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 It is well known that when Schechter left Cambridge for the States to head the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1902, he took with him numerous manuscripts from the Geniza collections; some of which were his private property,

2" and some of which were on loan to him."

4 Nahum's letter was undoubtedly included in this stock of documents. He then gave it to Goldziher during the latter's visit to the States. In the above-mentioned letter to Goldziher, Schechter alludes to our document among other matters. He expresses his joy that Goldziher had taken the trouble to copy and translate it, and that soon it will appear in print. Schechter agrees with Goldziher's comment that the document is rather meager in sensational details - in those early days of Geniza research each new document was sensational indeed - but he finds importance in the additional data it contains regarding everyday life in the scarcely documented geonic period. In concluding this matter, Schechter adds that, as this was Purim eve, he offers this manuscript to Goldziher as mishloah manot - a Purim gift - a token of his love and admiration. Now the failure to find this manuscript in any of the Geniza collections is clear. As a gift to Goldziher, it remained in his possession and it should be searched for wherever his archives are kept. Once rediscovered, soon 1 hope, this manuscript will become a key tool for identifying and accurately reconstructing the poetic legacy of a great Babylonian paytan

, Yosef alBaradani."

4 This step will help us to reach a better understanding of an important aspect of Jewish life and culture in Babylon at the end of the first millennium. 1904 he participated in the International Congress of Arts and Sciences at the St. Louis World Fair, where he delivered a lecture on "The progress of Islamic science in the last three decades". He left Bremen for America on 3 September and embarked in New York on 11 October for the return journey. His invitation to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America was not realized. See Ignaz Goldziher, Tagebuch. Ed. Alexander Scheiber, Leiden 1978, 238-239; Bemard Heller, Bibliographie des oeuvres de Ignace Goldziher, Paris 1927, 57 (nos. 262, 262"); Simon, Ignaz Goldziher..., 267. Ed.] 2" In 1898 Schechter donated the Geniza manuscripts which he brought from Egypt to the University of Cambridge, but secured for himself special rights regarding the use and ownership of various manuscripts. Details of this agreement can be found in Cambridge University Reporter {

1898), nos. 1215, 968-969; 1229, 183; 1231, 235. 2

4 This is known as the Loan Series; it was returned to Cambridge during the 1960s. For a detailed account see S. C. Reif, 'The Cambridge Geniza Story: Some Unfamiliar Aspects', Te

cuda 15 (1999), 416 ff. (Hebrew). 2

4 As mentioned above, during this period local cantors used to reshape earlier liturgical compositions: shortening them, and/or adding one or more pizmonim, usually of their own. Many of Yosef al-Baradani's poems, as found in Geniza manuscripts, were also treated in this way. I postulate that Nahum copied several of his father's poems. By identifying his handwriting we will be able to see the poems in their original scope and form. This information is essential to promoting better understanding of the setting of liturgical poetry in the late-tenth-century Babylonian synagogue. [On the fate of this Geniza piece cf. Scheiber, Letters of Solomon Schechter..., 256-257. - Ed.] 20