Geniza Lab

Letter. Possibly from Yaʿqūb b. Isḥāq to his mother (l. 3: "I ask God that He decree the good health of my mother"). But these identifications are tentative. Written in Judaeo-Arabic with the basmala in Arabic script. The entire letter, or at least what is not too faded to read, is an order for many types of materia medica. On verso there is literary text, including one segment on the laws of sale and another on the laws of carrying.

Legal document? Probably from a book of legal formulas. Very damaged. Hebrew, Aramaic. AA

Legal fragment. Location: Minyat Zifta. Dated: [..]26 Seleucid, which doesn't narrow it down much unless the people named are identifiable. Involves Zakkay b. Shelomo and Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi and the settling of accounts. Scribed and signed by by [A]haron ha-Kohen b. Namir.

Literary, probably. Catalogued as a document involving a dispute with a certain Abū ʿAlī, but the dispute seems to be an intellectual one; the same bifolium mentions nūr al-ḥaqq and ahl al-naẓar.

Small fragment. Containing the remnants of three lines in calligraphic Arabic script. On verso there is literary text in Hebrew.

Legal fragment. Involves [...] b. Natan and Abū Surūr.

Letter addressed to Abū Zikrī b. Eliyya ha-Dayyan, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer addresses Abū Zikrī first (figuratively) as his 'father' and later as his cousin (ibn ʿamm). Most of the content is missing. The writer sends regards to his uncle (Eliyyahu the Judge), Eliyyahu's wife, the ṣughayyira, and Samḥūn (=Simḥa ha-Kohen). Verso: Apart from the address, also contains a list of Jewish names in Arabic script.

Two different legal documents. One of them is catalogued as a deed of sale. These are folios 2 and 3; folio 1 is literary. Information from FGP. Needs examination

Legal document; marriage document. Three unrelated texts: Two contracts (ketubah and deed of sale) and a commentary on Genesis 12. Fol. 1: commentary on Genesis 12. Fol. 2: deed of sale? ‘Imrān is mentioned. Looks like the hand of Avraham b. Nathan Av (or Hillel b. Eli). Fol. 3: Small and damaged fragment from a ketuba. On verso remains of color decoration. Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic. AA

Legal document or documents in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: 1432 Seleucid, which is 1120/21 CE. See join for further information. Join by Amir Ashur.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Probably a letter of appeal for charity. Mentions [the synagog]ue of the Iraqis.

Letter fragment addressed to Abū Sulaymān Dā'ūd b. Isḥāq. Unknown writer. Mentions Ibn al-Jazzār; a wicked person; the house of a wedding; the late Rabbenu [???]; someone who wants to excommunicate someone in the synagogue.

Letter from an unknown sender to Eliyyahu the Judge (called Abū l-Faraj al-Dayyān), in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script ("[to be delivered to] Ibn al-ʿAjamī who should give it to the judge Abū l-Faraj"). The sender complains about a female slave (al-jāriya) and says that he only went to the trouble of bringing her to Fustat because it was Eliyyahu's idea. He asks Eliyyahu to take possession of her from Abū l-Makārim and pass her on to Abū l-Munā b. Ṣāʿid ("I heard that he is a (slave?) broker, and he is my friend, and he will do his best with her in accordance with his manliness and nobility and benefaction...."). He repeats the instruction to obtain the slave from Abū l-Makārim and to thank him. Possibly mentions a woman (קמטה?) who gave birth (but this is not at all clear), and then urges Eliyyahu to help him "for God's sake." He reports that Eliyyahu's sons—Abū Zikrī the physician and Abū l-Barakāt—and Eliyyahu's wife (ahl baytak) are well. The reason Abū Zikrī has not yet come in person is that he has "a touch of ophthalmia" (ramad yasīr). Join: Alan Elbaum.

Legal documents (or drafts). Location: Fustat. One is dated: Shevat 1394 Seleucid, which is 1082/83 CE.

Document in calligraphic Arabic script. On verso there are some lines in Hebrew as well.

Recto: Bill of divorce. Dated: Sunday, 16 Heshvan 1456(?) Seleucid, which is 1144/45 CE. Location: al-Maḥalla. Husband: Yeshuʿa b. Merayot (a man of the same rare name appears as a witness in T-S 8J12.2). Wife: Malīḥa bt. David. Witnesses: Re'uven b. Yaʿaqov and Elʿazar b. Gilʿad. Verso: Addendum stating that Malīḥa received the get.

A pre nuptial agreement written by Halfon b. Menashshe Halevi from the year 1117. The top part of the document is missing. TS Ar. 51.103 join to complete the left part. The groom Zedaqa b. Shelomo is marrying Kula d. Yefet. The bill of divorce of the couple is found in TS 8J35.12, also written by Halfon. So the marriage didn't end well. It was Zedaqa's second marriage. Published by Ashur, Engagement and Betrothal, p. 311-313. (AA)

Multifragment. (a) Several legal documents, all the in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In one, Ṣadaqa b. Avraham known as Ibn al-Warda and his wife Sitt al-[...] give to their daughter Sitt al-Khawāt bt. Yefet the wife of Hillel b. Naḥman 1/2 of a new house. There are also entries about dowry evaluations (taqwīm). Dated Sivan 1435 Seleucid, which is 1124 CE. And there is an entry about a divorce. See Goitein's note card and Med Soc III, A, 3, n. 24 and B, 4, n. 41. Partially ed. Weiss, Ḥalfon, p. 272. (b) Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Needs examination.

Bill of testimony. In Arabic script. People mentioned: al-Ra'īs Ibrāhīm known as Natan b. Saʿīd b. Natan the Rabbanite Jew; ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Mūsā b. Ṣadaqa the Rabbanite Jew; Saʿīd b. Ṣadaqa b. Muhadhdhab the Rabbanite Jew (and physician, mutaṭabbib). Mentions Cairo and Fustat. A witness mentioned in the document is Sulaymān b. Yūsuf b. Shemuel known as Ibn al-Tājir the Rabbanite Jew.

Bill of settlement (taṣāduq). In Arabic script. Dated: 15 Dhū l-Qaʿda 924 AH, which is 1518 CE. Principal protagonists are Mīkhā'īl b. Isḥāq b. Abī Saʿīd the Jacobite Christian, a broker; and Shaqrā bt. Shemuel b. Sulaymān the Rabbanite Jew. On taṣāduq, see Munther Al-Sabbagh, "Before Banks: Credit, Society, and Law in Sixteenth-Century Palestine and Syria" (PhD diss.), p. 156.