Geniza Lab

Letter fragment describing the visit of the Nasi in the Babylonian synagogue. (Information from E. Bareket, Shafrir misrayim, 25)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (lower left corner). Dating: [14]41 Seleucid, which is 1129/30 CE, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen (served as head of the Jews in Egypt 1127–39). No or almost no details of the case are preserved.

Fragment of a legal document. Menahem b. Shemuel mentioned. Avraham b. Shemaya and Avraham b. Natan Av are signatories, which dates this to end of 11th, beginning of 12th century.

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to an Abu al-Barakat whom he addresses as 'brother' and 'friend'

Letter from a Yehuda. Beginning only. The writer acknowledges receiving a letter from the majlis of 'our lord and crown of the heads' the 'Nagid' and Nasi Shelomo (b. Jesse? [see line 7] active first half of 13th century).

See PGP 3597

Beginnings of two legal documents and one responsum. The legal documents are from the rabbinical court of Avraham Maimonides, and the responsum is addressed to him.

Letter. Little preserved of content.

Letter. Little preserved of content. Saffron, silk and copper mentioned.

Deed of sale for a slave. Dated: Thursday, 28 Tammuz 1571 Seleucid = 8 July 1260 CE. Seller: the Bilbaysī Mūsā b. Abū l-ʿIzz al-Kohen. Buyer: Abū l-Faḍl b. Abū l-ʿAlāʾ (both son and father are called "al-Rayyis"). Slave: An Abyssinian woman, unnamed, with leukoma of the left eye. Price: 266.5 nuqra dirhams. Unsigned (unless the signatures were on the lower part, now torn away).

Letter. Little preserved of content. Mentions 'the holy Rav, the Great Nagid.'

Fragment of a legal document. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli? Mentions Ṣedaqa ha-Levi, Abū ʿImrān, Yeshuʿa, and [...] bt. Yefet. Also mentions trade in rose preserve (ward murabbā). Date not preserved.

Letter to Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen Sijilmāsī (d. ca. 1149). In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions goods such as garments and soap. Contains a request to help with a shipment that it was in the hands of Nissim b. Yaʿaqov. Also mentions Mukhtār and Abū l-Barakāt. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein notes linked below.)

Fragment of a legal document, signed by Yefet b. Nethanel. Dated 1413/1101-1102.

Fragment of a legal document, Fustat, regarding business matters. Date not preserved, though under the authority of the head of the Jews, Avraham b. Maimonides (1205-1237).

Letter in which a notable to whom Abu al-'Izz b. Imran owed about 60 dirhams proposes, as a charitable act, to let him work off his obligation. A copyist had been copying quires of the Torah for the letter-writer, but had left for Palestine. Knowing that Abu al-'Izz has a good handwriting, the writer now wants to have him discharge his debt by taking over the project. He asks the Nagid to order him to do so, at a rate of at least two quires per week. (Information from Goitein's index cards and from Cohen)

Legal document settling a dispute between Abu al-Faraj and Abu al-'Ala Ulla ha-Levi b. Yosef, the well known parnas in Fustat (dated documents 1084-1117), regarding shops of the former. Verso: account of expenditures

Letter to a dignitary. The writer apologises for his part in a public disagreement between the writer and the addressee that had previously taken place in ‘the small market’ concerning the correct display of tassels. Pen trials in the margin on verso. (Information from CUDL)

Letter draft or writing exercise in a crude hand; on verso jottings and drafts in the same hand. (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: commentary or treatise, with biblical citations such as Deuteronomy 30:14, Isaiah 51:5 and Proverbs 12:19. Verso: fragment from a letter, mentioning Abū l-Ḥasan. (Information from CUDL)