A Philological Study in Geonica: "The Black Box Case", or: an Anonymous Remnant from Hilkhot Dayyanim in Judaeo-Arabic

A remnant of an unknown work containing instructions for Dayyanin has survived, and a part of it has already been published in Ginzei Qedem. In the meantime, additional Genizah fragments belonging to this work have been discovered. This is a fascinating rather problematic work that was known to neither traditional savants nor scholars. There are fragments in which the script is especially similar to or paleographically connected with adab al-Qada of Rav Hai. However, there is no identical sequence and no evidences of what text it belongs to. It cannot yet be identified who its authors were or within what exact milieu it has been written. There are some enigmatic textual and generic connections between the different works, and in one case, they were even found together on the same bifolio leaf. However, its identification as part of adab alqada or Lawazm alḥukam causes incoherencies, thematic incongruous repetitions, and stylistic problems. Consequently, I suggest that this work be referred to as a separated third work until clear and evident proofs are found that could serve as criteria for accurate identification.