Geniza Lab

Small fragment in Latin script. Needs examination.

Literary text in Judaeo-Arabic.

Fragment in Arabic script. Probably literary.

Mysterious table in Hebrew. Lists the various tribes of Israel and gives the date of birth and age at death.

Literary text in Arabic script. Astrological/astronomical. Mentions Saggitarius (burj al-qaws) several times.

Recto: Literary text, or possibly an amulet, in Hebrew. On verso there is also Hebrew script, but it is completely erased by being covered with black ink.

Arabic translation of the Gospel of John, written in beautiful Kūfī script. Dating: Ca. 9th century, based on handwriting. Includes John 19:25–27 and 35–37 (these ranges are approximate; only a few words from each verse are legible). (Information kindly provided by Samuel Bassaly and Peter Tarras.)

Palimpsest. Original text: Leaf from an Arabic diwan on vellum in elegant calligraphy. Poets named include Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. [...] and Ibrāhīm al-Shāmī (neither seems readily identifiable, unless someone can decipher the poems or the name of Muḥammad's father). The text is faded and damaged but merits further examination. The most legible (but unattributed) poem includes two lines that continue to circulate in anthologies of zuhdiyyāt (sometimes credited to the mourners of ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAmr al-ʿĀṣ): لِلْمَوْتِ فَاعْمَلْ بِجِدٍ أَيُّهَا الرَّجُلُ ... واعْلَمْ بِأنَّكَ مِنْ دُنْيَاكَ مُرْتَحِلُكَأَنَّنِي بِكَ يَاذَا الشَّيْبِ فِي كُرَبٍ ... بَيْنَ الأحِبَّةِ قَدْ أوْدَى بِكَ الأَجَلُ

Biblical (book of Numbers). Yemeni hand? On verso there is a pen trial: tajribat qalam wa-ḥibr malīḥ ṭāʾil.

Printed treatise in Ladino and Hebrew. Translation of Psalms 19–20.

Printed. Ḥumash with Ladino translation and commentary.

Printed. Ḥumash with Ladino translation and commentary.

Printed. Daniel with Ladino translation.

Printed. Ḥumash with Ladino translation and commentary. Many pages.

Leaves from Maimonides' Judaeo-Arabic draft of his Arabic treatise on sexual intercourse, commissioned by the Ayyubid prince Taqī al-Dīn Umar. Maimonides prescribes various concoctions to increase Taqi al-Din Umar’s vigour and recommends a diet that avoids ‘cooling’ foods (long pepper, galanga, ginger, aristolochia, cinnamon, anise, clove, mace, and nutmeg are recommended but lentils, vetch, and cold vegetables such as cucumber, donkey cucumber, melons, garden orach, spinach and especially lettuce are to be avoided). A drink of iron water boiled with the ox tongue herb, lemon peel, beaten carnation, wine and honey, is suggested. He also advises moderation, as the sexual act itself was ‘enfeebling’. (Information from CUDL.)

Copies of responsa from Sherira Gaʾon to the community of Fez. Of documentary interest in part because of the ownership note in the upper margin: "belongs to Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham b. [...] b. Yiṣḥaq known as Ibn al-Baqara."

A commentary on poetry, and piyyuṭim, including one by Hayye Gaʾon on the topic of circumcision. F. 1r begins, after a בשמ׳ רחמ׳, ‘A synopsis of some verses of (the poem) את ערובת by Yeḥezqel ha-Kohen “filled with light” (i.e., blind) al-Danūrī b. ʿAlī, in the hand of Efrayim b. ʿAzarya, known as Ibn Faḍlān (?)’. Later references to al-Danūrī in the text indicate he is dead. (Information from CUDL.)

From a collection of poetic works by Abraham ibn Ezra, including a mi kamoḵa אל בפלא אשורנו בלבי, with a rubric ולה גירה and numbered 110, and an epistle written to Samuel b. Jāmiʿ, which is numbered 115 in the margin. (Information from CUDL.)

Fragment from an originally large codex of correspondence and poetry by Judah ha-Levi. This fragment consists of a copy of a letter by Judah ha-Levi to Moses Ibn Ezra. (Information from CUDL.)

Copy of the story of Natan b. Yiṣḥaq the Babylonian, from 'Akhbar Baghdad.' In Judaeo-Arabic, in the hand of Natan (ha-nezer) b. Shemuel. This is a mid 12th-century copy of a mid 10th-century story. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 40.)