Geniza Lab

Medical treatise, mentioning for example drinks made from poppies and violets (Information from S. D. Goitein's index cards and CUDL) EMS

Document containing a list of blessings for a benefactor, to be publicly recited during service at the synagogue. The noble patron, a representative of merchants living around the twelfth century, is a recipient of blessings in five other documents as well. The piece opens with a prayer on the ancestors and other deceased relatives of the notable and lists four titles for him: “Pride of the Kohens,” “Delight of the Nobles,” Trustee of the Merchants,” and “Eye of the Congregation.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:162, 554) EMS

Fragment of a book that belonged to the Head of the Gola Daniel b. Hisdai, end of the 12th century. Seems like the book was given as a gift to Nahum ha-Kohen b. Mansur, and belonged to Daniel b. Hisdai from April 25, 1135, then to Ya’aqov b. Eli from August 1174, and then was given to Nahum. The book contains parts written by Rav Se’adya Gaon and Rav Shemuel ha-Kohen Gaon b. Hofni. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #92) VMR

Verso (original use): Three verses of (Judaeo-)Arabic poetry on homesickness written by Shemuel b. Elʿazar Ibn [...]sh, a physician from Alexandria who lived in Qūṣ. With a long colophon. "Yearning has not left me any endurance, but visits me day and night. My endurance is dead, entombed deep in the bottom of a grave. The boats of my longing have thrown anchor on the shores of yearning." (Information from Goitein, Med Soc II, 258–59 note 98.)

Recto (secondary use): Medical recipe or prescription in Arabic script. Underneath, in Judaeo-Arabic, there are mnemonics for calculating the dates of new moons and holidays given in the name of Yoshiyyahu b. Mevorakh (the writer?).

Memorial prayer for Karaite Nesi'im, the descendants of Anan.

Booklet containing liturgical poetry. One page refers to Raḥamim b. Yaʿaqov b. Yaʿish ha-Kohen. Then: "And it is in the handwriting of our teacher and rabbi and master Yehuda b. Yosef b. Elʿazar ha-Kohen... of the great Bet Din of Yeḥezqiyyahu."

Jottings in the hand of Yosef Rosh ha-Seder, including his own name several times.

This manuscript, T-S Ar. 29.190 fol. 9, contains the first part of Palestinian Calendar Manual 1, of which the other text witness is T-S Ar. 29.129. Provides minimal information on the calendar, perhaps intended as a aid for those who were already knowledgable about calendar calculations. It consists of a discontinuous bi-folio, each side written in a different hand. Our text, on the recto right side only, marks a new beginning, following a blank page on its verso. The manuscript is tidy and well produced.

Recipes in Judaeo-Arabic attributed to Sayyidnā Dā'ūd al-Faqīh, possibly alchemical. Needs examination.

Recipes in Arabic script. On verso there is also a piyyut. Needs examination.

Bifolium. One folio is a Judaeo-Arabic translation of Exodus 21:1-17, 27:20-28. The other folio is magical instructions in Arabic script. The first few lines of the first page read, "The figure of a person with two wings, and in his hand is [...], and under his leg is a snake, and behind the seal (?). . . . Repeat the prayer/incantation and the incense(?) many times. . . ." There is a small diagram possibly containing an epsilon and a delta. There are astrological references as well (al-kawākib, al-saʿd).The first line of verso mentions "the female gods and the male," the third line mentions the knowledge of all the angels, and the lower part of the page might contain a recipe for incense involving chrysanthemum (zahr al-uqḥuwān). This page is the last of the treatise. Needs further examination. (FGP describes this as "Arabic letter on ritual slaughter.") ASE.

F. 2v: Jottings in Hebrew script and Arabic script (e.g., "qāla mawlānā al-ḥakīm al-fāḍīl ʿIzz al-Dīn Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad b. Ṭarḥān(?)... qāla mawlānā al-ḥakīm al-fāḍīl ʿIzz al-Dīn Ibrāhīm b. ʿUmar b. Ṭarḥān...."). On the remaining pages there is a commentary on 1 Shemuʾel 1:22-24. (Information in part from CUDL)

This manuscript, T-S Ar 29.129, contains the first part of Palestinian Calendar Manual 1. It provides as much information as is needed for an individual to calculate and construct the calendar of any year. This manual is attested in two manuscripts, T-S Ar 29.129 (here) and T-S Ar. 29.190 fol. 9. The scribes took the liberty to word it the two manuscripts in their own ways, possibly because the calendar data needed to be updated to the scribe’s own year. It is part of a set of Jewish calendar manuals dating from the eleventh and early twelfth centuries that display a number of Palestinian calendrical features, and in particular, the rule of 641–642 with led ben Meir to his controversy with the Babylonians in 921/2. These manuals demonstrate that the controversy of 921/2 did not end in a Babylonian victory; the Palestinians, or those who affiliated with this tradition, upheld and used the calendar of ben Meir for almost two centuries after the controversy.

Provides minimal information on the calendar. Perhaps intended as a aid for those who were already knowledgable about calendar calculations. Includes the Palestinian calendar rule of 641–642 and treats it as normative. Given its practical orientation, this manual provides strong evidence that the calendar of ben Meir was in use for a long time after the controversy of 921/2CE.

Anniversary horoscope. The native was born on 17 June 1066 CE, and the anniversary occurred on 17 June 1082. Information from Goldstein and Pingree, "Horoscopes from the Cairo Geniza," JNES 1977.

Formulary for a love spell (ʿazīma) in Judaeo-Arabic.

A magical spell (ʿazīma).

Horoscopes. In Judaeo-Arabic.

Recto: Judaeo-Arabic recipe involving starch (nashā'; not "starch of Isaac" but yuṣḥaq = let it be crushed), and some jottings in Arabic script including Coptic numerals. The text of the recipe exhibits the early Judaeo-Arabic orthographic feature of representing ḍād by dalet. See Isaacs, Medical, p. 9. Verso: Arabic jottings including Coptic numerals. Information in part from Baker/Polliack catalog.