Geniza Lab

Hebrew poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

Ladino glosses on Judges 4.

Poetry in Judaeo-Arabic. "We ask you, O master of existence (mālik al-wajūd), send us the guide of the Jews (murshid al-yahūd). . . ."

Dirges in Hebrew for the deaths of women, including at least one that the poet composed for his own daughter. It would be interesting to compare these to Abū Ḥayyān al-Andalusi's (d. 1344) dirges for his daughter Nuḍār (see e.g. Homerin, "Reflection on Poetry in the Mamluk Age," where it is stated that "even a single elegy for a daughter is rare in Arabic poetry"). Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Dirges in Hebrew for the deaths of women, including at least one that the poet composed for his own daughter. It would be interesting to compare these to Abū Ḥayyān al-Andalusi's (d. 1344) dirges for his daughter Nuḍār (see e.g. Homerin, "Reflection on Poetry in the Mamluk Age," where it is stated that "even a single elegy for a daughter is rare in Arabic poetry"). Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Piyyut

Medical recipes and remedies in Ladino and Hebrew. The recto contains two entries and in the second the writer switches from Hebrew completely into Ladino. The first entry mentions the use of "fire/אש" (l.2r, 4r) in the recipe includes the direction to "make a cake/עשה עוגה" (l.3r). Before switching into Ladino, the second entry on the recto mentions the use of "spring water/ מיים מן המעין" (l.10-11r) and there is also mention of "the sun/השמש" which is faintly legible along one of the fragment's lower tears (l.11r). Further down in Ladino there is mention of angels with "אנג׳ילו" and "אנג׳יל" (l.13r). On the verso all recipe entries are in Ladino and the penultimate one refers to an "infant/קירייאטורה" (l.) in the same unique spelling as the join ENA 2713.17. MCD.

Al-Faraj baʿd al-shidda (‘stories of deliverance after hardship’). The story of the captive girl. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Mysterious text with alternating lines of Hebrew script (mostly Aramaic, it seems) and Arabic script, many or all of which are glosses on the former. Needs examination.

Biblical verses.

Poem in Hebrew ending with a couplet in Arabic (written once in Hebrew script and again in Arabic script). There is an additional note in Arabic scrip on verso.

Story in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably popular literature (mentions "the gate of the castle").

Medical treatise in Arabic script. Perhaps the first page of Tadhkirat al-Kaḥḥālīn. The author's name is given as ʿĪsā b. ʿAlī al-Mutaṭabbib instead of the correct ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā, but it was not uncommon for scribes to reverse the names. On verso there is Hebrew literary text.

Judaeo-Arabic poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. This is one of the fragments that he signs (נאצר אנא האדא שגלי קד צגת מענ . . בעקלי . וזן מן גנא . לי ואסמעת אן . . . ). There may be a reference to his rivals falling mute when they try to speak.

Page from a medical treatise in Hebrew and Ladino.

Poetry copied in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, including a previously unknown poem by Yehuda ha-Levi. Discovered by Amir Ashur and Shulamit Elizur; see https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/genizah-fragments/posts/qa-wednesday-amir-ashur-finding-lost-poem-judah-ha-levi.

Hebrew poetry.

Literary? In Hebrew. There is the format of a letter with the header "for a baʿal teshuva."

Literary text in Hebrew. Late.

Medical recipes and remedies in Ladino from an extensive chain of joins that suggest the existence of a broader compilation. On the recto there are ingredients such as "pepenikos amargos / bitter cucumbers" and "azeite / oil" (l. 1, 3r). The second entry on the recto is crossed out, which may provide evidence that the author or scribe was drafting and correcting recipes among this broader chain of joins. The verso's first entry mentions a "white dove / poloma bilanca" (l. 5v) and "azeite" is called for again in the lower recipe, which is crossed out. MCD.