Geniza Lab

Part of Megillat ʿOvadya, the autobiographical account of the conversion and travels of ʿOvadya the 12th-century Norman proselyte. See Goitein's article for a detailed discussion. Among other interesting features, this fragment includes two lines from the Vulgate text of Joel III, transcribed into Hebrew characters. For transcription and translation, see https://johannes-obadiah.org/, "Obadiah Memoir," II and III.

Philosophical treatise. Stories of Alexander the Great and Aristotle in a calligraphic hand.

Hannanel b. Samuel ספר המצוות, autograph. AA

Autograph texts by Joseph Rosh ha-Seder b. Jacob. Recto: a draft relating to the copying of the Mishna and the Gemara. On the bottom of the page and written upside down in relation to the other text there is a, presumably draft, colophon stating that Joseph Rosh ha-Seder copied a Siddur of Saʿadya Gaʾon in 1201. Verso: opening lines of the Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaʾon with minor variations in wording. The text is entitled ‘Collected Benedictions of Rabbenu Sherira of blessed memory’ and begins with one line of verse, vocalised and decorated. (Information from CUDL)

Dirge, mentioning suffering, evil words, mockery and reproaches, and referring to some of the last kings of Judaea (Jehoiakim, Zedekiah, and Josiah). Probably lamentations for the 9th of Av (qinot, or a similar type of text). (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Blessing on someone, mentioning Ya'ir ha-sofet b. Avraham. Verso: Short text discussing usages of ידח and ידחו, followed by a citation of Job 37:1. (Information from the Cambridge Genizah Research Unit via FGP).

Verso: Reshut, beginning ויהי הכול, in a different hand from the recto. (Information from the Cambridge Genizah Research Unit via FGP). Probably in honour of Shmuel b, Hananya Hangid. AA

Document containing a lines of poetry in the hand of the judge Natan b. Shemuel. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:235, 574) EMS

Poetry, possibly a riddle, with allusions to Moshe, Abraham, and the spies from Numbers 13-14, (Hosea) b. Nun and (Caleb) b. Jephunneh. (Information from the Cambridge Genizah Research Unit via FGP).

Poem by Avraham Ibn Yiju praising Madmun b. Ḥasan and cursing his enemies. Aden, ca. 1140-1144.

Commentary or discussion in Judaeo-Arabic on the difference between men and animals, with citations from Ecclesiastes 3:17 and Psalms 49:21. (Information from CUDL.)

Jewish mystical (Sufi) text, similar in vocabulary to that of Abraham he-Ḥasid. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Draft of a halakhic discussion in the hand of Ḥananel b. Samuel.

Rhymed text (-bī) in Judaeo-Arabic. This may be a poem in honor of Rabbi Avraham. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Poem by Avraham Ibn Yiju praising Madmun b. Ḥasan as a defender of the faith (and as a defender of Avraham Ibn Yiju himself). Aden, ca. 1141.

Dirge on the death of a scholar which also appears in another document (Or 5557 P. f. 56) believed to have been written on the occasion of the demise of Shemarya b. Elhanan (ca. 1011). (Information from J. Mann, Jews, II, pp. 27-28, and Goitein's index cards)

Poems, evidently pages from a collection, beginning with the final section of Avraham ibn Ezra's 'Aha yarad,' the lament over the communities of Spain and North Africa destroyed by the Almohads. This section deals with the communities in North Africa.

Poem written by Abū l-Maḥāsin b. Abū Naṣr al-Ḥasid.

Love poem in Judaeo-Arabic in a popular register. Headed "nashīda." The last line refers to "my shafīfa" and "my sirwāl." Needs examination.

A Hebrew maqāma. Mentioned in the literature (Schirmann, Fleischer).