Geniza Lab

Recto: Hebrew prayer. Verso: last lines of an autograph responsum by Maimonides, and part of a liturgical text in Hebrew. (Information from CUDL.) See Outhwaite, B. (2007). "Two New Responsa of Moses Maimonides." [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, April 2007]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.34048.

Opening of a faded letter written (and signed) by Avraham Maimonides, addressed to the the Great Dayyan [...] b. Yosef - probably Anatoly b. Yosef. AA

Autograph letter from Maimonides to a judge. The addressee is asked to mediate between the bearer Abū l-Fakhr and his legal opponent Abū l-Maḥāsin. If he is unable to do that, he should at least make one of them take an oath that he has no property 'neither here nor anywhere else.' (Information from CUDL and Friedman, Dictionary, 75, 116–17, 141, 165.)

Autograph responsum by Moses Maimonides. (Information from CUDL)

Short and torn note written by David b. Avraham Maimuni to the Nasi. AA

Small fragment from a letter by Yehoshu’a ha-Nagid (date: 14th century) to Abu al-Faraj the beadle.

A Maimonides autograph of his commentary on the Mishna (Kelim 8:9). (Information in part from FGP.)

Recto: Maimonides’ autograph draft of a 3-line poem he composed and included at the beginning of his philosophical work ‘Guide for the Perplexed’. Verso: letter in a different hand (not that of Maimonides) to Joseph b. Judah (possibly Ibn ʿAqnin, a student of Maimonides). The letter continues overleaf(?), along with diverse jottings. (Information from CUDL)

Draft of document of Maimonides' installation as Ra'is al-Yahud.

Recto is a draft of a poem in praise of Moses Maimonides by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi.

Letter fragment addressed to Maimonides. There is a lengthy introduction, and a few words of the body, in which the writer reports that he received the letter of Maimonides reporting that the wine was deposited with Umm Manṣūr. See Ashur, A. (2010). A new letter to Maimonides, T-S Misc.28.98. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, 2010]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.55278.

Recto: Legal query sent to Maimonides along with his autograph responsum. This was published by Goitein as well as Blau, Maimonides Responsa, no. 283. Verso: Draft of a long dirge in Hebrew, in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, upon the death of three prominent members of the Jewish community: the rabbis Shemuel, Shelomo and Yiṣḥaq. These three figures were identified by M. A. Friedman as the judges in Maimonides’ court, see Friedman, India Book IVA, pp. 36–37. Shemuel is Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi, who died in 1203. (Information in part from Amir Ashur's Fragments of the Month, April 2011, November 2016.)

Codification of Jewish law, by the hand of Joseph Rosh Ha-Seder, mentioned by Scheiber and Abramson. Also a responsum by Maimonides to Efraim from Tyre (See Blau, Responsa, III, p. 156)

Letter describing two meetings with physicians. At least part of the letter is addressed to the sender's mother. The first meeting was a visit to Maimonides, who discussed medical topics with the writer, who intends to being a course of study in medicine as soon he sorts out an issue with his brother and maternal aunt. The second was with another physician who visited the writer, checked his pulse, examined a flask of his urine, and prescribed barley water (kashk shaʿīr). Mention is made of a trip to Alexandria. The fragment mentions others and their wealth and very large debts: Abū Manṣūr, Abū l-Maḥāsin, Rīḍā al-Dawla, Ibn Hillel. It also mentions several distinguished physicians apart from Maimonides. (Information in part from CUDL)

Draft of a letter that was not sent. A question that was addressed to Maimonides about remission of debts. (Information from Goitein, Tarbiz, 28, 1959: 195-196). VMR

Letter probably addressed to Moshe Maimonides, based on the importance of the addressee and the blessing for his son Avraham to occupy his office. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender fulfilled the addressee's orders to approach each family of the Jews of Ashqelon, even though this brought him a degree of humiliation (zilzul). (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 614–15). EMS.

Documentary per FGP, but all fragments look literary. Mainly Maimonides, plus a Qaraite siddur.

Documentary per FGP, but all fragments look literary. There are dozens of sub-shelfmarks, some Maimonides, ha-Rif and Rashi