Geniza Lab

dates of important biblical and historical events. AA

Letter from a Damascene Karaite to a Karaite leader in Fustat, approximately 1040.

Short attestation by the Bet Din, followed by the signatures of Abraham b. Shemaʿya he-Ḥaver and [Isaac] b. Shemuʾel the Spaniard. Judaeo-Arabic pen-exercises in the lower margin. (Information from CUDL)

Deed of quittance from Abū l-Makārim b. […] known as Ibn Baqā to Saʿadya ha-Kohen. Also mentions pledges deposited with […] b. Shelomo ha-Kohen known as Abū l-Khayr. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (1100-1138 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Letter from the muqaddam of Malij, congratulating R. Aharon ha-Qarawi (or: "who is called") Abu l-Ḥasan on God's miracles and Aharon's deliverance from wicked people. Contains at least 10 lines of wishes for the recovery of Aharon's son Yefet from his illness, citing numerous biblical verses. In the address on verso, al-Rayyis Rabbenu Avraham is mentioned. "Magnificent script and Hebrew style of 29 lines, then in (Judaeo-)Arabic 8 lines." Information from Goitein's note cards.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Court record of a testimony in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe concerning a dispute among the heirs of a murdered woman named Sitt al-Husn. She had concluded two marriage contracts after the death of her first husband, but perished (in what is called "the murder case") together with her mother and her two husbands. Her second husband had been absent for a long period but returned after she had married a third time and at a time when an outburst of pillage and murder by marauding soldiers or bandits was hitting their provincial town. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 80-81) There is a duplicate copy in T-S NS 31.9 (PGPID 25293).

Engagement contract in which Ṭahor ha-Kohen b. Yehuda b. Seʿadya pledges his minor daughter after 5 years to Muhadhdhab b. Shemuel. Muqaddam: 51 dinars. Mu'akhkhar: 60 dinars. Fine: 280 nuqra (~20 dinars). See Med Soc IX B 2, n. 32. Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Part of a ketubba with no details preserved. (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Segment of a court testimony. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (Date: 1100-1138). Regarding dowry arrangements after the renewal of a lost ketubba. The ketubba of Abu l-Fadl Ṣadoq b. Ḥalfon b. Moshe and his wife […] bt. Berakhot b. Yehuda ha-Levi was lost when the Franks (‘May God ruin them’) captured Tripoli (Lebanon, in 1109 CE) and Abū l-Faḍl and his wife were taken prisoner. On verso there is Genesis 1:1-3. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a ketubba for Shelomo (groom), in the hand of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya (1014-57 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

End of a ketubba for the bride [...] bat Hillel ha-Levi. Witnessed by Judah ha-Kohen b. Yefet, Ṣedaqa b. Baqā, Hārūn b. Judah, Aaron [...] and Isaac b. Ṣed[aqa]. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Faraj, the emancipated slave of Barhun Tahirti, Qayrawan, to Yosef b. Awkal and his two sons.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Avraham b. Nissim gives part of a house to the wife of Shelomo, and she will bear his burial expenses and will provide him with fine clothing. (Information from Goitein's index cards)