Geniza Lab

Letter about Moshe b. Maimon b. Yosef b. Ovadya (Moses Maimonides) and an epistle he had sent to the Nasi? (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document. Partnership. Dating: 1100-1138. Location: Fustat. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. This undated fragment concerns a partnership in money-changing; the active partner was Abū al-Surūr Peraḥya b. Menashshe, brother of Ḥalfōn b. Menashshe. The woman Nasab, mentioned on lines 10 and 13, is Peraḥya’s (and Ḥalfōn’s) mother. Peraḥya handed over some amount to his mother, which she acknowledged and recorded as a debt. These funds seem to have been a loan out of partnership capital, indicated by the mention of “the funds in his hands”. On the other hand, no description of the partnership itself is preserved here. The name of Peraḥya’s partner is also not preserved, though it may have been Ḥasan Eli b. Maṣliaḥ (mentioned in line13). It is unclear what role Eli played in the transaction. The signatories are not preserved. But the title "Mordecai of his time" (see line 1) is applied to Moshe b. Mevorakh alone; thus, although his name is not preserved, this document may refer to Mevorakh b. Saadiah and his son Moshe. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 277-278)

Informal note from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Peraḥya the judge. Perhaps abandoned partway through. What remains consists of formulaic respectful greetings.

Page of the account book of ʿArūs b. Yosef, containing accounts and a note about the beginning of a pregnancy, birth and weaning. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 230, 233)

Fragment of a marriage contract. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Calendrical calculation. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Moshe Castro, in Jerusalem, to Avraham Ibn Shānjī, in Fustat/Cairo. Written in Hebrew. Dating: 1513/14 CE, based on the assessment of Avraham David. The writer requests for donations for the benefit of the Jerusalem community such as for building expenses (ll.21–31) and for needy individuals (ll.4–9). Mentions an "azul" (blue) garment. Information from FGP.

Letter in Ladino, written probably in the first half of the 16h century. It mentions R. Abraham ibn Shoshan, whom Sambari lists amongst the exiles from Spain and is addressed to her brother by a certain Miriam. She had received her brother's letter after four or five days. Her brother had complained about her silence: "de lo ke me enviais a kulpar ke non vos eskrivo lo ke fallais mucho extrano presando de korason para deskuvrir mis sekretos ke non . . . verdadero sinon el mio y el vuestro ke de lo ajeno non toma la presona mas de lo ke kiere su dueiio. . . ." She continues to tell her brother about her disappointement at his absence in Passover: "erev Pesah mi senora enviome a dezir ke su venida non era por agora. El dio lo save la Paskua ke me dio, saviendo vos hermano ke vuestra letra son mis konsules (konsuelos?), por la palabra enviada a dezir fue demas, sabiendo vuestro corason, porke si fasta agora tenia senzillo el kuidado agora lo tiene doblado de vuestro deseo. Sabiendo vos komo estava los ojos al kamino, esperando ke su respuesta seria su vista. Agora faziendose otra manera, mira vos lo ke sentia. . . ." Information from Eleazar Gutwirth, "The Family in Judeo-Spanish Genizah Letters," 212. ASE.

Letter fragment, written in poetical phrases, in which the writer asks Yehuda and his brother Meshullam for help. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter fragments. Six small pieces of a letter from [...] ha-Yerushalmi b. Ḥalfon ha-Ḥazzan, in Jerusalem. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Information from Goitein's note card.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Late.

Accounts of a banker. In Judaeo-Arabic. Small sums. Information from Goitein's note card.

Fragment of a copy of a legal document. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

List of contributors to the pesiqa, headed "Appendix to the pledges." A list of thirty-four names (two unnamed with father and brother), of which eleven are crossed out. Only few are accompanied by numbers. The Nagid (Shemuel b. Ḥananya) gives 3 dirhems, the physician Abū l-Najm contributes 2 for his father and himself, which he pays by transfer, ḥawāla; three other persons also pay by transfer. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan, in his early style. The persons to be solicited are mostly grouped according to their professions, al-Ṭibb, the members of the medical profession, forming the largest single group of tardy contributors. Information from Med Soc II, App. C, #113 (p. 502).

Letter by Dā'ūd b. Yehuda to the Judge Eliyyahu expressing astonishment that the Nagid (i.e., Avraham Maimonides) had not sent a letter of condolence at the death of a local notable. Early 13th century. See Goitein Nachlass material. Possibly related to Bodl. MS heb. d 66/63, a letter of condolence by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu which he asks Dā'ūd b. Yehuda to pass on to the mourners.

Legal document about an agreement to write a copy of a codex of the eight Prophets.

Notes by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to al-Thiqa Hibat Allah-- see Goitein Nachlass material

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. "R. Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo spoke with asked Rab[benu?] ha-Meʿule, and he said to him, 'I heard that Abū l-Faraj al-Jab[īlī?] divorced his wife with a get.' Inquire about this for me." Abū l-Faraj al-Jabīlī (or al-Jubaylī?) appears in several other documents from the mid-12th century.

Letter fragment from Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi. Preserving only the last two lines, including his signature (wreathed in tiny letters).

Receipt in which Yehuda b. [...] certifies that he collected what was owed to him by the Shaykh [...].