Geniza Lab

Magical text in Hebrew and Arabic script.

Prayer/invocation in Arabic script. This piece begins with Sūrat al-Nās and ends with Sūrat al-Fātiḥa (with some errors), then yā Allāh yā Muḥammad. In between there is a prayer (transcription kindly provided by Muhammed A. Sarhan):بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم اللهم بحق هذه الآيات الشريفة أن تنقي وتنفي عن أطياف النفس والجسدمن الناس والجن والشيطان الرجيم ياللهاللهم بحق هاذه الأسرار والقرآن أن ترفعالكفر والغير في النفس وتزكي باقيها ياللهيا حق يالله الحمد لله رب العالمين الرحمن الرحيم

Prayer or magical fragment in Arabic script. Invokes Muḥammad and then has a string of magical characters. The lower fragment looks literary.

A page from a literary work on magical medical remedies.

Astrological instructions for a doctor regarding how to know the illness of a patient by using the constellation of the stars at the time of the visit. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Detailed instructions for dealing with a feverish condition, written in a good hand and betraying the practice of magic. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Magical formulary containing unusual curses on anyone pilfering a Torah scroll donated by a person on his death-bed. It contains the names of ten angels among whom 'Zeganzal' who only appears in very late sources. Some words (the angels' names?) are encircled by boxes in the text. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 337, 599)

Accounts in Arabic script with names and numbers arranged in neat columns. Needs examination. The space around this document has been filled with Judaeo-Arabic text going in all directions. Most of the Judaeo-Arabic is calendrical reckoning. But in the middle of the page: "Ibn Abū l-Faḍl al-Parnas died on 25 Tishrei 603 AH / 4967 AM," which is 1206 CE. On verso, the page is filled with a Hebrew panegyric to a certain Shelomo b. Yehuda (line 28) (if this is the famous 11th century gaon, 150 years would have to have elapsed between the poem and the Judaeo-Arabic text on the other side; though this could conceivably be a copy of an earlier poem). In the margins there are Arabic letters strung together in magical chains. In between the antepenultimate line and the penultimate line of the Hebrew poetry it says in Judaeo-Arabic "the number is 60 verses." At the very bottom, in Arabic script: al-ḥurūf al-nāṭiqa sabʿa ("the 'speaking letters' are 7"), which is followed by 7 letters that appear to be Coptic. ASE

Fragment from the Babylonian Jewish magical text Pišra de-Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa. (Information from CUDL.)

Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi agrees to bring to court a husband and his wife, the latter being accused of frightening another man's wife with practices of necromancy forbidden by religion. (Information from Mediterranean Society II, pp. 332, 599)

Bifolium. One folio is a Judaeo-Arabic translation of Exodus 21:1-17, 27:20-28. The other folio is magical instructions in Arabic script. The first few lines of the first page read, "The figure of a person with two wings, and in his hand is [...], and under his leg is a snake, and behind the seal (?). . . . Repeat the prayer/incantation and the incense(?) many times. . . ." There is a small diagram possibly containing an epsilon and a delta. There are astrological references as well (al-kawākib, al-saʿd).The first line of verso mentions "the female gods and the male," the third line mentions the knowledge of all the angels, and the lower part of the page might contain a recipe for incense involving chrysanthemum (zahr al-uqḥuwān). This page is the last of the treatise. Needs further examination. (FGP describes this as "Arabic letter on ritual slaughter.") ASE.

Formulary for a love spell (ʿazīma) in Judaeo-Arabic.

A magical spell (ʿazīma).

Magical text, including recipes for qefiẓat ha-derekh and petiḥat ha-lev. Information from FGP.

Magical text. In Judaeo-Arabic. Information from FGP.

Magical treatise in Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic.

The remnants of 8 pages of magical instructions in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic; only the parts closes to the central crease/binding have survived. ASE.

A bizarre Judaeo-Arabic composition reminiscent of "clanging" in schizophrenia: disorganized thoughts associated on the basis of sound rather than content. Notable phrases include "for every plague there is a plague," following "ʿibarah destroyed 'atarah | al-fajārah destroyed al-hijrah | al-maskadah destroyed al-Mahallah." Also "If Efrayim puts out my eye, they'll ban | if Sa'id kills me, they'll cut off | if Salim strangles me, they'll topple." There are religious preoccupations as well and some gematriyah with names of God at the end. At least 15th century, if not well after, since it mentions a finjān of qahwah. ASE.

List of the names of the masters of wind, rain, and fire who have dominion in the four seasons of the year, presumably useful for magic or astrology. It says you must also know how to invoke the master of the sky, of hidden things, of treasures, and of seeds, and of Mars, and of the other stars. But God is the most powerful. In the margin in a different hand is written 'Abd 'Alī b. Gharb Sittī wa-ahl bint Sitt [. ASE.

Recto: astrology, mentioning ṣāḥib al-ṭāliʿ several times. Verso: a continuation of recto, transitioning into a formulary for a spell of some kind that involves burying something. ASE.