Partners
Austria
The project aiming at identifying and describing medieval Hebrew fragments in Austrian libraries and archives was initiated in 1992 by Prof. Ferdinand Dexinger (University of Vienna), in cooperation with the Austrian Academy of Science. Out of the estimated 3000 fragments, some 1.500 fragments have been digitized, around 800 are already published at the website (http://www.ksbm.oeaw.ac.at/hebraica/) Since October 2008 the project is run by Prof. Martha Keil (Institute for Jewish History in Austria).
Institute for Jewish History in Austria
contact person : Martha Keil
Links to the project : Hebräische Handschriften und Fragmente in österreichischen BibliothekenCzech Republic
Some 600 fragments, mainly from ecclesiastical archives, have been identified so far by a project under the responsibility of Daniel Polakovic from the Jewish Museum in Prague. Some fragments are included in the database of manuscripts in Czech collections. Important discoveries have been made in Moravia where Dr Tamas Visi from the Kabinet Judaistiky (Centre for Jewish Studies) at Palacky University, Olomouc has undertaken to to search systematically for Hebrew fragments in book bindings.
Židovské muzeum
contact person : Daniel Polakovič
France
Some 400 fragments of Hebrew manuscripts have been identified so far in French collections. However, a systematic search in all the collections is still a desideratum. The French project is carried out under the responsibility of Judith Olszowy-Schlanger ( EPHE and IRHT/CNRS), who has also undertaken a partial search for the fragments in Switzerland and Great Britain.
Germany
The systematic search for the fragments and their cataloguing and publication (with a project of a website) is carried out by a research team under the responsibility of Prof. Andreas Lehnardt, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz. Some 3000 fragments of Hebrew manuscripts have been identified. Last year, the project received a substantial funding from the DFG, mainly to cover the salaries of research assistants.
Seminar für Judaistik, Evangelisch-theologische Fakultät, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität
contact person : Elodie Attia, Andreas Lehnardt
Links to the project : Genizat GermaniaHungary
Over one hundred and seventy medieval Hebrew fragments from bookbindings found in various Hungarian collections were published (Scheiber, 1969). Further discoveries were made since by the new project initiated by Dr Tamas Turan with the technical support of the research centre Fragmenta Codicum of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The Hungarian project proposes to extend the research to some neighbouring areas in Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Croatia.
Center of Jewish Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
contact person : Tamas Turan
Italy
The study and publication of the largest of the European collections of the fragments (estimated 15000 fragments) has been carried out for the past twenty five years by the 'Italian Genizah' project. Various universities and archives are involved in the project which already resulted in publication of several catalogues and monographs on Hebrew fragments. Its head is Prof. Mauro Perani, University of Bologna, Dipartimento di Storie e Metodi per la Conservazione dei Beni Culturali, Ravenna. The project has been largely funded by the state as far as the salaries of researchers are concerned.
Fondazione Collegio San Carlo di Modena
contact person : Luca BaraldiAlma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologne
contact person : Mauro Perani
Poland
110 fragments have been identified so far in the Jagellonian Library of the University of Cracow and in Czartoryski Museum in Cracow. The project has started as collaboration between the Department of Jewish Studies of the Jagellonian University, the Jagellonian University Library and the EPHE in Paris, under the responsibility of Dr Monika Jaglarz, Jagellonian Library. A systematic search for the fragments is projected in the ecclesiastical archives in Cracow, in University, Public Library, and Ossoli_ski National Institute Library in Wroclaw (where several dozens of fragments have already been noted) and Warsaw and, if the access is granted, in Archbishopric archives in Gniezno and Tarnow.
Department of Jewish Studies/ Jagiellonian University of Cracow
contact person : Michal Galas
Spain
Hundreds of Hebrew and Aljamiado book and documents fragments and documents are found in collections throughout Spain. Many fragments have been known since the early 20th C. and described in scattered publications, many new sources have been identified recently. A systematic study of some of the fragments collections was initiated by the late Jos L. Lacave (former Arias Montano Institute at the CSIC) and by David Romano (Universidad de Barcelona), who concentrated on the publication of those of historical documentary content (1997, see: www.unavarra.es/organiza/pdf/fondos_hebreos.pdf). In recent years, spectacular discoveries were for instance made in the state archives of Gerona (State, Municipal and Cathedral Archives), where some estimated 2000 paper fragments were glued together to create cardboard book covers. A first inventory and digitalization of some 600 Gerona fragments is underway. The research in various other collections is carried out as collaboration between Spanish and Catalan scholars and institutions, under the responsibility of Dr Javier Castao, of the CSIC in Madrid.
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
contact person : Javier Castaño, María Ángeles Gallego
Links to the project : Hebrew Manuscripts Data Base of GironaUnited Kingdom
No systematic search for the fragments in British collections has been undertaken in the past. Recently, the search for the fragments is carried on by Judith Olszowy-Schlanger and the French team in collaboration with the British Library and the Cairo Genizah Research Unit, Cambridge. An important part of the British project is the connection between the Cairo Genizah Collections and the fragments found in the bindings: a recent survey carried in the Cambridge University Library revealed that several dozens of fragments which were thought to emanate from the Cairo Genizah actually come from bindings of Spanish manuscripts. The development of the British part of the project is one of our priorities, given the numbers of Latin and other manuscripts in British collections and the undeniable interest and diversity of the fragments found and published so far.
Cairo Genizah Research Unit, University of Cambridge
contact person : Ben Outhwaite