An alphabet of Aramaic proverbs from the Cairo Genizah and its place within Jewish tradition

This article presents a previously unpublished alphabetically arranged collection of Aramaic proverbs from the Cairo Genizah (Oxford MS. Heb. g.8/14), including transcription, translation and commentary. The collection exhibits linguistic features of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic that suggest composition in late antique Palestine. While bearing connections to the Alphabet of Ben Sira and rabbinic literature, it also contains substantial independent material, including one proverb with a parallel in the Words of Ahiqar from Elephantine. Taken together with other similar compilations, it illuminates a broader literary practice in the Jewish world of creating Aramaic proverb compilations loosely associated with Ben Sira.