Geniza Lab

Copy of Bameh Madlikin with interlinear translation into Arabic.

Private account written by Nahray b. Nissim and one of his partners. Around 1059. Account for shipping wood from Egypt to the Maghreb via Mayadiya. Also mentions accounts about shipping varnish and buying flax. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #288) VMR

Recto: Document in Arabic. Verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Needs further examination.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic mentioning Abū l-Surūr b. Yiju.

Letter of condolence in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew to a certain Abū l-Ḥasan al-Mubārak b. [ʿIyad?] on the death of a woman in his family. Verso preserves the address and several columns in Arabic script.

Responsum (lengthy) by the judge Yeḥiel b. Eliyaqim regarding the invocation of the 'reshut' -- the authority of the Head of the Jews -- in legal documents and other contexts. The document concludes with a statement that it was copied directly from that in Yeḥiel's own handwriting, witnessed by Avraham b. Hillel and Yoshiyah b. Moshe.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic giving people's names and various goods, including garments and many "khawātim" (seals) such as khātim Fāṭimah and [...] min al-ʿayn. Needs further examination.

Magical recipes in two different hands, including for the protection of Yosef b. Me'ir. (Information from FGP)

Petition to the Fatimid vizier concerning an allowance. Dating: First half of the 12th century. The verso contains a Judaeo-Arabic text concerning the Jewish calendar. Part of this text is written also on the recto between lines 6 and 8 of the Arabic document.

Instructions for the halakha/etiquette of comporting oneself during the ʿamida, including for eventualities such as needing to cough or urinate or developing a nosebleed. In rudimentary handwriting, arranged in two columns per side. From the siddur of RASAG (information from FGP).

Horoscopes in the name of Ilyās al-Ḥakīm, including prospects for currying favor with government and the effectiveness of medicines. On reused paper containing vestiges of enormous Arabic script in red ink (most visible on Image 2).

Long magical spell/amulet for Baghīḍa bt. Ḥā'iza, with the purpose of making Mufaḍḍal b. ʿIrāq fall in love with her and marry her without delay.

Letter in difficult Latin script, possibly Portuguese. The address on verso is in Hebrew: to David Ṣarfati, from R. Yiṣḥaq Alpa[...], from צאפט to Fustat.

Legal document. Dated: Ḥeshvan 4813 AM, which is 1052 CE. The witness names may be legible ([...] b. Shemuel and Dāʾūd b. [...]). Probably very little of the document itself is still legible. Partially erased and reused for piyyutim by Joseph b. Abitur. (Information in part from CUDL.)

The beginning of the book of Shemot along with other calligraphic Hebrew jottings.

Legal document. Palestinian ketubba. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Recto: Stylized letter in Hebrew to David b. Hezekia the Nasi. Verso: The address and several different blocks of writing in Arabic script.

Letter from Shemuʾel b. Eli gaʾon, in Baghdad, in the hand of Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. ʿEli Rosh ha-Seder of Irbīl, second half of the 11th century. Deals with just judgment. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #81, and from Amir Ashur and Marina Rustow)

Introduction of a letter in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter from Zekharia b. Gdalia b. Ayash, from Zahrajt, to Musa b. Abi al-Hayy, Alexandria. Around 1063. Regarding deliveries of money, especially one of seven dinars that Habub b. Haban from Safukas sent, and asks to buy spices and perfumes and sell them for him In Alexandria. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #719) VMR