Geniza Lab

Medical treatise in Hebrew, 8 pages, with magical/astrological/demonic elements.

Astrological text in Arabic script. Reused for Hebrew liturgical text.

Detailed astrological table in Judaeo-Arabic. Gives the auspicious days for such activities as "demanding rights," "imḍā' al-dīwān" (?), and going to the bathhouse. ASE

Literary text in Judaeo-Arabic. Giving alchemical recipes, occult correspondences between celestial objects and metals (called ʿaqāqīr), and handy recipes for getting stains, e.g. saffron stains, out of clothing.

Diagrams, text, and calculations of an astrological/astronomical nature, perhaps also magical. Arabic, late.

Arabic booklet on astrological prognostications.

Astrological text. In Arabic script. A list of celestial objects in various configurations.

Astrological text in Arabic script, with interspersed words transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic (late hand) in the spaces between the lines. This demonstrates that even some Jews who could write Judaeo-Arabic very well couldn’t read Arabic or the transcriber was beginning to create an edition in Judaeo-Arabic for non-Arabic readers. The names of the planets in Arabic are transcribed as is in Judaeo-Arabic and not translated into Hebrew which could be because the entire scientific literature of that period was in Arabic.

Recto: Two lines in Arabic script, probably a petition to a Fatimid vizier "al-Wazīr al-Ajal Ṣafiyy Amīr l-Mumineen wa-khāliṣihi". In Judaeo-Arabic, between the lines and upside down, "God guard the servant of the Shaykh Abū ʿImrān." Verso: Prognostications in Judaeo-Arabic. If the year is born in Gemini (الجوزاء): harvests will be rich, the Nile will flood, the cattle will die, a skin disease will break out, and the Byzantines will set sail and their ships will founder. The noblest kings will die and fitna will break out. There will be many refugees. It ends "allāhu aʿlam bi-l-ghayb" (only God knows the unknown). ASE.

Recto: Names of planets in Judaeo-Arabic, scribbled out. Verso: Geomancy markings.

Astrological composition in Judaeo-Arabic, in both black ink and red ink.

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)

Carefully executed horoscope, written out by the cantor and court clerk Hillel b. Eli (ca. 1066-1100) and most probably ordered from a professional astrologer. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 233, 476, and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from a man, in al-Maḥalla, to his son or younger relative. In Judaeo-Arabic, elegantly written. Lines 1-4: A Judaeo-Arabic poem, damaged. Lines 5-12: Opening blessings. The writer reports receipt from Abū l-Majd of the carpet, two turbans (miqʿaṭayn), and the gold leaf. He requests a letter from the recipient. Lines 12-17: The writer suffered an attack of burnt yellow bile one night. He tried every medicine to no avail, but continues to take a half dose of medicine each day. He has been proscribed eating anything at all or drinking wine, and he is in great distress from this. Lines 17-19: Fortunately, the astrologers are all in agreement that his good fortune is imminent starting on the eighteenth of this month. Lines 20-22: “Do not worry if you hear that somebody drowned in al-Maḥalla. It was a youth named Abū l-Faraj, known as Abū l-Faraj b. al-Sunbāṭī.” Lines 22-25: Greetings to the recipient, the mother, the paternal aunt, the maternal aunt, and the old man, likely the father, Abū ʿUmar or Abu ʿUmr (which may be a kunya for a man who has a child at an old age; cf. DK 238.4, lines 19 and 23). ASE.

Astrological text, divided into sections, each dealing with an aspect of life. In Judaeo-Arabic. Information from Baker/Polliack catalog.

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.

Leaf 1: end of a discussion of the cycles of each planet and their astrological importance, followed by a description of each of the planets. Leaf 2: end of a discussion of the influence of the zodiac signs on people born in them, followed by calendrical-astrological discussions, a discussion of the planets and their servants (בול, סין, אריס, כון, בילתיי, etc) and their influence on people born in them, and a horologion with angelic names. (Information from CUDL)

12 pages of astrological/medical prognostications—horoscopes for male and female. E.g., "Mazal sarṭan lineqeva. La ke su mazal es en sartan sera fermosa de forma y gorda de kuerpo y de mucha karne y buenos ojos y buena su voz y alta de kuerpo y buen kabello y ciegara de sus ojos. Y de año y medio adolecera y terna (=tendrá) mucha fazienda y engrandecera a sus parientes y ayudara a ellos y se alegrara kon ellos y no terna mala fama. Es angustiada kada hora por muchos celos de la fermosura y de la fazienda y la tacharan sus parientes u otros y su marido la kera (=querrá) bien en su koraxon y adolecera de cinco anos y de trenta y ocho y de kuarenta y nueve y de 64 y de ochenta y kuatro. Morira de enfermedad de kalientura y tiene senial en sus tetas y en sus manos y en su vientre y en su kojenturas y en su kaveza ferida." (Information from http://www.investigacion.cchs.csic.es/judeo-arabe/sites/investigacion.cchs.csic.es.judeo-arabe/files/Genizah-Al-Andalus.pdf.)

Description of disasters, famines and frightful events due to happen in each of the Jewish months, mentioning the Jews and their slavery, the Arabs and their need for food, and the River Nile and its drought. (Information from CUDL)