Geniza Lab

F. 2v: Jottings in Hebrew script and Arabic script (e.g., "qāla mawlānā al-ḥakīm al-fāḍīl ʿIzz al-Dīn Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad b. Ṭarḥān(?)... qāla mawlānā al-ḥakīm al-fāḍīl ʿIzz al-Dīn Ibrāhīm b. ʿUmar b. Ṭarḥān...."). On the remaining pages there is a commentary on 1 Shemuʾel 1:22-24. (Information in part from CUDL)

Copy or formulary of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, damaged, almost entirely consisting of honorifics and praises. Might name somebody titled Zayn al-Dīn (unless that is just another term of respect for the recipient). Previous description (unclear which shelfmark this belongs to): Commentary on Isaiah 34:10. In Judaeo-Arabic. Information from CUDL.

Letter in Arabic script. Fragment (bottom only). Mentions Abū l-ʿAlāʾ b. Abū Naṣr al-Isrāʾīlī al-Tājir (the trader) and Abū l-Riḍā b. Abū l-Faraj al-Isrāʾīlī. Needs further examination. On verso there are calendrical calculations in Judaeo-Arabic for the 19th year of maḥzor 260 (= 4940 AM = 1179/80 CE).

Bifolio of business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 11th or 12th century. Handwriting of Nahray b. Nissim? Mentions names such as Abū Ṭāhir b. Abū Aḥmad, Ḥasan al-Ḥalāwī (sweets maker/seller), Musharraf (or Mushrif?) al-Baqqāl (the grocer), Abū ʿAlī b. Bushayr, Abū ʿAlī b. Ḥamza, Badr, Jaʿfar b. Bushayr, Ibn al-Ṭabība ("Son of the Female Physician"), Abū l-ʿAbbās, Nahrāy, and Abū l-Barakāt. One page lists the dates of various consignments received of honey (from Būṣīr and from Barqa) and "water and raisins." It also lists the "sign" (ʿalāma) associated with the manufacturer, e.g., (pictures of?) two large jugs (zīrayn), two holes (thuqbayn), one hole (thuqb wāḥid), and [[one jar]] "his handwriting/signature." On the remaining page, there are pen trials in Arabic script. ASE

Letter in Ladino. Dating: possibly 16th century. The letter seems to have been dictated by a blind man. He says: ,Rabi Jacob dijo ke afilu ke tuviera ojos podia enganarme kuanto mas ombre sagi naor. And elsewhere he says: ,ke no tengo ojos y no tengo kien me mire*. He continues and says: ,tengo miedo ke me akontesca lo ke me akontesio' and ask his wife: ,venid a Misrayim ke una mujer kon ojos esmas mejor ke mire, por dos vezes adije a meterme en barko y no tope conpania . . .' This blind man, then, lives in Cairo, separated from his wife who seems to live in the Holy Land. He hopes his wife will sell her clothes and jeweils (alajas) to support him." Elazar Gutwirth, "The Family in Judeo-Spanish Genizah Letters," 214. There are also sketches of leafy plants.

This manuscript, T-S Ar 29.129, contains the first part of Palestinian Calendar Manual 1. It provides as much information as is needed for an individual to calculate and construct the calendar of any year. This manual is attested in two manuscripts, T-S Ar 29.129 (here) and T-S Ar. 29.190 fol. 9. The scribes took the liberty to word it the two manuscripts in their own ways, possibly because the calendar data needed to be updated to the scribe’s own year. It is part of a set of Jewish calendar manuals dating from the eleventh and early twelfth centuries that display a number of Palestinian calendrical features, and in particular, the rule of 641–642 with led ben Meir to his controversy with the Babylonians in 921/2. These manuals demonstrate that the controversy of 921/2 did not end in a Babylonian victory; the Palestinians, or those who affiliated with this tradition, upheld and used the calendar of ben Meir for almost two centuries after the controversy.

Petition to a Fatimid vizier regarding the repayment of a debt. The petitioner asks for help in dealing with the head of the arsenal, Abū l-Aʿsar, who is claiming the repayment of a debt that the petitioner had never contracted. Dating: middle of the 12th century. On verso there is a calendrical treatise in Judaeo-Arabic, dealing with the number of days in the different types of years of the Hebrew calendar and the length of the day in hours and parts (חלקים). (Information from Khan and CUDL.)

Provides minimal information on the calendar. Perhaps intended as a aid for those who were already knowledgable about calendar calculations. Includes the Palestinian calendar rule of 641–642 and treats it as normative. Given its practical orientation, this manual provides strong evidence that the calendar of ben Meir was in use for a long time after the controversy of 921/2CE.

Recto: Arabic document, perhaps a letter. Needs further examination. Verso: Lists of the Islamic months and Coptic months, and prognostications for the coming year based on the Hebrew calendar.

Court records in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, including three different transactions involving female slaves.

Calendrical text. Dating: 929–30.

Calendrical text. Dated: 1241 Sel. (929–30 CE). This copy: late 10th/11th c. Part of a longer calendrical work; the passage preserved on this fragment sets out to correct the Christian calendar dates of Lent and Easter for 1241–44 Sel. The 19-year Alexandrian Easter cycle, instituted in the 4th century, synchronizes the lunar months with the Coptic solar years; but the discrepancies from astronomical reality became progressively more pronounced over the centuries (hence the Gregorian reform in the 16th c). The use of the Coptic months in this text locates the author beyond a doubt in Egypt. It is one of the earliest Jewish texts that discusses the Easter computation. Such Jewish texts are attested in the Latin West from the twelfth century onward, and somewhat more common from the 14th-15th c on, but this is early even for the Islamicate Jewish material. It may also be the earliest known attestation of the Seleucid era that can be firmly traced to Egypt. There are earlier instances of the Seleucid calendar from the geniza, but they originated outside Egypt; see Halper 331, dated 1182 Sel. (870/71 CE). The next earliest attestation of the Seleucid era in the geniza is dated to the 1260s Sel. (950s CE). This is a paper bifolio, one of the outer pages of a quire; the texts on the other side are unrelated. (Information from Stern and Vidro, "Tenth-Century Jewish Correction") The date of this text may be significant for another reason: it's possible that Jews were more aware of the functioning of calendar cycles and/or discrepancies between calendars in the wake of the Great Calendar Controversy of 921/22. (MR)

Anniversary horoscope. The native was born on 17 June 1066 CE, and the anniversary occurred on 17 June 1082. Information from Goldstein and Pingree, "Horoscopes from the Cairo Geniza," JNES 1977.

Recto: A few lines of an abandoned letter in Arabic. Verso: A page completely filled with Judaeo-Arabic writing practice (?) of standard phrases from letters, going in all different directions. It is very faded, so hard to tell if there is anything of substance in these phrases.

Judaeo-Arabic treasure hunting manual. Needs further examination.

Letter in Arabic from Moshe ha-Kohen to Abū l-ʿIzz Yeshuʿa ha-Sar, to the market of the goldsmiths (sūq al-ṣāgha) in Fusṭāṭ, in which the addressee's name and titles are given in Hebrew characters in the midst of the Arabic text. Moshe reports that al-Shaykh al-Ajall al-Sadīd b. al-Tilmīdh and his son al-Shaykh al-Muwaffaq (שמ צור again in Hebrew characters) arrived and informed him that [...]. The lower part of recto and the upper part of verso is lost. ASE.

Interesting letter from a sick man to Mevorakh, probably his brother. The language is Judaeo-Arabic with Hebrew vowels (!). The writer revised the letter, probably after completing it, and added in several missing alifs. He has an unspecified illness. He is lying sick in the house of Baqā' b. al-Muṣinn (at least in the daytime), also attended by Ibn al-ʿAṣṣār. "From inactivity (qillat al-qawām) my state has weakened (talif ḥālī). I am now accustomed to bloodletting and purging (sakb al-dam wa-l-ishāl)." He describes his nights and days twice. Ibn al-Muṣinn is also in distress because his little boy is also sick. [The physician] Ibn al-ʿAṣṣār was summoned and asked whether the patient would live or die and said to him something cryptic ('You are either (illam) going to survive or (illam) completely recover' (?)). Upon which, Baqā' said to him, 'For the sake of deliverance, do exactly as he says.' People (nās) concerned themselves (ihtammū) and kindly brought the patient everything he needed (itfaḍḍalū bi-kull mā aḥtāj). In the nights he has rosebuds (? al-zirr al-ward) but these only last him for one third of the night (?), and thus he also needs sugar (?). Purpose of writing: Requesting sugar, and a blanket "from the kitchen." He had previously written regarding the sugar. It resembles a letter of appeal except that it is quite informal, probably disrespectful if the recipient were not his actual brother. The writer states that he has already tried drawing money from other sources so as not to be a burden. Writes once, "you ask me what afflicts me," and then again, "Do not neglect me so as not to [later] ask what afflicts me." Date: Probably early 13th century. Abū l-Baqā' b. al-Muṣinn ("son of the stinkard") appears also in T-S NS J32, but this document is undated. A Kohen b. al-Muṣinn appears in a 1237 document (T-S 12.413), and the daughter of al-Muṣinn appears in a 1243 document (T-S 8J6.15), but these are not necessarily related. Most compellingly: a physician named Ibn al-ʿAṣṣār appears in a 1227 document (T-S 8J32.7). ASE.

Recto: Small fragment of a formal Arabic letter. Verso: In Judaeo-Arabic, a draft of flattering titles for a Muslim ruler: [[אלאמיר אלמופק]] אמיר אלמומנין במא וכלה יי (!) אליה מן שיאשת אלאמה וערקהא (?) בה מן תדבירהא . . . פי מא כאנת מצלחתהא . . . . عامر פידאעי (?).

Response to the endorsement of a petition by two men, one of whom is Ibrāhīm, son of the illustrious judge. The case is referred to the office of the chamber of al-Ẓāfir. Dating: Middle of the 12th century. (Information from CUDL)

Trousseau list. Dating: Probably no earlier than 13th century. Contains some terms that are not found in earlier documents. (Information from Goitein’s index card)