Can Computers Break Codes of Cairo Genizah?

By Hand and Machine: Lucy Cheng works to preserve fragments from the Cairo genizah at Cambridge University in Britain. Image by Cambridge University Library
The Friedberg Genizah Project will use a high performance computer network at Tel Aviv University to break the codes of the Cairo Genizah.
The project, announced on Sunday, will match up pieces of over 200,000 ancient manuscripts discovered more than 100 years ago in the Cairo Genizah.
Most of the fragments of pages, documents and books recovered from the genizah and spread to universities and museums throughout the world have been digitally photographed and enhanced through the project.
The site was uncovered in 1895, a sealed loft inside the ancient Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo which functioned between the 8th century and 17th century. The vast collection of manuscripts found inside the crypt date back as far as 1,000-years ago and represent a remarkable millennium-long continuum of religious and regional history. The find comprised the largest and most diverse collection of medieval manuscripts ever found.
The Friedberg Genizah Project established Genazim in 2006, to advance the Cairo Genizah’s slow-moving documentation process. The database is accessible to both scientists and laypeople. The Friedberg Genizah Project was established in 2007 with a multi-million dollar grant by Canadian hedge-fund mogul, Dr. Albert Friedberg
The latest project involves more than 100 linked computers at Tel Aviv University that will analyze millions of pairings in an effort that will take about five weeks.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.