É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.

BEERI, Tova: The Intriguing Fate of a Geniza Document: Goldziher's Contribution to the Study of Hebrew Poetry in Babylonia

TOVA BEERI synagogue of this wealthy patron, aided by his three sons: Baruch, Yannai, and Shlomo. Nahum's activity as a cantor is also attested by other Geniza sources. He was, however, more of a performer than an authentic poet. We have recovered from Geniza manuscripts some thirteen of his poems, but they arc far less impressive than his father's. He was apparently eager to perform his father's poems as attested by his custom of inserting short poetic intermezzos into Yosef s texts.

1

4 Differing from earlier periods, in Nahum's time it was already an accepted custom in major synagogues in the East for the cantor to publicly perform various piyyutim

, many of which were not necessarily composed by him. He would select poems of earlier and popular authors, occasionally adding a short stanza of his own composition. Divine service was in those days saturated with vocal music. A considerable portion of public prayer was performed by the cantor accompanied by a well-trained choir.

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1 As a result of the increased popularity of musical accompaniment for piyyutim

, the older piyyutim lost something of their centrality. Nahum acted as cantor not only in his homeland but also in the Palestinian synagogue of Fustat, in Egypt, after leaving Baghdad around 994.

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6 Regarding Nahum's three sons we have some information about Shlomo only: a beautiful panegyric of his, addressed to some as yet unidentified dignitary, has been preserved in the Geniza. This poem, already shaped according to the Hebrew Andalusian fashion using quantitative metre, was discovered and published by the late Alexander Scheiber." Two of Nahum's grandsons, Nahum and Yosef, were wealthy merchants who traded along the Mediterranean shores. Goldziher's "unknown" Nahum has thus become well known in Jewish literature, along with other members of his illustrious family. Beyond the above tale, interesting and important in itself, lies another story. In 1905, when Goldziher published his article, Geniza research was in its infancy. The manuscript he edited had not yet been given a shelf mark. Goldziher mentions only that he received it from Schechter and that by publishing it he hoped to meet 1

4 These texts are named pizmonim in Geniza mss. About the meaning and origin of this term, see E. Fleischer, 'Inquiries Concerning the Origin and Etymology of Several Terms in Medieval Hebrew Poetry', Tarbiz 47 (1978), 189-191 (Hebrew). For the use ofpizmon in various liturgical poems during the period under discussion, see E. Fleischer, Hebrew Liturgical Poetry in the Middle Ages

, Jerusalem 1975. 324 ff. [Hebrew]. 1

5 This particular way of performing liturgical poems is also connected with the abovementioned use of pizmonim. On the impact of such performances on genre development and structural settings for Hebrew liturgical poems, see E. Fleischer, 'The Influence of Choral Elements on the Formation and Development of the Piyyut Genres', in: Yuval: Studies of the Jewish Music Research Centre III, Jerusalem 1974, 18-48 [Hebrew], 1

6 His stay in Egypt is attested by a document containing an agreement drawn up between a local hazzan, Paltiel ben Ephrayim and Nahum al-Baradani concerning their profit from various activities in the Jerusalemite Synagogue of Fustat. This manuscript is mentioned by M. A. Friedman, Jewish Marriage in Palestine

, I, Tel-Aviv - New York 1980, 24, n. 53. 1

7 See Geniza Studies (n. 6 above), 477-485. 18