Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Small fragment. Beginning and address only. Addressed to Abū l-Munā Shelomo b. [...] ha-Sheviʿi.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, perhaps 17th–19th century.

Letter from Barakāt b. Manṣūr, unknown location, to Eliyyahu the Judge (active 1204–41), in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with a Hebrew header and the address partially in Arabic script. Same sender and same addressee as BL OR 10656.16. Much of the letter is an angry tirade about the lack of response from Eliyyahu and his behavior that brought about some conflict (tashāḥun) between elders in his family, and their humiliation and the rejoicing of their enemies (this part of the story is clearest in ll. 18–19 and 26–28). The trouble arose from a lawsuit about household objects (athāth). Eliyyahu should know better than anyone how the man at the heart of this story has had a longstanding feud with his mother and in-laws. The sender complains further about the lack of letters and says that even if Eliyyahu has taken a vow not to correspond with him, he should send a letter to 'the judge' concerning the disputed household objects. The sender has also sent with Sayyidhum a letter detailing the lawsuits; Eliyyahu should present this account to Sayyidnā al-Rayyis (=Avraham Maimonides?). ASE

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, probably from Avraham he-Ḥasid to a disciple with pietistic instructions. Ed. Fenton, "A Pietist Letter from the Genizah" HAR 9 (1985).

Commercial settlement (peshara), a draft, involving Yosef b. Sedaqa and Nissim - with names of the witnesses (not signatures): Avraham b. Ḥalfon, Shemuel b. Aharon and Avraham b. Moshe. A torn piece of a widely spaced Arabic script document. Interspersed between the Arabic script lines is some sort of agency appointment (but also containing terminology of a quittance) mentioning Yefet and his wife Khaba (כבא).

List of goods and prices. Likely a household inventory, but could also be business accounts or a dowry list. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ottoman-era. Curencies: gurush (קרוש) and mathaqil (מיטאקיל). The items are mostly vessels, ceramics, and household items (e.g. ṭarārīḥ). One item seems to be "a Chinese Iznik dish," maybe Iznik porcelain on a Chinese pattern. (See mediakron.bc.edu/ottomans/iznik-dish-2.) There are also "Chinese coffee cups (fanājīn)." (ASE) Presumably those coffee cups are also porcelain. Paleographically, datable to the 16th or 17th century, which was also the period of Iznik porcelain. (MR)

Ketubba, late 11th century or early twelfth century Yemenite. The total of the dower and the dowry is larger than 230. The name Ulla ha-levi is mentioned. Written and signed by Shemuel b. Moshe b. Elazar. other signatories: Avraham b. Yosef, Khalaf b. Moshe. Moshe b. Yosef. Ya'aqov b. Khalaf and nadiv ha-Levi b. Moshe ha-Levi.

Letter from Abū Manṣūr to his father Yaʿaqov. In Judaeo-Arabic. He complains about his terrible misfortunes this year ("everything that I had is buried," perhaps meaning "I lost everything"). "I have reached a point in my distress that no one else has ever reached... what I really need is monitor lizard oil (dahn al-waral) to anoint myself... pay whatever it takes... and make sure to get it when the sun is in Aries, because otherwise it will not help me... after that time, the oil solidifies and cannot be used." The sole reference to monitor lizard oil in al-Rāzī's Al-Ḥāwī fī l-Ṭibb is for obtaining an erection. It is still produced and marketed in the 21st century, but mainly as a topical for hemorrhoids. ASE

Letter from Ḥayyim b. ʿAmmār b. Madīnī (Alexandria) to Yosef b. Mūsā al-Tāhirtī, ca. 1062. The sender explains why a load of a medicinal herb greater celandine has not been sold: the price for it is currently low but might go up when a ḥajj caravan or ships from Spain arrive. There is more demand for the herb in Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 165.)

Letter from the office of Yehoshuaʿ Maimonides asking the holy congregation of Egypt to pay the tax to the Muslim Amir. Paying this tax is considered by God like giving charity.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, no earlier than 14th century. From Yosef Ibn al-Ashqar. (Unless this is a postscript saying that Yosef has died.) Mentions a tarsīm, matters of money, and someone named Ḥayyim Ḥariba/Mariba. The sender apologizes for the haste, because the messenger is hovering over him. Needs further examination.

Letter from Ibrāhīm, unknown location, to his father David Ibn al-Ḥaver, in Bilbays. Deals with various transactions and family matters. Mentions Hārūn, Ṭayyiba, Saʿdūn, Yūsuf, the sender's son Yiṣḥaq, and Salmān. Also mentions 15 dirhams for the jawālī (capitation taxes). ASE

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Late. Currency: mithqāl.

Letter from Manṣūr b. Sālim, a worried father, to a figure of authority asking him to help him locate and bring back his son who has left home and joined the army. Other documents written on the same issue are: T-S 13 J 28.17, T-S 12.415, T-S Ar.18(1).137, T-S 10J13.10 and T-S 10J14.12.

Jottings of literary material in Judaeo-Arabic (occasionally vocalized) and Arabic script. Includes some proverbs about animals, e.g., "the wolf guarding a ewe" (אלדיב יחרץ נעגה), probably meaning something that never happens.

Letter from an unknown sender to Yosef b. ʿEli Kohen Fāsī, ca. 1060. The sender confirms receiving a pouch of dinars and writes about his plans to sell faulty dinars at a loss and buy Nizārī dinars instead. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 605.)

Legal declaration (moda'a) in which a man declares that any release or compromise he will do in the future is invalid because he is coerced by Shelomo Mamulian (?) שלמה ממולייאן. This is a draft or a formulary: there is no date, there are no witnesses, and several of the identifying details are left blank. On verso there are several pen trials and little drawings.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: probably 13th century. Addressed to Meir "the great Prince." Trying to arrange a meeting in Fustat. On verso the name Abū l-Maʿālī b. al-Shaykh al-Sadīd is written.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Late. Possibly from Mordechai to Shalom.

Love poetry in Judaeo-Arabic.