Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Lost sentence from the Jerusalem Talmud recovered

A LOST SENTENCE from the Jerusalem Talmud has been recovered in a Cairo Geniza manuscript in Geneva:
Lost segment of Jerusalem Talmud unearthed in Geneva

Researchers find whole missing Talmud sentence in collection of Cairo Genizah manuscripts which renders part of Tractate Bikkurim intelligible


Tzofia Hirshfeld (ynetnews.com)
Published: 03.23.10, 14:55 / Israel Jewish Scene

Manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah, a collection of ancient Jewish writings stored in an Egyptian synagogue, which were recently examined reveal new segments of the Talmud, Mishnah (oral Jewish laws) and rabbinic literature.

Among the scriptures was a whole sentence off the Jerusalem Talmud's Tractate Bikkurim which had been missing until now. The incorporation of the phrase in the Gemara renders the tractate chapter intelligible.

The manuscripts, which include 350 pages from the Cairo Genizah were stored for some 100 years in a tin can in the Geneva University, that no one knew existed. Greek papyrus experts recently discovered the tin can and employed the services of Hebrew Univesity's Prof. David Rosenthal of the Talmud Department.

[...]
Bit by bit, a letter at a time, whatever it takes. Until we're done.

Some earlier posts on the Cairo Geniza are collected here, here, and here. And note in particular this post, which also deals with Prof. Rosenthal's work.