Fragment from a notebook with drafts (of a letter) and accounts. Mentions Ḥayyā [Yaḥyā] ha-Kohen ha-Melammed and Abū l-Ḥasan and measures such as qirrāṭ.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 8 lines + marginalia (recto); 10 lines (verso)
Possibly an account of auctioning the right to read a paraša: a list of parašot from Exodus and Leviticus with the words ‘dirhem’ or ‘two dirhems’ written next to each one of them in Arabic script. The text at the top of recto, which may not be related to the account, mentions the names of Abū Naṣr al-Dalāl and Abū l-Faḍl. With jottings in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic on verso.Condition: Torn, holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: various lines
P1: f. 1r: description of a dream dated 525 AH (= 1130 CE); f. 1v: alchemical recipe called ‘the operation of mixture’; f. 2r: invocation to God. P2: f. 1r: alchemical recipe (continues from P1 f. 1v); f. 1v: calendar in which the Hebrew months of Sivan and Tammuz are mentioned; f. 2v: invocation to God and separate letters. P3: leaf 1: magical words and description of their use, with a mention of the city of Damascus; calendar mentioning Jewish festivals (Passover, Ḥanukka). P4: f. 1r: sequence of letters arranged according to the abrade; f. 1v: on the substitution of letters in words according to the Kabbalah; P4 leaf 2: calendar with mention of Hebrew festivals (continues from P3, leaf 1). P5: f. 1r: very damaged, only a few letters legible; f. 1v: list of some of the months of the Jewish calendar; f. 2r: description of movements of the sun (first 8 lines) and list of some months of the Jewish calendar; f. 2v: badly rubbed. P6: f. 1r: description of celestial phenomena; ff. 1v, leaf 2: on the reckoning of the days of the festival with mention of the leap year. P7: ff. 1r-2v: mention of a musical instrument in Arabic and Hebrew; f. 2r: mention of Rabban Gamaliel and reckoning for the rising of the New Moon. P8: unidentified Hebrew text. P9 recto: alchemical recipe involving the use of vitriol; verso: Arabic (separate letters and words and unidentified partial text).Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: 0-16 lines
Recto: two alchemical recipes. The first recipe (ll. 1-8) is aimed at producing ‘the work’ (אלצנעה), a word commonly used for indicating the production of gold, silver or the elixir that would turn base metals into precious ones. Ingredients mentioned are: sublimated arsenic, vinegar, sulphur, dissolved salt, sublimated mercury. The second recipe is composed of two parts. The first part (ll. 8-14) describes a preparation requiring silver, salt, water, mercury, and sal ammoniac that is aimed at obtaining a clear plate of metal. The second part (ll. 14-end) requires the use of quicksilver, horse manure, sal ammoniac, the Khurasani (?) and young boys’ urine. The end of the recipe is lost. Verso: part of a widely-spaced letter sent to a nagid in Fusṭāṭ.Condition: Torn, fadedLayout: 36 lines (recto); 16 lines (verso)
Astrological table, mentioning the sun and the planets, such as Mercury and Jupiter. On verso, another leaf is stuck to the page; on it a letter which mentions the name Abū Saʿīd b. Ṣaḡīr.Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: various lines
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
Probably a Bible commentary in Judaeo-Arabic, quoting Song of Songs 3:7; marginal jottings in Arabic are visible on both sides of the page.Condition: badly torn, holes, rubbed, faded, badly stainedLayout: 11 lines + marginalia (recto); 13 lines + marginalia (verso)
Recto: commentary on Isaiah 28:25. Verso: commentary on Ezekiel 28:24; with Arabic between the lines. Probably part of an official Arabic document, containing names such as al-Amir (?), and Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥumaydi (?).Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: 9 lines (recto); 7 lines (verso)
Recto: part of a commentary on various biblical words beginning with the letter ע, including עין and עני. Verso: jottings.Condition: holes, rubbed, fadedLayout: 18 lines (recto); various lines (verso)
Recto: probably commentary on Exodus 9:19-20, with coptic numerals in the margin. Verso: jottings in Arabic and Coptic numerals.Condition: torn, rubbedLayout: 9 lines + marginalia (recto); jottings (verso)
Commentary on Isaiah 3:8-9; 3:14, quoting biblical sources (including Exodus 27:20); on verso Arabic jottings in the margin.Condition: torn, holes, stainedLayout: 10 lines + marginalia
Recto: translation and commentary on Job 42:12-17 with Hebrew incipits. Verso: line of unidentified text in Arabic; crude illustrations.Condition: badly torn, holes, fadedLayout: 13 lines (recto); 1 line + drawings (verso)
Recto: Arabic and Hebrew jottings, micrography and geometrical designs. The micrography is arranged into three separate shapes: a wheel, a Magen David, and a geometrical shape. In the wheel, the spokes and the innermost circle are made of Genesis 49:18 and the two outer circles contain the first six lines of a qerova for the additional service on Yom Kippur וארץ אף שמים להפרות ישע פתח by Solomon Sulaymān. The outer circle mentions the name Mūsā ha-Levi. The Magen David is made of separate verses in Psalms 91. The geometrical shape is made of Song of Songs 1:1 and Psalms 1:1–2. One of the Hebrew jottings mentions the name Yeduṯun ha-Levi. Jottings in Arabic script are repetitions of the phrase ولما انتهى اليه (‘when it finally reached him’) in letters of different size. Verso: a Judaeo-Arabic translation of Jeremiah 2:33-37, with Hebrew incipits. In the bottom left part of the page there is a writing exercise: the Hebrew alphabet in large characters with large interlinear spaces.Condition: Holes, slightly rubbedLayout: various lines (recto); 10 lines + jottings (verso)
Translation of Genesis 2:5-25; Hebrew incipits. In the margin on recto there are three lines of an Arabic document, introduced by the basmala.Condition: torn, holes, badly rubbedLayout: 13 lines + marginalia (recto); 12 lines (verso)
Recto: Saʿadya’s translation of Exodus 1:10-15 with Hebrew incipits, and marginal jottings (two of which are in Arabic script). Verso: jottings.Condition: Torn, stainedLayout: 13 lines
Recto: text and translation of Genesis 1:12-13. Verso: note in Arabic, including basmala; writing exercises in Hebrew, including the Šemaʿ.Condition: torn, large holes, rubbedLayout: 10 lines (recto); various lines (verso)
Recto: Daniel 12:1–3; 12:11–12. A Judaeo-Arabic gloss in the top right margin relates the verses to the end of days. Verso: colophon mentioning Tamim ha-Kohen, followed by jottings, including various repetitions of the basmala, of the expression mawlā al-šayḵ al-jalīl aṭāla Allāh baqāhu in Arabic and in Judaeo-Arabic, and of other words and letters.Condition: Torn, slightly rubbedLayout: 15 lines (recto); 5 lines + marginalia (verso)
Psalms 149:1-150:4 with Hebrew writing-exercises, jottings in Judaeo-Arabic, and two lines of a medical recipe in Arabic.Condition: slightly torn, holes, stainedLayout: 10 lines (recto); 8 lines (verso)
Recto: main text in Hebrew on the dates of the New Moon, mentioning the year 4827 which is the Seleucid year 1378 (= 1066-1067 CE). The second text written vertically in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew is on dates of the New Moon. The third text is written in Arabic with Hebrew words presumably on the Year of Remittance, mentioning Friday Elul 29 and the fourth šemiṭa (Elul 29 is the day of remittance of debts). Verso: first line in Arabic script, with the main text in Hebrew on calendrical matters (different hand to recto). The second text in Hebrew (the same script as recto) is calendrical. The third text (written vertically in Judaeo-Arabic) calculates dates.Condition: torn, stainedLayout: various lines
Treatise on the calendar by Josiah b. Mevoraḵ al-ʿĀqūlī, which claims that the Jewish calendar repeats itself exactly every 247 years. He describes the course of the fourteen possible types of the Jewish year, including the beginning of months, holidays and fasts. One folio has marginalia in a different hand in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic (apparently notes added by a reader), including a transliteration of calendrical information into Arabic characters.Condition: HolesLayout: 5-11 lines + marginalia
Discourse on the calendar, mentioning the different types of Hebrew year (complete, normal, defective; leap, regular) and rules for calendar reckoning.Condition: holesLayout: 48 lines + marginalia (recto); 12 lines (verso)
Calendar reckoning for the 262nd and 263rd cycle, indicating the 19 years they include. Instructions concerning the leap year and the different types of year (complete, normal, defective). Verso: remnants of an Arabic text.Condition: torn, holes, slightly rubbed, slightly stainedLayout: 45 lines + marginalia (recto); 24 lines + marginalia (verso)
Treatise on the calendar by Josiah b. Mevoraḵ al-ʿĀqūlī, which claims that the Jewish calendar repeats itself exactly every 247 years. He describes the course of the fourteen possible types of the Jewish year, including the beginning of months, holidays and fasts, as well as the division of weekly portions. Mentions Saʿadya Gaʿon with reference to the division of weekly portions. At the bottom of recto is the basmala in Arabic script.Condition: CompleteLayout: 11-15 lines
Ff. 1v-2r: calendrical work on the 259th lunar cycle (= 1142-1161 CE) written for R. Obadiah the cantor b. Aaron he-Ḥaver. The work is in Hebrew with some Judaeo-Arabic words. F. 2v: record of the birth of Ḥalfon b. Obadiah in Kislev 4907 (= 1147 CE). The record is in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The record is stricken through and a note of the child’s death is made in a different hand at the top of the page. On the bottom of page the record of birth is repeated in Arabic where the child is referred to as Ḵalf ibn ʿAbdallah.Condition: torn, holesLayout: 15-17 lines (fol. 1r is blank)
Lists of dates; basmala in Arabic script written vertically on f. 2v; Arabic jottingsCondition: slightly stainedLayout: 6-13 lines in 4 columns + marginalia
F. 1: calendar for the 19-year cycle 259 (beginning in 1142-3 CE), giving for each year of the cycle the days of the week of the beginning of all months of the year, of holidays and fast days, and the date and time of the tequfot. F. 2: pen trials in Arabic script, pen trials in Hebrew script, and calculations in Coptic numerals.Condition: torn, rubbed, stainedLayout: 3-12 lines
F. 1: dates of important events in Jewish history, and pen trials in Hebrew and Arabic, including the name […]n the cantor b. Abraham. F. 2: calendar, including information on the moladot of all months of the year, with information on the dates of holidays and fasts added interlinearly and in the margins in smaller characters. Uses Arabic days of the week. The 19 year cycle 256 (beginning in 1085-6 CE) is mentioned in the colophon, written vertically in the margins: כמל מחזור רנו בחמד אללה תעאלי.Condition: holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: 8 lines + marginalia (recto); 17 lines + marginalia (verso)
Recto: calendar for the years 4908 (= 1148 CE) and 4909 (= 1149 CE), containing dates of fasts and holidays. Verso: at the top of the page is a prayer, followed by jottings in Arabic and a section from BT Beraḵot 2a at the foot of the page.Condition: holesLayout: 21 lines (recto); various lines (verso)
Recto: calendrical text on the Aviv in Judaeo-Arabic with marginal jottings in Arabic script. Verso: rabbinic miscellany in Aramaic and Hebrew with marginal jottings in Arabic script.Condition: holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: 16 lines + marginalia (recto); 17 lines + marginalia (verso)
Recto: a mainly grammatical commentary on Ruth 3:15–4:8. In the following colophon, the text is referred to as Alfāẓ Megillat Rut and the scribe’s name is given as Aaron ha-Kohen b. ʿEli ha-Kohen. Verso: the first paragraph of verso appears to be a Judaeo-Arabic book list, mentioning Numbers, a quire with the text of the weekly portion meṣoraʿ (Leviticus 14:1–15:33) and Saʿadya. The second paragraph is in Arabic script.Condition: Holes, rubbedLayout: 15 lines (recto); 6 lines (verso)
P1 f. 1v–2v: a liturgical text for the celebration of Passover. F. 1v contains קדושת היום for Passover, אתה בחרתה בישראל עמך and ותתן לנו יי אלהינו באהבה with a reference to חג המצות, followed by Leviticus 23:4-7. The end of 1v and the whole of 2r are made up of separate verses from the Bible, mainly from Psalms. F. 2v is illegible. F. 1r contains an unidentified text, possibly poetical, written later than the one preserved on the other leaves of the bifolium. It appears to post-date the staining of the leaf, since it is written around its edges. P2 recto: ownership note ascribing the book to Isaac b. Abraham. Verso: an Arabic document mentioning Ḵalaf b. ʿAlī.Condition: Holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: 5–17 lines
Recto: micrography of a large Magen David inside a frame, with wishes for a bride and a groom. In the left margin, a line of Arabic is written that mentions Ibn al-Raʾīs al-Wā[…]rī and Bint al-…, possibly referring to the groom and the bride in question. Verso: an excerpt from the introduction of Judah b. David Hayyūj’s Book on the Weak and Geminative Verbs, explaining the notions of vocalised and unvocalised consonants and mentioning the names of the Hebrew vowels, with slight deviations from the published text. A note on the recto of the stub, written transversely to the text on verso, identifies Hayyūj as the author of three discourses: on verbs with the first weak radical, on verbs with the second weak radical, and on verbs with the third weak radical. At the bottom of verso there are pen trials in Arabic script, where certain short words and letter combinations are repeated a number of times.Condition: Holes, rubbedLayout: various lines + marginalia (recto); 9 lines + jottings (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)
Recto: part of an official Arabic document. Verso: part of a colophon of a prayer booklet for Passover mentioning the evening prayer and a yoṣer.Condition: Badly tornLayout: 4 lines (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Bifolium that shows considerable evidence of reuse. Originally, there was a colophon on f. 1v to Isaac b. Sulaymān’s ‘Book of Fevers’ (כתאב מגמוע מן אקאויל אלאואיל פי אלחמאיאת ממא עני בגמעה ותאליפה אסחק בן סולימאן אל אסראילי). Subsequently other hands have reused both sides of the bifolium, treating it as a single leaf. The texts include different Judaeo-Arabic philosophical treatises on Creation, and some Arabic basmalas.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: various lines
Recto: verses in Arabic expressing the book owner’s intention to not lend his copy to anybody without making a written note of it. The first three lines are written in Arabic script, then repeated in Judaeo-Arabic. Then the next three lines are written in Arabic script but without a Judaeo-Arabic transcription, probably because the copyist ran out of space. Verso: the colophon, specifying that this is a book by Samuel b. Hošaʿna (Third in the Academy), copied by Judah ha-Levi b. Yefet ha-Levi in the month of Jumādā al-Awwal, 550 of the Hijra (= July, 1155 CE).Condition: Holes, rubbedLayout: 13 lines (recto); 10 lines (verso)