Recto: Aaron b. Asher, Diqduqe ha-Ṭeʿamim. The text contains a somewhat expanded version of שער ח (according to Dotan’s enumeration of the sections: Dotan 1967: 119). Verso: masoretic notes on חלל, ירידה, וירא, ויראה, observing that in each case the preferred preposition for these terms is אל, and listing the exceptions to this general rule (where על occurs instead).Condition: Slightly tornLayout: 12 lines in 2 columns (recto); 13 lines in 2 columns (verso)
Official letter to Ḥalfon he-Ḥaver, signed by Abraham b. Šemaʿya he-Ḥaver, descendant of Šemaʿya Gaʾon, and Isaac b. Samuel ha-Sefardi, formally asking for a testimony concerning the purity of the wares of Beraḵot.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 11 lines (recto; verso is blank)
Part of a begging letter, c. 1025 CE, written by Abū l-Faraj al-Ḥaver, in Tiberias, to Abū l-Ṭayyib the cantor, in which Jewish lepers, who reside in Tiberias in order to seek treatment in its hot springs, describe their symptoms, including deafness, blindness and mutilations, and ask for financial assistance from the Jewish community in Fusṭāṭ. In the main text of the letter, and in the one line of Hebrew in the address on the verso, blank spaces remain in which to insert the name of the recipient and his father. The remaining two lines on the verso are the address in Judaeo-Arabic.Condition: torn, holesLayout: 12 lines (recto); 3 lines (verso)
A palimpsest consisting of the Palestinian Talmud, Peʾa 18d and 20b-c, written over a Syriac text, The Life of St Anthony by Athanasius of Alexandria. Edited in Lewis (1902: 146-149) as text XXXV.Condition: Badly torn, holes, stainedLayout: 24 lines
Palimpsest, with Palestinian Talmud, Šeqalim, 44a-b; 46b, written over a Syriac text, The Life of St Anthony by Athanasius of Alexandria. Edited in Lewis (1900: 98-105) as text XXIX.Condition: Torn, holes, stainedLayout: 32-34 lines
Recto: fragment from a power of attorney in which Abraham b. Isaac appoints Ephraim b. Moses the physician, to collect a debt owed to him by Yefet b. Ṯābit in Fusṭāṭ. Dated Thursday, 6th Marḥešvan 1368 (= 1056 CE), in Ramla. Witnessed by Ḥayyim he-Ḥaver b. Solomon, Joshua b. Abraham, Isaac b. Ezra, Yešuʿa ha-Kohen ha-Parnas b. Ṣedaqa, Solomon b. Jacob, and Boaz the cantor b. David. Following the signatures of the witnesses, all six signatures are validated in an attestation from the court of Daniel (b. ʿAzariah), ha-Nasi, Head of the Yešiva of the Pride of Jacob. It appears the power of attorney was written by a court scribe, while the attestation was written by Daniel himself. Verso: two unrelated lines in Arabic script.Condition: torn, holesLayout: 27 lines (recto); 2 lines (verso)
Recto: part of a letter, dated Adar 1522 (= 1211 CE), from Daniel the Babylonian b. Saʿadya, regarding a stranded Nasi, perhaps Josiah b. Jesse. Greetings are sent to various people, including Ḥananel, his brother Solomon (i.e. the sons of Samuel) and their sons, Abraham, Joseph and his son Isaac, Šemarya, David, Ezekiel, Yeḥiʾel and his son. Mentions Meir (perhaps the son of Baruḵ from France), Yefet, Elijah, Caleb ha-Kohen, Saʿadya and his sons, Elijah, who is from Alexandria, and Elʿazar. A marginal note mentions a certain Judah. Verso: an ethical piece, probably from a homilyLayout: 61 lines (recto), 68 lines (verso)
Leaf from a halakhic work on slaughtering by Eldad b. Maḥlī ha-Dani, called as such on verso.Condition: Slightly torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 23 lines (recto); 22 lines (verso)
Part of a letter by the Babylonian Gaʾon Samuel b. ʿEli. It contains the names Gūlā (גולא) b. Ḵalaf and Manṣūr b. Kūtā (כותא). Partially written in Aramaic.Condition: tornLayout: 6 lines (recto; verso is blank)
Four responsa of Geršom b. Judah (the Ragma), on the subject of borrowing money from gentiles, selling property, interest on a loan, and business deals with non-Jews made on the Sabbath. This is the oldest known Ashkenazi manuscript to be discovered in the Genizah.Condition: torn, stained, rubbedLayout: 23 lines (recto); 23 lines (verso)
Responsum of Hai Gaʾon; discussion of the dietary laws in Aramaic and Judaeo-Arabic; poem יודעי יגוני by Judah ha-Levi.Condition: badly torn, holes, badly rubbed, stainedLayout: 10-13 lines
Copy of a letter from Hai Gaʾon to Qayrawān. At the bottom is a copy of a collection of geonic responsa sent to Fez.Condition: Torn, holes, faded, stainedLayout: 55 lines
Colophon in the hand of Evyatar ha-Kohen b. Elijah Gaʾon, dated 1067 CE, on the title page of Hai Gaʾon’s commentary on tractate Ḥagiga of the Babylonian Talmud, which Evyatar has copied for his personal use.Condition: Torn, holesLayout: 16 lines (recto; verso is blank)
Copies of a legal document from Hai Gaʾon’s court and of a letter from him to Elḥanan b. Šemarya.Condition: torn, holes, stainedLayout: 22 lines (recto); 23 lines (verso)
Work on prayer, probably by Ibn Jasus (a student of Nissim Gaʾon). Also contains liturgical instructions in Judaeo-Arabic and liturgical texts in Hebrew and Aramaic.Condition: Badly tornLayout: 25 lines
Two bifolia from two separate works in different hands. P1: commentary on the tefillin, quoting various sources including the Geʾonim, Rabbenu Tam, Maimonides’ Mišne Tora, Hilḵot Tefillin u-Mezuza, and extensively from the Baʿal ha-Maʾor (Zerachiah b. Isaac ha-Levi Gerondi). P2: Isaac al-Fāsī, Sefer ha-Halaḵot, Yoma 2a, 3b-4a.Condition: torn, holes, slightly stained, rubbedLayout: 18.2 x 27.2 (1 leaf: 13.6); 15-16 lines + marginalia
Recto: Isaac al-Fāsī, Sefer ha-Halaḵot, Šavuʿot 33b. Verso: unidentified polemical text mentioning scholars and their translation of or commentary on an unnamed text and referring to the author’s refutation given elsewhere. The text quotes Proverbs 8:4.Condition: Torn, holes, slightly rubbed, slightly stainedLayout: 13 lines (recto); 14 lines (verso)
Recto: passage from Halaḵot Qeṭanot by Isaac al-Fāsī: Hilḵot Ṭumʾa 1a–b. Verso: an ownership note stating that the books belongs to Muwaffaq b. Moses and a colophon announcing the completion of Halaḵot Qeṭanot. At the bottom of verso there are several lines in Arabic script.Condition: Holes, slightly rubbedLayout: 23 lines + marginalia (recto); 11 lines (verso)
Letter, dated the day of the new moon of Kislev, at the beginning of the 13th century, from the cantor Isaac b. Baruḵ, who is away from home in Sammanūd, Egypt, in order to earn money officiating at weddings and Sabbaths, to his wife, in Fusṭāṭ. He laments his absence from his wife and beloved young son, exhorts his wife regarding her religious observance and the care of their son, and expresses his hope that he will return home with the utmost joy and with sufficient income from his endeavours. He was last officiating in Benhā, Egypt. He asks that his wife informs Umm Ṯanā that he will finish copying her Torah upon his return, and sends greetings to his father-in-law, Abū l-Bayān the cantor, to whom the letter is addressed.Condition: fadedLayout: 35 lines (recto); 3 lines (verso)
P2 f.1 followed by P1 f. 1 and P3 f. 2: Birkat ha-Mazon. P3 f. 1, P1 f. 2 and P2 f. 2: qaddiš. P4: Judaeo-Arabic letter sent by Ismaʿīl to al-Šayḵ al-Ḥaver David ha-Kohen, mentioning the elder Abraham and Damascus. The letter starts on the current verso. A line of address in Arabic script is found on recto. P5: The cover page and beginning of birkat ha-mazon, copied by Mešullam b. Yefet.Condition: Torn, holes, slightly stainedLayout: 5–15 lines
Letter from Jacob b. Binyām to his mother, dealing with practical matters and apologising for not visiting her on the holidays. Mentions Abū l-Faraj b. Ṣedaqa.Condition: holes, stainedLayout: 28 lines (recto); 15 lines + jottings (verso)
Part of a letter, c. end of the 10th or beginning of the 11th century, from Joseph b. Isaac Ibn Abitur, in Spain (either Merida or Cordoba), probably to Šemarya b. Elḥanan, in Fusṭāṭ. Greetings are sent on behalf of the writer’s sons Isaac and Mordechai, seeking the support of the recipient. Mentions Ḵalfa b. Taḥkemōn.Condition: torn, holes, fadedLayout: 35 lines (recto; verso is blank)
Recto: treatise with citations such as BT Horayot 13b, BT Bava Meṣiʿa 107a, 2 Chronicles 33:10-13 and Deuteronomy 13:18. Verso: letter (including responsa) in Arabic script from Joseph b. Kulayb in Ramla to Nathan b. Abraham, probably in Tyre (c. May 1041 CE).Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 37 lines + marginalia (recto); 19 lines (verso)
Letter, c. 1098 CE, written by Joshua he-Ḥaver b. ʿEli he-Ḥaver, in Ḥaṣōr (Caesarea), to Mevoraḵ he-Ḥaver ha-Meʿulle ‘member of the Great Sanhedrin, Alluf ha-Binot, ha-Nagid’ b. Saʿadya, in Fusṭāṭ, asking the recipient for a letter of recommendation in order that the judge of Hazor would grant him a visa to travel to, and settle in, Ashkelon, in order to escape the Crusader invasion. Joshua also mentions that he is not on good terms with the Jewish community in Ḥaṣōr, and he blesses the memory of the recipient’s late brother, Judah ha-Nagid. Opens with a quote from Psalms 138:6.Condition: holesLayout: 29 lines (recto); 4 lines (verso)
Part of a letter, c. 1015 CE, written by Josiah ‘Head of the Yešiva of the Pride of Jacob’ (i.e. Josiah b. Aaron), to the Jewish community in the ‘Isle of Kaftor’, which is the city Damietta, specifically to ʿAmram (Av) Bet Din ha-Mumḥe, Elʿazar the judge, ʿAmram the cantor, Yešuʿa, and the rest of the elders, i.e. the leaders of the Jewish community in Damietta, seeking financial help for the Jewish communities in the Land of Israel, which are suffering due to persecution from the authorities under al-Ḥakīm, who have cut off financial support and are imposing fines upon them. The Damietta community has sent such support in the past, under previous Geʾonim, hence the present request.Condition: torn, holesLayout: 25 lines (recto); 1 line (verso)
A collection of responsa, 33 in total, in a fine edition on parchment. The authority cited in number 24 is מש[ולם], who is probably the Italian halakhist Mešullam b. Kalonymos.Condition: Torn, holes, rubbedLayout: P2: 25.6 x 33.2 (1 leaf: 17.2); P3: 25 x 34 (1 leaf: 17.2); 33-35 lines
End of a collection of commentaries on the Babylonian Talmud, followed by a note of contents. According to the note, the volume contained Mešullam b. Moses of Béziers’ Sefer ha-Hašlama on Bava Meṣiʿa and Bava Batra (end 12th–beginning 13th century) and a commentary on Bava Batra composed at the time of Samuel b. Meʾir (d. 1158 CE).Condition: Torn, rubbed, faded, stainedLayout: 36 lines (recto); 11 lines (verso)
Leaf 1: Maimonides, Mišne Tora, Šeḥiṭa 14:11–16 followed by the Aramaic concluding formula בריך רחמנא דסיען and the scribe’s name, Isaac b. Mivḥar. F. 2r: notes in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew, including a date, 1551 Sel. (= 1240 CE), and a name, Isaac b. Samuel; a blessing including Isaiah 40:29; two ornamental designs and a marginal note, quoting Genesis 22:10. F. 2v: amulet, including a table with Arabic numerals.Condition: torn, holes, stainedLayout: 8–15 lines + marginalia
End of Maimonides’ commentary on Mišna Zevaḥim 14:10 and the beginning of his introduction to Menaḥot.Condition: Slightly torn, rubbedLayout: 26-28 lines
Recto: list of differences between the Tiberian and the Babylonian versions of the consonantal text of the Bible for 2 Kings 7:12-17, 24. The discussion is of particular interest inasmuch as it mentions the names of various masoretic authorities, some of whom are unknown apart from this fragment: צא̇ (unknown), אובי (unknown), עיסי (unknown), and מוחא (Moses Moḥe). Verso: masora parva and masora magna to 2 Kings 4:13-10:6.Condition: Badly torn, holes, rubbed, slightly stainedLayout: 22 lines (recto); 18 lines (verso)
Recto: letter, c. 1030 CE, from Moses the scribe b. Isaac ‘he-Ḥaver in the Great Sanhedrin’ b. Solomon ‘he-Ḥaver in the Great Sanhedrin’ b. Meʾir ‘Head of the Yešiva of the Pride of Jacob’, to Abraham b. Sahl ha-Tustarī. Verso: list of names, including Ṯābit b. Joseph, the woman Karīma bat Yefet, Mordechai ha-Kohen and his brother Barhūn ha-Kohen b. Moses b. Morde[chai], and Yešuʿa ha-Kohen b. Mordechai.Condition: holesLayout: 24 lines (recto); 5 lines (verso)
Part of a letter, dated Tammuz [1]350 (= 1039 CE), written by Nathan ‘Head of the Yešiva of the Pride of Jacob’ b. Abraham, to Nathaniel ha-Levi ‘Help of the Yešiva’ b. Rawḥ ha-Levi in Fusṭāṭ, sending very warm greetings from himself and his students.Condition: torn, holesLayout: 31 lines (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Recto: a piyyuṭ with the title Qidduše Yarḥayyā (apparently by Pinḥas). Preserved are the piyyuṭim for Nisan and Iyyar. Verso, top: a medical recipe in Judaeo-Arabic for chest and rib pain. Verso, bottom: an ownership note with the name Šabbetay b. Joseph ha-Mumḥe b. Elʿazar b. ʿAmram the judge, written by this person’s son.Condition: Torn, holes, rubbed, slightly stainedLayout: 25 lines (recto); 13 lines (verso)
Halahkic treatise on deposits in the handwriting of Sahlān b. Abraham. Possibly Samuel b. Ḥofni Gaʾon’s Kitāb al-Ayman.Condition: Torn, holes, slightly fadedLayout: 19 lines
Recto: a page from Samuel b. Ḥofni's Kitāb al-Šurūṭ (see also T-S Ar.49.51). Verso: a letter from Alexandria, written between the lines of an official Arabic documentLayout: 52 lines (recto); 72 lines (verso)
The opening of Saʿadya, Hilḵot Šeḥiṭa, introduced with the ornamented rubric בשמ' רחמ' נתחיל [ה]ל[כו]ת שחיטה לרבינו סעדיהו גאון זל.Condition: torn, holes, stainedLayout: 10–11 lines (f. 1r is blank)
Scroll of Antiochus, vv. 65–66, with the translation of Saʿadya Gaʾon. Recto contains the translation of v. 65; verso contains the Aramaic of v. 66.Condition: tornLayout: 5 lines
Main text and marginalia represent two different textual entities, both in the hand of Joseph b. Jacob ha-Bavli Roš ha-Seder. The main text of f. 1r and 2v contains excerpts from various texts in different writing styles and sometimes the same passage is repeated in different writing styles, presenting samples of Joseph b. Jacob ha-Bavli’s writing in different styles. On f. 1r are a query and answer related to Babylonian Talmud, Roš ha-Šana, 16a, Mišna, Beraḵot 1:1, a passage from Sefer ha-Galuy by Saʿadya Gaʾon with some phrases repeated numerous times, Psalms 118:8-9, 6 written with vocalisation and cantillation and partially repeated without vocalisation, and the title מסכת ברכות repeated twice. F. 1v: a collection of materials related to Babylonian Talmud, Sukka, including a short commentary in Judaeo-Arabic and Rashi on Sukka 8b. F. 2r: Babylonian Talmud, Megilla 16a-16b. F. 2v contains passages from: Rashi on Babylonian Talmud, Soṭa 2a, a philosophical work in Judaeo-Arabic with some lines repeated more than once in different styles, Babylonian Talmud, Beraḵot 63a, Psalms 46:8, 118:6-7 and Ibn Gikatilla’s commentary on Job. In the margins, there are two book lists mentioning treatises of halaḵa, biblical commentaries, Talmudic tractates, Geʾonic responsa, and responsa by Isaac al-Fāsī.Condition: Holes, slightly rubbed, slightly stainedLayout: 18–23 lines + marginalia