Geniza Lab

Letter fragment from Alexandria reporting that a woman stood security for her husband. The phrase 'tabri'at ketubba' appears. There are repeated references to "this great catastrophe" and various legal proceedings. (Information from Goitein's index cards) Description from PGPID 6547: See join for description. This portion of the letter awaits transcription.

Letter fragment. Addressed to a certain Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm. May belong together with the preceding fragments.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. In fact there may be two documents here, written at 180 degrees to each other. (מע סכרה אלכביזה ואלדי ישהד אליה אבו אל...)

Accounts in Arabic script. Repeatedly mentions shahr al-aʿyād (presumably Tishrei) and al-ʿanṣara (Shavuʿot). Mentions Abū ʿAlī b. Isḥāq. Needs further examination.

Hebrew poetry. Including some alliterative tongue twisters.

Genealogical list of Shemuel b. Ḥananya's family.

Bill of divorce (get). Location: Fustat. Dated: Monday 5 Tamuz 1369 Seleucid, which is 1058 CE. Husband: Khalaf b. Shelomo. Wife: Nasāba bt. ʿAmmār. Scribed and signed by Aharon ha-Mumḥe b. Efrayim. Also signed by Ṭoviyya b. Hillel.

Colophon. Scribe: Natan ha-Kohen b. Yeshuʿa b. Yaʿaqov b. Yeshuʿa b. Yosef b. Peraḥya b. Shefaṭya. "In the colophons of books it is not uncommon to find the copyist mentioning his forefathers up to the seventh or eighth generation." (Goitein, Med. Soc., vi, 11 n.57)

Legal document. Ending only. The substance of the matter is unclear. There is a Shemuel and a Mufaḍḍal and a curse. Possibly a reconciliation agreement. Signed: Yefet b. Araḥ and Elʿazar b. Nissim. The qiyyum/validation is signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Seʿadya and Binyamin b. Yefet.

Legal document. Perhaps a partnership agreement (an najlis jamīʿan fī dukkān... wa-yataṣarraf fī l-dukkān bi-maḥḍar...). Names mentioned are Natan and Ṣadaqa ha-Zaqen ha-Ḥasid [b.?] Daniel ha-Levi.

Bill of divorce (get). Location: Fustat. Date missing. Husband: [...] b. Ṣadaqa. Wife: Nasāba bt. [...].

Bill of divorce (get). Location: Fustat. Dated: Probably Av 1[48]5 Seleucid, which is 1174 CE, based on the presence of signatures of both Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (active 1165–1203) and Mevorakh. b. Natan (active 1150–81) Husband: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Salāma. Wife: Ḥusn bt. Abū l-Yumn. Signed: Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen b. Yosef; Shemuel ha-Levi b. Seʿadya. The attestation on verso that the wife received the get is signed by Shemuel ha-Levi b. Seʿadya and Mevorakh b. Natan.

Letter in Arabic script. Opens with an ornate "al-izza lillāhi taʿālā." Addressed to al-amīr al-rayyis Abū l-Faḍāʾil. The letter gives instructions concerning business matters and possibly the dishonesty of a messenger. Reused on recto for piyyut.

Informal note addressed to 'the brother' R. Zekharya. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Is this Shelomo b. Eliyyahu writing to Abū Zikrī?) He asks him not to detain the old woman from coming, but rather to assist her in coming quickly, because the writer's wife ("al-ṣughayyira") is sick and they are perishing of isolation and "there is no one to fill a jug of water for us." ASE

"In Geniza times the Kaddish was a solemn doxology, including a prayer for the living, and, in particular, the spiritual leaders of the community" (Goitein, Med. Soc., viii, C, 2, n. 154). Cf. DK 457. Bibliography: Fleischer, Kovetz al yad 13 (1995-96), p. 94-95.