A Genizah Magical Fragment and Its European Parallels

During the Middle Ages magical texts circulated between different geographical regions and, remarkably, also between different religious groups. The article illustrates this interesting phenomenon by presenting an edition of a medieval manuscript fragment uncovered in the Cairo Genizah, T-S AS 144.208. The fragment, dated to the fifteenth century, contains magical recipes in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic. Some of the recipes have close parallels in Hebrew manuscripts originating in Europe, outside the Genizah. Yet most noteworthy is the fact that one of its recipes has been translated from Latin, and may be found in a Christian grimoire. The article examines these parallels and considers the nature of information exchange between Jews and Christians in the field of medieval magic.