Geniza Lab

Syriac pre-Anaphora rite with rubrics in Garshuni. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Sermon in Garshuni. Mentions the flood (al-ṭūfān), the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra (...wa-amṭara ʿalayhim al-rabb... wa-kibrīt wa-l-jamr al-hamīm...), and Moses and the sons of Israel. Some sections are repeated. Information in part from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Syriac alphabet exercises and Psalms 1:6–2:3. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Garshuni poem rhymed on -nī (e.g., al-awṭānī, insānī, ikhwānī), each section punctuated by a refrain (qufl). Cf. Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Syriac alphabet exercises and Psalms 8:1a. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Recto: portion of the beginning of a Syriac hymn ‘My bones shall cry out’. This hymn is also found in the Book of Beth Gazo. It belongs to the Qolo ‘The father has written a letter,’ melody no. 2. While the rest of the Syriac fragments at the classmark Or.1081 2.75 are clearly Syriac-Orthodox based on content, this hymn is particularly anti-Nestorian, as it starts, ‘my bones shall cry out from the tomb, “The Virgin gave birth to God”.’ The hymn then goes on to state that ‘if I have any doubt’ about this, may I be thrown into Gehenna with Nestorius’. Verso: alphabetical writing exercise in Syriac, repeating ‘in the name of the Father, the Son and the Living Holy Spirit’. Dating: ca. 16th or 17th century. (Information from CUDL and Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt.")

Small fragment preserving a few words in Ladino.

Two Syriac hymns. These are writing exercises of a pupil. Written on a bifolium. 3b: "The Virgin gave birth to a wonder.” 3f: "The pure and exalted one."

"The text of the Makherzonutho or Proclamation that a deacon chants prior to the reading of the Gospel. . . [from] the Book of Anaphora, the priest's manual rather than the Tekso deacon manual." George Kiraz, "A Young Syriac Pupil in the Cairo Genizah: Or.1081 2.75.30," (Fragment of the Month, August 2018). Described as "Book of Anaphora, pre-Anaphora preparatory rite and Liturgy of the Word (with a Gospel reading from Mt, Ch. 1)" in Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Psalm 1:1–2a in Syriac. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

A couple words in Latin script, probably. "Al S[...]."

Garshuni text. Only 2.5 lines are preserved. It is difficult to make out more than "...idhā... al-wuḥūsh taftaris..." Cf. Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Syriac writing exercises. On a bifolium. Written by a pupil. Mainly consists of alphabet practice, along with religious or liturgical phrases, an incomplete Lord's Prayer in the Peshitta version, a phrase in Garshuni (al-qiddīsīn al-mumajjadīn), etc.

Document in Ottoman Turkish in divani script. Four complete lines are preserved, with wide space between the lines. In line three there is mention of a legal deed issued by a qadi court (حجت شرعية). Information provided by MCD. Needs further examination.

Accounts in Ladino, Hebrew, and western Arabic numerals. Most of the entries begin with a number in the righthand column, followed by "le devo a X," giving the name of the person to whom money is owed. Some of the entries begin with a date (e.g., היום 29 שבט). Mentions Mikhaʾel ha-Kohen (l. 9) and the Neapolitan consul (l. 11) and Yaʿaqov b. Shem Ṭov Cuerca(?) (l. 16). CUL Or.1081 2.75.9–11 may be pieces of the same document.

Fragment of an account in western Arabic numerals; no words. May be part of CUL Or.1081 2.75.8.

Tables for divination, late, entitled Urim ve-Tumim, each headed with a different question (e.g. "boy or girl?" "is this man trustworthy or not?").

Letter from David Maimonides, in ʿAydhāb, to his brother Moses Maimonides, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1170 CE. This is the last letter David wrote before he died at sea en route to India. Maimonides had ordered him to travel as far as ʿAydhāb, the Sudanese port, and not to embark on the pasage to India. But David, who had just successfully completed a daring feat, namely, crossing the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea after being separated from his caravan, accompanied only by a fellow Jew, and who did not find in ʿAydhāb goods worthwhile buying, was bent on traveling to India in order to make his voyage profitable. Information from Goitein.

Letter from Ibrāhīm, in Sunbāṭ, addressed to a Nagid. In Judaeo-Arabic. Requesting assistance for his family in time of need. His family members are all sick, and he has no money even for a medicinal syrup.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The name Yosef b. Seʿadya appears on the other side (technically recto); perhaps this is the name of the sender. The sender is in terrible straits and urges the addressee to meet with him and help him. He reminds the addressee that "when [he] was healthy," he used to do whatever the addressee asked of him no matter how unpleasant. ASE