The Book of Twitches of Shem, Son of Noah, and Other Manuals of Palmomancy from the Cairo Genizah and al-Qusayr

Gideon Bohak

doi:10.1163/9789004527874_007

The Book of Twitches of Shem, Son of Noah, and Other Manuals of Palmomancy from the Cairo Genizah and al-Qusayr

Gideon Bohak

Department of Jewish Philosophy

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

Abstract

Twitch divination (palmomancy) entails observing the involuntary twitches of a person’s body to predict his or her future. It is a practice attested already in the Assyro-Babylonian world and it circulated widely in late antiquity and in the Middle Ages. It is well attested in the Cairo Genizah, which shows its great popularity among the Jews of medieval Cairo. The present paper provides an edition and translation of the extant Genizah fragments of Kitāb al-Ikhtilāj, “The Book of Twitches,” attributed to Shem, son of Noah. This is followed by a detailed survey of all the palmomantic fragments from the Cairo Genizah in Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, and Hebrew. Finally, I offer a reedition of a palmomantic fragment from al-Qusayr, which has previously been misidentified as an amulet. Together, all these fragments attest to the vitality of the palmomantic tradition in medieval Egypt.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	From Samarqand to Toledo
Subtitle of host publication	Greek, Sogdian and Arabic Documents and Manuscripts from the Islamicate World and Beyond
Editors	Andreas Kaplony, Matt Malczycki
Place of Publication	Leiden ; Boston
Publisher	Brill Academic Publishers
Chapter	5
Pages	139-161
Number of pages	23
ISBN (Electronic)	9789004527874
ISBN (Print)	9789004527867
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004527874_007
State	Published - 2023

Publication series

Name	Islamic History and Civilization
Volume	201
ISSN (Print)	0929-2403

Funding

Funders	Funder number
Israel Science Foundation	986/14

Access to Document

10.1163/9789004527874_007

Cite this

Bohak, G. (2023). The Book of Twitches of Shem, Son of Noah, and Other Manuals of Palmomancy from the Cairo Genizah and al-Qusayr. In A. Kaplony, & M. Malczycki (Eds.), From Samarqand to Toledo: Greek, Sogdian and Arabic Documents and Manuscripts from the Islamicate World and Beyond (pp. 139-161). (Islamic History and Civilization; Vol. 201). Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004527874_007

Bohak, Gideon. / The Book of Twitches of Shem, Son of Noah, and Other Manuals of Palmomancy from the Cairo Genizah and al-Qusayr. From Samarqand to Toledo: Greek, Sogdian and Arabic Documents and Manuscripts from the Islamicate World and Beyond. editor / Andreas Kaplony ; Matt Malczycki. Leiden ; Boston : Brill Academic Publishers, 2023. pp. 139-161 (Islamic History and Civilization).

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abstract = "Twitch divination (palmomancy) entails observing the involuntary twitches of a person{\textquoteright}s body to predict his or her future. It is a practice attested already in the Assyro-Babylonian world and it circulated widely in late antiquity and in the Middle Ages. It is well attested in the Cairo Genizah, which shows its great popularity among the Jews of medieval Cairo. The present paper provides an edition and translation of the extant Genizah fragments of Kitāb al-Ikhtilāj, “The Book of Twitches,” attributed to Shem, son of Noah. This is followed by a detailed survey of all the palmomantic fragments from the Cairo Genizah in Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, and Hebrew. Finally, I offer a reedition of a palmomantic fragment from al-Qusayr, which has previously been misidentified as an amulet. Together, all these fragments attest to the vitality of the palmomantic tradition in medieval Egypt.",

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Bohak, G 2023, The Book of Twitches of Shem, Son of Noah, and Other Manuals of Palmomancy from the Cairo Genizah and al-Qusayr. in A Kaplony & M Malczycki (eds), From Samarqand to Toledo: Greek, Sogdian and Arabic Documents and Manuscripts from the Islamicate World and Beyond. Islamic History and Civilization, vol. 201, Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden ; Boston, pp. 139-161. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004527874_007

The Book of Twitches of Shem, Son of Noah, and Other Manuals of Palmomancy from the Cairo Genizah and al-Qusayr. / Bohak, Gideon.
From Samarqand to Toledo: Greek, Sogdian and Arabic Documents and Manuscripts from the Islamicate World and Beyond. ed. / Andreas Kaplony; Matt Malczycki. Leiden ; Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2023. p. 139-161 (Islamic History and Civilization; Vol. 201).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

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Y1 - 2023

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Bohak G. The Book of Twitches of Shem, Son of Noah, and Other Manuals of Palmomancy from the Cairo Genizah and al-Qusayr. In Kaplony A, Malczycki M, editors, From Samarqand to Toledo: Greek, Sogdian and Arabic Documents and Manuscripts from the Islamicate World and Beyond. Leiden ; Boston: Brill Academic Publishers. 2023. p. 139-161. (Islamic History and Civilization). doi: 10.1163/9789004527874_007

The Book of Twitches of Shem, Son of Noah, and Other Manuals of Palmomancy from the Cairo Genizah and al-Qusayr

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