Geniza Lab

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Late.

Accounts of a banker. In Judaeo-Arabic. Small sums. Information from Goitein's note card.

Fragment of a copy of a legal document. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

List of contributors to the pesiqa, headed "Appendix to the pledges." A list of thirty-four names (two unnamed with father and brother), of which eleven are crossed out. Only few are accompanied by numbers. The Nagid (Shemuel b. Ḥananya) gives 3 dirhems, the physician Abū l-Najm contributes 2 for his father and himself, which he pays by transfer, ḥawāla; three other persons also pay by transfer. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan, in his early style. The persons to be solicited are mostly grouped according to their professions, al-Ṭibb, the members of the medical profession, forming the largest single group of tardy contributors. Information from Med Soc II, App. C, #113 (p. 502).

Letter by Dā'ūd b. Yehuda to the Judge Eliyyahu expressing astonishment that the Nagid (i.e., Avraham Maimonides) had not sent a letter of condolence at the death of a local notable. Early 13th century. See Goitein Nachlass material. Possibly related to Bodl. MS heb. d 66/63, a letter of condolence by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu which he asks Dā'ūd b. Yehuda to pass on to the mourners.

Legal document about an agreement to write a copy of a codex of the eight Prophets.

Notes by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to al-Thiqa Hibat Allah-- see Goitein Nachlass material

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. "R. Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo spoke with asked Rab[benu?] ha-Meʿule, and he said to him, 'I heard that Abū l-Faraj al-Jab[īlī?] divorced his wife with a get.' Inquire about this for me." Abū l-Faraj al-Jabīlī (or al-Jubaylī?) appears in several other documents from the mid-12th century.

Letter fragment from Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi. Preserving only the last two lines, including his signature (wreathed in tiny letters).

Receipt in which Yehuda b. [...] certifies that he collected what was owed to him by the Shaykh [...].

Ketubba fragment. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1462 Seleucid = 1151/52 CE, under the reshut of Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Groom: [...] b. Ṣadaqa. Bride: Turfa.

Legal fragment. Marriage contract. Dated: 29 Nisan 1458 Seleucid, which is 1147 CE. Under the reshut of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver. Groom :Yaʿaqov ha-Baḥur b. Yehuda ha-Zaqen. Bride: al-Sitt bt. Ḥalfon ha-Zaqen; she is the divorcee of the groom. Only the first 7 lines are preserved; no details about the dowry or marriage gifts. Information from Goitein's note card.

Recto: Responsum regarding a man who made many vows and repented of them. Verso: Appears to be the writer's notes more general notes to himself on the question of repenting of vows. Needs examination

Beginnings of a court record, Fustat, 1378.

Letter fragment, probably. The last two lines and three signatures survive. The format looks like a legal document, but it ends "from those who wish you peace/health," suggesting that it is rather a letter. Dated Heshvan 5358 AM (שנת משיח), which is 1597 CE. There is a postscript (or response?) underneath, regarding the sum of money that must have been the subject of the letter.

Letter from Ṭoviya b. Moshe, in Jerusalem, to his daughter, in Fustat, April 1040 or 1041. "The following description of the writer's well-being is altogether exceptional: 'I am completely comfortable in my body and all my affairs. My clothes do not hold me for all my happiness and success.' The story was indeed complicated. A Byzantine Jew had married a Muslim woman, certainly a captive whom he had ransomed. When the couple moved to Palestine they separated, and the wife took residence in Egypt with her daughter, who had meanwhile grown up. The mother fell on bad times, and in this letter the father tries to persuade the girl to return to him and the Jewish fold, pointing out that he (in contrast to her mother) was in excellent health and enjoyed material prosperity and thus was able to provide for her" (Goitein, Med Soc V, 47-48).

Recto: Letter fragment in Arabic script. Only the last three lines are preserved, then two lines in Hebrew, 'may I be the ransom of the brother (al-akh al-shaqīq) from all evil.' Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic with rudimentary handwriting and spellings. "As for what you you mentioned that I should send you a boy, I send you a boy every day. As for other matters, I feared to introduce worrry (ghamm) into your heart and make you relapse (tantakis), for you are from [...] illness (wajaʿ), may God complete your recovery. As for the copper. . . as God is my witness, I was sick (ḍaʿīf)." ASE.

India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; English to come)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, late.

Letter from Moshe b. Nissim to an unknown addressee. In Judaeo-Arabic. He asks the addressee to sell on his behalf four copies of th She'eltot de-Rav Aḥa (he seems to have been the copyist). He is in need of the proceeds, because before he left Cairo he took out a loan of 40 dirhams. The money is to be sent with al-Shaykh al-Rashīd Abū l-Fakhr, the brother of [Sayyid?] al-Ahl the Blind. (Information in part from Goitein's note card)