Geniza Lab

Legal document, probably. Relatively small fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic, written in a Sefaradi-influenced hand. Repeatedly refers to capital (raʾsmāl). Possibly a partnership agreement. Mentions someone named Ismāʿīl.

Recto: commercial letter with Arabic marginalia. Verso: Arabic commercial letter. (Information from CUDL)

Probably a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a letter referring to books (dafātir), mentioning Rabbenu Hai z”l, presumably Hai Gaʾon. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Large fragment but almost all is formulaic. (Information in part from CUDL)

This text is preserved in one very fragmentary folio, T-S AS 160.96. What survives indicates that it is about the midday calendar limit, whereby the New Year is postponed if the molad of Tishri occurs after midday. Babylonians and Palestinians are not explicitly mentioned, but the text contrasts the Babylonian limit of midday with the Palestinian limit of midday and 641 parts. An original feature of this text is the distinction it makes between an ‘astronomical’ month, which begins on the astronomical conjunction (presumably, the true conjunction), and a ‘numerical’ month (lines 9-10, 15-16). The latter probably means that its dates are calculated, and refers to the (Rabbanite) calendar month.The text is too fragmentary to be understood with certainty.

Part of a letter, with marginal text, mentioning Shemuʾel the Nasi (?) and one and a quarter dinars. (Information from CUDL)

Probably a letter, mentioning Egypt. (Information from CUDL)

Bill of sale for a female slave. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. No details preserved. (Information in part from CUDL)

Popular literature in Judaeo-Arabic. Maqāma-like. Might be about a wily woman—needs further examination. (Information in part from CUDL)

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. Written on a reused scrap of Arabic-script accounts. Mentions that "we demanded the oath from Abū Saʿd... he said that he lost the document... I went to Abū l-Khayr 20 times and didn't find him." (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Late.

Orders of payment, mentioning Abū ʿAlī. (Information from CUDL)

Personal letter in Judaeo-Arabic, quoting Genesis 34:7; 31:27. Begins "there is no doubt that you are the one who has wronged me," then "I would not have tried to travel [if ...]." On verso it mentions somebody's death; how this was difficult for 'the venerable elder,' who subsequently fell sick; a legal opponent; and a fight between a man and his relatives. Might be in the handwriting of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu; the belligerent tone would fit, and the hand is extremely close to JRL SERIES A 191, which he signs. (Information in part from CUDL)

List of commodities and prices in Judaeo-Arabic, including brazilwood (בקם). (Information from CUDL)

Accounts probably. In Judaeo-Arabic on one side and Arabic script on the other (though part of the Arabic script reads like a letter). Mentions Ibn Wuhayb. (Information in part from CUDL)

Court record in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Refers to a sale. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document(s) or perhaps formularies. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. The one on recto refers to to "pelonit" instead of an actual woman's name. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter addressed to Yeshuʿa b. Zekharya the judge (with many grand titles, including החזק הפטיש). Same addressee as T-S 13J21.16. Mentions someone's arrival from Alexandria to Bilbays. (Information in part from CUDL)

Part of a letter, referring to the Head of the Yeshiva (ראס אלמתיבה). (Information from CUDL)