August 21, 2026 Categories: Middle East / Levant / News Briefs / Religion / Archaeology
Israel to Display Ancient Jewish Texts from Afghanistan
A special event next week at the National Library of Israel will debut a display of ancient Jewish texts found in a cave in Afghanistan. The library purchased 29 of the discovered texts.
The texts are approximately 1,000 years old and were written in either ancient Persian or Arabic. They are predominantly legal or commercial documents, except for an Arabic commentary on the book of Isaiah, attributed to post-Talmudic Jewish leader Rabbi Saadiah Gaon.
Archaeologists verified the documents’ date by carbon-dating microscopic portions. Despite being written on paper, rather than parchment, the documents remain well preserved, most likely due to the climate in the cave, reported Israel National News.
