Geniza Lab

An epistle from Avraham b. Sabbatai, the Ḥaver of Minyat Zifta, to Moshe Nagid b. Mevorakh, congratulating the recipient for his success in dealing with the Jew hater Shippeṣ, with a metaphorical reference to Haman and Mordechai. Regards are sent to the recipient’s sons, Mevoraḵ and Yehuda, and also to his mother, on behalf of the writer’s son. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: poem in honour of a new leader. Verso: pen trials and a draft of a letter in Arabic script. (Information from CUDL.) The letter draft is addressed to "Bū l-Majd" and "my dear brother." Underneath there is the name Meir b. Yakhin and also Meir b. ʿAmram. The Hebrew pen trials are rebukes for sluggards (עצל הלא תבוש ותכלם...).

The unique papyrus codex in the Taylor-Schechter collection. "The late Professor Ezra Fleischer identified the fragments as a collection of liturgical poems by the Palestinian payṭan, Joseph b. Nissan of Neve Qiryatayim (a contemporary of Eleazar b. Kallir c. sixth century CE). At some point during the eighth or ninth century CE, a scribe copied Nissan’s poems out on to the papyrus leaves and the leaves were bound into a codex." See Jefferson, R. J. (2009). T-S 6H9 – 21, the papyrus codex rebound. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, July 2009]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.48228.

Deposition in court on a compound of the Qodesh ca. 1230. Judge Yehi'el b. Elyaqim and Netaniel b. Yeshu'a bear witness that a tabaqa and a tarima connected to a compound of the qodesh are part of that compound. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 452 #135)

Letter from Abū l-ʿIzz b. Abū ʿUmar, probably in Alexandria, to Abū l-Barakāt b. Abū ʿUmar, Abū l-Majd b. Abū l-Faraj (Abū l-Majd is also called אבו אלאם or אבו אלגם), and Abū l-Barakāt b. Abū l-Ḥasan(?), probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. (The addressees' names appear both in the body of the letter and the address.) Dating: Early 13th century. The letter deals with communal controversy in Alexandria and Cairo, which led to a public excommunication. See Friedman's edition and article for a detailed discussion. Also on recto (see separate record) is a medical prescription in Arabic script. Verso: Draft of petition for help from a noble woman (al-Sitt al-Fāḍila), edited by Oded Zinger in a forthcoming article. Goitein's transcription of the petition draft appears below as part of the transcription of the main letter, but it should be moved to a new record. Verso also has several lines of Arabic jottings (drafts of polite phrases from letters/petitions). (Information in part from Goitein's notes.) EMS

Medical prescription. In Arabic script.

Release. Fragment (lower left corner). Involves someone named Yeshuʿa. Signed by [Moshe b. Ṣadoq] Av Bet Din the descendant of Rabbenu ha-Qadosh. Probably drawn up under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya (l. 15).

Recto: Engagement (shiddukhin) contract in the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan (wrote documents 1150–81). Dated: Sunday, 27 Sivan 1470 Seleucid = 1159 CE. The document is torn and only partially legible. In addition to many familiar clauses, this document contains an unusual stipulation apparently obligating the husband to live with his wife in the Jewish neighborhood. (Information from A. Ashur's MA Thesis, '"Engagement Documents from the Cairo Geniza.")

Verso: Account of communal expenditures. Date seems to be al-Muharram. The final name is X the blind man, illustrating the integration of needy and communal officials into expenditure lists. See separate record for recto.

Recto: text of a numinous prayer to God. Verso: fragment of a legal document, mentioning the holy city. Date not preserved.

Beginning of a letter to a Rayyis: [...] b. ʿAzarya (ZL) the head of the yeshiva (raʾs al-mathība). In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script.

Small legal fragment, probably a contract of debt. Mentions a town in the area of Bilbays. The debtor is Abū l-Bahāʾ b. Abū [...]. Dated: 4 Iyyar [..]76, but it is not clear which calendar is intended or which century is most likely; maybe 1576 Seleucid = 1265 CE, but this is a guess.

Letter regarding a debt?

Recto: fragment of a legal document. Date not preserved. Verso: quotation from a Hebrew poem by Shemuel ha-Nagid ibn Naghrela of Granada (d.1056), apparently quoted from memory and somewhat altered. See Jarden, Diwan Shemuʾel hanagid p. 33 (poem no. 7, lines 38ff) or Schirmann, Hashira ha-'ivrit 1:111.

Fragment of a legal document, apparently a release. Date not preserved.

Letter from a certain Avraham to a dignitary. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper right corner of recto). Little is preserved of the content. The third line of recto is written in a different handwriting(?). Mentions merchandise and Ibn al-Sadīd.

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dealing with alimony/maintenance (mezonot) for a wife and son.. People mentioned: Ibn al-[...] (first line); Abū ʿAlī Yefet ha-Kohen and Moshe b. Shemuel. The wording of the document is nearly identical to T-S NS 320.57 + ENA 2386.4, another document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, describing a similar case. ASE

Recto: fragment of an Arabic letter. Verso: fragment of a responsum regarding whether a man who has an emission of semen is permitted to come near his wife and in the morning recite the morning prayers. EMS

Fragment of a legal document preserving one signature, Saadya b. Mevorakh (likely the son of the Nagid, Mevorakh b. Saadya, d. 1111), with the court's confirmation of the witness signatures below. One of the judges is Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver (dated documents 1128-1153).

Letter to Eli ha-Kohen ha-Parnas dealing with money owed.