Treasures from the world’s
largest and most important collection of medieval Jewish manuscripts –
chronicling 1,000 years of history in Old Cairo – have gone on display in
Cambridge for a six-month-long exhibition at Cambridge University Library.
Discarded History: The
Genizah of Medieval Cairo opened to the public on April 27 and provides a
unique and unparalleled window into the daily life of men, women and children
at the centre of a thriving city over the course of a millennium.
From the 9th to the 19th
century, the Jewish community of Fustat (Old Cairo) deposited more than 200,000
unwanted writings in a purpose-built storeroom in the Ben Ezra synagogue. This
sacred storeroom was called the Genizah. A Genizah was a safe place to store
away any old or unusable text that, because it contained the name of God, was
considered too holy to simply throw out.
But when the room was
opened in the late 19th century, alongside the expected Bibles, prayer books
and works of Jewish law – scholars discovered the documents and detritus of
everyday life: shopping lists, marriage contracts, divorce deeds, a
1,000-year-old page of child’s doodles and alphabets, Arabic fables, works of
Muslim philosophy, medical books, magical amulets, business letters and accounts.
Practically every kind of written text produced by the Jewish communities of
the Near East throughout the Middle Ages had been preserved in that sacred
storeroom.
Dr Ben Outhwaite, Head of
the Genizah Research Unit and co-curator of the exhibition, said: “This
colossal haul of writings reveals an intimate portrait of life in a Jewish
community that was international in outlook, multicultural in make-up and
devout to its core; a community concerned with the very things to which
humanity has looked for much of its existence: love, sex and marriage, money
and business, and ultimately death.
“The Genizah collection is
undeniably one of the greatest treasures among the world-class collections at
Cambridge University Library. We have
translated most of these texts into English for the first time – and most are
also going on display for the first time, too. With Discarded History we hope
to make this medieval society accessible and recognisable to a modern
audience.”
Among the highlights going
on display in Cambridge are the earliest known example of a Jewish engagement
deed (Shtar Shiddukhin, from 1119), showing the complex legal relations that
existed around marriage, the oldest-dated medieval Hebrew manuscript (a Bible
from 9th century Iran) and an 11th century pre-nuptial agreement where the
groom, Toviyya – who clearly had a bad reputation – was forced to make a series
of promises about his future behaviour.
In the presence of
witnesses, he declares that he will avoid mixing with the wrong sort, for the
purposes of ‘eating, drinking or anything else’. He also states that he will
not spend one night away from Faiza, unless she wants him to, and that he will
not even buy himself a slave girl, unless Faiza agrees.
The fragments date from a
period when 90 per cent of the world’s Jews lived in Islamic lands. The broadly
tolerant regime under which they lived contrasted with the usually harsher
treatment meted out to Jews in Western Europe. The documents paint a picture of
economic stability and social growth. Cheques for goods ranging from wax
candles to lemon sherbet pay testament to the variety and richness of the
200,000 documents in Cambridge’s possession – almost all of which have been
conserved to avoid any further damage to the priceless collection.
“Women and children are
invisible in most archives – especially those from medieval times,” added
Outhwaite. “But through our collections, myriad individual voices can be heard
through children’s copy books, prenuptial agreements and books of magic spells.
“A broad brush picture of
the medieval Middle East as a crucible of cruel oppression or, conversely, an
interfaith utopia does not do justice to the eye-level history recorded in
these sources. Life, for the culturally rich and socially conscious citizens of
the medieval Middle East, was more complicated, sophisticated and interesting
than that.
“The Cairo Genizah speaks
vividly of the community’s links to other lands and other faiths. Its fragile
contents, brown with age when Schechter acquired them, give us a picture of
life that includes piracy and human trafficking to the intimate drama of
domestic life. We can read about ancient cures for headaches and see school
teachers complain bitterly about children’s unruly behaviour, just as they do
today. It’s this richness that makes the Genizah unique.”
Discarded History: The
Genizah of Medieval Cairo is now open and runs until October 28, 2017. Entry is
free.
Image: Cambridge lecturer
Solomon Schechter among thousands of Genizah fragments in his office after their
transportation from the Ben Ezra synagogue in Cairo.
http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/news/discarded-history-exhibition-lifts-lid-1000-years-medieval-history
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario