The Proofreader’s Pen: an Early Yerushalmi Manuscript with Interpretive Glosses

Abstract

This article deals with one manuscript of Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, discovered in the Cairo Genizah (שבת_א in Ginzei Yerushalmi). About 30 marginal notes occurred in the margins of this volume, written in Hebrew and Greek, that have not been understood to date. In fact, these notes are interpretive glosses that translate rare words written in the Talmudic text. Scholars did not understand the meaning of these glosses because of their unusual form of writing: the Hebrew notes were written from left to right, while the Greek ones – in most cases – were written from right to left. These glosses are explained in detail in the article alongside some other features of this volume.