The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

32 The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context
the Cairo Genizah and the manner of its removal from an oriental
Jewish community to academic institutions in the West.
The earliest occurrences in Hebrew literature of the root gnz are in
the books of Ezekiel, 1 Chronicles and Esther where it refers to the
storage of valuable items, with a similar usage in the Aramaic sections
of Ezra. 5 Given that the first of these examples carries the Persian
suffix -ok and that aspects of these texts may reflect a Persian imperial
environment, it is probable that the entry into Hebrew was through
Persian. Nevertheless, the root is attested not only in Hebrew and
Aramaic but also in Arabic, Ethiopic and Late Babylonian with the
meanings of 'hide', 'cover' and 'bury' and it is not impossible that it
had authentic Semitic origins. 6 In the talmudic-midrashic literature of
the first few Christian centuries it carries similar senses and is used to
describe special treasures stored away by God, such as the Torah and
the souls of the righteous. 7 In the halakhic part of such literature,
however, it takes on a technical sense describing the removal from
circulation of some item that is or has at some stage been regarded as
sacred, whether legitimately or illicitly, and is now ruled inappropriate
for ritual use. Such items may include religious texts controversially
purporting to be canonical or authoritative, materials once
used in worship, capricious transcriptions of the tetragrammaton, or
effects about whose status there is unresolvable doubt. 8 As Jewish law
developed and synagogal ritual became more formalized, it became
customary for communities to set aside a beth genizah, or simply
genizah, into which could be consigned texts of the Hebrew Bible that
5. Ezek. 27.24; 1 Chron. 28.11; Esth. 3.9; 4.7; Ezra 5.17; 6.1; 7.20.
6. BOB, p. 170; E. Ben Yehudah, Thesaurus Totius Hebraitatis et Veteris et
Recentioris (Berlin, New York, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, 1910-59), II, pp. 812-13;
Hebraisches und Aramaisches Lexikon zum Alien Testament von L. Koehler und
W. Baumgartner (ed. W. Baumgartner; Leiden, 1967), I, p. 191. At the Dublin
conference at which a version of this paper was given, both Michael Stone and
Stephen Kaufman expressed preference for the theory of a Persian origin.
7. Examples may be found in t. Pe'ah 4.18 (ed. M.S. Zuckermandel, p. 24);
Sifrey, Devarim, paragraphs 305 and 354 (ed. L. Finkelstein, pp. 326-27 and 416);
y. Ber. 8.7 (12c); b. Sab. 88b and 152b, Bes. 16a and Hag. 12a.
8. The halakhic sense is fully discussed in Talmudic Encyclopaedia, VI
(Jerusalem, 1965), cols. 232-39. Examples of the relevant texts may be found in
Mishnah, Pes. 4.9, Sot 3.3, San. 10.6 and Mid. 1.6; Sifrey, Devarim, paragraph
36 (ed. L. Finkelstein, p. 66); y. Sab. 2.3 (4d) and Meg. 1.13 (72b); b. Sab. 30b,
Pes. 62b, Meg. 26b and Gin. 45b.