Geniza Lab

List, extensive and valuable but damaged, of donors of wheat to the poor. Most give only 1 wayba (about 4 gallons, weighing about 25 pounds), or fractions thereof, some others give 2 or 4. One person whose name has not been preserved, but who follows immediately after the first three mentioned above, donates 4 irdabbs = 24 waybas. Those who had not yet made up their minds are listed at the end of the page merely by name. The tillis is a sack, weighing approx. 150 pounds verso, list of persons contributing dirhams, for example, 2 weavers each 3 d, one giving with his workman. The doctor, the representative of the merchants Yequtiʾel, donates 1/8 dinar (for which one could buy at that time approx. a wayba of wheat). The symbol to the right of most names on verso resembling an Arabic final mim, with a tail, might mean (pai)d, (salla)m. It is represented here by a $ (Cohen) (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp 478-479, App. C 21 ca. 1100)

Very important legal document consisting of two depositions held in the synagogue of Syracuse, dealing with a lawsuit against Eliyyahu b. al-Harrar, who was accused of taking a share of the estate of Nahum b. Ismail al-Harrar. Dated April 1020. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 654, and from Yehudei Sitziliya, p. 104)

There is an 8-line note in Judaeo-Arabic that provides a mnemonic (siman) for calculating the molads (mawālīd) of the New Moons. The rest of the fragment is literary.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Concerns Abū l-Faḍā'il and his wife ("amḍā la-hā al-taṣarruf fī jamīʿihā"). No details preserved. Dated: 1135 CE, under the reshut of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. Witnesses: Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, Natan b. Shelomo, and Avraham b. Yeshuʿa (ZL). (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Business letter in Arabic script, fragmentary, mentioning Abū Saʿīd Ibn ʿAwkal. The first part of the letter is missing. The writer is in Fustat and writes about debt collection. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #115) VMR

Letter In Hebrew, with many errors and phonetic spellings. The writer calls the addressee 'the Sar.' Dating: Late, perhaps 16th century. The letter concerns the salt industry in the area of al-Manzala and al-ʿAṣāfira (next to Baḥr al-Mallāḥa, between Damietta and Port Said) and also mentions Qaṭya, the caravan waystation in the Sinai desert about 60km east of Port Said. The writer reports on a dispute with his partner Elishaʿ, who had sent neither money nor salt. Somehow involved are the apostate (meshummad) Yaḥyā and the qāḍī ʿAbd al-Bāqī and the faqīh ʿAbd al-Majīd.

Letter from a father to a son. On vellum. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 11th century. This fragment opens with updates on the health of various people, including the addressee's mother. They heard news that the son is planning to travel to Jerusalem. The father gives various exhortations (yā bunayy...) including, 'don't gloat over your enemies' misfortunes.' Abūn sends his regards.

Decree. 6 lines of a chancery document chopped into pieces and then reused to form quires. One line on recto of Bodl. MS heb. d 81/19, with part of another visible above. The central line has been outlined/copied in places and is surrounded by Arabic annotations that may be drafts of formulae. There is also one red line of Hebrew script on recto, the beginning of a ketubba; Hebrew script (literary?) text on verso.

Collection of letters relating to the calendar controversy of 921–22. This is part of what Sacha Stern (2020) calls the Letters Miscellany: Letter 4 of 4. Bornstein (1904) called this letter ‘Ben Meir’s Second Letter’. This letter was likely written by the highest authority in Palestine, ben Meir, the Head of the Yeshiva, and likely addressed to the Iraqi/Babylonian leadership. The identity of the author emerges most clearly in his reference to his disciples’ announcement, on the Mount of Olives, of the dates of 921/2 CE (fol.7v:12), as well as from parallels with Ben Meir’s First Letter. Dating: the letter was written after Passover 922 CE, but before the New Year of that year. This date is based on the fact that the author refers to the celebration of Passover 922 as a past event (fol.7r:2) and warns his addressee not to repeat the error of Passover, but also warns his addressee to observe the New Year on the correct date (fol.8r:9-10). In the folios that survive, the author responds point by point to a letter that had been sent to him by his addressee. At this advanced stage in the dispute, the tone of the correspondence had deteriorated considerably. In several places in this letter, the author suggests somewhat perversely that the Iraqis have gone over to the Ananites, who should have been (and were once) their common enemy (fol.7r:17-18, 8v:7); and he comes close to suggesting a permanent schism between Palestinians and Iraqis (fol.8r:2-3, 8v:8; Stern notes that the meaning of these passages, however, needs a more nuanced evaluation). As in Ben Meir’s First Letter, the author still lays most of the blame on Saadya (fol.7r:6-8, 8r:14-16, 8v:17-18), as if to give the Iraqis a way out of their entrenched position. (Information from Sacha Stern, The Jewish Calendar Controversy)

Collection of letters relating to the calendar controversy of 921–22. This is part of what Sacha Stern (2020) calls the Letters Miscellany: Letter 4 of 4. Bornstein (1904) called this letter ‘Ben Meir’s Second Letter’. This letter was likely written by the highest authority in Palestine, ben Meir, the Head of the Yeshiva, and likely addressed to the Iraqi/Babylonian leadership. The identity of the author emerges most clearly in his reference to his disciples’ announcement, on the Mount of Olives, of the dates of 921/2 CE (fol.7v:12), as well as from parallels with Ben Meir’s First Letter. Dating: the letter was written after Passover 922 CE, but before the New Year of that year. This date is based on the fact that the author refers to the celebration of Passover 922 as a past event (fol.7r:2) and warns his addressee not to repeat the error of Passover, but also warns his addressee to observe the New Year on the correct date (fol.8r:9-10). In the folios that survive, the author responds point by point to a letter that had been sent to him by his addressee. At this advanced stage in the dispute, the tone of the correspondence had deteriorated considerably. In several places in this letter, the author suggests somewhat perversely that the Iraqis have gone over to the Ananites, who should have been (and were once) their common enemy (fol.7r:17-18, 8v:7); and he comes close to suggesting a permanent schism between Palestinians and Iraqis (fol.8r:2-3, 8v:8; Stern notes that the meaning of these passages, however, needs a more nuanced evaluation). As in ben Meir’s First Letter, the author still lays most of the blame on Saadya (fol.7r:6-8, 8r:14-16, 8v:17-18), as if to give the Iraqis a way out of their entrenched position. (Information from Sacha Stern, The Jewish Calendar Controversy)

Calendrical tables.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Quite damaged. Some excerpts: "By the Law! ... From the day that he traveled until now... he married a woman in ʿAkkā... when the time of his death approached, he made a will in both the Muslim and Jewish (courts) that 'I owe my wife 1000-some dinars.'" The writer apologizes for the state of his letter by saying that he wrote it at night.

Letter from a certain Abū l-Faraj to a judge. He complains that after he had paid 10 dinars according to the judge's decision, his debtors wanted to receive (or received) the rest with interest. Mentions an encounter in the "small guardhouse" (מחרץ for מחרס/maḥras). (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter to the Judge Eliyyahu from a woman, probably his mother or his former mother-in-law. Containing many details about a house in Alexandria. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Two fragments of the same legal document, dated 1532/1220-1221. The physician Abū l-Maḥāsin Yefet b. Yoshiyya and the sugar merchant Abū l-ʿIzz b. Abū l-Maʿānī declare that they had operated a sugar factory for many years together, but were now unable to pay the heavy government taxes any longer. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 580)

Declaration in court by Abu al-Tahir b. Elazar regarding a business of timber for building belonging to Abu al-Baha b. Moshe. Dated Heshvan 1543 Seleucid, which is September-October 1231 CE. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal testimony. Dated: Wednesday the 6th of Ḥeshvan, which Goitein identified as October 1231 CE, based on the surmise that this document belongs together with Bodl. MS heb. e 101/14. The testimony describes how Shamun b. al-Muzanjir was attacked by his brother, ʿImrān, while sewing in the store of Simḥa. Shamun didn't lift his hand against his brother for this happened in the presence of Jews, Muslims and Christians. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p.47; V, pp. 305, 306)

Court record dated Nisan 1410 Seleucid, which is April 1099 CE. Dealing with a complicated lawsuit of a case in which Abū l-Faḍl had sold 91 jars of wine to Hillel b. Yosef for 9 dinars. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 256, and from Goitein's index cards)

Account of Abu al-Maʿālī(?), specifying weight and prices of goods. On verso there are further accounts, involving ward murabbā (rose petal jam). Someone with the title "al-Segulat" (אלסגלאת) appears in the header. There is one line in Arabic script at the bottom, probably part of the same reckoning.

Letter from Zakkay b. ʿAzaryahu the Nasi to the community of Damascus. Only the introduction is preserved. This may be a draft that was abandoned. On verso there is a guide to Arabic prosody, in Judaeo-Arabic.