Geniza Lab

Legal document concerning the marital status of the daughter of Sayf al-Dīn, dated 15 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 808 H. [1406]. [Described on the paper wrapper as : "Acte de divorce de prince Al Togan avec sa femme" ; on a separate small piece of paper: "An act of giving liberty to a slave dated A.H. 591"; [next line] : "Important"]. Oversize.

Letter from Abu Yūsuf, in Fustat, to Abū Yūsuf Yaʿaqov ha-Ḥaver b. Yiṣḥaq, in Aleppo. In Hebrew. Information from FGP.

Letter draft probably from Efrayim b. Shemarya probably to the Palestinian Gaon Shelomo b. Yehuda. (Identifications are according to Bareket.) In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender defends himself against the accusations that he embezzles communal funds and corresponds with the exilarchs and the heads of the Iraqi yeshivas, including Hayya Gaon, glorifying himself with their letters to him and paying them more respect than he does to the Palestinian yeshivot. He insists that he he does not correspond with them—he just received a single letter from the exilarch and sent a single letter to Hayya. He also denies that he asked Hayya about eating meat after the fast (probably referring to the 9th of Av). He mentions various other people from the Egyptian community by name. He concludes with expressions of great deference and pleas not to believe the slander that he honors anyone more than he honors the Palestinian Gaon and the Palestinian yeshiva. NB: The Reinach Geniza manuscript is a single, large sheet of paper measuring 44cm x 46cm and containing 7 distinct blocks of text. Its current whereabouts are unknown, but it was published by Schwab with a facsimile in 1920: https://www.persee.fr/doc/rjuiv_0484-8616_1920_num_70_139_5266. (Information in part from Schwab and Bareket.) ASE

Small fragment with possibly Coptic text. Needs examination.

Names in Arabic and Hebrew written on the back of Esther 1:17.

Document regulating the inheritance of the estate in Sana'a, next to the synagogue, that was left behind by Meri Daud. The house was split and the document details all the different parts of the house. (Information from Goitein, The Yemenites, pp. 152-156). VMR

Document that is a continuation of Sassoon 1055A. Aharon al-Araki, who received a part of a house in Sana'a, sells his part to his brother Salam and his niece Badra for 150 Rial (75 for each); 1667. (Goitein, The Yemenites, 157-158) VMR

A testimony of a person who received 47.5 "Harf" (each of them equal to 40 "Vuksha" silver) for selling his part of the house in Sana'a. Around 1603-1628. (Goitein, The Yemenites, 150-152) VMR

Genealogical list of al-Azar Ha-Kohen b. Shelomo.

No Image. Description from FGP: A bill of partnership between Avraham b. Moshe known as al-Marjani, and Hillel al-Attar b. Avraham known as al-Fuqa'a. AA

Letter from Shelomo Kohen b. Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Sijilmasi, in Fustat, to his father, most likely in Aden while on his return journey from India. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: January 1148 CE. Shelomo gives a detailed account of the Almohad invasions and persecutions in the West from 1145 to the present-day (on the day he wrote the letter, a messenger arrived with the news that Bejaia had fallen to the Almohads). He also gives a detailed description of his illness. "As for me, after having opened a shop, a great general depression (kasār) occurred. I was ill for nine months with tertiary fever (al-muthallatha) and fever of the liver (ḥummā l-kabd). Neither I, nor anyone else believed that I would recover from this. In the wake of the illness, difficulties in breathing (ḍīq nafas) befell me, which lasted two months. Had I not made up my mind to leave the business, I would have perished. At present, I do nothing, sitting partly in the qāʿa [workshop or Bible school] of Joseph and partly in the store of the Son of the Scholar. I study a good part of the night with him every night" (Goitein, Med Soc, V, p. 337). Shelomo concludes with a profuse expression of filial dedication: “Please, with the help of the Almighty, may the reply to this my letter be the sight of you, if God wills. Be not enticed by business so that you forget us. For—by my faith in Heaven—every additional day of your absence takes a year from our lives. Consider that the life of the son of man is nothing but light. You are our light. If you are not with us, how can we live?” (Goitein, Med. Soc., viii, C, 2, n. 125; translation slightly altered for clarity). Partial English translation by Goitein, Med Soc V, 59-61 and 107. Discussed in Miriam Frenkel, “Genizah Documents as Literary Products.” ASE.

Ketubba in the Palestinian style. Only the recto was photographed. Dated: Heshvan 1440 Seleucid, which is 1128 CE, under the reshut of Maṣliaḥ Ga'on. Location: Probably Damascus or nearby. Groom: Sasson b. Yefet ha-Zaqen. Bride: Kulla, a virgin and a "divorcee from a betrothal." The bride appoints her brother Ghālib b. Berakhot ha-Zaqen as her representative (lit. "guardian"). Likely the same scribe as Moss. VII,67.2, which is a document from Damascus written prior to 1138 CE. First identified by Ronny Vollandt. Information from Amir Ashur, “A Ketubah in the Palestinian Style with the Permission of Maẓliaḥ Gaon, from the Damascus Geniza” [in Hebrew], Peʿamim 135 (2013), 163–170.

Deed of sale of a house. Only the recto was photographed. Dating: Likely c.1170 CE, based on the reference to “our [mast]er Sar Shalom, the av beit din of the whole of Israel." Location: Damascus ("which dwells on the rivers Parpar and Amana," as in 2 Kings 5:12). The document records the sale of a house owned by Elʿazar ha-Zaqen (the elder), the member of the yeshiva, to the "heqdesh (pious foundation) of our master Ezekiel the prophet (and) priest, peace be upon him”. The sum mentioned is sixteen dinars, and the money is to be paid in Ḥadrakh, not far from Damascus. (Information from Gideon Bohak, "The Jewish Texts from the Qubbat al-Khazna," in The Damascus Fragments, ed. d'Ottone Rambach et al.)

Deed of sale of real estate. Only the recto was photographed. Location: Tyre. Dated: 4[.]60 AM, which could be 999/1000, 1099/1100, or 1199/1200 CE. Of these options, the most likely year is 1099/1100, based on the reference to the Great Sanhedrin (=yeshiva), as the Palestinian yeshiva moved from Jerusalem to Tyre in the early 1070s, and left Tyre around the time of the First Crusade. The seller is Efrayim b. Menashshe (ZL), the member of the Great Sanhedrin known as Ibn al-Bunduqī. The buyer is Binyamin ha-Levi b. Shemarya ha-Zaqen ha-Levi b. Yosef ha-Levi (ZL). The property itself, which consists of half a house, is described at great length, but the price paid for it, “in the coinage of the kingdom”, is lost in a lacuna. (Information from Gideon Bohak, "The Jewish Texts from the Qubbat al-Khazna," in The Damascus Fragments, ed. d'Ottone Rambach et al.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Recto is extremely damaged/faded, while verso is mostly legible. The hand may be known. Recto mentions ʿImrān; a woman; legal proceedings; corrupt judgments (al-dīn al-fāsid); a favor requested of the addressee; and Sayyidnā Sar ha-Sarim (generally the title of Sar Shalom ha-Levi, Head of the Jews for part of the period 1171–95 CE); and relief that the sender already received from Sar ha-Sarim. He might also mention his physical tribulations (from dust? a broken rib?): אני מקאץ אלגבאר מכסור אלגנב (last line). On verso he says that he lives peaceably with his neighbors; he plans to go to the woman (the wife or widow of Nissim?) and bring her and her children to make a legal declaration that they will repay the addressee the dinars that they owe him; everyone is in agreement with this plan. The original letter ends here with greetings and a yeshaʿ yiqrav. He adds a postscript to the effect that he has sent another letter to Sayyidnā, summarizing its contents or urging the addressee to intervene with Sayyidnā to make sure it gets acted upon. He complains about a certain "madman" (majnūn) to whose name he appends curses. The madman sowed discord between the sender and his sister and her children. He quotes Proverbs 6:19 (וּמְשַׁלֵּחַ מְדָנִים בֵּין אַחִים). He says that the addressee is already aware of 'what they did' with the widow, the daughter of Ḥasan(?) and with Dā'ūd and Yūsuf with an inheritance. He concludes by complaining once again about the madman. (Information in part from Amir Ashur via http://www5.kb.dk/manus/judsam/2009/sep/dsh/object44694/en/#kbOSD-0=page:4). ASE

Letter by Ḥusayn b. Suwayd to Yiṣḥaq b. Ṣadaqa. On papyrus. Unclear if this is written in Judaeo-Arabic or Arabic script, but probably the former. Erratic spelling and style. Requesting that the addressee send peeled grain (dashīsh) on wheat and ten dinars. Fustat and the Fayyūm are mentioned. Information from Goitein's note card. There do not seem to be images on FGP.

Geonic responsum about the calendar controversy of Ben Meir, dated 994–95 CE. It is attributed to Hayye Gaon. Preserved here is the second of two versions of this responsum, referring to the era of Creation, the epoch of the molad and tequfah, and the 19-year cycle. The first version is preserved in a secondary source, Abraham bar Ḥayya’s monograph on the Jewish calendar known as Sefer ha-'Ibbur (3:7), first published by Herschell Filipowski in 1851. Although these two versions share much in common, there are significant textual variations between them, and extensive passages that are unique to only one or the other version. Thus, this passage refers to the controversy of Ben Meir and is preserved only in the Cairo Geniza version. (Information from Sacha Stern, The Jewish Calendar Controversy)

A very eloquent letter of condolence from Avraham b. Natan Av ha-Yeshivah to someone addressed as "al-Kohen al-Parnas Ne'eman Beit Din," apparently on the occasion of the death of the addressee's father (he expresses condolences for "the mother of the orphan" in line 5). The writer describes his terrible distress that he shares with the addressee and emphasizes the theme of tziduk ha-din and tolerance of trials sent by God. In the last lines he conveys wishes for the longevity of Abu Kathir (the addressee's son?). The right margin is mostly effaced; the upper margin picks up, "they asked me to write a letter of condolence on their behalf, but the bearer was in a hurry, so I sufficed with these lines. Peace." ASE.

Recto: Two legal queries addressed to a certain Efrayim. In the first, Reuven claims that Shimon owes him money but that he has lost the contract. Does Shimon have to swear on pain of the ban that there was no debt and no contract? In the second, Reuven gave Shimon a house but claims that the scribe forgot to include an important condition about Reuven's continued access to the house ("all the days of my l[ife]"?). Does Shimon have to swear that there was never such a condition? Verso: The responsa. The first one is quite effaced but may just say that Shimon has to swear. The second one says to summon the witnesses and ask if they remember that the parties agreed to Reuven's condition. If they don't remember, Shimon must swear that he never agreed to such a condition. ASE.

A page from a literary work on magical medical remedies.