Geniza Lab

A muwashshah by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, ed. Schirmann.

Megillat Esther with scattered Arabic text in the margins, possibly just jottings.

Calendrical or astrological work mentioning the months of January (יונאריס) and February (פבראריס) and the calends (קלנדס). Information from FGP.

Epistle that is humorous in Judaeo-Arabic that opens with praises to God "who rounded the walnut. . . and put the whales in the sea. . . and who distinguished all his creatures, for some have their nose between their eyes and some have their heads between their ears." Perhaps copied from an Arabic literary work?

First page of the Cairene Purim Scroll (Megilat Purim), the Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic verses alternating, mentioning the date 5284 AM (= 1524 CE). Information from Shivtiel/Nissen catalog.

Recto: From a rabbinic literary work in Aramaic. Verso: "Moshe b. Hillel, grandson of [...]."

From a volume of Saadya Gaon's responsa in Judaeo-Arabic. Join by Amir Ashur. See FGP for detailed description.

Medical recipes. In Judaeo-Arabic. The hand is probably known.

Literary text in Hebrew. Late. It is a first-person account of a journey to Gehennom, which the writer composed and sent to Rabban Gamaliel after he had returned to heaven. He reports that he had difficulty persuading the angels to take him there at first, because he was too righteous. He also reports that the demons eat the sinners and then defecate them onto the fires where they burn. ASE.

Literary collection of poetry and prose relating to Anatoli b. Yosef. Dating: Perhaps 13th or 14th century, some time after the death of Anatoli. The headings are quite interesting, and of documentary value: e.g., What Anatoli wrote to R. Shemuel the week of the earthquake; R. Shemuel's response; by Anatoli, addressing R. Moshe Ḥazzan; what his nephew Abū l-Surūr sent him; by Anatoli, concerning drinking and wine; what R. Peraḥya ha-Zaqen Ḥalabī wrote to Anatoli; Anatoli's response; Peraḥya's response; what R. Shemuel Nafūsī wrote to Anatoli when he left Sicily (or maybe Palermo); what R. Shemuel wrote him when he traveled to Māzar; from the letter that Abū l-Faḍl wrote to him. According to the FGP bibliography, this manuscript was edited by Elisheva Hacohen, שירי ר' אנטולי בר יוסף, in 1995/96. There may still be other items of documentary interest under Yevr. II A 104. ASE.

Literary. List of the beginnings of the chapters of Nakh.

24 fragments under this shelf mark all of them literary.

Hebrew medical treatise, including Chapter 18 on the development of the embryo.

Probably a dirge written by Anatoli (probably Anatoli b. Yosef who was active in the forst two decades of the 13th century in a memory of a certain Shmuel (Shmuel b. Ya'aqov? the French Rabbi)

Literary work (the writer calls it a "dīwān") that preserves copies of two letters. The first: A letter from a Qaraite authority to David b. Moshe, the Rabbanite judge in Alexandria. In Hebrew. The scribe introduces the letter by explaining that it was a response to the Rabbanite judge's criticism of the matter of "expenses and fines" (? al-kulaf wa-l-maghārim), apparently reviving an ancient controversy, and that the writer did not intend to disparage the Rabbanites but only to urge the addressee to remember that the two sects are a single people. Indeed, the letter does exactly this, and it also contains veiled threats ("if my desire were to take revenge. . .") behind this overture to reconciliation. The next page (the fragment is a bifolium and any number of pages from the original work could be missing here) appears to be the end of the second letter. The second: A letter is from Moshe b. Shemuel ha-Rofe to Yehuda ha-Melammed. Written in metrical Hebrew poetry. There is a postscript in Judaeo-Arabic in which the writer apologizes for two instances of inaccurate vocalization (גחלים and עצי) which were necessary to fit the meter. The scribe adds that the response to this letter from Yehuda ha-Melammed may be found in the last chapter of the volume.

On various ethical issues

There are numerous items sharing this shelfmark. All appear to be piyyutim, except for an ethical will in the name of a certain Shelomo to his son (188/30).

Liturgical. List of verses for prayer. Dating: Catalogued as 18th century.

Literary work in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Contains a colophon: "This 'scroll' was written in Elul 5013 (=1253 CE). . . by me, R. Yosef ha-Bavli."

Poems (each called 'qaṣīd') in honor of a certain R. Yaʿaqov b. Abī l-Ḥaḍram (recto). In Hebrew. The poem on each side is for a Yaʿaqov, but conceivably they could be two different Yaʿaqovs. Dating: Unknown. Catalogued as 14th or 15th century, unclear on what ba