Geniza Lab

Note in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. In Judaeo-Arabic. Stating that the ḥerem stam will be issued by the Nagid in the synagogues for the benefit of the children and heirs of Hilāl the Alexandrian, whose will was not taken down in sufficiently clear form. People obviously owed him money. Information from Goitein's note card.

Two lists in an unusually large cursive script with a postscript in another, small and neat script. a) The superscription 'I[n Your] N[ame]' shows that this is the first list. It is followed by 'Those who have not yet received their share' (and are receiving it now, as is proved by the second list. b) 'Expended on...' (illegible perhaps referring to the holiday concerned). In five places dr, dirham, is added after the numerals, but dirhams are intended throughout, since the postscript actually has lil-ruqa'i, 'to the trader of orders of payments,' the banker with whom the community used to deal and who was prepared to accept these orders. The numerals in the postscript are Coptic, but conform with the Hebrew numerals in the main list, as far as preserved: 19 households receive 73~ dirhams. A number of characteristic names are identical with those occurring in B 17-24. Note specifically: a European (ifranji) who lives in the synagogue--2...a poor young man who arrived in the evening and whose overcoat, kisa, was taken from him as a collateral for 5 dirhams; his name is Abu al-Muna, he is sick; Mu'ammala ('the one hoped for'), a widow of good family, who never in her life had taken anything from anyone--5. The whole seems to be a distribution of money, probably before a holiday, in a time of severe hardship, when the community had not enough means, and about fifty families had to wait for their shares. Even then about one-third received their allocations in orders of payments--and we do not know how much the ruqai charged for converting them into cash. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 456-457, App. B 65, dated 1100-1140).

Recto: Arabic love poetry transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. Verso: One very faded line in Arabic, then in Hebrew characters, "Abu Sa'id b. Muslim." ASE.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Accounts involving 30 ratls of honey. ASE.

Theological text in Judaeo-Arabic on the idea of the trial (imtiḥān), citing the binding of Isaac. ASE.

Recto: The same love poem in both Judaeo-Arabic (above) and Arabic (below). Verso: More Arabic love poetry that has been transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. ASE.

Fragment of what looks like a literary composition in biblical-sounding Hebrew, with several mentions of lions and oxen and one of Joseph. ASE.

Trousseau list. Entries include a copper vessel, a bath tub, and a female slave named Warda born into slavery (muwalladat al-jins). (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Private account by Barhun b. Musa ha-Tahirti to his business partner, probably in Sicily. 1057. Including details about different payments, the purchase of wheat, and about businesses in Sicily, Palermo, and Mazar. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #356) VMR

Judaeo-Arabic commentary on Exodus 1 and 2. ASE.

Fragment (middle part) of a Judaeo-Arabic letter. The writer describes his woe and distress, and how he and his wife and children are perishing, but few specifics remain. He has some requests from the recipient (not money) and tells him not to tell anyone else about the writer's plight. ASE.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, including for medicinal items such as syrups (sharāb) and oxymel (sakanjabīn). ASE.

See PGP 20645

Fragment of a page in lovely handwriting mostly dealing with stories from the Bible. Deut 20:16 is quoted; Jericho is named, along with Sulayman ibn David, also Musa and Harun, and the king of the Ḥimrīyūn (?). Some of the writing is in larger letters. Possibly says "qata'if in honey" on the lower left of recto (?!). ASE.

Trousseau list and wedding outfit for a poor woman, perhaps an orphan. The man is also very poor. The list is to be understood thus: ll. 1–10: what should be expended. ll. 11–13: what actually came in. The early marriage payment: 20 dirhams(!). The rest: God will take care of it. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

See join.

Declaration of a patronage relationship? After quoting Isaiah 50:7, several lines of eloquent prose in artfully arranged lines, starting with, "I am your slave, never to be released." ASE.

Inventory of jewelry and clothing, containing 62 items in no order and without prices. (Information from Goitein's index cards)