Geniza Lab

Recto: Dream interpretation in Judaeo-Arabic. Recto margin and verso: Pharmacopeia in Arabic script.

Literary text in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning the government/sulṭān and the ancestors and the synagogue and the Torah... it is difficult to see how it all ties together.

Judaeo-Arabic poetry. About the beauty of the Levant (ll.1–3) and the destruction of the Temple (l. 8f). Perhaps to be read on Tisha b'Av.

Both pages are filled with poetical phrases in Judaeo-Arabic, significance unclear.

Both sides consist of Arabic poetry transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. There is an interesting albeit damaged postscript in a different handwriting (but conceivably the same scribe) that begins "I am the [....] from among those who sung to..." Needs further examination. ASE

5 pages of a late Hebrew literary composition that seems mostly about biblical subjects. For example, "Why was the name of Avraham changed as well as the name of Ya'aqov, but the name of Yizhaq was not changed?" (page 2). May belong with T-S Ar.30.50. ASE.

Recto: several lines of Arabic poetry transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. A few words from the same poems are also written out in Arabic on the page on the right, along with other jottings and crossed-out lines in Arabic. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic rhymed prose on the theme of heartbreak ("O heart... you endured the afflictions of the stars... you loved a hard-hearted Turk," etc.) ASE.

Late fragment with several obscure sections. The main block of text on recto seems to mostly relate to Genesis 13:4 (quoted at the top) and various glosses on portions of the verse. Berakhot 17a is also cited ("by what do women merit? for bringing their children to read in the synagogue and for sending their husbands to study in the study hall"). There are also short notes on both recto and verso for a scribe? for a reader? saying that if specific words are put in front of others, or skipped, it is pasul. May belong with T-S Ar.30.48. ASE.

Judaeo-Arabic commentary on Daniel 10. ASE.

Four pages from a table of contents for a late, large (>300 pages), literary work in Hebrew. The chapters are organized around themes and the subheadings are variations or maxims on the theme, and each one occupied about a page in the original book. ASE.

One side: four ethical (?) principles in Judaeo-Arabic written over the remains of a few lines in Arabic. The other side: a legal query and its answer (both in the same handwriting) regarding illicit sexual relationships. ASE.

Stories in Judaeo-Arabic, including one about a man from Basra (?) who went to King Solomon for help tracking down a man who had slept with his wife. ASE.

Recto: Short Judaeo-Arabic poems with some Arabic titles written at the beginning, such as ghayruhu (`another one) and sawt (`song) Verso: Judaeo-Arabic poem and an Arabic poem

Recto: Arabic love poetry transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. Verso: One very faded line in Arabic, then in Hebrew characters, "Abu Sa'id b. Muslim." ASE.

Theological text in Judaeo-Arabic on the idea of the trial (imtiḥān), citing the binding of Isaac. ASE.

Recto: The same love poem in both Judaeo-Arabic (above) and Arabic (below). Verso: More Arabic love poetry that has been transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. ASE.

Fragment of what looks like a literary composition in biblical-sounding Hebrew, with several mentions of lions and oxen and one of Joseph. ASE.

Judaeo-Arabic commentary on Exodus 1 and 2. ASE.

Fragment of a page in lovely handwriting mostly dealing with stories from the Bible. Deut 20:16 is quoted; Jericho is named, along with Sulayman ibn David, also Musa and Harun, and the king of the Ḥimrīyūn (?). Some of the writing is in larger letters. Possibly says "qata'if in honey" on the lower left of recto (?!). ASE.

Arabic poems transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. A version of the second of them is still circulating in online forums, attribution unclearتغيرت الايام وانقلب الدهرو ~ وصار خيار الناس ليس لهو قدرووصار اخم الناس يعلو خيارهم ~ فما اصبح الايام وما اعجب الدهرو. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.