Princeton Geniza Lab

How to Geniza? A short (and incomplete) introduction coming up! 1/x

@manoushaD S. D. Goitein and M. A. Friedman were the ones who pioneered the study of the Geniza documents on medieval India - brill.com/display/title/…

@manoushaD The Princeton Geniza Project team is indeed working on publishing all the Geniza documents (letters, legal docs, accounts, etc.) related to medieval India! We haven't included Moss. VIII,393.2 because it's from a literary work, but DM and we'll be glad to collaborate on it

Reaching out to the X network: is anyone working on the Cairo Geniza documents related to Medieval India, and have translated them? @GenizaLab Specifically, document: Moss. VIII,393.2

Does anyone recognize these mysterious characters? Spotted on the back of an early modern page of business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. geniza.princeton.edu/en/documents/1…

@Apik2022 @cmeadows37 Thank you! What are the Arabic words you're seeing?

@cmeadows37 @GenizaLab Apparently, It is part of a prayer book. The repeated formula is "O, Subject of the Object" :)

Anyone able to read anything from this manuscript? These fragments seem to join but are extremely difficult to decipher. Likely from 11th-13th century Egypt.

"The boy ʿAṭiyya has been weaned. . . please send sugar and halva. . . he wants to eat sweets all the time, and he is used to being pampered" - late medieval Judaeo-Arabic family letter 👶🍭🍭🍭 geniza.princeton.edu/en/documents/2…

courtesy of @OdedZinger

"The wife of Satan" (imraʾat iblīs) - spotted on an alms distribution list from 12th century Cairo 💃👿 geniza.princeton.edu/en/documents/3…

+ past and present! We look forward to seeing how researchers utilize and explore this collection in new ways!

Special thanks to director Prof. Marina Rustow, co-director Prof. Eve Krakowski, project managers Rachel Richman, Ksenia Ryzhova, Pratima Gopalakrishnan, and Amel Bensalim, as well as research software engineer Mohamed Abdellatif, the CDH's Rebecca Koeser, & all our researchers+

For the first time since the Princeton Geniza Project began in 1986, we have published our metadata collated from over 30,000 Geniza documents and the People, Places, and histories of the Middle East and premodern Jewish communities found therein! zenodo.org/records/158390…

here: (genizaprojects.princeton.edu/pgpsearch). Meanwhile keep enjoying our new site (geniza.princeton.edu/en/)!"

Given the expanded capabilities of the new PGP site (v4), we're finally retiring PGPv3. We chose April 3, 2025 as its final date, S. D. Goitein's 125th birthday. Many thanks to Ben Johnston of @mcgrawect for building the site & running it. You can find the archived content here:

A gorgeous prayerbook (maḥzor) for the high holidays copied in Mallorca(!) in 1332 CE, recently spotted by PGP researcher Tani Robinson. geniza.princeton.edu/en/documents/4…

Princeton Geniza Lab has joined Bluesky! We hope you will connect with us at our profile over there! 🦋→ bsky.app/profile/geniza…

New Syriac AI translator! The results are surprisingly accurate and good for AI translation. There’s still room to improve, but this tool is already a major step forward. It won’t be long before Syriac can be translated as seamlessly as other languages—a huge development for the future of Syriac preservation and accessibility. oromoyo.ai

"When I parted from you, I intended to sail to the island of Cyprus, but a strong storm diverted the boat to Tarsus. I was very much afraid that the king would take hold of me and detain me. . . ." Letter from Alexandria to Cairo, ~1212 CE geniza.princeton.edu/en/documents/8…

Goitein's index card ("Dr. Paul Fenton to publish together with me as Maimonides en pantoufles") with accompanying AI illustration of Maimonides en pantoufles

A very sweet letter reminiscing on a visit to the house of Maimonides, who is depicted here enjoying lemon drops and playing with a cute toddler. "I kissed his noble hand, and he received us with a most cordial welcome. He said to me, 'Come and sit...'" geniza.princeton.edu/en/documents/1…