Geniza Lab

Recto: poetry or rhymed prose probably by Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī (active ca. 1300). The content of recto is difficult to figure out but mentions economic crisis (shidda, ghalāʾ) in Egypt, people running away to Anṭākiya, and also a vignette about people who prosper during difficult times, this section mentions purchasing slaves in دنقلا (Dongola, Sudan). Verso: Long poem of praise for God ending “I am Nāṣir and as long as I vanquish my enemies [I’ll keep praising you]." ASE

Popular literature. Small fragment in rhymed Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

Rhymed prose in Judaeo-Arabic, perhaps with a bit of Hebrew. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. One side involves a physician; the other side involves a retelling of the story of Moses bringing down the Torah. This is one of the fragments that he signs (אנא אלאדיב נאצר).

Hebrew poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. Mentions Yefet Rosh Qehillot, Avraham Sar [...], Yiṣḥaq, Yehuda, and Moshe. Perhaps a poem of gratitude or patronage, but this conjecture is complicated by the phrase המלוך תמלוך, a reference to the story of Joseph.

Verso: Judaeo-Arabic poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. Possibly lampooning someone for his poor hospitality.

Judaeo-Arabic love poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. On verso there are also pen trials.

Judaeo-Arabic poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. There is the end of one poem (an elegy) and the beginning of another one "for someone who died by drowning."

Small fragment containing Judaeo-Arabic poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

Recto: Judaeo-Arabic poem for a groom in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. Verso: Poem by Bahāʾ al-Dīn Zuhayr (d. 1258) in lovely Arabic script. There are three inverted commas/teardrops at the end of each hemistich. The Arabic version of the poem can be found here: https://www.aldiwan.net/poem42448.html.

Judaeo-Arabic poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. Very faded. Mentions qalb... aḥbab...

Psalms 34:14-23 with a חזק at the end. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

Judaeo-Arabic poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. Many or all of the verses begin "Yā Nafs," followed by various exhortations. Possibly related to the later "Yā Nafs" poem(s) discussed by Rachel Hasson in her September 2020 Fragment of the Month.

Recto: Aphorisms in Judaeo-Arabic in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. Strangely, for an often-humorous poet, he includes "the one who abandons laughter [is rewarded?] with fear (of God)" (apparently a variant of the still-current من ترك الضحك منح الهيبه). Verso: Wine poem in Judaeo-Arabic, also in Nāṣir's hand.

Recto and verso: Hebrew composition in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

One side: Rhymed text (-hū) in Hebrew. The other side: Rhymed text (-hū) in Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

Hebrew composition(s) in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

Poem in Hebrew in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. May address the city of Tyre and its sages.

Poetry in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. One of the poems appears to be macaronic (uses both languages).

The Midrash of Solomon’s throne, containing passages also found in T-S Ar.16.25 and T-S Ar.18(2).115, fol. 3 (identification and references by Oded Zinger). This is in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

Poem(s) in Judaeo-Arabic containing advice for the lovesick, written as a faux medical prescription. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. The recto contains a marriage contract dated 1298 CE. Nāṣir made a pair of bifolios by making a horizontal cut across the ketubba and then placing a vertical crease in each of the resulting halves. Probably the upper bifolio nested inside of the lower bifolio, as the lower bifolio contains both the beginning and the end of the text. (Information in part from Cecilia Palombo and Goitein's attached notes.) ASE