Norman Golb and His Contribution to the Study of Jewish Manuscripts

Norman Golb (b. 1928) was a noted orientalist and Hebraist, a long-time professor in the Institute of Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago, who passed away in late 2020. The variety of his research areas ranged from ancient to medieval Jewish history, with focus in Hebrew manuscripts. This range includes the Dead Sea Scrolls (where he suggested the Jerusalem origin hypothesis in 1980), Jewish Arabic manuscripts, Khazars and Rus’, and medieval Jews in Normandy. In 1962, in the Cambridge University Library, Norman Golb discovered a unique document – the so-called Kievan Letter from the Cairo Geniza. This source possibly narrated about the Jewish community in Kiev (today Kyiv) and, in fact, became the oldest authentic document mentioning the city of Kiev as well as an important testimony to the Jewish presence in Kievan Rus. His further long-term cooperation with American-Ukrainian orientalist Omeljan Pritsak of Harvard University gave birth to their book Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century (1982). At the same time, many of Golb’s ideas and suggestions looked controversial to other scholars, especially in Qumran studies, where he opposed those who support the Essene hypothesis, and Rus / Khazarian studies, where he (together with Pritsak) faced critique of the Kievan Letter’s interpretation. Some researchers still agree with Golb that the Letter belongs to the 10th century (there is Constantine Zuckerman who even tries to determine exact years of this century), however, others consider the specific language of the document dating it two centuries forward. There are also some other questions which remain to be discussed in respect to this manuscript. On one hand, this lecture examines the academic legacy of Norman Golb, and on the other hand, it illustrates various responses and debates on his ideas and hypotheses.