Geniza Lab

Recto: Letter from Yehuda to an unknown addressee. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. Distinctive (Levantine or Iraqi?) handwriting. Deals with business matters, mainly produce (plums/prunes, dates, ḥashīsha, rose conserve (ward murabbā), sugar. Verso: Accounts in Arabic script, headed, "This is all of what Sulaymān left before he traveled." There is is some overlap with the goods on recto, e.g. the rose conserve.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Debt contract. Debtor: Ṣibyān b. Abū Ṣaʿd Efrayim b. Ṣibyān ha-Kohen. Creditor: Abū l-Riḍā Netanel b. Yeshuʿa. Sum: 11 dinars, which Ṣibyān can spend any way he wants. Ṣibyān is probably the grandson of Ṣibyān ha-Kohen b. Seʿadya (active 1040–44). (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.) Join: Alan Elbaum.

Letter of appeal probably from Berakhot b. Shemuel, addressed to Abu l-Ḥasan the father of Abu l-Mufaddal. He says he has been a stranger in this city for the last year and a half, making a small living by copying - some days half a dirham, some days three-quarters - but he has lost this job and is now hungry and cold. Similar to T-S 13J21.35, which is signed Abu l-Barakat and addressed to Abu Nasr. ASE.

Palimpsest. Undertext: Unidentified text in Greek. Identification may be possible even without multispectral imaging. Some phrases may include: εν τω ιερω (in the Temple) and (β?)ασανω(ν?) (sufferings?) (suggestions kindly provided by Sergey Kim). Overtext: Three letters in Hebrew. Sent from Crete to Egypt. Dating: Perhaps 15th century. Edited by Avraham David.

Literary: Talmud. There is a note at the bottom: "Of Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham b. Daniel b. Yiṣḥaq known as Ibn al-Baqra(?)."

Literary. Targum Onqelos on Genesis.

Recto: Legal query involving partners in the royal mint whose money was stolen. In particular, when one of the partners runs away and hides so he doesn't have to pay his share. Written in Hebrew. Probably from the time of Avraham Maimuni, but not addressed to him. (Cf. T-S 20.83: an enormous legal deed dated March 12 1066 CE involving a 1000-dinar claim resulting from two partners work in the royal mint. 20.83 is another document regarding inheritance. It is not connected to this legal query. AA) NB: PGP previously incorrectly listed this document as NLI 577.5/41 (AA).

Verso: Drafts of legal notes from a court. Some of the text may have been erased. The entries do not appear to be related to each other. #1: Record of the payment of an early marriage gift (muqaddam) of 15 dinars in an engagement (shiddukhin). Dated: Sunday, 4 Nisan 1552 Seleucid, which is 1241 CE. Fiancé: Surūr b. Yiṣḥaq al-Iskandarānī. Fiancée: Karam bt. Yefet. #2: Abū Manṣūr b. Faḍāʾil declares that he owes Ṣadiq b. Moshe [the entry ends here]. #3 (at 180 degrees): Something concerning Rashīda bt. Abū l-ʿIzz ha-Levi ("al-Rayyis al-Ajall") and monthly payments of 20 wariq dirhams. There follows what may be another entry, mainly in Arabic script. (Information in part from Ashur's edition of #1.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Large and almost completely preserved. Location: Tyre. Dated: Thursday, 12 Kislev 4784 AM, which is 28 November 1023 CE. The scribe is probably Yosef b. Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen (active in Tyre, 1011–37). Groom: Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen of Safed. Bride: Raḥel bt. [...] b. Avraham, a virgin. (Information from Friedman's edition.)

Bill of divorce (get). Location: Fustat. Dated: 6 Nisan 4973 AM = 1524 Seleucid, which is 1213 CE. Husband: Shela b. Meshullam b. Netanel ha-Zaqen. Wife: Sitt al-Nasab bt. Elʿazar known as Ibn Shalom. Signed: Yeshuʿa b. Daniel; Moshe ha-Kohen b. She'erit.

Letter from Moshe Zussman, in Cairo, to his mother Rachel b. Avraham Zussman of Prague, in Jerusalem. In Hebrew and Yiddish.

Legal query in Judaeo-Arabic. Regarding a partnership in a house and the death and inheritance of one of the partners. This is the original JA version of Saadya Gaon's responsum published in Hebrew translation in Sha'arei Zedeq, part IV, V, no. 12, p. 164. It's a direct continuation of מרגליות, הלכות א"י מן הגניזה, עמ' צד. Fםr another fragment of this responsum, from another MS see TS NS J 516. (AA)

Literary. Guide to geomancy in Judaeo-Arabic.

Legal query in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu addressed to Avraham Maimonides. Regarding a man who wishes to divorce his wife and pay her ketubba "in installments" (i.e. not at all). Information from Amir Ashur via FGP.

List of garments and textiles, probably unrelated to recto, also in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu who signs his name at the bottom. The list is headed "This was on Wednesday, the 14th of Av." Information from Amir Ashur via FGP.

Verso: Jottings in Hebrew, including the name Shelomo ha-Baḥur b. Seʿadya ha-Melammed. On recto is a literary work in Judaeo-Arabic.

Literary: The Polemic of Nestor the Priest (Qiṣṣat Mujādalat al-Usquf), in Judaeo-Arabic. See the book of the same name by Lasker and Stroumsa.

Magical fragment. Written in Hebrew and either Judaeo-Greek or Greek words that had simply become magical words.

Blessings. In Hebrew. Rudimentary handwriting. Unclear if this was originally part of a document or not.

Literary. In Hebrew. Looks liturgical.