A feeling of camaraderie pervaded the fifth floor of Furst Hall on October 29 when Professor Stefan Reif delivered a talk at Revel about attitudes toward non-Jews in Genizah documents. Speaking without a microphone, Professor Reif interspersed his lecture with personal anecdotes and Yiddish sayings, and regaled the audience with stories of his time in Jew鈥檚 College, London. He made special note of his relationship with Hakham Solomon Gaon, who founded the 糖心破解版 Sephardic Studies Program, and in whose memory the lecture was dedicated. Not merely an academic analyzing dry Genizah texts, Reif is a deeply committed Jewish scholar who loves bringing the primary sources of our tradition to life.
Still, Reif is a first-rate academic. He is a leading expert on Jewish prayer, and for decades has played a key role in the Cambridge group that catalogs Genizah documents. Now retired and living in Israel, he still actively engages in teaching and research. Reif began his lecture with an overview of the amazing discovery of the Cairo Genizah, and the unique light it sheds on medieval Jewish history. He then turned to the topic of his lecture: Jewish perceptions of the 鈥渙ther,鈥 specifically non-Jews. Did medieval Jews always perceive non-Jews in a negative light, or were they sometimes 鈥渦niversalists鈥?
Reif answered this question by exploring with the audience over a dozen Genizah manuscripts of medieval prayer texts. For example, he cited a version of the ve-la-malshinim paragraph in Shemoneh Esreh that differs from the now-standard versions:
诇诪砖讜诪讚讬诐 讗诇 转讛讬 转拽讜讛, 讜诪诇讻讜转 讝讚讜谉 诪讛专讛 转注拽专, 转砖讘专 讜转讻谞讬注 讘讬诪讬谞讜 讜讛谞讜爪专讬诐 讜讛诪讬谞讬诐 讜讛诪诇砖讬谞讬诐 讜讛诪讜住专讬诐 讻讜诇诐 讻专讙注 讬讗讘讚讜 讜讻诇 讗讜讬讘讬 注诪讱 讜砖讜谞讗讬讛诐 讜爪讜专专讬讛诐 讜诪讘拽砖讬 专注转诐 诪讛专讛 讬讻谞注讜 讜讬讬砖诪讚讜 讜砖讘讜专 注讜诇 讛讙讜讬诐 诪注诇 爪讜讗专讬谞讜 讜讗诇 转转谉 诇讻讜诇诐 讜诇讻诇 讗讜讬讘讬 谞驻砖讬谞讜 讜诪讘拽砖讬 专注转讬谞讜 讘专讜讱 讗转讛 讛' 砖讜讘专 讗讜讬讘讬诐 讜诪讻谞讬注 讝讚讬诐
Apart from mentioning Christians explicitly, this formulation is far sharper than the text with which we are familiar.
On the other hand, Reif brought a Genizah version of the 鈥榓l ha-tzadikim paragraph that includes a special prayer that God protect 鈥榦sei retzonecha (鈥渢hose who do Your will鈥). From the context it would seem, Reif argued, that this category includes God-fearing non-Jews, thereby reflecting a 鈥渦niversalist鈥 attitude.
Making a general point about the historical development of Jewish prayer, Reif noted that the Genizah in particular reflects the diversity of nusa岣 ha-tefillah (the text of the liturgy) in various communities, a diversity lost as tefillah became standardized and homogenized鈥攁 process that was abetted by the advent of printing.
One of the highlights, during the Q&A following the lecture, was a distinction Reif made between historical research and the halakhic process. Asked why halakhic authorities (posekim) do not use historical evidence from the Genizah, Reif explained that the halakhah is necessarily based on a living chain of tradition, not on branches of Jewish practice that have long since vanished. Of course, as a historian, it is precisely those 鈥渓ost鈥 historical reflections of Judaism that Reif seeks to uncover.
The question was also asked how one can determine if a Genizah manuscript prayer text was authoritative in the Jewish community, and not merely someone鈥檚 unauthorized personal version. Reif responded that in some cases one can find other attestations of what might seem to be a unique version. For example, there might be a teshuvah (religious responsum) criticizing that formulation鈥攊ndicating that it was, in fact, used in some communities.
But Reif argued more broadly that even an idiosyncratic version is historically (if not halakhically) significant, since it shows that at least one Jew, or whoever uttered this prayer version, found the 鈥渟tandard鈥 version unacceptable and felt compelled to alter it. And the motives for making this alteration are worthy of study to understand the world of Judaism preserved in the riches of the Cairo Genizah.
This article was written by Ezra Brand (Revel 鈥15)
