Geniza Lab

Letter of an unknown welfare official reporting to a superior. He alludes to the plight of an orphan girl (1-6). He asks the recipient to investigate the matter of the physician Makārim who has left his wife an agunah; she has been beseeching the writer to write on her behalf (6-13). The rest of the letter has to do with granular details of houses, portions of houses, rents, payments, and interest. Names mentioned include Ibn Zikri, Ibn Rabi', Abu Sharif, R. Shabbetay, and the Kohen from Rhodes. A denomination of currency (?) called אפרנתי is mentioned twice. ASE.

Long letter in Hebrew, probably first half of the 11th century. Very damaged. Mentions the Mount of Olives and "this woman." The name Shemarya b. Moshe (?) appears at the end. Addressed in Arabic script to Abu Kathir Efrayim (possibly Efrayim b. Shemaryah).

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions al-Shaykh al-ʿAfīf Manṣūr and a qumāsh and various commodities.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, with interspersed Arabic script (header, footer, and sliding blessings). Eloquent and formal style, possibly copied from or for a literary source. Seems to mostly be expressing love for the a third person and sadness at his failure to fully reciprocate. Mentions Abū Isḥāq the cantor and Abū Kathīr. "When his late mother died, may her Creator have mercy upon her, I went to his house and consoled him and met his need as far as I was able to with speech. He showed me signs of love, and my limbs bore witness to him with many times the same. They (=my limbs) prayed for him and my soul thanked him, without any imposition (? takalluf) imposed on him or imposed on me from money or honor.... rather, that love for him remained in my heart like.... until the day of Shavuʿot... the soul praised her Creator and prayed to Him from its blackness(?), and my love and affection for him became like the trees whose [...] more than one branch (or root?), and no matter how the wind blows... it does not budge from its place... and it continued like this until he showed me aversion (jafā) from his soul... without any crime that I committed...." Join: Alan Elbaum. Needs further examination.

Legal document. Dated: 13[..] Seleucid, which is 1088–1188 CE. Statement that the claims about the immoral behavior of Ḥisāna bt. Asmāʾ, the wife of Hilāl the Alexandrian, are untrue. Signed by: Avraham b. Yefet Khalfa. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.)

Document in Arabic script. Possibly legal. There are many names.

Ibra' (release) in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe concerning the repairs and rent of a house. Mentions al-Shaykh Abu l-Muna. Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below.

Legal. Abū l-Murajjā the merchant b. Natan he-Ḥaver gives 30 dirhams per month to his daughter Fakhr from אבתרא המשוחררת. Dated Kislev 1154 (1466 Seleucid). Written by his brother Mevorakh. Information from Goitein's note card.

Story in Judaeo-Arabic, mentioning Ḥārūn b. Yaʿīsh and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Kohen.

Letter in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Addressed to a dignitary with two sons named Mevorakh b. Yehuda, and also mentions two judges. The first four lines of verso seem to be praises for the power and honor of the addressee. Then there are cryptic references to "whoever opposes" someone."

Fragment of a letter, contents difficult to decipher. Mentions Yehoshua b. Nun and Mordechai, quoting Esther 10:3. ASE.

List of names (male and female) with numbers, presumably a record of charity either given or received. At the top of verso it says "charity in Jerusalem."

Recto: Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic from Bū l-Majd to 'al-Raẓuy' asking him to send the jara'ir (?) belonging to the neighborhood (?) urgently. Verso: Arabic jottings (accounts?).

Document in Arabic script. Possibly a letter or petition. 4 lines are preserved. Dating: possibly Mamluk-era, based on handwriting and format. Needs examination.

Verso: Short note in Arabic script headed with a basmala. Difficult to read. Pen trials in the margins. On recto there is Judaeo-Arabic poetry ("anā al-fiḍḍa al-bayḍāʾ... anā al-kawkab... idhā lāḥa fī al-fajrī... wa-qult laylī ṭawwal qad ḥaṣal al-badrī").

Recto: Document in Arabic script recording the settling of a business account (wafāʾ), perhaps what al-Thiqa owed to Barakāt b. Salāma. Dated: 12 Muḥaram '47 AH, probably 447 AH, which would be 1055 CE. (There is also a Barakāt b. Salāma mentioned in Halper 468, an 11th-century document.) Mentions specific commodities (including al-kābulī = chebulic myrobalan) and many details about brokerage and agents' fees. Needs further examination. Verso: Accounts in Arabic script (different hand). Names (e.g. Abū Ṭāhir, Jawhar) listed alongside sums of money; also mentions 'simsār' or the trade agent/broker.

List of court cases in Judaeo-Arabic. One involves the payment of a capitation tax (jāliya), another involves a Jew who sued someone in Muslim courts. Information in part from FGP.

Recto: The end of a legal document dated Sunday, the 2nd of Tevet, 5323 (1562 CE), dealing with the obligations of a certain Daniel, signed by Eliyya b. David the ḥaver. Verso: The end of a different legal document signed Menaḥem ha-Kohen.

Fragment of a legal declaration drawn up in Fustat in the middle of Iyar, mentioning Avraham ha-Rav and Hibat Allāh.

Possibly a colophon? Describes the various chapters of a treatise on shekhitah, then says "it is completed with the help of God" and then there is the name Abu ... Ibn Hibat Allāh the son of our rabbi Yosef ha-Zaqen. On verso there is just one line that says Saadya b. [...].