erwireMe•M I Prof. Katsh's 'Ginze Mishna' Gets Scholarly Acclaim One of the greatest stimuli to modern Jewish scholarship was the discovery, in the last quarter of the 19th Century. of the so-called Cairo Geniza. Before that fortunate discov- ery, the Gaonic period was indeed a dark age. Very little was known about the true position of the heads of the Babylonian Yeshivot in the Jewish world, in that period, about the existence of schol- ars and schools in the Holy Land. and the relationship of the leaders of both scholarly DR. ABRAHAM KATSH centers to the Jews of Egypt Tunisia. Italy and Spain. The flourishing economic, social, political and cultural life of the Jewish communities all along the shores of the Medi- terranean. was completely shrouded in obscurity. "Ginze Mishna" by Dr. Abraham Katsh, just pub- lished in Hebrew in Jerusalem, is receiving international acclaim. Noted Israeli scholars and many of the most prominent liebraists elsewhere have acclaimed it as a notable contribution to scholarly research. In his review of "Ginze Mlshna" in the current issue of Jewish Quar- terly Review (April 1972), Prof. Irving A. Agus of Yeshiva University wrote: • • • • • • The latest book by Dr. writings—were discovered in that lumber room and even- ' Abraham I. Katsh, "Ginze sh " o t - . tes a contin- tually were deposited in sev- praise- eral of the great libraries of uation of this the world. The possibility ,orthy effort. This large thus presented itself, for 20th hook contains 159 photostats Century scholars, to redis- of pages of Mishnaic texts- cover large areas of the life : all the fragments of such and activities of the Jews of texts of the Antonin Geniza the middle ages and to gain collection, now housed in the : new knowledge and under- Saltykov - Shchedrin Library standing of a very important in MOSCOW. The photostats period in the life of that peo- are arranged in the order ple. their material appears in the Thus began a new era in standard text of the Mishna; Jewish scholarship. Several and on the page facing each outstanding scholars began to photostat, is given the trine ectiones culled from that i devote their time and effort , to collecting, deciphering. standard text (Vilna ed.), and the text appearing in the • copying, interpreting publishing those documents Babylonian Talmud (Vilna • that fell within their special ed.), in the Jerusalem Tal- field of interest. The publica- mud, the manuscript printed tion of great collections of by W. If. Loco, and the man- Geniza material by A. Har- uscript of Kaufmann. There kavy, Louis Ginzberg, Jacob are also included the van- Mann, Israel Davidson, Sim- ' ants, printed in the margin i ha Assaf and D. S. Goitein, of the Vilna edition of the 'have been the result of this Mishna, of the Muenchen enormous effort and concen- manuscript of the Talmud. i tration. These men have of the Dikdukei Sof erim of made available to the schol- Rabbinowitz, of the commen- ■ Suddenly a great light be- gan to shine from the musty and dusty bundles of manu- scripts that many centuries arty world a large accdmu- tary of Rashi and of the To- ago had been discarded and lation of rich source materi- s a phot. deposited in the lumber room al that will eventually lead In his English introduction of a synagogue in old Cairo. to a comprehensive knowl- Many tens of thousands of ledge of a very important the author describes the vari- old documents, stemming period in human history. ous collections of Jewish mainly from the 10th through the 13th centuries and con- sisting of biblical texts, tal- mudic material, private and public letters, court records. sons in Jerusalem who re- By MURRAY 2UCKOFF contracts, accounts and other quire care in institutions for JTA News Editor the chronically ill, but there (Copyright, 1972, JTA Inc.) Cartan's 8 Day Russian-born artists have are only 140 places available. Independent Vacation to established a club in Tel Aviv In addition, 1 400 of the city's 20,000 aged require institu- to provide immigrant artists tional care but only 850 beds with a place in which to train are available. These' are and work. During the eve- some of the findings on the ning the artists will provide needs of Jerusalem's aged per per con entertainment for the public. released in a report by a municipal committee cover- Double There are some 250 artists Occ upancy ing the period 1971.'72. Be- among the recent Soviet ar- cause of these shortages, Round trip Detroit Lon- rivals, many of them singers many patients are transfer- don air transportation and a circus animal trainer. red to out-of-town institutions via Now York In October an ensemble of 120 or an attempt is made to ar- 17 Saturday will make its debut in Mann range for home care. Departures Auditorium, Tel Aviv. The * * * club in Rehm- Yordei Ilas- According to a report by sira is named Moldovanks after the old Jewish quarter Agence France Presse, the via TWA from Nov. 4 in Odessa. It will provide not Jordanian newspaper, "Ar- thru Mar. 31. 1973 only entertainment but also Rai," denounced Israel's meals cooked by a new im- "high wages policy" which INCLUDES migrant who specializes in it claims is aimed at under- 7 Nights in : mining the "patriotic feelings Jewish-Russian cuisine. London at the of Arabs in the occupied • • • * a * s Kensington • COO Palace Hotel/Full What would you do if you territories." English Breakfast • • • won 50.000 II. ($12,000) in a 18—Friday, Sept. I, 1972 london $3 each Morning/Full Day London Sightseeing Tour/ Get-acquainted Reception/ All Transfers. Handling and Tips for Two Pieces of Luggage/ Cartan Flight Bag BEE KALT TRAVEL SERVICE national lottery. A former resident of the Muazi refugee camp in Gaza who won this E sum here had a ready an- . swer. . ow I can have three wives," said Mahmoud Nlatsri, a building worker I now living in Jaffe. The win- : ner, incidentally, is currently a bachelor. i .611 14.r. Wood. oorel • ***4 0.1 Min logo, • *0 7 2 549-6/e3 boo II nit noornnorrole C AR. PI non. vene eon nest There are 700 elderly per- Happy New Year QUALITY • SERVICE • PRICE NORTHLAND FORD LEADS THE WAY SO DOES GEORGE RUSKIN NORTHLAND FORD 1 1.) MILE GREENFIELD The West Bank experienc- ed an unprecedented boom last week—a wedding boom. More than 100 weddings took place, marking a weekly record. Twenty-nine of these weddings were held last Fri- day in Hebron. The marriage boom is attributed in part to the economic upswing in the region and partly to the summer visits program under which prospective brides and grooms came from neighbor- ing countries. • • • Sixty per cent of persons receiving welfare assistance in Tel Aviv's southern slum area are "second generation" aid recipients, according to Acting Mayor Ariel Amiad. The municipal welfare de- partment is currently dealing with 13,000 families compar- ed to 10,700 in 196G-70. There is also an increase in the 2101 4 rE3C.C.CF-07.0.11r—C. ' manuscripts found in the li- 41i braries of Russia. He gives a brief history, and describes silk the content, of the Guenzburg stt collection, the Friedliana collection, the two Firkowich collections, and, in more de- tail, the Antonin collection from which the published material was taken. In his Hebrew introduction the au- Mlle thor briefly explains the ori- gin, and the present condi- tion, of Geniza material. He It Cr 14 fin e eri ct ry 'Cr describes his manner of pre- senting the V arrae le rti ones , and cites a number of exam- ples where the Geniza manu- scripts differ significantly from the printed version of the Mishna. This manner of presenting Geniza manuscripts thus in- troduces an entirely new Also on Any method of presenting such material. Whereas all previ- P $ 3 ous scholars printed their transcriptions of the Geniza 1!.Bee texts, and whenever part of a 4678 Woodward Ave Royal Oak, Mich. 48077 manuscript was illegible or ; torn away, they would insert, F • in square brackets, their sug- 4t• • • - - - • - gested readings—Dr. Katsh 44:0:4:1120€3CK-CCO:*=:: 47 Ae *:`. Z - . printed photostats of the man- '--:*:: uscripts and, on the opposite page, presented his readings only of those parts of the text that differed from the versions listed above. 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