Geniza Lab

Two parts: Fragment of a copy of a court record from Hayya Gaon’s court, and a fragment of a letter from Hayya Gaon to Elhanan b. Shemarya. Around 1025. The content of the court record in unknown. The letter deals with a person who was converted to Judaism, probably from Christianity, and asks not to obey the Jewish law in a personal matter, might be related to inheritance. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #61) VMR

Recto: Instructions perhaps regarding a bolt of cloth (יריעה). In Hebrew. Verso: Two lines of Arabic script mentioning al-shaykh al-ajall Abū l-Ṭāhir. Needs examination

Letter formularies, including a template for a son in Jerusalem writing to his mother. In Judaeo-Arabic.

Blessing formula for the caliph al-Ḥāfiẓ li-Dīn Allah (1131-1149 CE), possibly a draft petition. See also T-S NS 110.26. (“Prayers from the Geniza for Fatimid Caliphs, the Head of Jerusalem Yeshiva, the Jewish community and the Local Congregation,'' in Studies in Judaica, Karaitica and Islamica, Presented to Leon Nemoy...Bar-Ilan University, 1982, 49-58) EMS Goitein thought this was a prayer, but it is almost certainly the draft of a petition formula. (MR)

Recto: Prescription or medical recipe, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic. Verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script.

Petition of a widow to a communal leader. She asks him to help her with her late husband's orphans, as he helped her husband in the past.

Order of payment in dirhams. Verso contains Arabic jottings. (Information from CUDL)

One side: Bottom part of a letter from Abū Sahl Levi, in Fustat, to his son Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyūb. Other side: Upper part of a letter from Moshe b. Levi, in Qalyūb, probably to his father, in Fustat.

Copy of an opening of a letter from Sharira Gaon and his son Hai, to Ya’aqov b. Yosef b. Awkal. Mentions letters and answers that the Gaon sent to Ya’aqov before this letter. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #34) VMR

Part of the beginning of a letter to Ḥalfon b. Menashshe al-Qaṭāʾif from his brother Yefet. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from the office of a Nagid of the Maimonides family. Dating: 13th–15th century. Fragment (upper left corner). Probably addressed to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Refers to someone coming to Cairo and possibly mentions a stable (אלאסטבל). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic.

Part of a legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe al-Qaṭāʾif. (Information from CUDL)

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The address includes the names Peraḥya and Moshe.

Letter from Abū Zikrī Kohen to Sulaymān. In Judaeo-Arabic. Less a letter—there are no opening or closing pleasantries—and more an order of various items with instructions for how to send them. (Information from CUDL)

Letter fragment addressed to a certain ḥaver in al-Maḥalla. The surviving piece of the letter itself is in elegant Hebrew, and the address is in rudimentary Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic.

Recto: End of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Refers to a gathering that took place at the home of "Sayyidnā" on Shabbat, where the addressee's name came up. Abū l-Surūr and Abū Yaʿqūb are mentioned, followed by pious blessings. Same handwriting as T-S NS 236.10 + T-S NS J407. On verso there is a list of medical simples, including saffron, sugar, aloe, camphor, honey, and alum (this description might belong with a different fragment; it does not seem to match the handful of mysterious words in Hebrew script that actually appear on verso). (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Faraḥ b. Ismāʿīl (not necessarily the same as the 11th-century merchant) to Ḥanokh (?) b. Avraham. Contains very detailed orders for materia medica and other specialized commodities.

Letter from Salāma Ḥāmī, Jerusalem, to Yeshuʿa Ḥāmī, Fustat. Late. In Judaeo-Arabic. Needs examination.