The Noahide Commandments in the Jerusalem Talmud from a Cairo Geniza Fragment

Abstract: Numerous quotations by medieval scholars from tractate ‘Avodah Zarah of the Jerusalem Talmud are not to be found in extant texts. This has led some scholars to suggest that a long passage, probably dealing with the Noahide commandments, is missing from our extant editions. Other scholars have argued that this was not an original passage in the Jerusalem Talmud but rather a later addition known to these medieval scholars. This article presents for the first time a direct textual witness of this passage from the Cairo Geniza. This new finding raises the need to reexamine the question of the provenance of this passage.