Geniza Lab

Fragment of a petition or at least a letter to a high official. ~9 lines are preserved. "... al-amīrī al-kabīrī al-ʿaḍudī al-nuṣayrī... al-ẓahrī al-ʿawnī... majd al-islām wa-l-muslimīn sayyid al-[...] fī l-ʿālamīn nuṣrat al-ghurā wa-l-mujāhidīn ʿaḍud al-mulūk wa-l-salāṭīn ḥuṣām amīr al-muʾminīn wa-lā zālat lughāt muḥāmida bi-kull lisān matluwwa...." A learner has copied some of the phrases in between the lines. In the margin there is what seems to be unrelated text in Arabic script. On verso there is Dayenu from the Passover haggada.

Inventory of books. Dating: Likely 13th century. Mentions a book in the handwriting of al-Shaykh Abū l-ʿIzz, whom Frenkel identifies as possibly identical with Abū l-ʿIzz the brother of Sitt Ghazāl, the wife of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu; possibly identical with the Abu l-ʿIzz who inherited books from Avraham ha-Ḥasid (T-S 20.44); and possibly identical with the physician Abū l-ʿIzz whose books were sold after his death (ENA 1290.16). (Information from CUDL and Allony et al.)

Inventory of books. Only 8 books listed. Not edited by Allony. (Information in part from CUDL)

Pages from a prayer book, with the title תפלת אליהו, ‘The Prayer of Elijah’, at the top of f. 1r.

Draft of a genealogy of Qariate exilarchs. Probably mid-11th century. The genealogical list of Yehezkiyahu b. Shlomo, one of the Karaites’ leaders in the 11th century. Mentions Yehezkiyahu Rosh ha-Gola b. David and Shlomo b. Yoshiyahu, Daniel b. Azarya’s grandfather. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #70) VMR

Small fragment from a state document; perhaps the tarjama of a petition from Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Ṣalaḥ. Reused to create a bifolium for a medical work, dealing with the faculties of the human body, causes of illness, and heart function in different kinds of illness, including fever. Same hand as T-S Ar.54.46, fol. 1. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: autograph medical recipe in the hand of Moses Maimonides, prescribing an emetic and other drugs. The ingredients used include sticky sugar, lemon juice, oxymel, melissa, and green mint. The fragment includes dietary advice to avoid unripe dates, jujube, green almonds, carob, green broad beans, carrots and vinegar; whereas raisins, pistachios, figs and nuts should be eaten for dessert. Verso: draft of a witness statement related to a court procedure. (Information from CUDL)

Literary, probably. Containing liturgical text or piyyut.

Text in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably literary, given the layout and the mention of the Talmudic rabbi Yosi ben Ḥanina.

Karaite liturgical (?) fragment, referring to עדת בני צדוק, ‘the community of the sadoqites'. (Information from GRU catalog via FGP)

Account in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals listing a number of goods, including chard, coriander, leek, olive oil, firewood, cheese, fresh fava beans (fūl akhḍar), a basket from the mill, and a fat chicken. On verso there is an excerpt from BT Ḥullin 3b (or a paraphrase). (Information in part from CUDL)

Two forms for legal documents in Hebrew. On the other side is a grammatical treatise in Judaeo-Arabic.

Two magical incantations against the evil eye. On the other three pages of the bifolium is a list of Torah and Prophets readings.

Recto: part of a legal document, probably a will, mentioning quantities of dinars, names of months and the phrase ‘my death’. The name Abū l-Ḥusayn is preserved. Verso: a further part of a legal document, probably the continuation of the text on recto, which was written in Fusṭāṭ in Adar 1[...] of the Seleucid era and mentions various names, including ʿAmram ha-Kohen and Abū l-Barakāt ‘... descendant of Shemaʿya Gaʾon’. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: a compilation of letter formulae or part of a form letter. In the bottom right-hand corner there is a typical sender’s formula with the name Abraham b. Benjamin ‘the pitiable teacher’ (המלמד המרוחם). Verso: an Arabic basmalla and Hebrew jottings. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Moshe b. Binyamin Ashkenazi, probably in Fustat/Cairo, to Avraham Castro, probably in Alexandria or Jerusalem. Dating: 16th century. The sender describes how "from the other week we have been shut in, because the epidemic began (כי החל הנגף). Most of those who were stricken have recovered, "except for 2 or 3 infants," but the epidemic continues in Cairo. (Information from A. David's edition.)

Toldot Yeshu. (Information from CUDL)

Toldot Yeshu, small piece from a leaf mentioning Yoḥanan and R. Yehoshuaʿ. (Information from CUDL)

Toldot Yeshu, small piece from a leaf referring to R. Yehoshuaʿ, Judas Iscariot (יהודה איסכריוטא), Shimʿon and Benjamin. (Information from CUDL)

Tale in the style of A Thousand and One Nights, told partly in the first person, mentioning a period of seven years, robbers who took all the narrator’s possessions, and a (barren) wife praying to God in the night. (Information from CUDL)