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The Ben Ezra synagogue in Fostat, the ancient quarter of Cairo. The upper entrance at the rear of the building leads to the women’s gallery. Access to the Genizah is through an opening into an inner wall of this upper gallery. In the 11th and 12th centuries, when this synagogue began to serve Fostat, it was a major center of Jewry—visited and lived in by the most eminent Jewish scholars of their day.