Geniza Lab

Document in Arabic script. Reused for Targum of Exodus 29:25–46.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. The hand may be known. Dating: 11th or 12th century.

Letter in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century. The sender complains about the terrible distress of the congregation "from the beatings and the 'wazn' (payments?) in the daytime...." There is a group of enemies and at their head are the children of al-Najīb. There is a "writ (waraqa) in the amount of 8,000..." There are specific people who are evidently being targeted to make payments (maṭlūbīn). Everyone is in a state of fright. The sender cites the ʿal ha-nissim prayer to wish destruction on the ringleaders of this scheme: יפר עצתו ויקלקל מחשבתו וישיב] גמולו בראש. Information in part from Dotan Arad, "Let's Learn Turkish" (2017).)

Account register, in Judaeo-Arabic. There are 9 bifolia, very well preserved. Currencies used include ashrafī and fils. Some people are titled khwaja. The European names of the months are used. Dating: Perhaps 1617 CE (Arad's suggestion). It appears that the anonymous author was an agent for one of the European consuls, probably in Alexandria. There are itemized lists of expenditures, often for foodstuffs, along with many names and some short narrative passages. There is a list of the haftarot. There is also a unique Turkish-Judaeo-Arabic glossary on fol. 4. See the article by Dotan Arad for a detailed discussion of this shelfmark. NB: The first folio is a medieval letter in Judaeo-Arabic, unrelated to the notebook.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Filling all four columns of the bifolium.Mentions tamarind and clove.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and in Arabic script. People include: Abū l-ʿAlā'; the Amir Bayraq Najā(?) (bayraq seems to be a Turkic word for a battle standard); Ibn Bāzil; ʿAllūn b. [...]; al-Anṣārī al-Bazzāz; Sulaymān b. Bishr; Ibn Baḥr; Abū Sahl; Ibrāhīm; Ibn Kohen; Ghālib.Sometimes lists brokerage fees (juʿl). The numbers seem large.

Literary text in Hebrew. Late.

Literary text in Hebrew. Late.

Literary text (but framed as a letter responding to questions). In Judaeo-Arabic. Discussion of the four primary causes of damage: ha-shor, ha-bor, ha-mav'eh and ha-hev'er presented in the form of questions and answers. Verso also contains a square of numbers expressed in Hebrew letters. (Information from Baker/Polliack catalogue.)

Fol. 2v: Legal document in Arabic script. Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan b. Khalaf, a Jew from Tyre, renounces all of his monetary claims against Isḥaq b. Sahl b. Bishr b. Nāḥūm and Abū Naṣr. Dating: 12th century CE. Fol. 1r: Arabic document of lease (needs further examination). On fols. 1v–2r and margins, there is a medical text dealing with parts of the human body. (Information from Khan and CUDL; see also Goitein's index card.)

Decree, probably. There is a single phrase in naskhī Arabic calligraphy (ʿabīd al-dawla wa-l-yaʿmal bihi....?). Reused for Hebrew liturgical text.

Literary text in Hebrew. Late.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and eastern Arabic numerals. Late.

Literary text in Judaeo-Arabic containing a chapter entitled "In praise of knowledge and in condemnation of ignorance and anger," which opens with a discussion of Quran 41:34 (وَلَا تَسْتَوِي الْحَسَنَةُ وَلَا السَّيِّئَةُ ۚ ادْفَعْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ فَإِذَا الَّذِي بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَهُ عَدَاوَةٌ كَأَنَّهُ وَلِيٌّ حَمِيمٌ) citing ʿUmar Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.

Medical prescription in Judaeo-Arabic. There is a primary text on recto with a basmala and a 'nāfiʿ inshallāh' in Arabic script. Verso contains multiple additional text blocks, all consisting of medical prescriptions or related.

Recto: Distribution list in Judaeo-Arabic. In a Byzantine hand? Lists dozens upon dozens of people, including a large proportion of women and people such as 'the chronically ill women' and 'the chess player' (line 11), 'Kali the Byzantine woman and her daughter' (line 13), 'the woman from Ṣahrajt' (6 lines from the bottom). On verso there are accounts in Arabic script introduced by wa-ḥaṣala, so perhaps this part is a revenue/donation list. Needs further examination.

State document in Arabic script. Uses the phrase khidmat mālik al-riqq (see Khan, ALAD, 345, 368, 434 for meaning and other examples); and see T-S Ar. 42.162. Reused on both recto and verso for very curious philosophical and narrative compositions in vocalized Judaeo-Arabic mentioning Aristotle and medical aphorisms (see FGP for more specific identifications). T-S Ar.30.308 and T-S 12.359 are clearly a join, but not a direct join, as the Judaeo-Arabic text is oriented in the same direction as the Arabic text in T-S 12.359, while it is oriented in the opposite direction in T-S Ar.30.308. The scribe of the Judaeo-Arabic text is the same as the sender of T-S 10J7.3 + T-S AS 144.258 and numerous related fragments (see tag "ibn habib's patient"). The Arabic script looks quite different on each fragment, so the scribe probably took at least two different state documents and glued them together for his literary text(s). One of them mentions the amir Fāris al-Dawla.

Letter addressed to Abū l-Faraj and Abū l-Ḥasan. In Judaeo-Arabic, with extremely rudimentary spelling and and handwriting (e.g. אכדיל אלכום for ادخل اليكم). This is a letter of appeal for charity. The sender bemoans his and his family's poverty. He asks for hospitality until after the holiday (this is not the first time he has asked). He also asks for some wine for qiddush.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and eastern Arabic numerals. Late.

Recto: Dream interpretation in Judaeo-Arabic. Recto margin and verso: Pharmacopeia in Arabic script.