Geniza Lab

Torah with Targum, Rashi, and Or ha-Ḥayyim commentaries. Printed. In Italian. Dated: 1742 CE. The fragment here is the statement of inquisitorial permission from the Riformatori dello studio di Padova under the jurisdiction of the Inquisitor of Venice, P. Frà Paolo Tomaso Manuelli. This Italian fragment can be traced specifically as page vii in the Google Books scan: google.com/books/reader?id=deBoAAAAcAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PP7. There are also biblical scraps and and at least two different handwritten fragments, and probably more hidden underneath various folds. ASE. MCD.

Two folios of the monthly "Ha-Me'assef" edited by Ben Zion Abraham Kohenka in Jerusalem. Dated: Nisan 5658 AM, which is 1898 CE. The margins and blank versos are filled with text in Hebrew and Arabic, written in purple ink, including some sums and accounts.

The Arabic title page of the Quran with al-Zamakhsharī's commentary, edited by William Nassau Lees (وليم ناسو ليس الايرلندي), printed in Calcutta, 1856.

A leaf from a printed siddur including the services for the 10th of Tevet.

List of entries in Arabic script that possibly designate accounts. A number of shorthand terms are in use, for example the single ligature that begins each entry may itself be a common financial term that was quickly written and thus lacks any dotting. Another term, possibly an abbreviation, that appears in some entries is "صو" which could also be read as "حو". On the recto there is evidence that this fragment was glued to the remnant of an unknown printed work from which the number "5" is clear as having been left by a mechanical type-script. This recycled printed fragment may have been glued into the fragment's original binding and helps date the shelfmark as fifteenth-century or later. MCD.

Newspaper fragment, Iran, second half of the 19th century. "About 1861, Nasir al-Din Shah appointed Sani’ al-Mulk as Director of Printing and Chief Illustrator and he was charged with the responsibility of editing the weekly court newspaper Ruznameh-ye Dowlat-e ʿAliyeh-ye Iran (The newspaper of the great government of Iran), printed by the lithographic process and illustrated with portraits of princes, statesmen and soldiers as well as representations of remarkable events." Donna Stein, "The Photographic Source for a Qajar Painting," in Scheiwiller (ed.) Performing the Iranian State (2013), p. 24.

Debenture bond / promissory note (ورقة سند). An adorned printed template states that this is "a debenture bond for the sum of less than 100 piaster (qirsh)," continued on the left side: "its value [is] 10 silver." Dated: 1264 AH, which is 1847/48 CE. Further information added in hand-writing: just beneath the title the equivalent of the sum in French (?) currency first in numerals: 62 ½ (?), and then in words. The signature of al-Ḥājj Ibrāhīm Khalīl appears at the end, next to a stamp. (Information from JRL catalogue.)

Bifolium from Kitāb Tawārīkh Mukhtaṣar Yunabbi'u ʿan Mamālik wa-Bilād ʿAdīda. Printed in Malta by the Church Missionary Society in 1833 CE. The faces of the people in the frontispiece have been scratched out. On the background of Arabic printing in Malta and the Church Missionary Society, see Geoffrey J. Roper, "Arabic Printing in Malta 1825–45" (PhD Diss, University of Durham, 1988). Scans of the full book may be readily found online, e.g., https://archive.org/details/1164pdf2228/page/n137/mode/2up.

Amulets/blessings for newborns. Printed.

"The three fragments known as JRL SERIES A 1053, JRL SERIES B 2699, and JRL SERIES B 2977 are from three copies of another invitation, printed in French, to the wedding of Mr. Moise Mosseri (c. 1855-1933) and Miss Henriette Nahmias (1868-1943). The Mosseris were a famous Cairene banking family,[2] which may give a sense of who could afford to have invitations professionally printed in the late nineteenth century. French documents are also rare in the Genizah,[3] but someone – a young Mosseri being the likely culprit – has re-used the back of these invitations to practice the Hebrew alphabet." Nick Posegay, FOTM June 2020.

"The three fragments known as JRL SERIES A 1053, JRL SERIES B 2699, and JRL SERIES B 2977 are from three copies of another invitation, printed in French, to the wedding of Mr. Moise Mosseri (c. 1855-1933) and Miss Henriette Nahmias (1868-1943). The Mosseris were a famous Cairene banking family,[2] which may give a sense of who could afford to have invitations professionally printed in the late nineteenth century. French documents are also rare in the Genizah,[3] but someone – a young Mosseri being the likely culprit – has re-used the back of these invitations to practice the Hebrew alphabet." Nick Posegay, FOTM June 2020.

"The three fragments known as JRL SERIES A 1053, JRL SERIES B 2699, and JRL SERIES B 2977 are from three copies of another invitation, printed in French, to the wedding of Mr. Moise Mosseri (c. 1855-1933) and Miss Henriette Nahmias (1868-1943). The Mosseris were a famous Cairene banking family,[2] which may give a sense of who could afford to have invitations professionally printed in the late nineteenth century. French documents are also rare in the Genizah,[3] but someone – a young Mosseri being the likely culprit – has re-used the back of these invitations to practice the Hebrew alphabet." Nick Posegay, FOTM June 2020.

Recto: The title page with illuminated capitals of Sefer Eliyyah Mizraḥi ʿal ha-Torah, printed by Itzik ben Leib Buchbinder in Fürth, 1763. There is an ownership note by Shelomo Ḥazzan, Fusṭāṭ. Verso: In Shelomo Ḥazzan's hand, alongside other jottings and pen trials, a list of "the commentators on the Re'em (=Eliyyah Mizrahi) ZL that I have, BSD." Almost all the titles are identifiable (and available on hebrewbooks.org). (1) זרע יצחק by Yizhaq Lumbroso (d. 1752), ZL. (2) מזבח אדמה by Refael b. Shemuel Meyuhas (d. 1771). (3) שדה הארץ by Avraham b. Shemuel Meyuhas (brother of #2, d. 1767). (4) בני יאודה ללמוהר״ע, probably Yehuda ʿAyyāsh (d. 1760). (5) פרי האדמה by Refael b. Shemuel Meyuhas (same as #2); (6) לשון ערומים by Barzilay b. Barukh Jabez (d. 1760). (7) קול יעקב by Yaʿaqov Shaul (d. 1758); (8) זרע אברהם by Avraham Katorza (a student of Lumbroso); (9) זכות אבות (author not named); (10) תועפות ראם by Elyaqim b. Yizhaq Gatenio, published in Izmir in 1762; (11) something בלשונות (author not named); (12) בתי כנסיות probably by Avraham b. Hayyim Yedidyah Ibn Ezra (d. 1760); (13) אהלי יצחק by Yizhaq Bonan. Likely early 19th century. ASE.

Printed copy of a letter that purports to be from the tribes of Gad and Reuben, in the Holy Land, to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The latter are urged to repent, especially those who live in Christian lands and have succumbed to mixed marriages. The letter refers to the Jews in the "city of Spain" (note that this is spelled אספיא) and the "city of Italy" (spelled טליא) and among the Philistines. The letter reports that the tribes of Gad and Reuben are living in security and prosperity, successful in all their wars and living in perfect piety. Also, the Jews of India are reported to be more powerful than all their neighbors. Dating: Mann suggests that the reference to the Jews in Spain means that it comes from before the expulsion in 1492. If this surmise is correct, the printed letter does not pertain to the activities of David Reuveni (in contrast to T-S 8J33.2, which probably does) but rather to a more general ferment of interest in the lost tribes of Israel.

Printed treatise in Ladino and Hebrew. Translation of Mishna Avot.

Printed treatise in Ladino. On sheḥita and kashrut. Bifolium, with two columns per page.

Printed treatise in Ladino and Hebrew. Glosses on the book of Job.

Printed treatise in Ladino and Hebrew. Commentary on Genesis.

Printed treatise in Ladino and Hebrew. Translation of Mishna Avot.

Printed Haggada in Ladino and Hebrew.