Thursday, March 31, 2022

Another Judeo-Syriac fragment from the Cairo Geniza

GENIZA FRAGMENT OF THE MONTH (FEBRUARY 2022): A New Judaeo-Syriac Fragment from the Genizah: ENA 3846.2 (Alan Elbaum).
Judaeo-Syriac was a significant albeit never widespread phenomenon. We have long known of medieval Jewish scholars from Baghdad to Aleppo to Girona who made use of the Peshitta for exegetical purposes. But until now, we have not had direct evidence of how Jews would have learned Syriac from Christians nor any extant specimens of Peshitta manuscripts in Hebrew characters like those that Masnūt and potentially Naḥmanides would have consulted. Despite its modest dimensions, ENA 3846.2 provides crucial evidence for a previously unattested stage of Jewish engagement with Syriac and hopefully heralds further discoveries and publications of Genizah fragments in Judaeo-Syriac. I conclude with an edition and commentary.
The Cario Geniza produced another Judeo-Syriac fragment back in 2013.

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