A genizah is a place where religious writings that can no longer be used – but also secular writings that contain or may contain the name of God – are stored together with ritual objects that have become unusable.
The storage location is usually a special room or a compartment in a synagogue, but genizoth can also be found in private Jewish homes. They are usually hidden, e.g. in the synagogue attic or between the rafters, but often also in partition walls, etc.
Most genizah also contain secular items, such as texts in Hebrew script like calendars, letters, contracts, everyday literature – printed or handwritten.
And there are also many finds that come from the religious and even non-religious everyday life of Jewish communities, such as prayer shawls that have become unusable, phylacteries, but also children's caps and children's shoes.
From time to time, the genizah was emptied and its contents “buried” in a special grave in the local Jewish cemetery – but depending on the capacity of the genizah, a long period of time could elapse between the deposition and the burial.
The most significant and extensive genizah, containing around 200,000 individual items, was discovered in 1890 during renovation work at the Ben Ezra Synagogue in the Egyptian capital Cairo. The finds – some of which date back to the 8th century – have since been scattered almost all over the world, with many found in Great Britain, Russia and other countries.
In Franconia, a total of about 40 genizoth were recovered after World War II, mostly from synagogues that had been desecrated and used for other purposes, but saved by dedicated people. The Genisa-Projekt Veitshöchheim was founded in 1998 as a central office for the sifting, description, verification and inventory of the genizoth from Lower and Upper Franconia. It is affiliated with the Jewish Museum Veitshöchheim and is financially supported by the community of Veitshöchheim, the district of Lower Franconia and many other institutions. Numerous finds from various genizoth are on display in the museum.
Three genizoth have been discovered in the district of Kitzingen, namely in Altenschönbach, Hüttenheim and Wiesenbronn.
During reconstruction and renovation work in 1988/89, a very extensive genizah was discovered in the attic of the former synagogue in Altenschönbach. It was initially brought to the Jewish Research Center in Ansbach in 12 large boxes. After the center was closed, the material was first brought to the Jewish Museum in Fürth and finally to Veitshöchheim in 2002. After sorting out the severely damaged material, a total of about 1,000 individual pieces were inventoried.
During renovation work in Hüttenheim, the remains of three to four prayer books were found in the coping on the east side of the former synagogue. They were allegedly brought to the building archive of the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments in Thierhaupten.
Between 1996 and 1999, the synagogue building was thoroughly renovated and carefully converted into a residential building. During this process, the remains of a geniza were also discovered, which were, however, very badly damaged, probably by mice. The finds were handed over to the geniza project in Veitshöchheim.
During the work to renovate the roof of the former synagogue in Wiesenbronn between 2006 and 2011, the presumed remains of an extensive genizah were found in the eaves and between the rafters – but most of the Wiesenbronn genizah had probably been carelessly and indiscriminately disposed of as “garbage” around 1950 when the roof was re-tiled.
The remains that were secured from 2006 onwards were carefully recovered and documented. They were taken to Veitshöchheim to be inventoried and evaluated as part of the Genisa research project. It was found that, despite the relatively small number of finds, all the types of texts that make up the majority in the other genizahs were also represented (e.g. various prayer books, Bible translations and rituals). In addition, smaller special features were also found, such as previously unknown Yiddish literature, mezuzah scrolls or numerous lulav fragments from bouquets tied for the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).
The documented remains of the Wiesenbronn geniza formed the basis for a master's thesis by Andrea Strößner at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. This work has been published in book form in 2021, supplemented with several articles on the subject of geniza. Many of the photos of the finds were taken by Reinhard Hüßner, who acquired the building of the former synagogue a few years ago and lovingly restored it, partially returning it to its original state.
On the ground floor of the building, the former mikvah has also been uncovered and there is an exhibition worth seeing on the subject of “Jewish Life in Wiesenbronn”, including various exhibits from the geniza.
