Geniza

The word Genizah means "reserved" or "hidden" in Hebrew.
 * Genizah **

Genizah refers to the act of discarding holy objects that carry the name of G-od.(According to the Maimonides, even texts from Talmud and Midrash, that do not carry God’s name, should be treated in this manner).We learn about the prohibition of destroying the name of god from Deuteronomy 12 3-4 : “And ye shall break down their altars.. and ye shall destroy their name out of that place. **ד ** **Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God**.” Every synagogue set aside a place (usually a box) where all these objects are discarded. When this box is filled, it is taken to a burial place. There are rules concerning the discarding of Old Torah scrolls, some keep them in the synagogue with the rest of Torah scrolls in the ark (marking them as unreadable) while other(e.g. Chassidic)burry them near a prestigious Torah scholar.

The famous Genizah is the ** Cairo Genizah ** discovered late in the nineteenth century in Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo. The quantity of materials, estimated at 220,000+ fragments.The Genizah fragments have now been archived in various libraries around the world. These documents teach us about the Jewish history and the wider economic and social history of the Mediterranean and Near East in the middle Ages.