Geniza Lab

Legal document in Arabic script. Only the bottom is preserved. On verso there is a prayer in Hebrew.

The first six leaves of a copy of the Ghurar al-Balāgha of Hilāl al-Ṣābi' — a book of formularies for letter-writing — copied in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Edited by Gottheil and discussed by Cohen in "Correspondence and Social Control in the Jewish Communities of the Islamic World," Jewish History 1, no. 2 (1986): 39-48.

Elegy on the death of the wife [actually: the mother] of the Nagid Mevorakh by Sedaqa b. Yehuda in which condolences to the Nagid and his two sons are offered.

Miscellany containing formularies for excommunication (invoking the Shem ha-Meforash) on 74/70v, flowery rhymes for letter openings, etc. On 74/72r a copy of letter of interest to scholars of pilgirmage routes: a letter of recommendation for a pilgrim who came to Salonica from "Russia" (רוסיאה) and does not know neither Hebrew nor Arabic or Greek, but only "the language of Canaan", the local language of his homeland. On 74/71r a formula to be written on the last page of a daftar of the Torah when the copying is finished.

Tafsīr on Leviticus in Judaeo-Arabic in a beautiful hand. Of documentary value because of the ownership notes (on verso of Bodl. MS heb. e 74/81): Avraham b. Yeshaʿya ha-Ḥaver and Shemuel ha-Levi b. Seʿadya (ZL) (a judge who served in Maimonides' court).

Poem by Yosef Abitur, sent to the community of Andalusia from the place of his exile.

Document in Arabic script. Possibly the draft of an iqrār or other legal deed. Written on (or reused for?) a page of magical instructions in Judaeo-Arabic.

Legal document. Bottom part only. Underneath, at 180 degrees, there is a jotting of the beginning of a legal document that includes the date: 10 Nisan 1549 Seleucid, which is 1238 CE. On verso there is a Hebrew elegy for 'my son' Yosef ha-Kohen and his three brothers.

List of expenses on food and crockery made on a journey. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Marriage authorization. Part A: An authorization from the legal court that there is no legal hindrance to the marriage, from 1159. The authorization is written in approximately the same style as other such documents. This document, like others of its type, shows that matters of marriage were monitored by the community and that the court kept a systematic record of such matters. Part B: in the bottom of the page, written up-side down a short registration of marriage.

Legal document, unfinished, written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (1100-1138). Jayyida who possessed two thirds of a house was in need of fifty dinars. She received the fifty dinars from David the dyer in exchange for her house for a period of two years during which she was to pay him a total 'rent' of 16 dinars, 8 per year. In other words this document records a loan with a usurious yearly interest of 16 percent. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 329, 500)

List, incomplete and partly defective, of about 33 contributions in gold. Late 11th or early 12th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 476-477, App. C 15)

List, incomplete and partly defective, of about 33 contributions in gold. Late 11th or early 12th century (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 476-477, App. C 15)

Collection made at a circumcision feast. The ba'al ha-mila, or father of the boy, gave 1 (presumably: dirham), a few others did the same, most of the rest contented themselves with 1/2 or even 1/4. Only the lower part of the list, with about thirty-four contributors, is preserved. Some names are overlined (having paid their pledges?) Early twelfth century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 498, App. C 80)

List of names and numbers. In Judaeo-Arabic.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Ibn al-Nagid is mentioned. There is one line in Arabic script at the bottom. From line 6 onward, written in the hand of Nahray b. Nissim. (Information from Goitein's notes.)

Jayyida, wife of a scholarly grape-presser, gives two-thirds of a house in the Hudayji street, which was her share, as a collateral against a loan of 50 dinars granted by a dyer. She remained in the house promising to pay 16 dinars as rent for two years. The remaining third was or became communal property. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, 280)

Letter from an unidentified man, in Fustat, to his brother al-Musāfir al-Kattānī ('the traveling flax-merchant'), in Aṭfīḥ. The writer urges the addressee to come back soon. He reports that the ṣāḥib al-ʿasl (owner of the honey) arrived but the writer managed to get rid of him by making a vow and saying something about his brother. Regards from Ṣadaq b. al-Ṭāqī, Abū Naṣr, Faḍā'il, and Ḥasūn.

A bashful pauper informs the judge Rabbi Eliyyahu b. Zechariah who was in charge of public charity, that he had not eaten anything for two days and that he dared to address the judge only because he was in a state of extreme need. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 466; X, p.88)

Informal note (with a legal purpose) in the hand of Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef Kohen addressed to a judge called 'Rabbenu ha-Rav.' In Judaeo-Arabic. Abū Zikrī reports that as he was passing by the hospital (māristān) he saw a young man (al-ṣabiyy) delivering a court summons in the hand of al-Nezer (=Natan b. Shemuel) to his legal rival Abū Saʿīd b. Qaṭṭūs. Abū Saʿīd refused to obey unless an official court messenger (rasūl) delivered the summons. Abū Zikrī butted in and told Abū Saʿid to comply, and Abū Saʿīd said he would do so. But shortly afterward, the young man caught up with Abū Zikrī and told him that Abū Saʿid didn't comply. On verso there are a few words in Arabic script (and possibly more than a few words—they are currently covered by a sheet of paper). (Information from Goitein's notes and from Oded Zinger's forthcoming edition.)