Geniza Lab

Responsum by the court of the Babylonian Gaʾon Shemuel b. ʿEli. Dated: Ḥeshvan 1478 Seleucid, which is 1166 CE. Concerns inheritance issues between Yosef and Maʿālī and their wives on one side and an orphan on the other. Strongly worded. Copied in the hand of Yosef b. Yaʿaqov rosh ha-seder of Irbīl. (Information from CUDL, Goitein's index card and Amir Ashur.) VMR

Letter from Salim b. Harun to Avraham Maimonides concerning financial issues relating to the children of his late brother Farah b. Harun al-Janawi, who were under his care after the death of their mother. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:303-4, 494) EMS

Letter to Anatoli b. Yosef to remind him of a donation promised by his congregation for the repair of a synagogue. Sent by Menahem and dated Kislev 1212 A.D.

Letter from Yosef b. Menashshe, in Ashqelon, to Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Talmid, in Fustat. In Arabic script. Dating: 1085 CE. The writer describes the conditions in Ascalon against the background of the Turcoman/Seljuk invasions, and how he traveled from Ascalon to Jerusalem and visited his abandoned house to recover some books, but only found dafātir and maṣāḥif that had been destroyed by the damp. The girl, al-Jawziyya, whom he had wanted to marry in Ascalon, had become engaged to somebody else. There ensued a legal struggle which involved an official titled Sitr al-Dawla, apparently Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Ma'mūn Yaḥyā Ibn Kātib al-Baṭā'iḥī, who became the vizier in Egypt following al-Afḍal. At the time of the present letter, he was evidently the Fatimid governor in Ascalon. His son Jamāl al-Mullk (Mūsā) is also mentioned, who later became the general of the Fatimid army in Palestine and who lived in Ascalon. (Information from Aodeh) ASE

Account in Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Talmid. Concerning a debt of Abū l-Surūr (Faraḥ b. Ismāʿīl b. Faraḥ) Ibn al-Qābisī to Shelomo b. Yosef Av Beit Din (b. Shelomo ha-Kohen Ga'on). He will repay this debt in 11 payments of 2 dinars each, and an additional payment of 3 dinars, beginning on 1 Nisan = Dhū l-Ḥijja 477 AH, which is 29 March 1085 CE. Aodeh's reading differs slightly from that of Gil (״מורי ורבי״). (Information from Aodeh) ASE

Legal testimony. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tuesday, 24 Tammuz 1358 Seleucid, which is 1047 CE. Faraj b. Sulaymān known as Ibn al-Muqashshir was asked about the oath that he said that Avraham b. Bunyām the teacher had sworn regarding teaching. Faraj responded that he knew nothing about such an oath.

Book list. Books lent by the writer to Natan b. Yeshu'a, first half 11th century. (Data from Alloni, the Jewish Library, p. 279). AA

Letter 3 of 4 of Letters Miscellany, a collection of letters representing both sides of the calendar controversy. Letter 3 responds to a letter from the Palestinian Head of the Academy. It responds, point by point, to what ‘the Head of the Academy has written’. The Letter is clearly Babylonian, and written sometime in the year 1233 SE, i.e. 921/2 CE. Letter 3 identifies strongly with Babylonia, and draws so heavily on local Babylonian traditions, including testimonies from older members of the academies. The mildness of the tone of this letter casts doubt on a dating as late as July 922 CE, when the controversy had soured and the relationship between Babylonians and Palestinians had completely broken down. Letter 3 is famed for its account of a meeting that allegedly took place, many years before the controversy, between Palestinians and Babylonians, at which the Babylonians learnt the secret of the calendar calculation (fol. 5r:21-5v12). The Letter goes on to defend the Babylonians’ calendar decision of 921 CE (fol.5v:15 – 6r11) and their use of the Four Gates (fol.6r:11-13). It refutes ben Meir’s application of the rule of 641-642 in 921 CE, on the basis of the earlier version of the rule which our Letter suggests is more authentic (fol.6r:13 – 6v:3). However, it then refutes even this earlier version, on the basis of the Four Gates (fol.6v:3 – 6v:12). The author claims to have checked and found that in past years, for example in 913/4 CE, the rule of 641-642 was never used by the Palestinians (fol.6v:12-21).

Letter 2 of 4 of Letters Miscellany, a collection of letters representing both sides of the calendar controversy. Letter 2, of which only one folio is preserved, is a pro-Babylonian response to a Palestinian polemic on the calendar of 921/2 and on the Four Gates. The folio begins with the end of the end of the refutation of the Palestinians’ second argument. The Palestinians were arguing that the Four Gates are incomplete because they only account for four days of the week (the days on which the New Year is allowed to fall). Our letter responds that the Four Gates actually covers the full week because every period of time ends where the next one begins (fol.4r:1-5). The third argument concerns the rule of 641-642 parts. Our author misinterprets the rule as applying equally to Nisan and to Tishri, which enables him to refute it easily (fol.4r:5-14). Interjected here is a misplaced element of text that actually belongs to before the beginning of our folio. After the end of the misplaced text, the text resumes with the third argument (fol.4v:19-21).

Mann added further a fourth element, T-S 13K2 fol.6r (in my edition, LMisc ‘folio x’). This small fragment includes an excipit, a date, and a signature; the name of the signature is ‘Saadya son of Joseph’. Without much argument or justification, Mann claimed that this fragment belonged to the end of (my) Letter 1, i.e. to the end of the three texts of Bornstein. Part of Letters Miscellany.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Collection of Geonic responsa, in the same hand as T-S 16.99, T-S G2.29, T-S 12.169, and T-S 16.310. (Information from CUDL)

Petition from an Alexandrian coppersmith. Dating: Fatimid-era. Goitein's reading is that the petitioner had bought some merchandise from the dīwān, but had to return it, and now asks to be given those goods back and promises to pay an additional three dīnārs. (Information from Goitein's index card.) Alternatively, he may be describing how he wished to act piously (tazakkā) for the sake of the army (ilā al-ʿaskar) and bought some items from the dīwān, labored on restoring them, then returned them, but he was only recompensed their original value and has not yet received any recompense for his labor (takalluf, taʿab)—hence the petition. ASE Reused on recto for Hebrew piyyuṭ in a distinctive scribal hand. In a different hand underneath, there is a draft of a panegyric for a physician named Eliʿezer (called "sar"/"prince").

Ketubba, beautifully written. Location: Fustat. Dated: Friday, 13 Nisan 129[7] Seleucid = March 986 CE. Bride: Muʿtazz, the freedwoman of Moshe b. Palṭiel. Groom: Bushayr/Bashīr b. Khalaf. Witnessed by Avraham b. Isḥāq b. Bahlūl, Yeshuʿa b. [...], Daniel [...], Saʿīd [...], [...] b. Shuʾal (שואל). Goitein notes that the dowry (45 dinars) is very high for a freedwoman. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Recto: part of a ketubba for [...] bat Yeshuʿa and [...] b. Shelomo. Date not preserved. Mentions Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen b. ʿA[…]. Witnesses are [Ḥal]fon ha-Levi b. Shelomo (who surround his signature with a motto), [...] b. Shelomo, Mevass[er], Abraham b. Meʾir ha-[...]. Verso: list of Arabic names and amounts (of money?). (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.