JL;DR SUMMARY Solomon Schechter's discovery of the Cairo Geniza in 1896, a collection of discarded Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic manuscripts from the Ben Ezra Synagogue, revealed a trove of Jewish historical and literary treasures, including writings from the Exilarchs, Jewish philosophers like Saadya Gaon and Maimonides, and poets such as Shmuel Ha-nagid and Yehuda Halevi. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.