Geniza Lab

Hebrew poetry or liturgical text.

Poem for a groom.

Two poems.

Two poems, celebrating a circumcision.

End of two poems, praising and praying to the Lord; poem for a fiancee.

Poem praising the Lord, by Shelomo b. Yehuda nin Berekhya.

A lament.

Fragments from a copy of a letter. The writer is a person from Pumbedita (which belongs to a family of several Gaons) to a person in Spain, might be Hisdai b. Shafrut. The copy from the 11th century. Original letter from March/April 953. The letter contains important details about the connections with Spain, as well as about main figures in the Iraqi yeshiva. Mentions the head of the Gola – Shlomo b. Yisha’ayahu. (Gil, Kingdom, vol. 2, Doc. #13) VMR

Copy of a letter from Shemuel Gaon b. Hofni to the community in Fez. The beginning of the 11th century, handwriting of Sahlan b. Avraham. Mentions tragic events that took place in Fez, including killing of community members and destroying of the synagogue. The writer sends his deep condolences. The letter was probably sent from Baghdad through Fustat and Sahlan copied parts of it. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #51) VMR

Letter from Nathan b. Abraham to one of his followers, October-November 1042. (FGP)

See PGP 19591

Calendar, beg. מחזר ר̇ס̇א̇, continued on Bodl. MS heb. f 56/4–5. There is also the text of Exodus xx. 12-26 in shorthand writing. (Information from Bodleian catalog.)

Literary.

Colophon. Scribe: Moshe b. Yaʿaqov al-Mard[īnī?]. Location: Tel Yaʿqūb, "under the rule of Yūsuf b. Khalaf Agha in the Vilayet of Mārdīn," aka Tilyaqup, corresponding to present-day Tepealtı. Dated: Adar 5176 AM, which would typically be 1416 CE, but in this case is probably 1417 CE (by the 'Adam reckoning' or 'molad adam' which is equal to 'molad tohu' + 1, the idea being that year 1 begins not with creation ('molad tohu') but with Adam already created. On this see Gordin, "How to Avoid Some Pitfalls While Interpreting Dates in Hebrew Manuscripts," pp. 176 and 184). ASE

Fragment of a will in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (dated to between 1127 and 1139) in which a man on his deathbed, after having distributed his possessions, orders the sale of his riding beast and his wasif (servant) in order to pay the burial expenses. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 132; III, p. 432)

Genealogical list of Shemuel b. Hananiah's family.

The physician Menahem writes to his colleague, the Nagid Avraham Maimonides, about happenings when he traveled to the village Tanan (in the Qalyubiyya district near Cairo) to sea a patient. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 579)

Report on a compound dedicated to the Qodesh ca. after 1127. A fragment of a report, or memorandum, about the compound known as Dar Naqa that figures in several documents of the qodesh. The history of the dedication of one quarter of this compound to the qodesh is briefly reviewed. It appears that it had been dedicated in the 11th century, for the purpose of charity for both the Rabbanite and Karaite needy. During a period of persecution and confiscation that occurred in the year 1127, a sum of money was kept by an official of the qodesh; in order to prevent its confiscation, the money was registered as having already been spent on the purchase of the half of that compound. The purpose of the memorandum is to justify that fictitious record, and probably also to make clear what part of Dar Naqa actually belonged to the qodesh. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 246 #45)

Original use: Two fragments of a legal document in Arabic script. ~8 partial lines preserved. Tight line spacing, stylized dhālika ذلك in l. 2, stylized ṣaḥīḥ in l. 4. Mentions ḥaqq and al-nās ajmaʿīn. Involves two women (hātayn al-mutaqāriratayn), one of whom is called Sitt al-Fakhr. Might be a deed of sale (mentions "al-mushtarī" near the bottom) of real estate. Probably a join with Bodl. MS heb. f 56/19. Cut, rotated 90 degrees, and bound in association with Hebrew script text (16 lines) on verso.

Fragment of a report on measures taken to save pious foundations from the rapacity of the finance minister, known as 'the Monk'' (active 1127-1129). (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 425, 426, 588)