A Thousand-Year-Old Biblical Manuscript Rediscovered in Cairo: The Future of the Egyptian Jewish Past

In the course of carrying out a project surveying synagogues in a Cairo now nearly devoid of Jews, the author rediscovered a rare medieval manuscript copy of a portion of the Bible. The manuscript, with a colophon indicating that it was copied by the scribe Zechariah Ben 'Anan in the year 1028, had been catalogued in the first half of the twentieth century but its whereabouts were unknown of late. This essay describes the manuscript's features and the process of its discovery along with numerous other rare books and manuscripts in the Karaite synagogue. It lays out a plan for retention of these treasures in Egypt as the property of the local Jewish community and a component of Egyptian national history.