Geniza Lab

Literary work in Latin. Canon law gloss or commentary that is preoccupied with wives and the theme of divorce. “Matrimonium non consumatum separatur propter religione…” and goes on to cite [the summa of Hostiensis?] “de divortiis [book] quarto” and Innocent III’s 1201 decretal “Gaudemus.” Information kindly provided by Jennifer Speed.

"A fragment of vellum containing a Latin text of a sermon by Saint Augustine — an unquestionably Christian text — is probably one of the last things you’d expect to find in the Cairo Genizah. Christian texts do find their way into the Collection, however, often as the undertext of palimpsests, as here, where a piece of vellum containing Book 2 Chapter 24 of St. Augustine’s De Sermone Domini in Monte (the Sermon on the Mount) has been reused by a Jewish scribe to write masoretic lists. The manuscript was barely scraped, or perhaps only washed, before being reused, and the Latin text, which is in a hand probably dating from the sixth century CE, is still clearly legible where it is exposed in the clear space between the columns of Hebrew text. The masoretic lists are in an early hand too, probably of the 9–10th century, and preserve notes to 1 Samuel 9, including a list of the occurrences of the plene spelling of ‘Benjamin’. As would be expected, there are a number of differences between the lists and the standard critical edition of the Masoretic Text in use today (which is based on Codex Leningrad B19a)." Information from Outhwaite, B. (2007). St Augustine in the Genizah. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, May 2007]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.40134.

Document in Latin script. Needs examination.

Literary text. Looks like Latin written in Hebrew script.

Part of Megillat ʿOvadya, the autobiographical account of the conversion and travels of ʿOvadya the 12th-century Norman proselyte. See Goitein's article for a detailed discussion. Among other interesting features, this fragment includes two lines from the Vulgate text of Joel III, transcribed into Hebrew characters. For transcription and translation, see https://johannes-obadiah.org/, "Obadiah Memoir," II and III.

Palimpsest containing the Latin text of a sermon by St. Augustine. See CUL Add.4320a-d and Outhwaite, B. (2007). St Augustine in the Genizah. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, May 2007]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.40134.

A transliterated Latin prayer (borrowed from a Christian thief-catching ordeal), an Arabic version of a gnostic saying of Secundus the Silent Philosopher, a Hebrew praise of God, an Aramaic recipe for path-jumping and the beginning of an Aramaic recipe (for revelation?) to be performed before the Torah-ark (קדם ארונא) of the synagogue. Information from GRU catalog via FGP and Bohak, "Catching a Thief," (2006).

Literary text. Printed. In Latin and Hebrew. On sacrifices.