About

The Centre for Interdisciplinary Research of the Cairo Genizah was founded in 2012. The centre aspires to foster interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the Genizah, and to strengthen the public awareness of the precious treasure of Cairo.  
With the discovery of the Cairo Genizah one hundred and twenty years ago, researchers from diverse disciplines and fields gained access to a considerable collection of rare and original documents. This storehouse of primary sources and information shed a new light on medieval Mediterranean society as a whole and particularly on Jewish history and culture from ancient to early modern times. Today, the Cairo Genizah continues to provide an inexhaustible source for interdisciplinary research involving scholars from an array of disciplines, spanning from India to Western Europe. This research includes the fields of social, economic and intellectual history; Jewish literature from ancient times through the Middle Ages in the realm of Piyut, Talmud, Midrash, and Halakha; Philosophy; Semitic languages (Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, Aramaic); and the study of daily life, medicine, and trade.
In recent years the Friedberg Genizah Project has digitized documents from almost all of the Genizah collections, granting researchers around the world access to these primary sources and enabling them to catalogue them in a systematic manner.   Genizah study now stands at a watershed point in time which is likely to inspire considerable new research thereby illuminating yet more of the Genizah’s innumerable facets. Interdisciplinary research by its nature involves those few who engage in multiple fields of research.  Whilst a vast amount of the results of such research has been displayed and publicized on the podium of various academic institutions, in most cases it has not permeated public awareness.  
In order to address these challenges we have established the Haifa Centre for the Broader Application of Genizah Research. The Centre aims to encourage interdisciplinary research in the Genizah, bring the Genizah to the notice of the public and integrate it into various educational frameworks in Israel and around the world.
As part of its outreach activities the center has produced an exhibition which include three elements: The first is an introduction to the Cairo Genizah and the two others cover two areas of research in the center: Midrash and Materia Medica.  Exhibits have been displayed at Limmud 2012, The Universities of Haifa and Conneticut, in Geneva, Berlin and Mexico city. They have been translated into German, Spanish, French,  English and Hebrew.