Geniza Lab

Literary. Psalms and Job.

Accounts in Ladino and Judaeo-Arabic that express figures in western Arabic numerals. Dated 19 Kislev [54]97 or less likely 55[97]– so 1736CE or 1836CE. Some of the entries begin with the Judeo-Arabic word "wuṣūl / ווצול" within the phrase "wuṣūl de" which could indicate incoming payments for example "wuṣūl de Abd Raḥman" (l. 18r). The entry furthest down along the lower border of the fragment also mentions Yosef Haggai ("יוספ חגאי"). MCD.

Recto: Recipes in Judaeo-Arabic. Purpose unclear. The second recipes involves red hairs, a cloth, and lamp oil (zayt ḥār). Verso: Hebrew poem.

Letter in Judaeo-Persian. Needs examination

Calendar for maḥzors 258 (starting 1122 CE) through maḥzor 261 (ending 1199 CE). Will be a useful resource for dating the handful of Geniza documents that contain only the maḥzor and the year within the maḥzor. (T-S 12.30 is another document that provides some conversions, and the conversion can also be calculated).

Legal document of ḥaliṣa (release from levirate marriage). In Aramaic. There is also one line in Arabic script on verso. Location: Fustat. Dated: 137[.] Seleucid, which is 1058–68 CE. The woman is Sitt [...] bt. Yosef, the widow of Barakāt (her name appears three lines from the bottom).

Marriage contract. Dated: Ḥeshvan 5570 AM, which is 1809 CE. Elegantly decorated capitals, calligraphic script. Groom: Yosef b. Yehuda b. Shemuel. Bride: [...] bt. Yaʿaqov b. David ארביט. Currency: gurush. Merits further examination.

Legal document. Possibly dated 1608 Seleucid = 1296/97 CE, but this needs to be checked. Names Ḥayyim b. Ḥananel, Muhadhdhab al-Ṣayrafī, and a sum of 40 dinars. Signed by Hillel b. Yehuda.

Note to Moses Gaster, in Hebrew, concerning a delay in the delivery of a crate.

Legal document. Loan terms. Dated: September 1239. Location: Bilbays. Between Amram b. Ḥalfon and Avraham b. Efrayim. Initially described as commenda (qirāḍ) but re-negotiated into a loan with a fixed rate of interest at 20 dirhams on the 36 dinars of capital. Emerged both from Jewish and Islamic courts. The renegotiation is because of Abraham's failure as the active partner in the qirāḍ: under pressure from Amram in the Islamic courts, he deeds his house to Amram for the value of 36 dinars. This sale is confirmed in the Jewish courts with a codicil that Avraham can redeem the house by repaying the loan (which has an initial term of four years) within 12 years. Avraham had given Amram promissory notes prior to this sale, produced in Jewish and Islamic courts. Following the debt restructuring, a ban placed on Avraham (likely in some earlier document) by the judge Peraḥya is lifted. In this case, the ban was brought down on anyone who had information concerning the partnership yet had not come forward to testify. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 5-7)

List in Judaeo-Arabic, neat and well-preserved, with quantities of food items and materia medica on the recto. There are three columns from right to left which list the materials, units of measurement, and perhaps Coptic-numerical quantities. Among the goods listed are two types of soap ( "בלדי" and "שאמי" ), pepper, and plums. A diverse array of units of measurement are in use such as the raṭl and the wayba, which Goitein notes "comprised about 15 liters (approximately 4 gallons) and the irdabb consisted of 6 waybas." (Goitein, Mediterranean Society I, 361). These details help estimate the dating of this document as 14th-16th-century. The verso features a different hand, however, that is listing similar goods such as pepper, almond, and wax albeit without the organized column structure of units and numerical quantities. MCD.

Legal fragment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Abū Naṣr Mevorakh b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Zaqen was going to make a declaration, but then the document was abandoned.

Copy of the first verse of Genesis, probably by a child. Interesting because the original binding appears to be preserved.

Letter from ʿEli b. David ha-Kohen to Abū l-Qawām Thābit. In Judaeo-Arabic. Only the formulaic opening and the address are preserved.

Cryptic document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Headed ב, then "in which your slave Abū l-[...] asked Sayyidnā (=you) . . . the letter from al-Muʿaẓẓam to al-Qāḍī al-Makīn," then goes into the details of a legal case involving Alexandria and ma'ūna (provisions?). Dating: Maybe late 12th or early 13th century based on appearance. Needs further examination.

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 24 Shevat 4846 AM, which is 1086 CE. Mentions a Peraḥya.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating possibly to the 16-19th centuries. The recto and verso account for payments "אל ווצל" across two sequential days of the same week where the days are clearly listed in each as Friday (recto) and Saturday (verso). The entries below each heading include names and perhaps itemized entries expressed in alphanumerical figures. MCD.

Literary text, in Hebrew

Jottings in Hebrew script. Maybe accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. The word thawb appears.

List of accounts in Judaeo-Arabic where the object "עדה" is being expressed in various quantities of the unit of weight "ratl", here expressed in plural form as "ארטל". In each line of the list a different name is mentioned and their related quantities of "עדה" vary in alphanumerical figures that appear below each appearance of the word. The verso has been used for alphanumerical calculations. MCD.