Geniza Lab

Recto: Colophon stating that this copy of the 'ketuvim' has been checked completely without any errors. There is a brief disquisition on the canonical raised letters such as the ʿayin in Job 38:15. Underneath, the date of the checking of the manuscript is given as Heshvan 127[2] Seleucid = 4721 AM, which is 960 CE. Verso: Ownership/acquisition note dated Kislev 135[.] Seleucid, which gives the range 1038–48 CE.

Fragments of magnificent Hebrew calligraphy accompanied by a combative note from a scribe: "Furthermore, the wicked inhabitants of Mahdiyya(?) harass me in the work of God, seeking to deter me from writing. May God pursue them in His wrath. . ." It goes on in this vein. There are also much inferior pen trials on verso.

Islamic narration attributed to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib. In Judaeo-Arabic. Possibly belonging to the Shamā'il al-Muḥammadiyya genre. Mentions ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and other Companions (Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī, Salmān al-Fārisī); introduces the Prophet with a long string of epithets; and gives a physical description of him, including the mole between his shoulderblades which read, like a seal, "There is no god but God, He has no partner." ASE

Entry in court notebook (#54). Prescription. Recipe for preparation of an ointment consisting of powdered litharge (martak masḥūq); calf suet (shaḥm kulā ʿijl); aged, fine oil (zayt ṭayyib ʿatīq); and perhaps dragon's blood (reading קטאר as qāṭir). The title is difficult to read; Goitein suggests "marham kulā" (kidney ointment, with the dot over the letter preceding kulā indicating that it should be deleted). Also possible is "marham nakhlī" (date-palm ointment). Contemporary documents and literary sources indicate that a "date-palm ointment" was used for the treatment of wounds; cf. T-S 8J20.26. Although no component of this ointment derives from a date-palm, it is to be stirred while it cooks with a green palm leaf (yuḥarrak bi-jarīd akhḍar), and plausibly the same leaf is somehow incorporated or used to apply the completed ointment on to the desired site. NB: Goitein referred to this document as folio 21 (Firk. II NS 1700.21) in accordance with the foliation written in pen; but the correct folio is 22, as written in pencil (the librarian with the pen gave two folios the number 8). ASE.

Colophon to a pamphlet containing two 'qedushas' on parashat Yitro. The scribe is Barukh Rofe b. (or grandson of?) Elʿazar Ḥazzan known as Rofe.

Colophon for an unidentified work. Location: Cairo. Dated: Sivan 1819 Seleucid = Muharram 914 AH = 1508 CE. On verso there is a note in Judaeo-Arabic referring to "my late cousin Yeshuʿa."

Frontispiece of the Torah printed in Venice by Giovanni Colleoni, 1627 CE. Contains an ownership note: Eliyya Fayrūz.

Magical fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dated: Wednesday, 16 Adar 5005 AM, which is 1245 CE. Gives a spell for annulling other spells, warding off umm al-ṣibyān (infant colic or epilepsy), and exorcising the spirits of the jinn from one who is afflicted (muṣāb). It should be concealed from ignoramuses. The formula is copied out, following a basmala, in both unconnected Arabic script and in Judaeo-Arabic. The Judaeo-Arabic portion concludes with Q10:81, "Moses said, 'What you have brought is [only] magic. Indeed, Allah wille expose its worthlessness. Indeed, Allah does not amend the work of corrupters.'"

Colophon for an unknown work dated Shawwāl 896 Hijri, which is 1491 CE. "This work and its companion were written in the name of (=by?) אלהכ׳ b. Yehuda Ibn al-Khāzin. The most interesting element of this colophon is the subsequent statemen that the volume is dedicated to (part of the heqdesh of?) the Dār Sameaḥ = Dār Simḥa Qaraite synagogue. There is a marginal note in a different hand that reads, "At the beginning of the building/foundation of the aforementioned synagogue." Haggai Ben-Shammai has written that the Dār Simḥa synagogue (the source of much of the Firkovich, now RNL, collection) is known from documents from at least the beginning of the sixteenth century." Ben-Shamnmai, "Is 'The Cairo Geniza' a Proper Name or a Generic Noun?" in From a Sacred Source, p. 44. This document supports that dating and suggests that the synagogue was new (or renovated?) in 1491 CE. But see Yevr.-Arab. II 850, a document from 1337 CE that shows that the synagogue existed 150 years earlier.