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Over a century ago, news of the discovery of the Cairo Genizah in Egypt rocked the world of Jewish Studies.  Scholars made pilgrimages to Cairo to study and gather the fragile fragments. Today students of the Genizah are able to sit comfortably at computers and virtually weave together document scraps from repositories all over the world. Rabbi Solomon Schechter, then a lecturer in Talmud and Rabbinics at Cambridge University, traveled to Cairo in December 1896 to explore the Genizah.  A postcard he penned during his visit to his friend and colleague, Dr. [Marcus] Brann, in Breslau, provides a glimpse of the experience. The postcard will be on display at ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ Museum’s exhibit: Threshold to the Sacred: The Ark Door of Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue, from October 28, 2013 to February 23, 2014. Here is the Hebrew postcard, held by ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ Archives, with translation and transcription.   Cairo c/o Cooks Agency 1.4.96 (possibly Jan. 4, 1897) Bezh  [בעזה] My dear good, honored, friend, GREETINGS to you and to your dear wife and family, All is well with me here in the Land of Egypt.  For our many sins [bav"h – בעו"×”] there is no kosher hotel here and I am sick of the local food. I am busy with mitzvot (good deeds) almost all day, and please God, I will be successful. Please tell me, my friend, what is the cost of a Vilna Shas [Talmud] on excellent paper, can you purchase it for me, and what is the cost of sending it to Egypt? Please God, I will be here all month.  Please write to me at the address above. How is our friend Rabbi [Jacob?] Guttmann?  Please ask him if he received a packet of manuscripts and notes [fragments?].  I'll write to him in a few days. Among the Jews here I found some venerable people and also a few Bene Torah [religious people?], according to the ancient custom. Last Sabbath I went to see the Rambam Synagogue, and in contrast, the synagogue of the Karaites. I have some more matters to tell you but I'm lazy, for our many sins [bav"h – בעו"×”]].  From here I will go with the help of God to the Land of Israel., etc. Your dear friend, Z. Schechter  

Cairo c/o Cooks Agency  בעזה

                                                                                                                                                                        1.4.96 (possibly Jan. 4, 1897)

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Posted by Shulamith Z. Berger