Geniza Lab

Bill of divorce (get). Location: Fustat. Dated: Probably Av 1[48]5 Seleucid, which is 1174 CE, based on the presence of signatures of both Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (active 1165–1203) and Mevorakh. b. Natan (active 1150–81) Husband: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Salāma. Wife: Ḥusn bt. Abū l-Yumn. Signed: Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen b. Yosef; Shemuel ha-Levi b. Seʿadya. The attestation on verso that the wife received the get is signed by Shemuel ha-Levi b. Seʿadya and Mevorakh b. Natan.

Letter in Arabic script. Opens with an ornate "al-izza lillāhi taʿālā." Addressed to al-amīr al-rayyis Abū l-Faḍāʾil. The letter gives instructions concerning business matters and possibly the dishonesty of a messenger. Reused on recto for piyyut.

Informal note addressed to 'the brother' R. Zekharya. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Is this Shelomo b. Eliyyahu writing to Abū Zikrī?) He asks him not to detain the old woman from coming, but rather to assist her in coming quickly, because the writer's wife ("al-ṣughayyira") is sick and they are perishing of isolation and "there is no one to fill a jug of water for us." ASE

"In Geniza times the Kaddish was a solemn doxology, including a prayer for the living, and, in particular, the spiritual leaders of the community" (Goitein, Med. Soc., viii, C, 2, n. 154). Cf. DK 457. Bibliography: Fleischer, Kovetz al yad 13 (1995-96), p. 94-95.

Deed of engagement (shiddukhin). In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver. Dated: Monday evening, 30 Kislev 1460 Seleucid, which is 1148 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. The ornate titles attached to the names of the couple may suggest that they were family members of Shemuel b. Ḥananya. The manuscript is located at the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem.

Letter from Salama Ha-Kohen b. Yosef, Ramla, to Shema'ya Ha-Ḥaver b. Yeshu'a, Jerusalem, May 1054. Gil called this fragment "Chapira 1*" because it was published by Bernard (Eliezer Dov) Chapira in 1953. The fragment that bears the shelfmark Chapira 1 in FGP is unrelated to this one (even though the Gil reference appears in the bibliography), and to the best of our knowledge, the actual manuscript that Gil edited appears nowhere in FGP, by either shelfmark or image.

Legal deed: release or quittance in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, from Mikhaʾel b. Avraham to Yosef b. Abbā Mārī. Dated 1426 Sel. (1114). Signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya, Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuʾel ha-Sefaradi, Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, and Shemaʿya Gaʾon. Not in Weiss's dissertation on Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Marina Rustow) Cod.Heid.Or.78–80 were purchased from a dealer in Cairo by Adalbert Merx, who published them in 1894 and donated them to the University of Heidelberg Library on his death.

Legal document. Deed of sale for a house in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ that Levi b. Namer sells to Abū l-Ḥasan al-Ṣayrafī Shelomo ha-Kohen b. Menashshe ha-Kohen for 20 dinars, first 10 days of Sivan 1438, in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Witnesses: Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuʾel ha-Safaradi, Netanʿel b. ʿAmram. Cod.Heid.Or.78–80 were purchased from a dealer in Cairo by Adalbert Merx, who published them in 1894 and donated them to the University of Heidelberg Library after his death. (Marina Rustow)

Marriage contract (ketubba) between Yaḥyā ha-Kohen the blind b. Shela ha-Kohen and (?), dated 23 Adar I 1475 Sel. The images on FGP and the University of Heidelberg Library website are difficult to read and might seem like photostats, but I'm told they are digital images of the originals. Cod.Heid.Or.78–80 were purchased from a dealer in Cairo by Adalbert Merx, who published them in 1894 and donated them to the University of Heidelberg Library after his death. (Marina Rustow)

Accounts of the qodesh, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic. Including many construction expenses as well as oil for the holiday and the names of various people and workers and officials (e.g. ṣāḥib al-rabʿ).

Deed of sale in which a father sells to his son a quarter of the apartment belonging to him in a house in the al- Mu'tamid passage of the Tujib quarter for seventeen dinars. Dated 1233. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 281)

Ketubba according to the Egyptian rite. Location: Fustat. Dated: 13 Nisan 1606 Seleucid, which is 1295 CE. Groom: Elʿazar b. Avraham. Bride: Sara bt. Elʿazar. Information from the Reif catalog via FGP.

Letter from a Jewish notable who had previously been minister of finance in Egypt, seeking assistance from the Jewish community in Constantinople. This very long letter begins with many lines of poetry and greetings to the Constantinople community, after which the writer describes his fall from favour and how he has now been supplanted by a new Christian minister of finance. The recently deceased Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya's elevation by the Vizier al-Afḍal is described, and the very high regard in which he was held at court. The Nagid's death had presumably left the writer and other Jews in high positions exposed to court intrigue. Dated to soon after 1111 CE (when the Nagid died). Information from CUDL. The writer spells out Greek words in vocalized Hebrew script: "το πατριαρχη" (the patriarch) and "εἰστό Ταμίαθι" (in Tamiathi = Damietta = Kaftor).

Letter to Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel, the brother of Ḥalfon b. Netanʾel complaining in strong terms about Ibn Khulayf and Buraykh, but praying Bushayr. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 590, and from Goitein's index cards.) Glued to a report addressed from one Fatimid official to another (see separate entry).

Bottom part of a decree of a Fatimid Amīr titled Surūr al-Malikī to a provincial governor or fiscal official, dated 2 Jumâda II, no year. Concerns collection of the kharāj on the refining of sugarcane (qaṣab) and taro (qulqās) in the village of Jawjar, where there was a press. The men of a high official (amīr muntakhab) titled Dhukhr al-Mulk wa-Sadīduhā (Treasure and Bulwark of the Realm) should be allowed to collect tax as the latter sees fit, while allowing the iqṭāʿ holders their income. Glued at top to a Judaeo-Arabic letter (see separate entry).

Court declaration in which Moshe b. Yeshua testifies to having received all due him from Elazar Abu Ghalib b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, working for him in the jahbadha (office of fiscal cashier), and to having no claims against him, his sons or brothers. Dated December 1124. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 249, 250)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Possibly from Ṣanʿāʾ, like CUL Add.3338.2. The groom is named Saʿīd, and the bride is named [...]da bt. Muʿayyaḍ(?) b. Saʿīd. Needs further examination. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document. Location: Ṣanʿā', Yemen. In which David b. Saʿīd and Sulaymān b. Yosef promise not to curse each other. Dated: Adar 1946 Seleucid, which isJanuary/February 1635 CE. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

List of contributors. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in which the writer announces he has delivered a letter to a third person containing some announcement the writer had mentioned beforehand to the addressee, as well as 'a thousand kinds of greetings.' He also mentions a case involving a partner of the addressee. The letter continues to mention grain deliveries, amongst others to the 'house of the dome' (bayt al-qubba).