Oxford University, England: First trove of Cairo genizah documents forwarded by Solomon Schechter (of England) to Bodleian Library of Oxford.
A second trove, three tomes the size of the first one, was arranged after a second expedition to Cairo within two years of the first, by Schechter.
Schechter had actually forwarded the first trove (1896) unopened fro Cairo to the Oxford library. However, two female Scottish (translation: non–Jewish) researchers alerted Schechter to the extraordinariness of the find, including the apparently first–ever (in the original) found Hebrew manuscript of Ecclesiasticus (Kohelet by King Solomon)—as opposed to extant Greek and Latin translations. The “Scottish” research was the catalyst for the subsequent second exposition (c. 1897), which proved historic, and which propelled Schechter onto the world stage.
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A genizah is a set–aside storage area or “depository” in a synagogue or yeshiva where worn or damaged Jewish books or papers (potentially containing God’s name) are sequestered temporarily for periods of time—until ultimate book burial in a Jewish cemetery—to honor God’s name on them—by precluding their untimely or mundane destruction.
A genizah thus also potentially becomes a “time capsule,” of sorts.
A major genizah—dating from medieval times—in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, Egypt (now called Old Cairo, Egypt) was “discovered” and brought to the world’s attention in the mid–1860s by the Jewish traveler and researcher Jacob Saphir.
Combined with two other smaller Cairo troves of related material, ultimately over 200,000 Jewish pieces (manuscripts et al.) were “unearthed.” The 200,000 pieces span the 1,000 year time frame 870–1880 CE.
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A rich subset of the fragments and pages spans the time frame 950–1250 CE.
This subset of material was carefully plumbed by Judaica scholar Shelomo Dov Gotein (b. 1900, Burgkunstadt, Germany; d. 1985, Philadelphia, USA 1900). Gotein’s life–work project involved developing detailed indexes of Jewish personalities within the 300 year time frame just–noted.
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The chief scholar associated with researching the entire Cairo trove is the British scholar and rabbinic Solomon Schechter. See his listing a little further down [1902]…
His exposition of these Cairo treasure troves brought him world acclaim.
Now archived (150,000+ pieces at University of Cambridge, England; 40,000+ at JTS in NY; 11,000+ in John Rylands University Library, Manchester, England). They are currently being digitized.
Do you hear that, Google?