Geniza Lab

16 pages of calendrical writing with molad calculations for years in the 19th century.

12 pages of calendrical writing, with molad calculations and Islamic calendar conversions, for the first decade of the 19th century.

Consecutive bifolia on the calendar in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi spanning the years 1204-07 and 1209–09 respectively.

Calendrical table. The hand is late (maybe 17th–19th c) but the year is not immediately evident.

Fragment of a calendar, including a table. Mentions the year 1667 since the destruction of the temple.

Calendar for maḥzors 258 (starting 1122 CE) through maḥzor 261 (ending 1199 CE). Will be a useful resource for dating the handful of Geniza documents that contain only the maḥzor and the year within the maḥzor. (T-S 12.30 is another document that provides some conversions, and the conversion can also be calculated).

Fragment of a calendar in a red grid, mentioning Shavuot and the 17th of Tammuz. See Goitein's notes attached to BL OR 10578C.1 (PGPID 6310).

Interesting calendrical tables including calculations for mahzor 269, along with "I wrote this for myself, Shelomo."

Calendar in grid layout. Decorated with red crescents. In Hebrew. Late.

The BL OR 10655 binder is full of calendrical fragments. This one is interesting because it provides conversions between the Hebrew and Islamic calendars, with the names of the Islamic months given in Arabic script.

Recto: Hebrew letter of appeal from the old, poor man Yosef b. Elazar ha-Kohen to Avraham ha-Sar b. Elazar. The body of the letter occupies the middle third of the page sandwiched between fulsome blessings and learned biblical quotations and lessons about the importance of charity. Verso: very neat calendrical tables with molad calculations for the years 1122/3, 1125/6, and 1129/30 CE.

Beautiful calendar for the year 1815/16 CE (5576) with information about each month in a medallion set in a floral pattern.

Tabular calendar for the year 1815/16 CE (5576), probably connected to the previous shelfmark.

This is the famous epistle/sermon generally attributed to Daniel al-Qūmisī, in Jerusalem, to his "brethren" the Qaraites, urging them to come to Jerusalem (along with a great many other matters). One passage: "Since the beginning of the exile, the Rabbanites were princes [sarim] and judges, in the days of the kingdom of Greece, the kingdom of the Romans and the Persian Magians, and those who sought the Torah could not open their mouths with the commandments of the Lord out of fear of the rabbis . . . until the arrival of the kingdom of Ishmael, since they always help the Qaraites to observe the Torah of Moses, and we must bless them [for it]. Now you are amidst the kingdom of Ishmael, and they favor those who observe the month according to the new moon. Why, then, do you fear the rabbis? . . . For by means of the kingdom of Ishmael God broke the rod of the rabbis from upon you." (Translation from Rustow, Heresy, p. 117.) This text was originally edited by Jacob Mann, and later edited and translated by Leon Nemoy in "The Pseudo-Qūmisīan Sermon to the Karaites," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research Vol. 43 (1976), pp. 49-105.

There is an 8-line note in Judaeo-Arabic that provides a mnemonic (siman) for calculating the molads (mawālīd) of the New Moons. The rest of the fragment is literary.

Collection of letters relating to the calendar controversy of 921–22. This is part of what Sacha Stern (2020) calls the Letters Miscellany: Letter 4 of 4. Bornstein (1904) called this letter ‘Ben Meir’s Second Letter’. This letter was likely written by the highest authority in Palestine, ben Meir, the Head of the Yeshiva, and likely addressed to the Iraqi/Babylonian leadership. The identity of the author emerges most clearly in his reference to his disciples’ announcement, on the Mount of Olives, of the dates of 921/2 CE (fol.7v:12), as well as from parallels with Ben Meir’s First Letter. Dating: the letter was written after Passover 922 CE, but before the New Year of that year. This date is based on the fact that the author refers to the celebration of Passover 922 as a past event (fol.7r:2) and warns his addressee not to repeat the error of Passover, but also warns his addressee to observe the New Year on the correct date (fol.8r:9-10). In the folios that survive, the author responds point by point to a letter that had been sent to him by his addressee. At this advanced stage in the dispute, the tone of the correspondence had deteriorated considerably. In several places in this letter, the author suggests somewhat perversely that the Iraqis have gone over to the Ananites, who should have been (and were once) their common enemy (fol.7r:17-18, 8v:7); and he comes close to suggesting a permanent schism between Palestinians and Iraqis (fol.8r:2-3, 8v:8; Stern notes that the meaning of these passages, however, needs a more nuanced evaluation). As in ben Meir’s First Letter, the author still lays most of the blame on Saadya (fol.7r:6-8, 8r:14-16, 8v:17-18), as if to give the Iraqis a way out of their entrenched position. (Information from Sacha Stern, The Jewish Calendar Controversy)

Calendrical tables.

Two legal notes, amidst sundry other jottings, mostly calendrical (including the names of months in both Hebrew and Romance—perhaps Ladino). The first note states that R. Eliezer Griego repaid 300 levanim out of his debt to R. Shem Ṭov. The second note states that Shem Ṭov invested 1000 levanim with the youth Yaʿaqov who will conduct business with the money 'at half profit' for a period of 1 year beginning today, Friday, 4 Sivan 5258 AM, which is 1498 CE. The name Yiṣḥaq Ḥazzan appears below, likely as a witness. On verso there is an elaborate signature of a certain Shelomo. It is not immediately clear whether Bodl. MS heb. e 103/13 belongs together with Bodl. MS heb. e 103/10–12 or not.

Calendar in the hand of Yedutun ha-Levi. Cf. Nadia Vidro, "Muslim and Christian calendars in Jewish calendar booklets: T-S K2.33" (Fragment of the Month, March 2021).

Literary work on the calendar, in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. Bodl. MS heb. f 102/36 and Bodl. MS heb. f 102/38–39 may be in Moshe's handwriting as well (and Bodl. MS heb. f 102/32–35, also calendrical, is in the hand of his brother Yedutun).