The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

KLEIN Cairo Genizah Targum Texts 29
group is Targum Jonathan of the Prophets with some 400 (= 25%)
fragments. Most of these belong to Haftarah collections rather than
complete texts of the prophets. This reflects the persistence of the
custom to recite the Targum of the Haftarot in the medieval
synagogue, and is related to the introductory poems in praise of
Jonathan ben 'Uzziel that were cited above. Of special interest are
those manuscripts that preserve Haftarah readings that are otherwise
unattested in the annual and triennial cycles. The remainder of the
collection is primarily divided among Targum to the hagiographa (24
fragments or 1.5%), Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch
(approximately 75 fragments of 4.7%), targumic toseftot (30 or
1.8%) and targumic poems (55 or 3.4%). 27
Conclusion
Over a century has elapsed since the major distribution of the Cairo
Genizah among western libraries. Nevertheless, the resultant Genizah
collections have yet to be fully studied, and many important texts
await editing and publication. The above-mentioned Genizah collections
continue to hold in store hundreds of targumic treasures, and
many more scholarly surprises for future researchers in almost every
field of Jewish Studies.
27. For additional details, see M.L. Klein, Targumic Manuscripts in the
Cambridge Genizah Collections (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press for
Cambridge University Library, 1992), Introduction, pp. 1-2.