Geniza Lab

Jottings in the hand of Yosef Rosh ha-Seder, including his own name several times.

This manuscript is the earliest copy we have of the Book of the Calendar Controversy. About the disagreement between Jewish leaders of Palestine and Babylonia on how to calculate the calendar year in 921/2. This led the Jews of the entire Near East to celebrate Passover and the other festivals on different dates over the course of two years.

This polemical letter, in a manuscript of which only one sheet has been preserved (T-S 8K6), shares features in common with Letters 1 and 2 of the Letters Miscellany (PGPID 34551-3), and may well be by the same author. Like Letters Miscellany, this letter focuses on technical aspects of ben Meir’s calendar. Iit uses the era of Destruction, and it verifies its computation by running it through a long period of past years. The author calls his addressee, somewhat unusually, ‘my sage’ and ‘my scholar’. It also goes through and refutes a list of numbered Palestinian arguments. All three texts share in common the tendency of attributing absurd calendrical opinions to their opponent in order to refute them easily.

One of two manuscripts of ben Meir's first letter regarding the calendar controversy of 921/22 CE. (The other one is ENA 2556.2 + Bodl. Heb. f. 26/1-6.) Writes from Palestine to Baghdad. Of this manuscript of ben Meir’s First Letter, only two folios have been preserved: T-S 8K8 and T-S 8K7 (consecutively, and in this order). Stern suggests that there are 6 other, missing folios, in this manuscript (Stern, pp. 268 –278).

Letter draft addressed to a Nagid who has two sons. The opening titles and blessings fill 12 lines. The remainder of the page is filled with the sender's deferential phrases craving indulgence for daring to address the addressee and excusing himself by appealing to necessity/want. There are 3 more lines on the other side. It is not clear whether there remain any clues to what the actual matter at hand is. This fragment also contains a Judaeo-Arabic tafsīr of Ezekiel 23:22–25, writing exercises of Psalms 119:195, and repetitions and variations of the name Yeshuʿa ha-Talmid b. Yosef. (Information in part from Davis I Catalog via FGP.)

Fol. 4v bears 33 lines of a legal formulary for a bill of release (barā’a), drawn up in Fustat, but with date and names replaced by פל, כן וכן etc. For similar texts see e.g. S. Assaf, Shetaroth, 22-4; CUL Or. 1080 5.13 and Or. 1080J.51 given in G. Weiss, Halfon ben Manasse as nos. 251-2 (parts of the same document) and A. Merx, Documents, ch. VI. (Information from Hopkins Catalog via FGP.) The main text on this shelfmark is the Scroll of Antiochus.

The Scroll of Antiochus. In Aramaic. (Erroneously labeled as a deed of sale in one of the identifications on FGP.) See FGP for further identifying information.

This manuscript, T-S Ar. 29.190 fol. 9, contains the first part of Palestinian Calendar Manual 1, of which the other text witness is T-S Ar. 29.129. Provides minimal information on the calendar, perhaps intended as a aid for those who were already knowledgable about calendar calculations. It consists of a discontinuous bi-folio, each side written in a different hand. Our text, on the recto right side only, marks a new beginning, following a blank page on its verso. The manuscript is tidy and well produced.

Petition to the Fatimid vizier al-Afḍal, including the raʾy component and endorsements.

Magical and astrological text. There are numerous folios from the same book and even more in the same hand (see Joins Suggestions). The scribe often spells Allah in Arabic script.

Recto: Letter fragment from Khalaf b. Mubārak al-Ḥazzān or al-Jazzār. In Arabic script. Only the basmala, tarjama, and part of the first line are preserved. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic poetry.

Letter fragment addressed to a certain Nasi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Very deferential. What remains simply reports that the writer received the addressee's letter and read it.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely ca. 12th–14th century. "When the letter arrived which you sent with the wife of my maternal uncle to Ibn Ṣaghīr al-Ḥakīm (the physician), I came to him, and he read it after kissing it... in the night, when I was sick from the severe headache, and I had convulsions (or 'went mad'? inṣaraʿtu) from the evening onward." He or she mentions this in the context of reading the addressee's letter, so it is possible that the inṣirāʿ is meant to indicate a reaction to whatever news was in the letter. The continuation is tricky to understand. Refers repeatedly to someone called al-Saʿīd and discusses the waste disposal (ramy al-turāb) of a certain apartment (al-qāʿa). On verso mentions the house of Sayf al-Dīn al-Rūmī.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower right corner). Relates a story about a conflict involving Ibrāhīm, al-Rayyis al-Jalīl, two policemen (? rājilān), and humiliation — perhaps because a Jew (Ibrāhīm?) dared to oppose a Muslim (al-Rayyis al-Jalīl?). In any event, the addressee is to convey thanks to Abū l-Munā for how he resolved the situation.

Sīrat ʿAntar. In Judaeo-Arabic. Late. 114 folios. There are many additional pages from the same work scattered throughout the Geniza: see joins list.

Petition in Judaeo-Arabic. Very wide spaces between the lines. Very thoroughly blotted out, but might be legible with multispectral imaging. Some of the phrases include: אנעאמהא לא זאלת מנעמה . . . מן כאדמהא . . . בזה השופט נט רח . . . לתפעל פיהא מא יכלצהא . . . אלא אמכן אחד מן אל טא[יפה] אלרבאנין ישמרם צורם. Reused for a copy of Mujādalat al-Usquf ("The Disputation of the Priest").

Literary text. Discussion of atonement and excommunication. Author refers to Saadiah and cites באב אלכאפרה of the same work; probably an autograph(?). (Information from Baker/Polliack catalog.)

Draft of a letter or petition. In the hand of Shelomo b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (active until c.1231). The first page is missing. Verso of this fragment is the cover page for a copy of Bava Meṣiʿa. This scribe is very prolific, and he used numerous blank margins of literary texts for pen trials (see Joins Suggestions). This letter/petition opens with a discussion of the least worthy among the patriarchs (the first line seems to be a reference to howAbraham, called Sayyid al-Kawnayn (! this is typically an epithet of Muḥammad), prayed for intercession on behalf of Lot, "the least worthy of the Avot; there is then mention of Esau); then mentions the superhuman humility of Moses especially at the time of Korah's rebellion. The sender gets to the point around line 10: he ask the addressee to change his mind (אבטאל מחשבתו הרעה) concerning letting people from outside the noble family (baytatnā) to join them for the memorial service (? tarḥīm) for a deceased woman (al-marḥūma). If the addressee doesn't go along with the request, the sender threatens to harass him by sending 20 nobles and 20 commoners his way. He also mentions "the people of Cairo and Fustat." (Identification of the scribe kindly provided by Amir Ashur.) ASE

Responsum of Hai Gaon, on the management of orphans’ property. (Information from CUDL)

Business letter sent by Ismail b. Yusuf b. Abi 'Uqba in Alexandria to Abu Sa'id Yusuf b. Musa b. Barhun in the countryside village of Munimun. Ismail b. Yusuf is taking care of Abu Sa'id's interests, such as shipping and receiving goods sent to him. The letter contains much detailed information about silk, parchments, corals, wool, pearls and other goods. Dated to the 11th century (Gil ca. 1036). Mentions names such as Labraṭ b. Daʾūd b. Suġmār, Abū l-Aʿlā, Nissim b. Abū l-Ḥasan, Abraham b. Joseph the dyer, Abū ʿAllūsh, and Khallūf b. Zikrī. (Information from CUDL and Gil, Kingdom, vol. II, p. 634)