Geniza Lab

Right fragment of a marriage contract, containing high-priced items in the trousseau (dowry). Groom: Avraham. Dated [13]35 Seleucid, which is 1023/24 CE. (Information from CUDL and Goitein, Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 375, 407.)

Accounts in the hand of ʿArūs b. Yosef. Dating: ca. 1100 CE. (Information from CUDL.)

Accounts in the hand of ʿArūs b. Yosef. Dating: ca. 1100 CE. (Information from CUDL.)

Accounts in a crude hand. (Information from CUDL.)

Accounts in the hand of ʿArūs b. Yosef. Dating: ca. 1100 CE. (Information from CUDL.)

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Aharon al-Sijilmāsī, in Dahlak, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. Dated: 8 Tammuz, apparently of 1140 CE. Yiṣḥaq continues to report to Ḥalfon on his travel from Egypt to Aden. He is writing 6 weeks after his previous letter, which he sent from ʿAydhāb. This is the second letter he has sent Ḥalfon from Dahlak. He describes his travel by sea south from ʿAydhāb, first to Sawākin, and then to Dahlak. The merchants left ʿAydhāb in two ships belonging to al-Sharīf, one large and one small. Most of the merchants in the small ship had to disembark in Sawākin, as it was overloaded and water was coming in. They later found out that the small ship sank. The sender gives the names of the Jewish traders who died and who survived, including (among those who died) Ibn al-Shumūs (whose drowning is also mentioned in doc. 76). Also mentions: Abū l-Khayr al-Najjār (‘the carpenter’), David, Ibn Zughmār (Ṣughmār), Ibn al-Raqqāṣa, Abū Naṣr, Abū l-Faraj, and Abū l-Barakāt. (Information from CUDL and from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV.)

Bifolio from a collection of legal documents from Yemen. The first document on f. 1r is in a different, cruder, hand to the rest, and is dated 2186 Seleucid, which is 1874/75 CE. The remainder of the documents are more carefully written and concern a woman, Miriam bt. Sālim and her betrothal (or lack thereof) to Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā. One of the pages is headed "this is the text of the ruling (psaq) that came from Ṣanʿāʾ." These entries are dated Adar 2176 Seleucid, which is 1865 CE. Many elaborate signatures of rabbis from Yemen appear, including an extremely famous one, Yaḥyā/Yiḥyā Qāfiḥ (ca. 1850–1931), who may have only been about 15 years old at the time. Another signatory is Sulaymān b. Yūsuf al-Qārih (אלקארה), perhaps the brother of Qāfiḥ's teacher Yaḥyā b. Yūsuf al-Qārih. Merits further examination. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Four columns of a Hebrew magical text about knowing the future. After fasting and cleansing the body, one should go to a field, pronounce some magical names and fall into sleep and then an angel will give him the answers. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 537 and from Goitein's index cards.) Probably in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi.

Letter from Mubārak b. Hiba al-Waṣīṭī to Abū Saʿd and Abū l-Faḍl b. Abū l-Baqāʾ al-ʿAjamī. In Judaeo-Arabic. The address is written twice in Judaeo-Arabic, and there is even a partial address in Arabic script. The sender may be identical with Mevorakh b. Natan ha-Kohen al-Waṣiṭī from T-S 13J30.2 (dated 1146 CE). The portion of the letter preserved here mostly contains polite epistolary formulae. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Legal document in which Ḥusn bt. Yaḥyā ibn al-Zūrīqā, wife of Shelomo Abū Naṣr b. Seʿadya b. Hallun declares that she has received a full twelve months’ worth of food, clothing, water, oil and rent that is due to her and her children from Shelomo. Ḥusn''s daughter Jalīla bt. Shelomo is also mentioned. Dated: 1358 Seleucid, which is 1046/47 CE. (Information from CUDL.)

Maimonides, Commentary on the Mišna, Kelim 8:6;10, from an autograph copy. (Information from CUDL.)

Fragment of a marriage contract (ketubba). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. The bride is not a virgin. Dowry apparently of little value. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

List of collections, all crossed out. Recto contains a letter requesting payment or distribution of bread to various young women?

Order of payment by Abū Zikrī Kohen. Munajjā is to give the bearer 3 ounces of laymūn and rose. See India Book, 139b. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Commercial letter from Pinto & Suarez to Eliyya Saʿd and Yaʿaqov Shalom, in Fustat/Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic, with an "IS" logo in Latin script next to the address. Dated: [..] Maṭmonim (the ʿomer) 5585 AM, which is 1825 CE. Needs examination for content.

Letter from Hillel b. Yeshuʿa ha-Ḥazzan, in Tiberias, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, in Fustat. Dating: End of 1034 CE, per Gil. Soliciting funds on behalf of the community of people with skin diseases. Mentions a previous emissary Khalaf the Aleppan (כלף הצובי) who has since died. L-G Misc. 25 and T-S 10J12.22 are two copies of the same letter.

Letter in Hebrew. Probably written in Corfu, probably addressed to al-Shaykh Yūnus. In Hebrew. Dating: Late, perhaps 16th century. Discussing competition between Venetians and other traders involved in the spice business as well as seeking the involvement of "the princes" and "the king." Information from A. David's edition via FGP.

Verso: Letter or legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragmentary (upper left corner). Possibly about business. Reports a dialogue and mentions "what he did with the daftar" and "other than that which al-ḥaver al-meʿulle told me." (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: draft of a legal document with the testimony of Abū l-Khayr [Shelomo b. ...] al-Ṣūrī. Mentions Abū Kathīr Efrayim b. Sasson, Yehuda b. [...], someone's wife, and [... b.] ʿIzrūn. Some of the same parties appear in ENA NS 33.17, which enables us to fill in the name Shelomo and which may relate to the same case. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter of appeal for charity. A needy man from Qayrawan had applied for assistance from his relative, the esteemed Ifrīqiyyan merchant and scholar, Nahray b. Nissim (active in Fustat, 1060–97 CE). Before turning to Nahray he had already received donations from another prominent Ifrīqiyan merchant, Abū Zikri (Yehuda b. Moshe ibn Sughmār). Nahray had become annoyed. It is not clear whether he was angry because he felt that people might have thought he was neglecting his relative or became peeved for some other reason, such as competition over patronage--or perhaps both (Cohen). In any case, the writer promised henceforth to rely only on Nahray. But since then Nahray has only paid him the insufficient sum of 15 dirhams over the course of eight months. Now the writer is too ashamed to address Abū Zikrī, and he has therefore written this note to a third potential patron to solicit support. (Information from Cohen and Gil and CUDL.)