Geniza Lab

Biblical passage (Leviticus 5:25-26) crudely written, probably from a child’s exercise, with Tiberian vowels and the divine name abbreviated to three yods. (Information from CUDL)

Parchment fragment with pen trials and drawings. Recto: monumental Hebrew characters with full masoretic vocalization and decorative flourishes; a sun or other concentric shape with rays; and a pair of small houses, which Goitein (see index card) interprets as a Nile boat. Verso: basmala in Arabic script, Hebrew aleph-bet in order; ink blots that have been spread out with a pen. (MR, with thanks to RSK for rediscovering the fragment)

Ownership note in a book belonging to Merayot b. Yehuda b. Efrayim b. Yaʿaqov b. Shemuel b. Avraham b. Liviṭi the convert. Above and below the name of a new owner is written: Sālim b. [...]. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Treatise on the laws of impurity, with ownership notes. In Judaeo-Arabic: "property of al-Muwaffaq b. Moshe." In Arabic script at the bottom, a much later note indicating transfer of ownership to Abū l-Ḥasan b. Qaṭīna (? قطينا)

On bottom of f. 2r are accounts or a list mentioning precious and base metals including silver, red arsenic, and mercury in Arabic script. F. 1r and 2v: collection of piyyuṭim on the story of Joseph in Genesis 44. F. 1r contains a midraš from a qerova of Yannai to the seder ויגש אליו יהודה. It is followed by the first 8 lines of the yoṣer אח מכרתם בנעלים by Solomon b. Sulaymān (Zulay: by Pinḥas ha-Kohen), the final four of which are added in a different hand. F. 2v contains 2 piyyuṭim including the qerova מרגלים אתם שמעו ונבהלו by Simeon b. Megas. F. 1v: explanation of the ṣiṣit, which are compared to the number of the cherubim. F. 2r: yoṣer שבויה ממרומים by Samuel the Third. (Information from CUDL.)

Recto: geomantic designs consisting of series of horizontal dashes organised in groups of 4 lines each and laid out in two columns. At the end of the second column there are four lines in Ladino mentioning a Sabbatical year. Verso: jottings, including the name Abram. Information from CUDL.

Leaves from a 17th-century booklet of popular medicine in Ladino. Information from CUDL.

Declaration against Qaraite tendencies, according to Goitein's index card. In Hebrew. Unusually large and beautiful script. The name of the ruler who sent the heads of the community approved by the Gaʾon appears in line 8 of verso and is vocalized as if a foreign name. (Goitein: "Spain? Hardly. For in l. 12, seems to say, "They excommunicated him and cursed him and banned him in the days of the holiday [of Sukkot].") (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Medical prescription in Arabic script. For a topical remedy. Written in an unusually beautiful hand and formatting, with the ingredients arranged in a list rather than a paragraph. On verso, the instructions for how to compound it and use it. Mentions "istiʿmāl al-iṭrīfal." It should be used for three days, at the same time on each day. Needs further examination.

Esoteric instructions for the uses of animal products. To protect yourself from frights and madness and devils: hang a chicken's gizzard stone on your person. If a man applies the fat of a black hen to his penis and sleeps with a woman, she will fall in love with him. A cure for migraines: goose bile mixed with violet oil (to be snorted). For urinary stones: goose blood mixed with water and salt (to be drunk). Snakeskin is good both against hemorrhoids and for enhancing your vision.

Calendar in Hebrew.

Magical or esoteric text. Mainly in Hebrew and Aramaic.

Calendrical text in Judaeo-Arabic.

Verso: Magical conjuration (hashbaʿa). May mention Abū l-Karam. Needs examination.

Poem by Avraham Ben Yiju in honor of Judge Labrāṭ II (aka Labrāṭ b. Moshe b. Labrāt Ibn Sughmār. Location: Yemen. Dating: Possibly ca. 1140 CE.

A magical recipe with a drawing, entitled מצדת שפטים. Judaeo-Arabic translation and commentary of Deuteronomy 3:21-24 on f. 1v. (Information from CUDL.)

Maqāma-like work in rhymed Hebrew prose by a certain Shelomo b. Yehuda (not the 11th-century gaʾon, as this fragment is probably 12th–13th century), describing how his father Yehuda migrated from Spain to Egypt to Yemen, married a woman in Yemen, and returned to Egypt, where Shelomo was born. But then the devil led the father astray to take a second wife, who gave birth to a son named Evyatar and two daughters "of different religions"(?!). One of the girls died; Shelomo accuses his brother Evyatar of trying to sleep with the remaining sister; both Evyatar and the remaining sister died; and now Shelomo is writing this hymn of gratitude on account of how God liberated him from his wicked half-siblings. Recto is written over jottings in Arabic script, mainly formulae. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Forecasts based on the day of the week something falls on. Uses the Coptic calendar. Every entry ends "wallāhu aʿlam." Distinguishes between the forecast for Fustat and for the entire world. Some of the predictions: fire from the heavens, a lot of fish and a lot of heat, the sultan will persecute his enemies, women will be very sick that year ("because Venus is in the ascendant"), etc.

the exact nature of this MS is unclear. The Arabic part seems to contain short poems. The Judaeo-Arabic part describes an unknown issue taken part at the synagogue. A Karaite is also mentioned.

Hebrew poem; and Arabic jottings