Geniza Lab

Letter from Bayān to his 'father' Abū l-Fakhr. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century. The sender reminds the addressee that he had promised to pay Abū Saʿd the money owed, paying a portion with Bayān's money and dealing with the rest himself. But Abū Saʿd sent Bayān a letter complaining that he has only received 30 nuqra dirhams. The lower part of the document is missing. On verso there is the Friday night kiddush in calligraphic Hebrew.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The sender is probably Maḥrūz b. Yaʿaqov, an India trader and shipowner (nākhudā) known from documents dating from 1131/32 to c.1150 CE. (This identification was made by Amir Ashur and Mordechai Akiva Friedman.) The sender was previously in Qūṣ and is now in some town in the Egyptian Rīf or the Levant, as he asks for news about shipments for him from Aden. On this fragment, the lower part of recto and the upper part of verso are preserved. The sender complains about how the wālī squeezed money out of him this year for paying half of Hiba's capitation tax. He reports that a Maghribī arrived from Damascus, and the community contracted with him to teach their children and lead their prayers for one year, and they will pay him 9 qirṭāses(?) and two fulūs monthly and perhaps 2 dirhams toward his capitation tax. The sender quotes Avot 4:9 ('whoever fulfills the Torah in poverty will ultimately fulfill it in prosperity'). The sender is very pleased about the addressee's apology and gift (of 20 dirhams?) and reiterates that he didn't have to do that. The sender is abashed to send letters to his cousins (abnā' khāla) because he doesn't have any gifts to send them. In the margin of recto there is a request for something (קרכה?) made of white flax (here there seems to be a Judaeo-Persian word, bābat, used in a similar context as in T-S 8J19.28 -- see Shaked's article on Persian-Arabic Bilingualism in From a Sacred Source). The bulk of the text on verso is taken up with the shipment of cloves that never reached the sender. This may be the fault of a certain Sulaymān and the sender seems intimidated by him ('no one sues him except God'?). It may be deposited with the untrustworthy children of Abū Saʿd. The addressee is asked to help. The sender complains that no one will lend him money or borrow money from him. He asks the addressee to put in a good word with the latter's cousin (ibn ʿamm), 'who knows the Levant well.' The sender claims that he can turn dirhams into dinars. He asks for a scroll on parchment (gevil) and the laws of slaughter in Arabic (as the addressee had promised), and he wants the addressee to sell a volume of the Torah for him. The last preserved line of the letter (verso margin) mentions the Levant and yarn and sal ammoniac and "the saliva of m[...]." ASE

Accounts in Arabic script. Contributors list? It is a list of names, each of which has the word "dīnār" next to it, and another word underneath that. (One of the words underneath dīnār may be 'wariq.') The names: ʿAlī b. Rasīq(?); Ḥasan b. Rasīq(?); Musāfir b. Ḥasan; Ḥasan b. Ibrāhīm; ʿAlī b. Salmūn; Ḥasan b. Faḍl; ʿAlwān b. Hamza; Muḥsin b. Ḥasan; Mufarraj(?) b. Futūḥ; Naṣr al-Dīn b. Ḥamāma(?); ʿAlī b. Aḥmad; ʿAlī b. ʿAṭṭiyya; Qāsim b. Khalīfa; Salāma(?) b. Futūḥ. There is also a list in Judaeo-Arabic (see separate record).

List of valuable items in Judaeo-Arabic. Headed "thabat mā fīhā." Items include: a maqṭāʿ cloth of fine mulḥam; a cushion; two sewn thawbs; a mayzar cover and a mayzar cover of wool; an ebony inkpot; a tablecover (sufra); a knife; and a pair of wax candle lamps.

There are 32 folios sharing this shelfmark. See individual PGPIDs for more information. Most of it consists of a notebook, probably belonging to a Byzantine merchant, filled with records of various transactions. The language is primarily Hebrew but the months are Julian (אפריל ,דסמבר etc.). Many business partners are named, at least some of whom have Greek names (e.g. Manolis on folio 5). There is a calendar for the year 1430/31 CE (folio 26), written in an interesting ink that has faded to pale silver; the page now looks blank at a glance, but much of the text is legible. There are accounts (folios 1 and 15) with a Hebrew grammatical structure (X של Y) but in which nearly all of the nouns are in a different language, presumably Greek in Hebrew characters, but needs examination by an expert. There are several letters, including folios 2, 9, 11, 16, 17, 21, and 23. The letter on folio 11 is a join with DK 371. The letters on folios 16 and 23 are both addressed to an Avraham b. Yosef ha-Levi. The former at least is signed by a Shabbetay who also gives the name of his city (קרישטו = Karystos, probably). Shabbetay says that he does not spend much time in אגריפון (Negroponte/Chalcis, the capital of Euboea). Another letter (folio 17) mentions "קדיאה," probably =קנדיאה, which would be Crete. Underneath the letter on folio 2 are two lines of Greek in Greek characters.This page, incidentally, is a palimpsest, with a Hebrew-looking subtext. Folio 29 may contain very faded Greek text (in Greek characters) as well. Additionally, there are leaves from the Talmud apparently in a 14th-century Byzantine hand (e.g. folios 6 and 32) and leaves from a book of seliḥot (e.g. folio 31). Information partly from FGP. Merits deeper examination. ASE

Notebook, probably belonging to a 15th-century Byzantine merchant, filled with records of various transactions. The language is primarily Hebrew but the months are Julian (אפריל ,דסמבר etc.). Many business partners are named, at least some of whom have Greek names (e.g. Manolis on folio 5). The accounts may include Judaeo-Greek on folios 1 and 15. See folio 26 for the probable dating.

Literary, probably. Very faded. See folio 26 for the probable dating.

Letter in Hebrew. Needs examination. See folio 26 for the probable dating.

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Notebook, probably belonging to a 15th-century Byzantine merchant, filled with records of various transactions. The language is primarily Hebrew but the months are Julian (אפריל ,דסמבר etc.). Many business partners are named, at least some of whom have Greek names (e.g. Manolis on folio 5). The accounts may include Judaeo-Greek on folios 1 and 15. See folio 26 for the probable dating.

Letter in Hebrew. The letters on folios 16 and 23 are both addressed to an Avraham b. Yosef ha-Levi. The former at least is signed by a Shabbetay who is writing from Karystos. See folio 26 for the probable dating.

Letter in Hebrew. Per the identification data on FGP, one of the letters mentions "אגריפון," probably Negroponte (Euboea), and one (folio 17) mentions "קדיאה," probably =קנדיאה, which would be Crete. See folio 26 for the probable dating.

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Recto: Letter fragment in Hebrew script. Underneath are two lines of Greek script. Needs examination. Verso: Hebrew script. Very faded. Mentions R. Yosef. See folio 26 for the probable dating.

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Letter in Hebrew.

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