Geniza Lab

Magical invocations of angels and possibly even the devil (!) (Abū Murra, cf. BL OR 5566B.30). In Arabic script. One section seems to be for countering the evil eye ("kadhālika tatafaqqaʿ al-ʿayn wa-l-naẓra").

Magical document with a humanoid figure and Greek alphabets.

Medical recipes: Judaeo-Arabic on one side, Arabic on the other.

Guide to the angelic hosts, with headers in Arabic script and the names of the angels in Hebrew script.

Poem. A Hebrew lament for a prominent dead person. It seems like a blank space was left empty in the middle where the name would be filled in.

Amulet in Aramaic and Hebrew against various afflictions, such as "scare-crows of the night, afflictions, fever, ague, fear of evil, the voice, the crushing of the viscera. . . and the Succuba." Information from Gottheil-Worrell, Fragments from the Cairo Genizah, p. 106.

Geonic responsa in Judaeo-Arabic. 37 folios. Hand of Hillel b. ʿEli? On folio 37r there is an ownership note: Yaʿaqov b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi, who presented the volume to his only son. On folio 37v, there are 3 lines of accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, naming Abū l-ʿAlā', Abū l-Faraj, Yūsuf, and al-Muʿallim.

Ownership note? In a prayerbook. Seʿadya ha-Levi b. Hillel ha-Levi.

Prescriptions or recipes in Judaeo-Arabic and Aramaic. "Instructions, mostly in Judeo-Arabic for preparations of different remedies. In the margin of the recto are instructions for extracting duck fat, written in a smaller hand. The last two items on the verso are in Aramaic, for killing spirits and for a woman whose sons has died." Information from Penn catalog.

Amulet for the synagogue of Qalyūb. In Hebrew. Written in mirror image. The ink seems too distinct to be the imprint of another fragment. Perhaps a draft for copying onto wood for producing a block print?

Recipe for a beverage(?) in Judaeo-Arabic.

Signature of the Exilarch David. "A signature on an otherwise blank piece of paper, possibly an ex libris inscribed on the first page of a codex. It reads, in rough cursive script: הודו לי'י כי טוב \ מרשות אדוננו \ דוד הנשיא הגדול \ ראש גליות כל ישראל \ יעזרהם אלהים על כלל. Possibly referring to David ben Zakai, who reigned as the Exilarch between 917 and 940, but more likely the later, 12th century Exilarch mentioned by Abraham Maimonides. See Gil, Be-malkhut Yishmaʹel bi-teḳufat ha-geʹonim / Mosheh Gil. Tel Aviv : University of Tel Aviv, 1997, vol. 1, p. 437 n. 255; sporadically vocalized." Information from Penn catalog.

Calendar in Judaeo-Arabic. Including the date 1429 Seleucid, which is 1117/18 CE.

Calendar in Judaeo-Arabic. Including the date 4924 AM, which is 1163/64 CE.

Record of a birth, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic (in two different hands) and Arabic script. The date is given according to multiple calendars, including 13 Iyyar 4909 AM, which is 23 April 1149 CE. Also dated 13 Dhū l-Qiʿda 543 AH (should be Dhū l-Ḥijja, as Goitein comments). There are a photostat and a transcription in Goitein's attached notes (to be uploaded).

Medical prescription. In Arabic script. Involves lavender and licorice and a few other ingredients. The diet should be cooked pullet (farrūj maṣlūq/maslūq).

Prayer, probably. In Arabic script.

Document in Arabic script. Only a thin vertical sliver has survived. Probably magical, based on the stick-and-ball drawings. Needs examination.

Medical prescription(s). In Arabic script. Numerous ingredients. On verso there are notes in Judaeo-Arabic and in Arabic script, apparently an additional recipe/prescription. The Judaeo-Arabic reads: "Another prescription, medium (mutawassiṭa), that will dry out your body, and do not do it [...]. ve-shalom." The four lines of Arabic script underneath may be the 2nd prescription.

Block printed amulet.