Geniza Lab

Letter from Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl (possibly al-Makhmūrī). In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Avraham b. Nuṣayr; Abū l-Faḍl b. al-Dhahabī; Abū Isḥāq; Abū ʿImrān al-Segullat and Abū l-Faḍl b. al-Dhahabī. He wished to stay at home (or should have?) but someone made him go to the market. Mentions the price of the chebulic (myrobalan); mentions Alexandria and that 'the other ships are well.' (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

An official order/letter from the head of the Jewish community or a high-placed dignitary. The main document is in Judaeo-Arabic, and the message is repeated underneath in Hebrew. Dating: Perhaps 14th–16th century; this can likely be narrowed further. It is addressed to the members of money-related trades, including the moneychangers and qubbāḍ and ʿaddādīn. They are commanded to cooperate in all respects with the party of the amir Muṣṭafā b. Masīḥ, with regard to "whichever kinds he wants, small or great.... For we are among his servants (khuddām)." A stern warning against disobeying the order is repeated several times. The postscript in Hebrew elaborates on the message. "Be very careful and ensure that no one takes even a penny from them, neither Amīn nor anyone else... even if you repay it from the funds of the dīwān, therefore you must be careful." Each section is signed (by the same person), and there is a fairly vivid stamp in which the name Sulaymān is legible. ASE

Judaeo-Arabic instructions for calendrical calculations. ASE.

Recto: elegant Judaeo-Arabic rhymed prose on the theme of memento mori, interspersed with verses from Job in Hebrew (21:32: 'For he is borne to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb' and 34:15: 'All flesh shall perish together and man shall return unto dust'). Verso: abbreviated verses from the story of Avraham in Genesis. ASE.

Accounts of small transactions in foods and animals covering several days. ASE.

See T-S 12.39.

Letter from Shūʿā b. Yūsuf. In Arabic script. Short. Fragment (missing the left half of recto and the right half of verso). (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Copy of a court record from Aden. Dating: Summer 1131 CE. Concerning a controversy over Jewish communal leadership in Yemen. Goitein thought that this copy was made in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, but Friedman doubts this. It is not a direct continuation of T-S 20.37, but it concerns the same controversy. Namely, a Persian Nasi who was a cousin of the Exilarch in Baghdad had come to Aden, and the Yemeni public received him with respect and handed over to him the synagogue and religious affairs. He annulled the practice of mentioning the authority of the head of the Palestinian Yeshiva (at that time Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon, based in the Egyptian capital) in prayer and legal documents. The foreign merchants, such as Ḥalfon b. Netanel, opposed this. (Information from Goitein, The Yemenites, pp. 67–68 and Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.) VMR

Medical prescription. In Arabic script. Ingredients include: "Indian"; borage; pistachio kernels; sugar. Diet: boiled young chickens (farrūj maṣlūq).

Recto: draft, probably, of a letter in Arabic. The opening few lines convey the writer's dismay at how the recipient makes light of death and how he must return to God. Verso: a Judaeo-Arabic letter in very rudimentary handwriting addressed to "my mother (?) Sitt Ghazal." After the blessings, the writer says he/she received Sitt Ghazal's gift, but does not understand why Sitt Ghazal was angry and does not know what fault he/she needs to beg forgiveness for. Then, "I sent you the notebooks, so send me the notbeooks." Then, "what you said to me that day... the head of the Yeshivah..." Needs further examination. ASE.

Recto: excerpts of Arabic poetry, transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. The poem beginning in line 6 is credited to Qays b. al-Mulawwah (Majnun Layla) in some anthologies. Verso: extremely faded Hebrew in large letters. Needs further examination. ASE.

Hebrew poetic or liturgical text, probably.

Letter from Yaḥyā b. Meshullam to his brother-in-law. In Judaeo-Arabic. He has arrived safely; Rabbenu has treated him well; now he is just waiting for God to deliver him from Abū l-Ḥasan, and then he will come; "tell Abū l-Faraj and Abū l-Surūr to buy a half-dinar—or better a dinar—of wheat until I can come and repay him." Regards to various people. He offers to buy something for somebody with a dirham.

Letter from Natan b. Nahray (Alexandria) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat), ca. 1065. Mentions a silk cloak ordered by Nahray and shoes that were sent to him but did not arrive. Natan b. Nahray asks Nahray to send him some wine. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 426 and from Goitein notes linked below.)

A short, but complete note to Nahray from one of his brothers-in-law, ca. 1045-1096.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic probably from Ibrahim to Hayya ha-Kohen the teacher in Palermo (i.e. same writer and addressee as T-S 8J16.25). Nothing of substance is preserved, only the end of the introductory praises and the very beginning of the content. ASE.

Appears entirely literary - discussing various Shabbat and Havdalah-related blessings - but there are also scattered markings that may be an older stratum of writing. Needs further examination.

The upper part of a short Judaeo-Arabic letter in the handwriting of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. Written shortly before Hannukah. Moshe asks the recipient, probably a family member, to send him lamps for the holiday because he has none. He also asks to know if the kerchief pleased them, and they should hurry up and buy... It cuts off here. ASE.

Recto: The lower part of a letter mostly in Arabic (concluding blessings in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic) from a father to a son. He asks for a nice kerchief for a man in the family for the holiday. He says he is depending on him. He instructs him to look after his siblings at all times so that they don't have to depend on anyone else. Verso: accounts in Arabic. ASE.

Pen trials, probably. Mentions "these books arrived" and names such as Naṣr b. Shelomo b. Yosef ha-Kohen Av Bet Din and Elʿazar b. Shelomo ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver. (Information from Goitein's index card.)