One Nightstand

Sacred Treasure of the Cairo Genizah by Rabbi Mark Glickman

An extremely readable and page turner history/archaeology book. In 1025 AD, a “new” synagogue was opened in Cairo, Egypt. In it was a storage room for unused, unneeded and unwanted documents. Rabbi Mark Glickman (Bainbridge Island & Woodinville, WA congregations, formerly of Tacoma) tells the story of the discovery (in 1896) of this “treasure trove” of medieval documents and the history of cataloging the material. The work is still ongoing. Literally hundreds of thousands of papers and parchments were found and the bulk are at Cambridge (UK) University. The documents range from the earliest known Jewish musical composition (with link to hearing it performed) to court decrees to business tranactions to poetry. The book reads like Indiana Jones but without the violence. If you are Jewish, if you have Jewish customers, if you are a history buff, if you have history buff customers then this book is a must.
(ISBN 9781580234313, $24.99, Jewish Life Publishing)

Leave a Reply