Geniza Lab

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late 11th century. Wuḥūd bt. Ḥalfon declares that a coex of the Torah along with other copper vessels and a pair of woollen curtains, which were deposited in the Qaysariyya with a man known as "the son-in-law of the man with the large teeth (Abū l-Asnān)" belonged to her daughter Sitt al-Ahl bt. Yiṣḥaq. Signed: Avraham b. Netanel; ʿEli ha-Kohen b. [...]. (Information from Goitein's note card.)

On recto (with few lines continued on verso) Halakhic discussion or responsa regarding the law of oaths, probably written by Abraham b. Nathan (beginning of 12th century Cairo). On verso, in a different hand, Judaeo-Arabic commentary to Genesis 1. AA

Partnership deed regarding a money exchange store. Around 1085. Yahya b. Eli b. Yosef Kohen Fasi and Sason b. Natan agree to have a partnership. Yahya would be the main partner with investing 90% of the money, and Sason would invest the rest but would do most of the work. The goal for their investment is to increase money for trading partnerships. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #811) VMR

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The sender is in Fustat, writing with four days remaining in the month of Tamuz. Dating: Likely 12th or early 13th century. The first 13 lines are formulaic greetings. He then informs the addressee that Abū l-Faraj Hibatallāh has started to study Mishna and Talmud with him. He effusively praises Abū l-Faraj's intelligence, diligence, and desire for knowledge ("which has filled my heart with joy"). The sender wants the addressee to help this young man "gain learning in a state of purity." He cites a talmudic saying, but the letter is damaged here. When the text resumes, he is discussing the rabbis' commentary on Jeremiah 29:6 (וְאֶת בְּנוֹתֵיכֶם תְּנוּ לַאֲנָשִׁים) and urging the addressee to fulfill this commandment—so maybe this is a letter on behalf of Abu l-Faraj seeking the addressee's daughter's hand in marriage. He then mentions the love between himself and Ibn al-Kuttābī. He concludes with greetings, including from his son Abū Saʿd. The lack of address combined with the fact that this was written in Fustat suggests that it was never sent. AA. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 13th century or later. The paper is well-preserved, but almost all of the text is extremely faded; might be legible with multispectral imaging. The margin of recto mentions the holidays of Tishrei, the sender's embarrassment among certain people (wa-ṣirtu nastaḥiyy min banī. . . ), several learned quotations, and some business matters. The address is partially written in Arabic script; the sender's name may be [...] b. Ḥassūn. AA. ASE.

Letter from the judge Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen (dated documents 1125-50), in Fustat, to his cousin Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli, in a provincial town. In Judaeo-Arabic. He opens with a description of the illness of his wife (Ṭoviyya's sister). She is still very sick. She can lie down and sit up by herself, and she can walk 10 steps with great effort if she is assisted. They are sparing no efforts and giving her all the medicines that are prescribed her. "As for other matters": Natan asks Ṭoviyya to assist a man from a good family from ʿAkkā who had lived in the Egyptian countryside but was 'deported' to Fustat. Being without subsistence there, he tried again to go out to the Rīf, and he asked Natan to write to Ṭoviyya on his behalf. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) ASE

Recto: the end of a calligraphically-written letter with many signatories, including Sahl b. Mevasser and ʿAmram b. Shabbat. Possibly a letter of introduction, but only the closing blessings are preserved. Verso: Hebrew text, very badly worn and faded. There are many biblical allusions and references to Egypt. Possibly a sermon. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a scribe. In Judaeo-Arabic. He reports that after much travail he has finally completed a Torah codex (muṣḥaf) "in the name of the Nagid." This muṣḥaf has no peer, except for the one which he had written for the addressee himself. He had been working on it for many nights. Abū l-Munajjā will deliver it together with letters, and the addressee is asked to give it personally to the Nagid. (Information from Goitein's note card.)

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria, to Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm (a.k.a. ʿIwāḍ) b. Ḥananel, Fustat. Abū l-Khayr became ill following ʿIwāḍ's departure, and his mother suffered greatly on his account. He then improved. Nahray himself developed an abscess on his left hip. He too recovered, but the remnants of the illness are still with him. He was not able to go about his work until the present moment. The rest of the letter deals with business matters. ASE.

Letter from Salāma b. Nissim b. Isḥāq al-Barqi, from Busir, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, around 1053. The writer is in Busir for the business of Nahray and the Tahirti family, especially Barhun b. Musa ha-Tahirti and Marduk b. Musa. He needs to buy flax in the villages, as well as wheat. They had instructed him how and what to buy. He complains about the quality of the dinars that they gave him. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #640) VMR

Letter from Yosef b. Musa al-Tahirti, probably from Mahdiyya, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1057. Deals with selling goods and their prices, especially pepper and silk. Also mentions the condition of Yisrael b.Natan, Nahray’s cousin. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #365) VMR

Bible commentary

On recto a poem. On verso a letter in another hand. Barely legible. AA

On recto a poem. On verso a letter in another hand. Barely legible

Question to Muslim jurisconsults. In Arabic script. Concerning a case of inheritance: ما يقولوا سادتي الشيوخ اطال الله . . . . وتاييدهم في رجل مات . . . .The last two lines contain the names of two apparently deceased people: Isḥāq [...] and Abū ʿAlī b. Abū l-Surrī the teacher ("raḍiya l-lāhu ʿanhumā"). On verso there is a Hebrew dirge. Needs further examination.

Legal document, in which Sitt al-Rūm, a former slave who had been freed by her master Abū ʿ[...] before his death, appears in person before the rabbinical court of Alexandria to appoint an attorney to collect a loan. Mentions Salmān and Haffāẓ b. Ibrāhīm the cook, and signed by witnesses including Shelomo b. Yaʿaqov, Aharon b. Ṣedaqa, ʿAmmār b. Yeshuʿa and Sahl b. Mevasser. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Nisan 4830 AM, which is 1070 CE. (Information from CUDL.) NB: The transcription below is only partial; full document awaiting transcription.

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda very early in his public career, when he was Av Bet Din, to a notable in Fustat, ca. 1025. He signs: Shelomo Av ha-Yeshiva birabbi Yehuda, and surrounds his name with tiny letters spelling out ‘And I am a worm and not a man’ (Psalms 22:7). The letter was carried by his son Avraham (לידו מיד חמוד), and he is seeking help for the community of Jerusalem, many of whom have died in a plague (נאספו בדבר אשר נפל בעיר). (Information from CUDL)

Letter to Araḥ b. Natan ha-Sar and the Seventh in the Congregation of Righteousness (השביעי בחבורת הצדק) (ca. beginning of the 12th century) thanking him for his letter. Greetings are sent to Efrayim and his brother Netanel, and to Berakhot. Most of the letter is in Hebrew (with one phrase in Aramaic), and the continuation in the right-hand margin is in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's note card.

Two fragments from a legal document. Location: Fustat. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi and under the reshut of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon, yielding a date range of 1127–38 CE. Somebody receives a formal warning (התראה). The case involves Abū l-Faḍāʾil Ṣedaqa. AA

Fragment from a ketubbah of Joseph b. Shmuel b. Asad (groom), described as 'the esteemed notable', and the divorcee of Eleazar, called Manṣūr, known as Saʿāda (bride). Dated Thursday [...] Adar 52[...] (= 15th century CE) in Alexandria (Nā Amon), during the reign of Joseph ha-Nagid. AA Old shelfmarks: T-S 8.249 and T-S 8.88