Geniza Lab

Book list in Ladino. On the last page of a literary midrashic work in Hebrew. "These are the books I bought here in Patras (Greece), it is good to know(?)" (אישטוש שון ליש לוברוש קי מירקי אקי אין פאטראש קון בייני אשאביר). Dating: Possibly ca. 1498 CE, if this belongs together with the next fragment. Entries include: Naḥmanides; Sefer ha-Agur; Ibn ʿEzra; Kad ha-Qemaḥ; Sefer Miṣvot ha-Qaṣar; commentary on the Moreh by אפ״ד; two books of liquṭim; a commentary on something ("the first book" or perhaps "the razon"?) of Avicenna and other matters; a commentary on the Higayon of Maimonides with other selections; the Intentions of the Philosophers (Kavanot ha-Pilosofim, the Hebrew translation of Maqāṣid al-Falāsifa) by "Abū Ḥamid" (=al-Ghazālī); an introduction to logic; the laws of Yom Kippur (or from Masekhet Yoma); Moshe Narboni's commentary on the Intentions of the Philosophers; Iggeret ha-Musar; Sefer ha-Malmad (of Jacob Anatoli); the book of Ibn Shuʿayb; Ḥovot ha-Levavot; and a few more. ASE

Two legal notes, amidst sundry other jottings, mostly calendrical (including the names of months in both Hebrew and Romance—perhaps Ladino). The first note states that R. Eliezer Griego repaid 300 levanim out of his debt to R. Shem Ṭov. The second note states that Shem Ṭov invested 1000 levanim with the youth Yaʿaqov who will conduct business with the money 'at half profit' for a period of 1 year beginning today, Friday, 4 Sivan 5258 AM, which is 1498 CE. The name Yiṣḥaq Ḥazzan appears below, likely as a witness. On verso there is an elaborate signature of a certain Shelomo. It is not immediately clear whether Bodl. MS heb. e 103/13 belongs together with Bodl. MS heb. e 103/10–12 or not.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Wide space between the lines. The writer is a tax farmer (or perhaps the agent/wakīl of one) in a rural area with cattle and water wheels and wood. He seems to be complaining about how little of the ḍamān proceeds he got to keep and how much work it is to supervise the cowherds and waterwheel users and get them to pay up. But there is a lot of technical language that requires further examination. "By the covenant! I had no resort but to drink with some qāḍī named Abū ʿAbdallāh and some uncircumcised (Christian) tax collector. The drinking was for a profitable thing they had proposed, not on account of any idleness of mine. They said..." In the margin he mentions Rabbenu, possibly the Nagid, and asks for a favor for a relative of his. On verso there are many very deferential phrases and a cryptic passage about insulting people and people's wives and things that can't be repeated in letters to the likes of the addressee. On verso there is also Hebrew liturgical text.

Letter addressed to Naḥum b. Sulaymān al-Iskandarānī, in Fustat. The writer is unidentified. In Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee's letter concerning the house arrived with Mūsā. But the writer met with the addressee's father and brother and with Ismāʿīl and determined that the addressee was mistaken about something. The writer is interested in the turban and the Venetian khirqa and mentions a maqṭaʿ cloth as well. The ambergris that Abū l-Rabīʿ brought has not sold yet, which means his capital is currently tied up in it. The writer has sent pearls with the bearer Masʿūd, and the addressee should look out for him and exchange with Masʿūd the ambergris that he will tell him about. ASE

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Cairo. Dated: 23 Nisan 1434 Seleucid, which is 1123 CE.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Looks 11th century.

Probably non-Geniza. Letter from Yaʿaqov Ḥayy b. Avraham Mondolfo. Dated: 15 Adar 5454 AM, which is 1694 CE. This looks like a draft or writing practice -- there are interlinear corrections as well as citations in the right margin for the biblical verses alluded to.

Probably non-Geniza. Address of a letter in the hand of Yaʿaqov Ḥayy Mondolfo that mentions פישיבה (פישיברי?) (with a Latin-script transliteration) and also London. Re: scribe, see Bodl. MS heb. e 105/53 and Bodl. MS heb. e 105/55. This may even be the address of the letter in Bodl. MS heb. e 105/53.

Probably non-Geniza. Letter from Yosef b. Yiṣḥaq G[allico?], in Jerusalem, to Yaʿaqov Ḥayy b. Avraham Mondolfo, in Siena. Dating: slightly after Adar 5454 AM, which is 1694 CE.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Only the ending is preserved. Greetings to Zekharya and Berakhot and to the addressee's wife. (So possibly addressed to Eliyyahu the Judge? His two sons were Zekharya and Berakhot.) The bearer of the letter is Khalūf al-Nafūsī, who had mentioned to the writer that he had קציבאת in Fustat. The addressee is asked to help him find a buyer. Khalūf is also bringing the 'khirqa' for the girl.

Letter from the lepers of Tiberias.

Legal document, fragment. Dating: ca. 1020 CE. Muʾammala bt. Shemuel b. Menashshe b. Avraham al-Qazzaz releases her sister Mulūk and other relatives (probably her sister's family) from obligations concerning the estate of her aunt Ḥusn bt. Menashshe b. Ibrāhīm including properties in a place called Tur Ruba and in Tyre, in the 'Armon' (mansion?) of Ibn al-Qazzāz. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Yemen. There are several dozen names and strings of numbers (in Hebrew characters) of varying lengths after each name.

Deed of sale. Location: Ḥamida/Ḥamuda, Yemen. Dated: 24 Av במ״ד, which is likely 2044 Seleucid, which is 1733 CE. The parties include [..] and Saʿīd and Avraham the sons of Yūsuf. Currency: gurush. Signed: Menaḥem b. Ḥayyim; Seʿadya b. Avraham. There is a note on verso with more names.

Accounts of Yaḥyā Ḥajabī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Yemen. Currencies used are gurush and zolota (a silver coin minted by the Ottomans to replace the Polish-Lithuanian zloty starting in 1690 CE).

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Written on vellum spanning two leaves (and three pages) that already contained literary text in Hebrew. The first page of the letter is on a blank verso and the ending of the letter takes up the lower margin of both recto and verso of the second leaf. Describes the wretched state of the writer and the children and how nobody has been charitable toward them. The writer urges the addressee not to distance himself from them, and also asks for a maqṭaʿ (cloth). (Information in part from Goitein's note card.)

Literary text in Hebrew. "By Yiṣḥaq b. Seʿadya אלמנבגי." Underneath: "The scribe/writer is Shabbat b. Elʿazar ha-Melammed from the city of Ṣahrajt. Bibliography: Goitein, Med. Soc., 1:239, vi, 11 n.55. Neubauer in JQR 1894, 704 note 12.

A list of Talmudic sayings.

Letter from a woman, in Qayrawān, to a benefactor, unknown location. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 11th century. The beginning is missing. Her children have nothing to eat or wear, and they have 'exposed themselves' (inkashafnā), that is, become dependent on public charity. "But do not suppose that [in] Qayrawān that they have compassion and give. By no means do they do this! They give to those whom they know." The wife of ʿAṭā' gave them only a couple measly garments, and when they put them on their bodies, they felt chills. She and her children all have an ear illness. The addressee evidently left 5 dinars for her with Farḥūn, although she has not yet been able to get her hands on it. When she does, she will have the community (or just her children?) bless his name every Shabbat. ASE

Kitāb al-Sheṭarot (the book of legal formularies) of Hayya Ga'on b. Sherira Ga'on. Per the Bodleian catalog, the copyist or owner is Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver.