Geniza Lab

Three different literary fragments, though the top two may be from the same source.

Bill of divorce (get) fragment from Fustat, dated 26 Elul 1633 Seleucid which is 1322CE. Despite the document's damage, the husband's name is legible as Yeshuʿa b. Shelomo of Bilbeis. MCD.

Psalms.

Recto: Hebrew letter of appeal from the old, poor man Yosef b. Elazar ha-Kohen to Avraham ha-Sar b. Elazar. The body of the letter occupies the middle third of the page sandwiched between fulsome blessings and learned biblical quotations and lessons about the importance of charity. Verso: very neat calendrical tables with molad calculations for the years 1122/3, 1125/6, and 1129/30 CE.

Testimony dated the 8th of Av, 1465 CE (1776 Seleucid), regarding Mansur b. Ibrahim ("known as the leprous (al-Abras)"?) and another party who had a terrible quarrel regarding the reading of Rahamim on the night of the upcoming Yom Kippur. All the numerous undersigned testify that Mansur has renounced his right to read them: Ovadyah b. Shemuel [...] known as Tajir; Aharon b. Moshe known as 'Ammani; Se'adyah b. Sedaqah Ghazzawi; Ovadyah b. Yehudah known as Amshati; Yeshu'ah b. [...] known as Sayrafi; Sedaq[ah?] b. Binyamin; Yeshu'ah b. Yehudah knonw as Fuhayd (?); and Yeshu'ah b. Moshe.

Index of biblical quotations starting with ve-Lo.

Large fragment in Samaritan script. Torah, probably.

Geomancy with Arabic script and western Arabic numerals

Get (bill of divorce) dated Shevat 1050 CE (4810) from Damsis. Menahem b. Yefet repudiates Rida bt. Avraham. The document was written and signed by David b. Moshe, and also signed by Shemuel b. Avraham. Information from Goitein's note card.

Get (bill of divorce) dated the 11th of Heshvan 1097 CE (1409 Seleucid) from Fustat. Tahor ha-Kohen b. Yeshu'ah repudiates Banat bt. Natan. Signed by Avraham b. Natan Av [ha-Yeshivah?] and [Avraham?] b. Ḥalfon. Information from Goitein's note card.

Get (bill of divorce) dated the 24th of Tamuz 1128 CE (1439 Seleucid) from Fustat. She'erit b. Ḥalfon repudiates Turfa bt. Avraham. Written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, also signed by Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver. Information from Goitein's note card. [The illness of one Turfa bt. Avraham is described in detail in T-S 10J11.22, but this may or may not be the same person.]

Get (bill of divorce) dated the 16th of Tamuz 1147 CE (1458 Seleucid) from al-Mahallah. Abu l-Fakhr ha-Kohen b. Ḥalfon repudiates Sami bt. Shelah. Written and signed by Zakkay (?) b. Moshe, also signed by 'Amram b. Ya'aqov. Information from Goitein's note card.

Recto: Get (bill of divorce) dated the 20th of Av 1162 CE (1473 Seleucid) from Fustat. Thabit b. Abu l-Faraj repudiates Sitt al-Nas bt. Abu l-Husayn. Per Goitein, the document was written as well as signed by Mevorakh b. Natan ha-Ḥaver (whose signature is surrounded by minute letters, abbreviating a verse?). Also signed by Ya'aqov ha-Kohen b. Yosef. Verso: attestation that the get was delivered. Information in part from Goitein's note card.

Get (bill of divorce) dated the 9th of Heshvan 1163 CE (1475 Seleucid) from Fustat. Mansur b. Sa'd known as Ibn 'Ummayr repudiates Nasab bt. [Farah]. Written and signed by Mevorakh b. Natan ha-Ḥaver, also signed by Shelomo ha-Levi b. Shemuel. Information from Goitein's note card. This get was evidently never delivered, and they did not actually divorce until the following year: see 5524.7.

Recto: Get (bill of divorce) dated the 9th of Shevat 1164 CE (1475 Seleucid) from Fustat. Mansur b. Abu Sa'd al-Sayrafi known as Ibn 'Ummayr repudiates Nasab bt. Farah. Written and signed by mevorakh b. Natan ha-Ḥaver, also signed by Shemaryah b. Avraham. Verso: attestation that the get was delivered the same day. Information from Goitein's note card.

Get (bill of divorce). Location: Fustat. Dated: 26 Av 1484 Seleucid, which is 1173 CE. Abū Saʿd b. Abū ʿAlī repudiates [Sitt al-]Jamīʿ bt. Yūsuf al-Ṣabbāgh. Signed by Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi and Mevorakh b. Natan ha-Ḥaver. (Information from Goitein's note card.)

A very large magical fragment with copious Coptic text and scattered phrases in (poor) Greek. Thanks to Professor Maria Mavroudi for identifying the languages, and to the Coptic Magical Papyri project for a detailed description and partial translation of this fragment, available at http://www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/2019/04/05/looking-at-the-coptic-magical-papyri-iii-boundary-crossing-texts/. It is a formulary-cum-amulet to protect the pregnant woman Soura daughter of Pelca and her children. ASE.

Calligraphic letter from Sadoq Ha-Kohen b. Eliyyahu, Jerusalem, to his brother (probably Evyatar) in Fustat, June 1056 [13th of Tamuz, year 987 since the destruction of the temple]. Opens with a Hebrew poem. Sadoq's signature is surrounded by small Hebrew letters. There is a tiny note in the lower right corner apologizing for the bad (or: Arabic?) handwriting of the (now lost) address, which was necessary for the safe arrival of the letter. Information in part from Goitein's note card attached to PGPID 6192.

Formulary for a Karaite ketubba. See Mann, Texts and Studies, 174–76. Information from Goitein's note card.

Recto: Circular letter in the name of Moses Maimonides. The recto preserves only an eloquent introduction. Verso gives the name of Moses Maimonides and preserves the address to the notables of Damirah, Jujar, Samanoud, Damsis, and Sumbat. Also on verso is a Judaeo-Arabic note at 180 degrees about the story of Ya'aqov and Leah. (Information in part from Goitein's note card.) BL OR 5533.1, T-S 12.238, and T-S 16.9 are all versions of the same letter.