Geniza Lab

Booklet of alphabetical tables for prognostications in Arabic script. "Travel by sea: effective or not?" "Should I buy animals: good or not?" The last page may have a colophon, but it is quite faded.

Petition from a man described as having many dependents (the first two lines read: wa-huwa mamlūk kabīr al-ʿāʾila wa-yasal al-inʿām ʿalayhi wa-al-iḥsān ʾilayhi bi-khurūj ilā al-ʿummāl).

Letters dealing with communal matters surrounding the dispute between Shelomo b. Yehuda and Natan b. Avraham, glued together and reused for the epistle of Sherira Gaon. Per Gil, copied by Ibn Sughmār for the benefit of the nagid of Qayrawān and his followers (who must have known the work well). The passage describes a gaonic schism at Pumbedita in the 820s that was resolved peacefully when Yosef bar Ḥiyya relinquished the office and contented himself with the position of av bet din, allowing Avraham bar Sherira to reign unchallenged. The message Ibn Sughmār intended the passage to convey: like Yosef bar Ḥiyya, Natan b. Avraham should step down from the gaonate and be content with his former title; like Avraham bar Sherira, Shelomo b. Yehuda's position should be uncontested. (Information from Rustow, Heresy, 314)

Responsa of the geonim. published.

Jottings and drafts of phrases both from a petition (yuqabbil al-arḍ) and an order of payment (yadfaʿ li-muwaṣṣilhā) addressed to al-Shaykh al-Makīn Abū l-Faraj (early 13th century). There is also one line in Arabic script. These are written in the margins and on verso of a literary Hebrew text (seems liturgical or piyyuṭ). There are also various pen trials.

Document with several lines of Arabic script. The fragment also contains a red grid with a calendrical table in Hebrew, listing years such as 5230–44 AM (=1469–84 CE).

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Peraḥya. Fragment (upper left corner). In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Yefet has purchased a quarter-mann of muql (this refers either to the gum resin called bdellium OR to the edible fruit of the doum palm — see Bos et al, Marwān Ibn Janāḥ, entries 294, 521, and 1044). He gives instructions regarding what to purchase, including sorrel seed (bizr ḥummāḍ), and what not to purchase.

List of sums of money. Mentions names such as Bayān, Thābit, and Abū Saʿd (though the first two of these could also be common nouns). Interesting linguistic detail: five is spelt כמשה.

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Note signed by Yaʿaqov Ṣarfati stating that Shimʿon will give 8.5 of something to the holy congregation of בטאת(?). Dated: Wednesday, 3 Rabīʿ II, דעצה(?). Late. This small note was written on the back of a piece of paper cut from Judaeo-Arabic accounts (which mention David Ḥazzan and David Shammash).

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Small fragment (lower right corner), and possibly a draft. The name בן שמארי is preserved.

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Verso: Piyyut. ASE

An interesting Qaraite legal testimony (zikhron ʿedut) dated 20 Adar 5442 (1682 CE), scribed and signed by Avraham ha-Rofe ben Ṣaʿīr, one of the messengers sent from Jerusalem with news of the barley crop (aviv), together with Mordechai b. Ḥayyim ha-Kohen. As the barley was fully mature, the coming year, a leap year for the Rabbanites, will not be intercalated for the Qaraites. Messengers have been sent both to Damascus and to Fustat. The writer notes that, for the first time "in a long time," this means that the calendars of the Rabbanites and the ʿarelim (western Christians? Muslims?) have coincided, while the calendars of the Qaraites and the Franks and Maronites have coincided. The term ʿarelim, or uncircumcised, normally refers to Christians in earlier Geniza documents. However, in this context, the ʿarelim are being contrasted with the Franks and Maronites, so the writer is either drawing a distinction between western and eastern Christians, or between Christians and Muslims. ASE

Panegyric in Honor of Madmun II Cairo, after 1186.

Notebook containing miscellaneous drafts of panegyric letters. In the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. See specific records for specific documents within the notebook. In addition to the letters, there is a medical prescription in Arabic script.

Panegyric in Honor of Madmun II Cairo, after 1186.

Recto with the address on verso: Letter from a man whose name is too faded to read, near al-Mahdiyya, to his 'brother' ʿArūs b. Yosef, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender is certainly a family member but may not be an actual brother (it looks like his father's name might be [Hi]lāl or [Bi]lāl rather than Yosef). The sender complains about his difficult circumstances and poverty and old age and presumably goes on to ask for money, but the specifics of his request are quite faded. "If you saw me you would not know me (cf. T-S 12.261 and T-S 6J6.19) on account of old age and lack of resources, and how I have to go up to al-Mahdiyya twice a day and the husband of [...] paternal uncle and my maternal aunt and my mother are (burdens) on my neck, and I have no strength but through God. I am worn down: even the prosperous are worn down in al-Mahdiyya, how much the more an old man without property or someone to take pity on me (? ḥanīn). By the truth of this letter, I do not take from the Muslim with whom I am staying any more than 2 gold qirats, and if it is enough for weekdays, there remains Shabbat and holidays and clothing. The qinṭār of flax has arrived with Ibn al-Futūrī, may God reward all of you and preserve your son for you." He goes on to swear "by the bread and salt that is between us" not to neglect his request. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Verso: Business accounts in the hand of ʿArūs b. Yosef. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions names such as: al-ʿAfṣī, the Jewish woman (al-yahūdiyya), Ibn al-ʿIrāqī, two or three gharībs, a silk trader (al-ḥarīrī), a Christian man (al-naṣrānī), Muḥammad the wool trader (al-ṣawwāf), Ḥusayn, Wahb, al-Maghribī, etc.

Copy of a ketubba. This is the second page. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Groom: Shela. Bride: Sitt al-Ḥusn.