Geniza Lab

Draft of a genealogy of Qariate exilarchs. Probably mid-11th century. The genealogical list of Yehezkiyahu b. Shlomo, one of the Karaites’ leaders in the 11th century. Mentions Yehezkiyahu Rosh ha-Gola b. David and Shlomo b. Yoshiyahu, Daniel b. Azarya’s grandfather. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #70) VMR

Small fragment from a state document; perhaps the tarjama of a petition from Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Ṣalaḥ. Reused to create a bifolium for a medical work, dealing with the faculties of the human body, causes of illness, and heart function in different kinds of illness, including fever. Same hand as T-S Ar.54.46, fol. 1. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: autograph medical recipe in the hand of Moses Maimonides, prescribing an emetic and other drugs. The ingredients used include sticky sugar, lemon juice, oxymel, melissa, and green mint. The fragment includes dietary advice to avoid unripe dates, jujube, green almonds, carob, green broad beans, carrots and vinegar; whereas raisins, pistachios, figs and nuts should be eaten for dessert. Verso: draft of a witness statement related to a court procedure. (Information from CUDL)

Literary, probably. Containing liturgical text or piyyut.

Text in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably literary, given the layout and the mention of the Talmudic rabbi Yosi ben Ḥanina.

Karaite liturgical (?) fragment, referring to עדת בני צדוק, ‘the community of the sadoqites'. (Information from GRU catalog via FGP)

Account in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals listing a number of goods, including chard, coriander, leek, olive oil, firewood, cheese, fresh fava beans (fūl akhḍar), a basket from the mill, and a fat chicken. On verso there is an excerpt from BT Ḥullin 3b (or a paraphrase). (Information in part from CUDL)

Two forms for legal documents in Hebrew. On the other side is a grammatical treatise in Judaeo-Arabic.

Two magical incantations against the evil eye. On the other three pages of the bifolium is a list of Torah and Prophets readings.

Recto: part of a legal document, probably a will, mentioning quantities of dinars, names of months and the phrase ‘my death’. The name Abū l-Ḥusayn is preserved. Verso: a further part of a legal document, probably the continuation of the text on recto, which was written in Fusṭāṭ in Adar 1[...] of the Seleucid era and mentions various names, including ʿAmram ha-Kohen and Abū l-Barakāt ‘... descendant of Shemaʿya Gaʾon’. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: a compilation of letter formulae or part of a form letter. In the bottom right-hand corner there is a typical sender’s formula with the name Abraham b. Benjamin ‘the pitiable teacher’ (המלמד המרוחם). Verso: an Arabic basmalla and Hebrew jottings. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Moshe b. Binyamin Ashkenazi, probably in Fustat/Cairo, to Avraham Castro, probably in Alexandria or Jerusalem. Dating: 16th century. The sender describes how "from the other week we have been shut in, because the epidemic began (כי החל הנגף). Most of those who were stricken have recovered, "except for 2 or 3 infants," but the epidemic continues in Cairo. (Information from A. David's edition.)

Toldot Yeshu. (Information from CUDL)

Toldot Yeshu, small piece from a leaf mentioning Yoḥanan and R. Yehoshuaʿ. (Information from CUDL)

Toldot Yeshu, small piece from a leaf referring to R. Yehoshuaʿ, Judas Iscariot (יהודה איסכריוטא), Shimʿon and Benjamin. (Information from CUDL)

Tale in the style of A Thousand and One Nights, told partly in the first person, mentioning a period of seven years, robbers who took all the narrator’s possessions, and a (barren) wife praying to God in the night. (Information from CUDL)

Only a few words in Judaeo-Arabic are legibly preserved, probably from a literary text. (Information in part from CUDL)

Karaite betrothal deed. Bride: Yamān bat David b. Isaiah, of Egypt. Groom: Shela b. ʿAmram al-Qirqisānī, of Tyre. Both the bride and groom are represented by agents. The groom appointed his agent (Shelomo b. ʿAdiya b. Menashshe al-Qazzāz, witnessed by Yefet […] Shelomo b. Abraham and Shemuʾel b. Moses he-Ḥaver) in Tyre in 1050 CE (date given according to the Seleucid erd), and the text of the deed of attorney authorising the agent was incorporated into the deed of the betrothal, and ratified by the Karaite court in Fusṭāṭ (under the jurisdiction of the Karaite nasi David b. Ṣemaḥ). The bride’s agent is Shelomo b. Musāfīr (appointment witnessed by Aaron b. Samīḥ ha-Kohen and Ṣedaqa b. Saʿadya). The betrothal took place in 1051 CE, in Fusṭāṭ (date given accodring the both the Seleucid and AM era). Witnessed by Manṣūr b. Mevasser and Shemuʾel b. […]. (Information from CUDL)

Thin strip of the right-hand side of a legal document, mentioning dinars, different quantities of wares, accounts, lead and olive oil. Probably a legal dispute over business affairs or possibly a partnership agreement. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. Karaite court record in Judaeo-Persian from 951 CE signed by [...] b. Ismāʿīl, Abraham b. Padāwī (פדאוי) and Saʿīd ha-Le[vi]. "The present document derives, like the legal deed from Ahwāz of 1020, from the Cairo Geniza. It is earlier by 70 years than the Ahwāz document, being dated to 951 C.E. Its special interest lies in the fact that it is the first Judaeo-Persian document that is explicitly identified as Karaite. A text published not long ago by D. N. MacKenzie (BSOAS, XXXI, 1968, pp. 249—269) has been identified by J. Rosenwasser (The British Museum, Handlist of Persian Manuscripts 1896—1966, London 1969, p. 41) as being a fragment from a Karaite Sefer Miẕvot. This identification seems substantiated by parallels in Anan's Book of Precepts. The new document, which positively shows the use of Judaeo-Persian by Karaites, may help to remove whatever other doubts could be felt on the subject. The present text is also a legal document, and contains a number of features which are common to early Judaeo-Persian texts. It shares with the British Museum fragment of Sefer Miẕvot the peculiarity of using zayin to express j; it also uses gimel for the same purpose, whereas the British Museum fragment employs ṣade as an alternative letter to express j. These observations somewhat complicate the picture drawn by G. Lazard in a table showing how Persian phonemes are represented in different Judaeo-Persian texts (Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, VIII, 1968, p. 83), but in the absence of geographical indications with regard to the Karaite documents no conclusion can be drawn from this peculiarity. Features which occur in this document and which are shared by other Judaeo-Persian texts of the early period are the following: the prepositions ō (written either '-, 'w, or w-), 'zmr (usually followed by r' as postposition), mr (?). It may be observed that these prepositions have an original dative meaning, but tend also to be used for the accusative, and that 'zmr is attested in the Jewish-Persian colophons from K'aifeng (D. Leslie, Abr-Nahrain, VIII, 1969, pp. 1—35) as a postposition with a genitive effect. The expression gan 'eden ba(h)r 'who has a share in Paradise' occurs as a constant epithet for the deceased, and is reminiscent of the epithets 'eden bereḵ, 'edenī (or 'adanī), employed in a similar manner in the Judaeo-Persian tomb-stones from Ghūr (Afghanistan), published by G. Gnoli (Le iscrizioni giudeo-persiane del Gūr (Afghanistan), Rome 1964) and E. Rapp (Die jüdischpersisch-hebräischen Inschriften aus Afghanistan, Munich 1965). One may point out the words 'by, tys, zwyšt, pzyšt and the interesting use of zyst=Classical and Middle Persian jastan 'to jump', hence 'to occur, happen' and here in a sense like 'to accrue, to be added to an account'. (The Ahwāz document may also be Karaitic: it concerns the Tustarī brothers, according to Professor Goitein, and they are known to have been Karaites.) Translation of the document: "There were present [at the court of] the Karaites at this time(?) Samuel, Ḥayyim and Aharon, and they put a question before us (??) for admonition (?) on the 16th of Ab in the year 1262 Sel. The said Samuel made a petition to Ḥayyim and Aharon, trustees of Ḥasan the Custodian, whose share be in Paradise, their maternal uncle, and he said: 'He made a thing which accrued to me, who am Samuel, and which was to be debited to Ḥasan the Custodian, may the spirit of God put him to rest.' We said to them: 'We draw (an agreement) between you, so that we make a settlement incumbent upon you, (by the terms of which) whatever we do to your persons or for your sake, you should accept and should not act otherwise, and should not go to court other than this for (any) demand.' They agreed to this pact and condition, and the said Samuel took (?) this condition, and confirmed it upon himself by oath to wit, if (he does) otherwise than what they tell him in this court of the Karaites [the oath is left uncompleted]. Then we said to the said Ḥayyim and Aharon: 'Just as this Samuel undertook it upon himself, it should also be incumbent upon you.' They said: 'Yes, it is incumbent upon us.' And then the said Samuel made a petition concerning (the property of) Ḥasan the Custodian, whose share be in Paradise. Much talk went on between the three of them in this matter, and the said Ḥayyim and Aharon presented the books of Ḥasan the Custodian, whose share be in Paradise, and we saw that there resulted for us by research into it nothing, viz. that there would accrue anything to Samuel's credit against the said Ḥasan. Finally, the said Samuel consented and was agreeable thus, by his own choice, and said: 'I consent and am agreeable that these Ḥayyim and Aharon, my brothers, make by themselves a search in our uncle's account-books, and whatever they say they have found there, whether it is for me or against me, their word will be true and accepted, and they are trustworthy in whatever they say concerning which they are well informed and which they have found in our uncle's books of that I owe. If they say that they have found some thing in his book which I owe, I shall pay it without refusal and without delay and without excuse.' The said Samuel gave an extension to Ḥayyim and Aharon his brothers to make a search in those books till the month of Marḥeshvan in the year 1263 by his own will. The said Ḥayyim and Aharon were also agreeable to this manner and departed from the court of the Karaites (with agreement) as to this manner. We made it two parts, and gave one to Samuel and two to Ḥayyim and Aharon, so that it should come to the hand of each one of them as memory, choice and proof. ... ʿAlī . . . Bū Ismā'īl ... Sa'īd... Abraham b. Pādōy, witness." The letter is labeled "L16" in Shaul Shaked's (unpublished) classification of Early Judeo-Persian texts.