regard to the Book of Ezekiel, and in Pesachim 62 in regard to the Book of Genealogies.
In the medieval era
In medieval times such Hebrew scraps and papers as were relegated to the genizah were known as shemot or "names", because their sanctity and consequent claim to preservation were held to depend on their containing the "names" of God. In addition to papers, articles connected with the ritual, such as tzitit, lulavim, and sprigs of myrtle, are similarly stored.
The Cairo Genizah
See also main article Cairo Geniza.
The discovery by Professor Rabbi Solomon Schechter, on May 13, 1896, of a fragment of the original Hebrew of Ecclesiasticus drew so much attention to the genizah whence it came that the term "genizah" is now applied almost exclusively to this hoard at the old synagogue of Fustat near Cairo.
This was a church dedicated to St. Michael until the conquest of Egypt by Khosrau II in 616, when it became a synagogue. To Benjamin of Tudela, in the twelfth century, it appeared "very ancient". Simon van Geldern (c. 1750), Heine's ancestor, tells in his diary how much impressed he was by the wealth of possibility that lay hidden amid the rubbish of the genizot there. In 1864 Jacob Safir visited it, and his "Eben Sappir" describes how he spent two days ferreting among the ancient books and leaves till the dust and ashes sickened him of the task; but "who knows what may yet be beneath?" In 1888 E. N. Adler visited the synagogue, but did not succeed in seeing more than a recess in the upper part of the right wall containing the scroll of Ezra and a few other ancient manuscripts. He was informed that all shemot were buried in the Jewish cemetery at Basatin. Shortly afterward the synagogue was repaired by the Cairene community, and during its renovation the old receptacle seems to have been rediscovered. It is a secret chamber at the back of the east end, and is approached from the farthest extremity of the gallery by climbing a ladder and entering through a hole in the wall.
When Sayce visited the synagogue many of the contents of the genizah had been thrown out and buried in the ground, through a part of which a road was subsequently cut. This would account for the evident exposure to dampness which some of the oldest fragments have undergone and for their earthy odor. Sayce acquired many fragments from the caretakers of the synagogue, which are now in the Bodleian Library. Other libraries and collectors, especially Archduke Rainer, made similar acquisitions. E. N. Adler revisited the synagogue on January 3, 1896, under the escort of the chief rabbi, Rafaïl ben Shimon ha-Kohen, and was allowed to take away with him a sack containing all the parchment and paper fragments they had been able to gather in about four hours. Some of these turned out to be of exceptional interest, and were published shortly afterward.
It was the identification of a Ben Sira text among the Bodleian fragments in May of that year which induced Schechter to proceed to Cairo in the autumn and bring back with him practically the entire written contents of the genizah. These now constitute the bulk of the Taylor-Schechter collection at the Cambridge University Library. About the same time Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson, two learned sisters, known by their discoveries in the convent of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai, visited Cairo, and returned to Cambridge, England, with a large number of fragments, which they placed at Professor Schechter's disposal for the purpose of examination. Visits to the genizah in October, 1898, April, 1901, and February, 1903, merely brought to light printed matter; but if this be found to include title-pages and colophons, some of it may prove to have bibliographical value. Cyrus Adler of Washington during a visit to Cairo in the year 1891 secured about forty pieces from a dealer.
In the years since then a great deal more material has been recovered and analyzed. Perhaps the best known analysis of the docouments found was performed by the late S. D. Goitein, who drew from his careful study of these documents to write an account of the daily life of the Jewish people in the Muslim world in the years between 1002 and 1266.
Many documents of significance to Khazar history have been discovered in the Cairo genizah, including the Kievian Letter and the Cambridge Text.
Other Genizot
Most ancient synagogues had genizot. That of Feodosiya in the Crimea is an alcove on the ground floor at the back of the ark, approachable from the outside of the building by a hole so small as only to admit of the entrance of a very small boy. A search there for ancient written materials proved fruitless, as it had been cleared a generation previously by Abraham Firkovitch. At Bokhara the genizah is in the roof, but disused copies of scrolls of the Law are walled up by stucco in arched alcoves surrounding the interior of the building.
At Teheran, Iran, it is in an underground cellar, so damp that papers turn to pulp in a few weeks; a ketubah or two were all that resulted from a search in 1896. In a secret chamber in the eaves of the roof of one of the chapels of the ancient synagogue at Aleppo (4th cent.?) is the genizah of that famous city. When E.N. Adler investigated this chamber in 1898, he was disappointed in his hopes of finding ancient writings: "Though the dust was more acrid, and the work far dirtier than that of Fustat, the matrix was modern, and the dirt not pay dirt." Likewise, Dr R.J. Magnes reported his similar failure in 1925 after his searches through the Genizot of Jerusalem. At Rustchuk burials of "shemot" take place every ten years, when a sermon is delivered, followed by a banquet, and the right of burying each sack is sold as a "miẓwah"; one month later a stone is laid over the place of burial, and inscribed as the genizah of the year in question.
In Prague the genizah is also in the roof, over the historic banner which records the bravery of the Bohemian Jews. The genizah is protected from the designs of the desecrator or collector by a legend, devoutly believed, that it is under the special protection of a "golem."