A groundbreaking Israeli-based initiative is opening an unprecedented window into one of Judaism’s greatest manuscript treasures: the Cairo Genizah . For the first time, researchers and the public can access automatic transcriptions of nearly 400,000 fragments—some 160 million words across Hebrew, Arabic, Judeo-Arabic and additional languages—making the entire collection searchable in seconds.

Housed for centuries in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, Old Cairo, the Cairo Genizah contains more than 300,000 handwritten pieces preserved between the 9th and 19th centuries. Jewish law forbids discarding sacred texts that contain God’s name, leading communities to store worn-out manuscripts, prayer books, legal documents, business ledgers, marriage contracts, medical prescriptions and everyda

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