Geniza Lab

Autobiographical(?) account. In rhymed Hebrew. Describing an eventful adventure and deliverance from God. This may be a maqāma. (Information in part from FGP.)

The Midrash of Solomon’s throne, containing passages also found in T-S Ar.16.25 and T-S Ar.18(2).115, fol. 3 (identification and references by Oded Zinger). This is in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

Literary text, probably. Mentions Galen. The word that looks like "jizya" is actually "juzʾiyya."

This recently discovered document presents a detailed account of the calendar controversy from the perspective of a Qaraite. It is also the only source confirming that the controversy continued until the beginning of 924, when Palestinian and Babylonian calendars converged back to the same dates, without however either side emerging victorious over the other.

Commentary on Job 8:18–22. In Judaeo-Arabic. There are undeciphered marginal notes in Arabic script.

Poem(s) in Judaeo-Arabic containing advice for the lovesick, written as a faux medical prescription. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. The recto contains a marriage contract dated 1298 CE. Nāṣir made a pair of bifolios by making a horizontal cut across the ketubba and then placing a vertical crease in each of the resulting halves. Probably the upper bifolio nested inside of the lower bifolio, as the lower bifolio contains both the beginning and the end of the text. (Information in part from Cecilia Palombo and Goitein's attached notes.) ASE

The main block of writing is a folktale in Judaeo-Arabic about a very poor man ("who worked for two dirhams each day") who came home one day penniless. "The cat came and sat before him, he had nothing to feed it." There is a proverb of some sort on the facing page. In huge Arabic letters overlying the folktale is someone's signature: al-ʿabd al-mamlūk . . . Abū Yūsuf al-[...].

Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic work on the seasons and weather and prognostications.

Piyyutim.

Literary narrative in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: probably ca. 16th century, since it mentions the currency sharīfī. One side involves a son setting out on a journey with a caravan which was ambushed by Bedouins. The other describes a stranger ending up into a town and sleeping in the synagogue by himself at night.

Poetry/piyyuṭ in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi.

Bifolio of Judaeo-Arabic aphoristic poetry.

Judaeo-Arabic poetry. The first is a version of "يأيها المعشوقُ بالله مَن" by Tamīm al-Fāṭimī (d. 985) (compare https://www.aldiwan.net/poem50895.html).

Judaeo-Persian seliḥot, with some Hebrew mixed in. ASE

Trilingual dictionary of Hebrew, with Biblical examples and glosses in Ladino and Judaeo-Greek. Printed. An unicum, i.e., the only known copy of this book. Dating: 16th century, perhaps ca. 1557 CE. See detailed analysis in Julia Krivoruchko, "A Sixteenth-Century Trilingual Dictionary of Hebrew," Genizah Research Unit Fragment of the Month, January 2021 (https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/taylor-schechter-genizah-research-unit/fragment-month/fotm-2021/fragment).

Printed catalogue of the Orientalischer Zeitschriftenverlag Iranschähr, a press founded by Hossein Kazemzadeh in 1918 in Berlin. Mainly in German and Arabic and Persian.

Poem/piyyut, the last 10 lines alternating between Hebrew and Arabic. (Information from FGP.)

Midrash of Solomon's throne. Joins: Oded Zinger. Cf. T-S NS 260.39, T-S Ar.16.25, and T-S Ar.18(2).115.3.

Probably a commentary? written by the hand of Hanan'el b. Shemuel

Literary text in Arabic script containing poetry and prose about the infancy of Muḥammad. Dating: Probably late, perhaps 18th or 19th century. Might be a narrative about the miracle of "the splitting of the chest" (shaqq al-ṣadr) intended to be read during Mawlid celebrations—this is based on the recording of the identical text that can be found in a Facebook video (https://fb.watch/ajqp49g5TK/). The text can be found in various places online (e.g. by searching the phrase 'ولما بلغ من العمر عامين توجهت به حليمة الى مكة") but an attribution/source is harder to find. Join by OZ.