Acknowledgements
This book celebrates 50 years since the founding of Cambridge University Library’s Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit (GRU) in February 1974. In truth, the creation of the GRU was the culmination of a Cambridge Genizah project that began more than eight decades earlier. Everyone at the modern GRU and everyone who contributed to this volume owes some part of their work to the Cambridge scholars and librarians who ensured that the Cairo Genizah collections survived in the form that we know them today. They include, but certainly are not limited to: Solomon Schechter, Charles Taylor, Agnes Lewis, Margaret Gibson, Francis Jenkinson, Ernest Worman, Alwyn Faber Scholfield, Israel Abrahams, Herbert Loewe, Jacob Leib Teicher, Nicholas de Lange, Henry Knopf, Shelomo Dov Goitein, Stefan Reif, and countless conservators and support staff at Cambridge University Library.
All the authors who contributed to this book have worked for the GRU at some point since 1974. Over five decades, they helped foster an environment of collegiate support and collaboration, with scholars from around the world contributing to new discoveries in Cambridge every day. We are also indebted to the many other staff and volunteers who have been part of the GRU throughout its storied history, but who did not author any chapters in this book, including: Colin Baker, Eileen Bentham, Menachem Ben-Sasson, Samuel Blapp, Sumayyah Bostan, Karen Collis, Vasile Condrea, Daniel Davies, Malcolm Davis, Mrs. Stewart Deane, Emily Downes, Gabriele Ferrario, Alex Green, Viktor Golinets, Haim Gottschalk, Ludmila Ginsbursky, Joshua Granat, Eleazur Gutwirth, Nicola Hays, Simon Hopkins, Erica Hunter, Haskell Isaacs, Oded Irsay, Daniel Isenberg, Penelope Johnstone, Michael Klein, Douglas de Lacey, Brendel Lang, Shirley Lund, Sandra McGivern, Shelomo Morag, Hagay Nahmias, Friedrich Niessen, Hector Patmore, Debbie Patterson-Jones, Shulie Reif, Ben Richardson, Mark Scarlata, Amitai Spitzer, Zvi Stampfer, David Tene, Esther-Miriam Wagner, Ellis Weinberger, Ernest Wiesenberg, and Dalia Wolfson.
We would further like to thank the many visiting scholars who have shared their expertise and brightened the Unit office over these many years, including: Haggai Ben-Shammai, Gideon Bohak, Robert Brody, Barak Cohen, Dov Cohen, Zina Cohen, Edna Engel, Schmuel Glick, Yechiel Kara, Michael Lerner, Victor Lebedev, Efraim Lev, José Martínez Delgado, Maaravi Perez, Michael Rand, Marina Rustow, Ortal-Paz Saar, Jacob Sussman, and Joseph Yahalom.
Thank you to all of our colleagues who helped to improve this book at every stage of production, including: Catherine Ansorge, Estara Arrant, Amir Ashur, Fred Astren, Ani Avetisyan, Vince Beiler, Frank Bowles, Rufty Buffman, Orietta Da Rold, Alan Elbaum, Simon Franklin, Aaron Hornkohl, Geoffrey Khan, Marc Herman, Rebecca Jefferson, Julia Krivoruchko, Suzanne Paul, Maciej Pawlikowski, Kim Phillips, Melonie Schmierer-Lee, Liam Sims, Janet Soskice, Zvi Stampfer, Susana Torres Prieto, Nadia Vidro, and Moshe Yagur. Thank you to Marlou Meems for her excellent work in typesetting and proofing the text.
Thank you to the Leverhulme Trust, the Isaac Newton Trust, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Cambridge Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, and the Cambridge University Library for their financial support in the production of this volume. We are particularly grateful to the Leverhulme Trust, the Cambridge University Library, and Brill for enabling its open access publication.
Personal thanks to Sophia Johnson, Makoto Takahashi, and Smadar Outhwaite for their constant support as this project has evolved. Thank you to Jill Whitelock for giving us the freedom to undertake an anniversary celebration in the first place.
Special thanks to Sarah Sykes (Unit Research Support & Admin) for keeping the GRU machine running for the last 23 years when the rest of us lose the forest for the trees. In particular, her records helped us track down many former GRU staff and associates in the initial planning phase of this book. Thank you to Melonie Schmierer-Lee for her boundless passion and support for the entire Unit over the years. Thank you to Ben Outhwaite, our fearless leader, who has done his best to evade taking credit for anything he did to make this book a reality. Finally, thank you to Stefan Reif for founding the GRU and for his devotion to Genizah research over the last 50 years. We hope that our work today lives up to his vision in 1974.
Nick Posegay
Magdalen M. Connolly
Ben Outhwaite
February 2024