Geniza Lab

"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.

Piyyutim, as well as divorce and marriage contract formulae from a Palestinian siddur with Judaeo-Arabic instructions (probably not the siddur of R. Nathan).The marriage formulae follow the Palestinian tradition but the divorce formulae follow the Babylonian tradition, and the place given is Ṣoʿan Miṣrayim (Fusṭāṭ). One piyyuṭ, a rahiṭ, is dedicated to ‘our lord Evyatar’ (Evyatar b. Elijah Gaʾon, died prior to 1112 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Poems in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew attributed to Shalom Shabazi (poet of 17th-century Yemen).

Bifolium from a literary work.

Poem in elegant Arabic script followed by a curious note: (the poet and/or scribe?) "Mukhliṣ al-Raḥmān b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Hādī l-Islām Iyādi (?) was born in 1233H (1817/88 CE). 1263-30=1233." Presumably he was calculating his date of birth based on knowing that he was currently 30 and that the current year was 1847/48 CE.

Three bifolia from a compendium of Bedouin proverbs, with commentary.

From a diwan of Arabic poetry dating from 1847/48 CE.

Bifolium from an Arabic work, mostly consisting of prayers and verses from the Quran and names of God, but also including a line of probably-magical symbols, headed with a six-pointed star.

Several bifolia from an Arabic and Persian grammatical treatise.

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.

Qaṣīda, ending, by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAlī b. Ṣāliḥ al-Makkūdī (d.1405 CE), with a colophon giving the date 11 Rajab 989H (1581 CE). Verso contains many lines of Arabic text (90 degrees to recto, so probably not the same work), almost completely blotted out with ink. Much of it may still be legible though.

Arabic work of literary criticism, several pages, probably Khazānat al-Adab wa-Ghāyat al-Arab of Ibn Ḥijja al-Ḥamawī (d. 1433).

Bifolium from an Arabic literary treatise, including the pious opening and, on the other two pages, several (al)chemical recipes.

Historical treatise (many pages), it seems mainly discussing the rulers and wars of Ifrīqiyya (Al-Jazā'ir, Tūnis, Qayrawān, etc.) in the mid-13th-century. Needs further examination.

19 small scraps, more or less neatly cut from a literary work. Many of them have Arabic on one side and Syriac on the other, with approximately the same line spacing and occasional use of red ink, suggesting that they belong to the same work or at least were written by the same scribe. The Arabic text on f.14v, one of the larger pieces, mentions idol worship and includes the sentence, "O Sergius, o most beloved of friends. I am abashed of. . . ." Perhaps this is the martyrdom of Sergius and Bacchus? Other pages (including the join P2 + P3 + P15 + P17) seem more liturgical. Needs further examination. ASE

Bifolium from a Judaeo-Persian commentary, including sections on Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and Lamentations.

Prayerbook in Spanish or Judaeo-Spanish. In Latin script. Containing the yaʿale ve-yavo prayer for Rosh Hodesh as well as a portion of the liturgy for Shabbat afternoon. Likely 16th century, predating the Ferrara siddur. Edited by Eleazar Gutwirth, "Fragmentos de Siddurim españoles en la Guenizá," Sefarad 1980

Literary text in Spanish. Needs examination.

Copy of Bameh Madlikin with interlinear translation into Arabic.