STEFAN C. REIF, A Jewish Archive from Old Cairo: The History of Cambridge University's Genizah Collection (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2000). Pp. 297. $65.00 cloth, $29.95 paper.

Abstract

It is, to say the least, rather startling that prior to the appearance of this new book by Stefan Reif, who is professor of Medieval Hebrew Studies at Cambridge University in England, the director of the Genizah Research Unit, and head of the Oriental Division at the University Library, there simply was no detailed history of the discovery of the Cairo Genizah and its transferal abroad. Neither had there been a convenient single survey of the broad range of its contents, nor a comprehensive mise au point of the century of scholarship in so many disciplines that has resulted from this unique treasure trove. Brief introductory sketches existed in the works of Paul Kahle and S. D. Goitein, and Norman Golb surveyed the first half-century of Genizah scholarship more than forty years ago in the journal Judaism (1957). But none of these provided the wealth of detail to be found in A Jewish Archive from Old Cairo.