CSP Distance Learning Program
"Zoom Class” with Marina Rustow, live from New York City
The Cairo Geniza and the Middle East’s Archive Problem

Dedicated in honor of CSP donors Rabbi Linda and Rabbi Larry Seidman

The Geniza is well known as an unparalleled source for Jewish history: the vast majority of the world’s Jews lived in the Islamic world during the main period the Geniza covers (ca. 900– 1250). But few realize the potential of the Geniza as a source for the broader history of the Middle East. This is in part because the Arabic documents it has preserved are difficult to decipher. I have been leading a research team over the last few years devoted to making sense of this new group of sources. The results are shedding light on Islamic and Jewish history alike.

Sponsor: Community Scholar Program (CSP)