A genizah or geniza (Hebrew: גניזה "storage"; plural: genizot) is the store-room or depository in a synagogue, usually specifically for worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics that were stored there before they could receive a proper cemetery burial, it being forbidden to throw away writings containing the name of God (even personal letters and legal contracts could open with an invocation of God). In practice, genizot also contained writings of a secular nature, with or without the customary opening invocation, and also contained writings in other languages that use the Hebrew alphabet (Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian, Ladino, Yiddish). “Hebrew” redirects here. ... A synagogue (from ancient Greek: , transliterated synagogÄ“, assembly; Hebrew: beit knesset, house of assembly; Yiddish: , shul; Ladino: , esnoga) is a Jewish house of worship. ... Categories: Language stubs | Judaism-related stubs | Mizrahi Jews | Arab | Arabic languages | Jewish languages ... Judeo-Persian was a language spoken by the Jews living in Persia. ... This article deals with the Judaeo-Spanish language. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ...

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 buried the contents of their genizot every seventh year, as well as during a year of drought, believing that this would bring rain. This custom is associated with the far older practice 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. For other uses, see Jerusalem (disambiguation). ...

By far, the best-known genizah, which is famous for both its size and spectacular contents, is the Cairo Geniza, discovered in 1864 by Jacob Saphir, and chiefly studied by Solomon Schechter. The Cairo Geniza is an accumulation of Jewish manuscripts written from about 870 to as late as 1880 CE, that were found in the geniza of the synagogue of Fustat (Old Cairo), Egypt (built 882), the Busatin cemetery east of Old Cairo, and a number of old documents that were... Portrait of Jacob Saphir, from 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia. ... Solomon Schechter (1847-1915) was a Romanian Jewish rabbi, academic scholar, and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of the American Conservative Jewish movement. ...

References to genizah in the Talmud

The Talmud (Tractate Shabbat 115a) directs that holy writings in other than the Hebrew language 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. The first page of the Vilna Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a. ... Gamaliel the Elder, or Rabbi Gamaliel I, was the grandson of the great Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder. ... Tanakh (Hebrew: ‎) (also Tanach, IPA: or , or Tenak, is an acronym that identifies the Hebrew Bible. ...

In the medieval era

In medieval times, Hebrew scraps and papers that 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 tzitzit, lulavim, and sprigs of myrtle, are similarly stored. Tzitzit (Ashkenazi Hebrew: tzitzis) are fringes or tassels (Hebrew: ציצת (Biblical), ציצית (Mishnaic)) found on a tallit worn by observant Jews as part of practicing Judaism. ...

According to folklore, these scraps were used to hide the famed Golem of Prague, whose body is claimed to lie in the genizah of the Altneushul in Prague. In Jewish folklore, a golem (גולם, sometimes, as in Yiddish, pronounced goilem) is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter. ... The Alt-neu Shul The Old New Synagogue in Josefov, Prague, (the Alt-neu Shul, or Staronová synagoga in Czech) is Europes oldest active synagogue. ...

In the 21st century

In their book The Jesus Family Tomb, Charles Pellegrino and Simcha Jacobovici report that the Talpiot Tomb (which they claim is the real burying place of Jesus and his family), has been transformed into a genizah by the Jerusalem rabbinical authorities. Cover of The Jesus Family Tomb. ... Headline text Charles Pellegrino: Charles Pellegrino is a brilliant archeaologist. ... Simcha Jacobovici. ... An image of the chevron-adorned entrance to the Talpiot Tomb, as it was unearthed in 1980. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... For other uses, see Jerusalem (disambiguation). ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

See also

• Cairo Geniza
• Judaism

The Cairo Geniza is an accumulation of Jewish manuscripts written from about 870 to as late as 1880 CE, that were found in the geniza of the synagogue of Fustat (Old Cairo), Egypt (built 882), the Busatin cemetery east of Old Cairo, and a number of old documents that were... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

External links

• Jewish Encyclopedia entry