A Curse Against One Stealing a Sacred Book

This is a dedication text, found in the Cairo Geniza, to be written on a “Book of the Law” (sefer Torah), containing a violent curse against anybody who sells or steals it from the synagogue to which it had been donated. The text leaves space to add the name of the patron, rendered here as “N son of N,” and enumerates a series of threats against the thief, invoking divine and angelic names. The curse text indicates the pervasiveness of magical practices among the Jews of medieval Fustāt (Old Cairo). The angelic name Zagnaza’el is only mentioned in relatively late magical texts. Ellipses indicate lacunae in the manuscript.