Geniza Lab

Private account written by Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1060. Detailed lists about buying flax in several villages, shipping them to the Nile, preserving them, and paying the authorities. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #299) VMR

Booklist. Awaiting description - see Go itein's index card.

Magical treatise in Judaeo-Arabic. One of the pages features a large diagram of the human body, captioned "ghulām al-malik Saydūk," and two smaller figurines. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Jottings and a list of numbers, possibly from an account (data from Baker & Polliack catalogue)

Siddur, on verso a colophon with the names Bu al-Faraj b. Ibrahim, in two different hands, and some pen trials. AA

Legal document. A woman named Sitt al-Kull b. Eliyya appears before the court, informing them that her husband Yakhin b. Shabbat left few years ago without leaving her any provisions to support her and her daughter. She wishes to appoint Avraham b. Abū l-Khayr to travel, locate her husband and to try and collect her delayed marriage payment of 25 dinars, and her dowry's value of 50 dinars. On verso there are two undeciphered notes in Arabic script at 90 degrees to each other. (Information from Oded Zinger via FGP.)

Halakhic text in Judaeo-Arabic. See FGP for joins and further information. Enumerating the factors that disqualify a person for testifying. The fourth group is "those who lack muruwwa (roughly: virtue, manliness)." 4a: He who plays backgammon or chess or fasāfis ("fleas") or nawā ("fruit pits") or dice, or the like, if he gains money or benefit from it. 4b: He who plays in the bathhouse or with rams or with dogs or other such animals, if he gains money or benefit from it. 4c: He who eats in the marketplace."

A catalogue of a private library, including titles from rabbinic and medieval Judaeo-Arabic literature.

Accounts of a book dealer. Written in a mixture of Arabic script and Hebrew script. Dated: Ḥeshvan 1556 Seleucid, which is October 1244 CE. Including Arabic, Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew titles, such as איוב נץ מחקק לרב סעדיה ולאבן גקטלה. Each entry gives the name of a person (ʿinda l-Rashīd Abū l-Faḍl... ʿinda Amīn al-Dawla Abū l-Barakāt b. ʿAmmār wa-sharīkih... ʿinda l-Rashīd Abū l-Faḍl b. Abū l-Fakhr(?) al-ʿAṭṭār...ʿinda l-Shaykh Abū l-Ḥasan b. Nājī al-[...]... ʿinda l-Shaykh Yiṣḥaq al-Kohen al-Ṣabbāgh...). In some cases the books are listed as pawned (رهن على...).

Account of expenditures in Dammuh (ca. 1182-3) by Sayyid al-Ahl, consisting of a list of disbursements made at the plantation in Dammuh in the course of a year. Most of the items pertain to building operations, including labor and materials, such as fence, mud and lime and stones for the well. Eight dirhams are mentioned as expenditure for the supply of palm branches. The total yearly amount of the expenditures was 628 dirhams, and since probably wariq dirhams are meant, this would represent ca. 15.5 dinars. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 324 #78) EMS

Accounting of expenditures in Dammuh ca. 1182-83.

An instruction about the payment of the salary of the judge Yaʿaqov b. Yosef ha-kohen for January 1165.

Letter from Isma'il al-Tahirti to Abu al-Bishr Yaʿaqov b. Yosef b. Awkal (from Ifrīqiya to Egypt). Mentions "the remnants of an illness" (athar al-ʿilla) in l. 4

Recto: Text in Arabic script. Relatively easy to read but very difficult to make sense of. Contains phrases like حصرت العموم على حكم الامور... شرع بغير فرع... احطياط(!) المجهور على الجمهور في حال الخاص... في حال الشهود على كل... على مذهب على ما... In the margins and on verso there are copious pen trials, mainly in Judaeo-Arabic but with some Arabic script. Needs further examination.

Deed of sale. In Arabic script. Abū l-Ḥasan b. Ḥasan, the Jewish druggist, bought four shares of a house in Minyat Ghamr, consisting of a rectangular gate, a court, a ṣāḥa, and three buyūt, partly made of timber, from the Jewish woman Naẓar bt. Abū l-Ḥasan. The transaction took place in Minyat Zifta. The courtyard is described as containing a water closet (mirḥāḍ) and the root (? aṣl) of a ziziphus tree (sidr). The house borders on those of 3 Muslims and 1 Christian. On verso there are additional notes in Arabic script. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Fragment from guide for pilgrims.

Legal document. Fragment (bottom part only). Location: Fustat. Probably a deed of gift from Avraham b. [...] b. Yefet, (There is a blank space after Avraham's name, probably to fill in his father's name later). The value is 60 dinars ("half of which is 30 dinars"). AA

Legal agreement. In Judaeo-Arabic. Damaged and torn. Dating: 1481 Seleucid, which is 1169/70 CE, as it mentions "the upcoming year which is 1482" (line 2). The parties are Abū Saʿd and Yefet (one of them is also called al-Ḥazzan). It may be dealing with a person who should have brought money (sums of 2 dinars and 30 dinars are mentioned) from the Rif to Fustat during the month of high holidays. (שהר אלמועדים). There is a clause stating that in a certain situation, a document (maybe this agreement itself) is no longer valid, including in Muslim courts. The parties seem to be agreeing on who can be where at what times of the year. One agrees not to come to Fustat during the high holidays; the other agrees not to enter Alexandria until the high holidays. AA. ASE.

Multifragment. Fol. 1r: List of different quantities of grain in enormous Arabic script. Fol. 1v: Legal document (lower right corner) involving the sale of a share of a property; one person is named Abū Saʿd. Signed by Shelomo b. Nissim ha-Levi. Both fragments are written on parchment.

Multifragment. Fol. 2: Mercantile accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. On parchment. Dating: Probably 11th century. A vast sum of 2,033 dinars is cashed in Qayrawān for consignments of indigo, sugar, and silver (vessels or disused coins). Also mentions al-Mahdiyya. (Information from Goitein's index card and Med Soc I, 216n31.) Both fragments are written on parchment.