Geniza Lab

Letter in which a father writes to the teacher of his boys complaining about insufficient attainments and explaining their being late.

Verso: Legal record that Abū l-Surūr b. Ghanya(?) remarried his divorced wife Maʿānī bt. Karīm al-Aqraʿ ha-Levi. Dated: Wednesday night, 29 Tishrei 1541 Seleucid, which is 18 September 1229 CE. There is documentation of the payments returned to her as originally set down in her ketubba. Witnessed by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. On the margin a notation: the remarriage took place without immersion (ṭevila) for menstrual purity. Goitein speculates that she might have been post-menopausal. Moss. VII,56 is her bill of divorce from 8 months earlier. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Recto: Letter in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Abū l-Faraj al-Shaykh al-Makīn. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper part only). He orders myrtle for Sukkot.

Note from Ḥananel. "If the master is able and free, [could he] trouble himself to meet with the slave in the shop of Abū l-Munā near the slaughterhouse. I am waiting there because I have gone to work on something for all of us. . . another person with us. I cannot come to serve you. And peace. Your slave Ḥananel."

Recto: Note from Rashīd inviting a physician to come urgently to Rashīd's home, and to bring a friend. Verso: The physician responds that if he is being invited to a drinking party, he cannot come today because the Christians prevent him (? li-ajli moqesh al-'arelim). If he is being summoned to treat (mudāwā) somebody, probably al-Sadīd, it can be postponed to another day. Rashīd should tell al-Sadīd that the writer already came looking for him several times but could not find him. He was worried on his account ("the first was in my heart"), and he wondered if perhaps al-Sadīd no longer needed his services. Changing the topic, he concludes, "As for the the [Ar?]abic letter, I have it with me. I will make a copy of it and return it." Information in part from Goitein's index cards. ASE.

An exceptionally angry letter, complaining that the artisan, instead of returning the finished product, began to haggle about the price. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 86)

Recto: Official-looking document. In Arabic script. Dated: 19 Shawwāl 517 AH, which is December 1123 CE. Documenting the receipt of 350 irdabbs of wheat from ʿAlī b. Saʿīd from al-Gharbiyya for something. Needs further examination.

Verso: Order of payment by Abū Zikrī Kohen. Abū l-Ḥasan al-Hod should give the bearer 3 ounces of lemon-rose syrup and an ounce of chewy candy (ʿaqīd).

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic.

Accounts in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Late. One side: "What I received from Yaʿaqov b. Khalīfa," then sums in sultanis, cedids, קורון, and ibrahimis. The other side: "What I paid R. Moshe."

List of names (memorial list?)

Probably a legal formulary for drawing up a will.

Letter sent by a physician from Qalyub, who had opened an office in Fustat, inviting his wife (who is his paternal cousin) to join him there and mentioning that the response of the public had been excellent, although he suffers from professional competition. Her daughter, who lives in the capital, is pregnant and wishes her mother to assist her at the time of birth. Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 256; III, p. 30. The writer also conveys his sadness upon hearing that the addressee had an eye illness; he wishes he could be there to treat in in person, but suffices with sending a prescription together with this letter. ASE.

List of indigent families from New Cairo. Eleven items. (Information from Goitein's index card)

Most of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, probably from the Levant, to a dignitary in Fusṭāṭ. It begins by extolling the favor (iḥsān) that the Amīr ʿAlā al-Dīn b. ʿAlam Dār (or Alemdar = "the standard-bearer") bestowed upon the writer. "It was he who was our friend in Damascus." The amir was very sad to say farewell to the writer. The writer then asks the addressee to convey his regards and obedience to David [Maimonides?] the Great Nagid. He also sends regards to ʿOvadyah and al-Shaykh Munajjā "and the rest of the masters," including al-mawlā al-Asʿad Abū Saʿd al-Ṣayrafī and his father, and al-Mawlā al-Makīn Abū l-[...] and his brother . . . and others.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Bifolium from an account ledger. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Perhaps 11th century. Sums in dinars. Mentions Ibn Ṭībān; Abū Manṣūr Lillāh; a wathīqa; Abū l-Munā; Abū Manṣūr al-Zayyāt; Abū Yaʿqūb al-Ḥakīm; a midwife (? al-qābila); a couple ruqʿas; Ḥāmid in Caesarea.

A colorful drawing of what looks like a man setting off a cannon.

Trousseau list. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe? Fiancé: Seʿadya b. [Avraham]. Fiancée: Jawhara bt. Seʿ[adya known as Abū l-Yumn Ibn al-Baṣal]. This is the same couple whose divorce proceedings are detailed in CUL Or.1080 J141. Jawhara’s marriage register totals an impressive sum of more than 500 dinars, and her delayed payment was seventy dinars. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

List of names. Maybe witnesses to a legal document, but maybe not. Natan b. Shelomo; Natan b. Yosef; Natan b. Elʿazar; Natan b. Qay[...]; Shemaʿya(?) b. YOsef; Shabbat b. [...]. Ṣadaqa b. [...].