Geniza Lab

Two copies of a poem by Avraham ben Yiju, praising Maḍmūn and cursing his enemies. T-S 8J16.23 is written in the hand of Ben Yiju himself, while the AIU fragment is written in the calligraphic square hand of a scribe. The poet signs his name in an acrostic: ABRHM ḤZQ YJW. The poem is about how Maḍmūn's enemies requited his kindness with treachery. But these enemies were ultimately compelled to acknowledge Maḍmūn's titles Sar and Nagid. Dating: ca. 1140–44 CE. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book II.)

Recto: "The remainder of an epistle to an important dignitary. The first four lines preserved are in verse but the metre is very faulty. . . The person thus eulogized was evidently a Levite and was influential at the court" (Mann). The writer prays that he will find favor in the eyes of the king, the deputy, the ladies of the court, the eunuchs, the ministers, the nobles, and all who see him. Verso: Targum of Samuel.

Either a poem or letter in rhymed prose addressed to a dignitary, probably a Gaon, who is a Kohen.

Panegyric addressed Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. ʿAṭā' (aka Avraham b. Natan), the Nagid of Qayrawān. Of note, this copy was probably made during Ibrāhīm's lifetime (perhaps ca. 1015 CE), as his name is followed by a blessing for longevity. See discussion and translation in Ann Brener, Isaac ibn Khalfun : a wandering Hebrew poet of the eleventh century, pp. 74–78, 116–17.

Panegyric for a certain Elʿazar. In Hebrew.

Panegyric to Rav Ḥananel, perhaps on the occasion of the birth of a son. Quite faded.

Qadish containing praise for an exilarch: “May He make great his welfare and the welfare of his generation like the water of the Euphrates. . . . May he be as a tree planted along water, sending forth its shoots by a stream; it does not sense the coming of heat, its leaves are ever fresh; it has no care in a year of drought, it does not cease to yield fruit” (Jer 17:8). Information from Decter, Dominion Built of Praise, 72–74.

Panegyric dedicated to Yaḥyā b. Avraham. See Penn catalog (https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0002/html/h318.html) for detailed description and potential identifications.

Panegyric by Yeshuʿa b. Dunash b. Moshe Av Bet Din dedicated to the brothers Simḥa and Netanel b. Mesabar(?). See Penn catalog (https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0002/html/h325.html) for further description and potential identifications.

Lower fragment: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Opens with a poem in Hebrew. The addressee is asked to bring a "fine ingot" (sabīka ṭayyiba) from India weighing 5 raṭls, free of "taqalluʿ(?)." The handwriting is probably known. ASE

Poem of praise addressed to Yefet ha-Kohen. In Hebrew. Perhaps the introduction to a letter.

Literary - Hebrew words listed in alphabetical tables. Reused for Hebrew poetry, possibly a panegyric.

Recto (secondary use): Letter containing a poem addressed a dignitary. In Hebrew. Possibly a token of gratitude for help that the sender received. The letter's main purpose was to wish good health upon the addressee who had fallen ill. "The anonymous poet, who laments that he could not offer a real “gift” (teshura), calls his composition a type of sacrifice pleasing unto God: 'May the Lord of praises prepare healing balm and all types of remedies . . . and strengthen the respected, beneficent leader, the choice of His people, a turban upon all of the communities. To bring you a gift (teshura) is not in my power, though I was determined and constituted it as prayer (samtiha tefilot) pleasing before the face of God as an offering (qorban); may it be considered like a sacrifice (zevaḥ) and burnt offering (ʿolot). It heals like spell-inducing water! We sing a song like the song over the splitting of the depths (i.e., the Song of the Sea, Exodus 15), and the daughters of my people go out with timbrels and drums and sing amid dance.'" Translation by Jonathan Decter, Dominion Built of Praise, 88. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.)

Half the page is taken up with a Hebrew panegyric, presumably for the physician who wrote the prescription on recto, whose name is also given in red ink: Abū ʿUmar al-Ḥakīm. In the remaining half of the page, the patient [ʿAbd?]allāh the cantor writes a message thanking the physician: "I will drink the medicine tomorrow if God decrees it." ASE

Hebrew panegyric for Avraham ha-Kohen ha-Rofe ha-Sar b. Yiṣḥaq. See Mann, Jews, II, 86–87.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Nissim Farsī to Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā b. Mevorakh. Recto consists entirely of a panegyric and flattering rhymed prose in Hebrew. The addressee had previously sent a letter containing a poem either by Shelomo Ibn Gabirol or based on a model by Shelomo ibn Gabirol. Greetings are sent to the addressee’s father and mother, and he is encouraged to continue in his own poetic endeavors, said to be superior to those of the writer. On verso, the letter continues in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL, Decter, and Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 197, 286–87, 562.) Recto was also edited by Ratzhaby, "שני שירים ספרדיים מאוצר הגניזה," Moznaim 6 (1992), 10–13.

Panegyric (madīḥ) for a Nagid. Including the line "Be patient with me and do not scorn my verse; I am sick and my thoughts are anunim(?)." There is more Hebrew poetry on verso.

Recto: liturgy for the concluding Neʿila service on Yom Kippur (צלוה נעילה), consisting of seliḥot by ʿEli b. Amram, in his own handwriting (according to Beeri 2003: 315). Verso: part of (end missing) a beautifully written and fully vocalised poem of praise in honour of ʿAdaya b. Menashshe (son of Abū Sahl Menashshe b. Ibrāhīm Ibn al-Qazzāz), a leading Qaraite courtier, who was kātib al-jaysh in Syria-Palestine for the Fatimids, c. 1020s. Between the lines and in the right-hand margin, ʿEli b. Amram has adapted the existing poem (using its metrics and rhyme, and borrowing the odd phrase here and there) to create a new panegyric (of 45 lines) in praise of Peraḥya, who Beeri (2003: 215) identifies as the son-in-law of the Nagid Yehuda b. Seʿadya. ʿEli’s reworked poem must date to after 1064, when Yehuda became Nagid. (Information from CUDL.)