Geniza Lab

Letter draft. In Hebrew. Full of fulsome praises for a very important person who is also a Kohen. Refers specifically to Benei Ṣadoq, so perhaps also a Qaraite? There is also some Arabic script at the top of recto.

Legal testimony. In Judaeo-Arabic. Gives a very detailed report of a conflict that took place in the synagogue on the 9th of Av. Metions people such as al-Kohen al-Nā'ib; Yehoṣadaq ha-Kohen; an elder who is blind (sagi nahor); Ibn Yaḥyā; Wāli l-Ḥarb; R. Ṣadaqa; and a Nasi. Needs examination.

Letter from Shemarya b. David to a prominent Egyptian Jew. Aden, late twelfth century.

Document in striking red ink. Appears to have the form of a letter (opens with "that which you desire to know:") but consists of a long list of materia medica and numbers. Perhaps an inventory of a drug store?

Petition in Judaeo-Arabic to help Thābit al-Hazzan b. al-Munajjim, who was ill and had been imprisoned for two months for not paying his capitation tax. (Information from Goitein's note card)

Recto: Lists in Arabic script. Verso: A table of mysterious symbols. Coptic numerals?

Recto: Faded note in Judaeo-Arabic referring to [...] b. Yosef and Sitt al-Dalāl bt. Yiṣḥaq. Verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Greek/Coptic numerals. In the hand of Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Rosh ha-Seder? Refers to Sadīd al-Dawla Elʿazar ha-Levi Hod ha-Leviyyim. The commodities that are somehow related to him include Sumac, black raisins, and walnut. (NB: Goitein's index cards must be referring to a different shelfmark: "List of contributions. A long list, but mostly effaced. The epithet “our master” (sayyidnā) could refer to either Avraham or David Maimonides. See Med Soc II, App. C, #89.")

Fragment of a letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to an unidentified personality, 1042.

Most of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer assures his mother that he is doing well and tells her not to weep for him. He then gives orders for what should be sent to him with his maternal uncle: sums of money and goods to be collected from various individuals who are named. Only the beginnings of the lines remain on the bottom half; he refers to someone who is sick (fa-innahu wajīʿ). He sends his regards to his maternal aunts and to the wife of his paternal uncle and the whole family. He adds a postscript: "I have sent you several letters. Please ensure they reach aṣḥābunā, and read the "communal letter" (kitāb al-jamāʿah) to them on Shabbat."

Recto: State document in Arabic script. Reused for Hebrew literary text (recto) as well as a draft of a document of the qodesh (verso, see separate record). Join was identified by Moshe Yagur.

Verso: Record of the activities of the qodesh in the late 10th and early 11th century up until 1034 CE, written ca.1040 CE. Join was identified by Moshe Yagur, who writes, "CUL Or.1081 J66 is a fragment of the upper part of a manuscript, whose lower part is ENA 2738.1. They are both a draft of T-S Ar.18(1).35 + T-S 20.96. T-S Ar.18(1).35 + T-S 20.96 and ENA 2738.1 were published by Gil, Pious Foundations, no. 3. The right side of the first lines in T-S 20.96 is missing, and can now be partially reconstructed from CUL Or.1081J66, which matches lines 3-11 of T-S 20.96." Gil writes that Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya was the scribe for both ENA 2738.1 and T-S Ar.18(1).35 + T-S 20.96, but it seems that the document of the qodesh in CUL Or.1081 J66 + ENA 2738.1 is actually in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya. The transcription for ENA 2738.1 is currently listed under PGPID 1251, section [c].

List of distribution of twenty wax candles. See Goitein, Mediterranean Society, II, App. B, #89. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. The names are interesting and include Sayyidnā Waliyy al-Dawlah.

Deed of sale in Judaeo-Arabic. Small fragment, containing text written at a strange angle; perhaps this came from the margin of the original document. This portion is describing the surroundings of a property and mentions Ḥalfon the father of the buyer.

Beginning of a draft petition from a woman. After ca. 1120 (includes taqbīl clause).

Recto: letter to Abū l-Ṭāhir (?). Verso: recipes featuring cheese, lemon, meat, fish, and chicken. (Information from CUDL)

Late and unusual letter in Judaeo-Arabic to the writer's brother Faraj Allāh. The writer opens with greetings to a large number of family members and friends. He has sent 5 chickens, a pair of pigeons, blue and white yarn, white buttons, and colored silk. Faraj Allāh is instructed to sell these only to Jews in the ḥārah, not to any goyim. The people greeted at the beginning (after the brother Faraj Allāh) include: the writer's sister; the boy Manṣūr and the boy Yūsuf; the writer's maternal aunt; the teacher Shemuel; the boy Faraj Allāh; the (female) teacher Qamr; the (female) teacher Sawād; Umm Sulaymān and her daughter ʿAzīzah; the son and wife of his maternal uncle; the neighbors; Manṣūr Dayyān and his mother and wife and children.

Letter of appeal in the name of an old woman, whose mantle was stolen while she was about to wash it in the Nile, asking the community in a well-styled address to help her to buy at least a large shawl. She emphasizes her age and frailty and eye disease as the reason why she cannot help herself. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 170, 500.) ASE.

Letter from a Byzantine silk dyer to the elder al-Najib Ezra in Fustat, detailing that the writer is afflicted by severe agony (al-ʿadhāb al-shadīd) after having been tortured and his children seized as a security. He had allegedly spoiled some previous silk garments, and asks Ezra al-Najib to help in reclaiming his children. (Information partly from Goitein’s index cards.) EMS. Verso also contains the draft of the beginning of a family letter in rudimentary handwriting, in which the writer defenes himself against his brother's rebukes. ASE.

Bill of divorce. Scribed and signed by: Aharon ha-Mumḥe b. Efrayim. Also signed by: Avraham b. Shabbetay.