Geniza Lab

Calendar for the years 4790–4791 of the Era of Creation (= 1029-1030 to 1030-1031 CE), dated according to the Era of the Destruction of the Second Temple, the position of the year in the 19-year cycle and in the Sabbatical cycle, the Era of Creation and the Seleucid Era. The calendar mentions intercalation, length of variable months, moladot of all months, days of the week of beginnings of months, festivals and fasts, and the time and date of the tequfot. Some moladot have mistakes that appear to be caused by copying from a draft calculation of moladot. The date of the next year is given at the bottom of verso. (Information from CUDL.)

Colophon written by the doctor Yedutun b. Levi ha-Levi (likely the same man who is better known as the cantor for the Palestinian synagogue in Fustat in the late 12th and early 13th century).

Two magical incantations against the evil eye. On the other three pages of the bifolium is a list of Torah and Prophets readings.

Magical text copied by Ibn Yiju, probably in Yemen around 1135. The text begins with a magical square (cf. sudoku) of which every line, row and diagonal adds up to 15. Such squares were used as amulets to ease a difficult birth. The square is followed with a protective charm against the evil eye, followed by a protective charm against fever. The largest section is a spell meant to cause one's enemy to be chased away from the town. It is followed by two fragmentary lines mentioning 'hatred.' Line 23 contains obscure magical symbols.

A poem in honor of somebody important, perhaps a groom, since verso also contains (in the same hand) blessings for the bride. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

Fragment of a block print, probably, with an elaborate design in red and black ink. In the margins there is unidentified text, probably literary, in Arabic script.

Document in Arabic script. Perhaps a medical prescription or recipe.

Recipe in Arabic script for compounding hiera picra. ASE

Original text: Hebrew piyyutim, probably mid-12th-century based on handwriting (compare to Moss. Ia,6). Later text: A prescription in Arabic script.

Main text: Literary work in Arabic script, mentioning Aristotle and the third clime. Margins: Recipe in Judaeo-Arabic. Join (noncontinuous) by Alan Elbaum.

Recto: Prescription or medical recipe, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic. Verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script.

A ruling board (masṭara), made from layers of paper stuck together, incorporating what is probably a medical work in Arabic. There is Hebrew, probably originally a colophon, on verso. (Information from CUDL). YU

Panegyric poem in Hebrew from Moshe b. Hizqiya to Shelomo ha-Sar.

Magical text in Judaeo-Arabic.

Magical text in Hebrew script.

Magical text in Hebrew script.

Amulet for the boy Shabbetay Refa'el Ḥayyim b. Simḥa. In Hebrew. Probably late.

Magical text in Hebrew.

Magical text in Hebrew script.

Magical text in Hebrew script.