Sacred Treasure - The Cairo Genizah

The Amazing Discoveries of Forgotten Jewish History in an Egyptian Synagogue Attic

By: Rabbi Mark Glickman

Narrated by: Rabbi Mark Glickman

Indiana Jones meets The Da Vinci Code in an old Egyptian synagogue - the amazing story of one of the most important discoveries in modern religious scholarship.

In 1897, Rabbi Solomon Schechter of Cambridge University stepped into the attic of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, Egypt, and there found the largest treasure trove of medieval and early manuscripts ever discovered. He had entered the synagogue's genizah - its repository for damaged and destroyed Jewish texts - which held nearly 300,000 individual documents, many of which were over 1,000 years old.

Considered among the most important discoveries in modern religious history, its contents contained early copies of some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, early manuscripts of the Bible, and other sacred literature. The importance of the Genizah's contents rivals that of the Rosetta Stone, and by virtue of its sheer mass alone, it will continue to command our attention indefinitely.

Sacred Treasure - The Cairo Genizah is the first accessible, comprehensive account of this astounding treasure trove of documents and their discovery. It will delight listeners with its fascinating adventure story of why this enormous collection was amassed, how it was discovered, and the many lessons to be found in its contents. And it will inform listeners of how Schechter's find, though still being "unpacked" today, has forever transformed our knowledge of the Jewish past, Muslim history, and much more.

©2011 Mark Glickman (P)2011 Rumsey-Natapov Productions

Critic reviews

"Glickman brings the colorful story up to date with information about the post-Schechter work, the dispersal of the genizah’s collection to other libraries around the world, and the efforts to preserve and digitize the documents so that scholars everywhere can use them. Anyone who loves books and history will relish this." ( Booklist)

amazing story

Would you listen to Sacred Treasure - The Cairo Genizah again? Why?

yes! the story is amazing. repeat will let me understand the story better.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Soloman Schector, his personality and extraordinary work he did in Cairo Genizah research.

Have you listened to any of Mark Glickman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, he did a wonderful job.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

the author and his son visiting Cambridge library and entering the manuscript room. I felt my heart beating hard and fast.

Amazing book, timely subject

Clear and entertaining narrative with a solid research footing- it doesn’t get better than that!

More than dusting of a few old documents

During a third year Hebrew class on the Dead Sea Scrolls I took note that the Damascus Document came from a genizah (a room in a Jewish synagogue where mainly worn scrolls and other writings are held) in Cairo. It was a cursory meeting with the Cairo Genizah of the Ben Ezra synagogue.

At long last, a book that brings the story of the discovery of this genizah and its treasure to the general listener/ reader! As far as I know this is the only popular academical book on this subject.

Rabbi Glickman does an excellent job of pulling the reader into the story. He gives an overview from its time of discovery in the 1890's (or... perhaps a few centuries earlier) to the current state of the genizah scholarship. This makes this books indispensable for both Jews, Christians and Muslims (not only Jews and Muslims, as the rabbi sometimes seem to imply.)

When it comes to the reading of the text, Rabbi Glickman's warm voice definitely more than suffices in bringing the intrigues around this discovery to life. However, it seems that he sometimes want to stop at a few awkward places in his sentences. I couldn't decide if he was trying to read to quick and them ran out of breath or if he had overcome a speech impediment. Yet it doesn't take away his warm-hearted invitation to the Cairo Genizah.

In summary, this book about the discovery and implication of the Cairo Genizah is long overdue. Rabbi Mark Glickman masterly immerse you in almost the next best discovery to the Dead Sea Scrolls.

fascinating story

This audible book was excellent bringing to life this amazing story. The way it was read made the people come to life and I wanted to meet them as well as reading what they had found.
I will certainly re-listen to it as I know that I will get more from the story next time.

Great backstory and summation of a fascinating, but complex, Academic topic!

I was interested in this topic from an academic perspective, but Glickman makes the backstory and basic academic analysis exciting for the curious general reader.