Geniza Lab

Ketubba (marriage contract), formulary, found inside of a Palestinian prayerbook. The booklet also contains formularies for a bill of divorce and the husband's instructions to the scribe and witnesses for issuing that deed. For the location, the bill of divorce gives "City X, adjacent to Ẓoʿan Miẓrayim (=Fustat), which is situated on the river Nile." There is also a poem dedicated to "our lord Evyatar (b. Eliyyahu)," who was the Gaon during the last two decades of the elevent century. There are eleven additional leaves from the same booklet in MS. Dropsie 211. Information from Mordechai Akiva Friedman.

Piyyutim, as well as divorce and marriage contract formulae from a Palestinian siddur with Judaeo-Arabic instructions (probably not the siddur of R. Nathan).The marriage formulae follow the Palestinian tradition but the divorce formulae follow the Babylonian tradition, and the place given is Ṣoʿan Miṣrayim (Fusṭāṭ). One piyyuṭ, a rahiṭ, is dedicated to ‘our lord Evyatar’ (Evyatar b. Elijah Gaʾon, died prior to 1112 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Legal document or letter, fragment, probably written by Hillel b. ʿEli. (Information from CUDL)

Various Geonic responsa. (Information from CUDL)

Maimonides’ responsa to the sages of Lunel. Headings שאלה and תשובה. (Information from CUDL)

Book list and a quotation from a halakhic source or a responsum. Probably in the hand of Joseph Rosh ha-Seder (late 12th and early 13th century). (Information from CUDL)

Medical recipe. (Information from CUDL)

Responsum in a literary style concerning a dispute between husband and wife, written in the hand of Yeḥiʾel b. Elyaqim (active 1213-1233 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. Quittance or bill of release (barāʾa) from Almeria, in al-Andalus, confirmed in Egypt. Individuals mentioned include […] b. al-Naḡara, Ḥalfon ha-Levi, Yiṣḥaq b. Aharon, Yosef ha-Levi b. Ḥarith, Yiṣḥaq b. ʿOvadya b. Yiṣḥaq, and Yiṣḥaq b. Yaʿaqov. The document is probably connected with Ḥalfon b. Nathaniel ha-Levi. (Information from CUDL.) Join by Mordechai Akiva Friedman.

Poems in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew attributed to Shalom Shabazi (poet of 17th-century Yemen).

Document that is probably in stylized Latin script, but difficult to tell. Needs examination.

Fragment with an elaborate illustration, perhaps for the frontispiece of a book. Above it there is a line in Aramaic from the beginning of a piyyut: ברשותא דמרי עלמא הוא אלהא רבא וגברא. On verso there are doodles and pen trials in Hebrew ("ערוך מקור") and in Spanish ("hun homen a poder en mançebos" = "a man has power over boys"). There is also the name Rodrigues Perez. (Information in part from Avi Kallenbach, Amir Ashur, Ramon Sarobe, and Daniel Duran Duelt.) ASE

Letter in both Ladino and Spanish.

Flyleaf of a codex containing the Rosh to Gittin, labeled in a 19th century hand: "Purchased from Rabbi [Nachman Natan] Coronel May 15 1848. Price £5. On the Treatise Gittin a Talmudic Tract. by Asher Bar Jechiel." There is some additional writing and jotting. On verso are the remnants of glue.

From a ledger containing several different types of writing: (1) accounts and fragments of letters in Hebrew script, at least partially in Ladino; (2) underlying printed text in Hebrew; (3) sections in Latin script, some of which are signed by a certain Johan.

Late fragment containing several doodles (practice signatures?) and three lines of writing in Hebrew script, perhaps in Ladino and Hebrew, but it is difficult to make sense of the words.

Letter in a Romance language, probably Spanish.

Fragment in Latin script. Needs examination.

Dense jottings in both Hebrew and Arabic script, including phrases from letters.

Fragment in Latin script. Needs examination.