Geniza Lab

An amulet in quirky Arabic script. The main section is Quran 3:18.

Amulet for Abū Saʿd b. Baldīn (?) to annul the evil wishes of his enemies and make everyone love him. In Hebrew, Aramaic, and nomina barbara.

Letter from Mordekhai ha-Levi Mizraḥi, probably in Meron or Safed, to Moshe Ḥayyim and Yiṣḥaq Ḥayyim, unknown location. This fragment also contains the end of the letter from ENA 2634.2 (dated: 7 Av, 5656 AM, which is 1896 CE). Written in Hebrew, by a professional Ashkenazi scribe. The writer is a maker of amulets and segulot who has gone at least partially blind. He complains about his tremendous expenses paying for the scribe who had to repeat the amuletic drawing "50 times" and paying for a postal delivery (הפוסטה), because he initially trusted Agha Baba Tehrani to deliver the letters and amulets, but that man absconded and failed him, leaving no option but to use the post. (All this seems to be by way of exhorting the addressees to reimburse him for his pains.) He mentions the same ʿEzra from the preceding letter and Avraham Dayyan in the context of the amulets and segulot for conceiving a male child. ASE.

Letter from Mordekhai ha-Levi Mizraḥi, probably in Meron or Safed, to Agha Meir b. Eliyyahu, unknown location. The letter continues onto the upper part of ENA 2634.1. Dated: 7 Av, 5656 AM, which is 1896 CE. Written in Hebrew, by a professional Ashkenazi scribe. The writer is a maker of amulets and segulot who has gone at least partially blind. In this letter he describes in detail how to make an amulet for a woman to conceive a male child: it should be engraved on refined silver, the person who makes it must be in a state of purity and fasting, and a human figure should be drawn with the appropriate dimensions (including a large belly) and filled in with the appropriate letters. Psalm 121 should be engraved underneath the figure and the priestly blessing above the figure. When the time of birth comes near, the pregnant woman should dress herself entirely in linen, and the boy should be dressed only in linen until age 3, and even better if that continues until age 10. The addressee is also to light oil lamps for the soul of Rashbi and R. Meir Baʿal ha-Nes. Mordekhai reminds the addressee in a roundabout way to send him money (lirot) for his pains. He also seems to instruct the addressee to name the newborn son Mordekhai after him. He asks again for money, for he and his son Yiṣḥaq are in difficult straits. He also mentions a certain M. ʿEzra b. Yaʿaqov Dā'ūdī in the addressee's location. ASE.

Amulet in Arabic script with a humanoid figure, magic squares, and seals.

Amulet in Aramaic and Hebrew against various afflictions, such as "scare-crows of the night, afflictions, fever, ague, fear of evil, the voice, the crushing of the viscera. . . and the Succuba." Information from Gottheil-Worrell, Fragments from the Cairo Genizah, p. 106.

Block printed amulet.

A love spell/amulet for {Ḥayyim the son of ʿAzīza} and {Senyora the daughter of {Ashkenaz and {Sara the daughter of {Senyora and {Ḥayyim the son of Esther and {Avraham the son of Ḥava and {Yāqūtī the son of Ḥava}}}}}}. The genealogy seems highly ambiguous, and even the names of the would-be lovebirds, since the brackets could be placed practically anywhere. ASE.

Amulet for a certain Mordekhai.

Amulet for the boy Shabbetay Refa'el Ḥayyim b. Simḥa. In Hebrew. Probably late.

Amulet in Aramaic.

Amulet in Hebrew.

Amulet in calligraphic Hebrew for Eliyyahu b. Esther.

Amulet for Ḥana bt. Rivqa. In Aramaic and Hebrew. Probably late. Against the evil eye and other bad things.

A block printed amulet, including الاسماء الحسنى. Information from Gideon Bohak via FGP.

Amulet for Ḥalfōn b. Ghāliya desiring the effect that his wife Sitt al-Ahl Hilāla bt. Malīḥa should keep her love for him. Also that he find favor in the eyes of the judge and all people. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Amulet to protect Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen gaʾon b. Shelomo gaʾon (1127–39 CE), destroy his political enemies, and succeed before the government. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yeḥezqel b. Eli ha-Kohen (identification based on comparison with DK 233.2), evidently in Jerusalem, to Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan b. Isḥāq al-Ṣārifī (!), in Fustat. The letter is in Judaeo-Arabic and the address is in Arabic. Dating: second half of the 11th century. Apart from the handwriting comparison, there are at least two other reasons to identify the writer as Yeḥezqel b. Eli: (1) the suftaja (money order) of the rayyis is mentioned in line 17 of this document and line 19 of DK 233.2, and (2) the same bearer is listed underneath the address, ʿUmar b. Yūsuf and his son. Whereas DK 233.2 is dated 21 Adar II, this letter does not bear a date, but mentions a letter from the addressee that arrived on 22 Heshvan. Probably DK 233.2 and T-S Misc.28.171 were not sent together. The writer reports on the epidemic (dever) raging in Jerusalem. The first letter of the word דבר is mostly missing, and it bears the wrong vowel, but the context supports the reading of דבר. It is only Wednesday, and already there have been five funerals this week. The writer mentions children, women, and his paternal uncle "in their number" (the sick? the dead?). He adds, "Many people are ʿalā l-qibla." This phrase does not appear in the Judaeo-Arabic dictionaries. Perhaps it means "praying," or specifically praying in the area of the Temple. The writer touches on various things that he wants the addressee to do for him in Fustat (one of them is reminding the Rayyis Abū l-Ṭayyib about the money order), sends regards to Umm Wahbān, reports that he received the medicine (dawā') sent with ʿAmmār, and reports that he has sent the amulet (? this word looks very much like קמיע but the reading is not certain) of Ibn al-Kohen to the addressee, along with a sealed letter from him. ASE.

Scorpion amulet. Cf. JRL SERIES B 5682, ENA NS 73.12, and T-S AS 143.2