Geniza Lab

Account, various names, commodities and prices are mentioned. AA

Mercantile letter from Yaḥyā b. Isḥāq, in Alexandria, to Mawhūb or [... b.] Mawhūb. In Judaeo-Arabic. Maghribī hand. Dating: 11th century. Fragment (left side of recto). AA. ASE.

Bifolio from an account book of a druggist/perfumer (ʿaṭṭār). (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Account of the Qodesh: revenue from rent, ca. probably 1043. This record written by Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya still refers to "the four months" mentioned in T-S 20.168, and seems therefore to be a continuation of it. It refers mainly to the collection of the arrears that were enumerated in the former part. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 195 #23.) See also Goitein's note card.

Multifragment. P1: Epistolary (formulary for writing letters). In Judaeo-Arabic. Contains both common and uncommon formulae. Goitein notes that it is older than the epistolary in T-S Ar.54.25. The hand seems familiar from other fragments (e.g., Moss. I,109), maybe ca. 12th century. Model letters here include: asking someone to do something for you; responding to a request to do something for someone; and congratulations upon the birth of a son (ghulām) or daughter (ibna/jāriya); it is not immediately clear if these terms which literally mean "male slave" and "female slave" refer to actual slaves here (probably not, and Goitein does not seem to think so; he also notes that he has never encountered an actual Geniza letter with congratulations on the birth of a girl). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card and Med Soc III, p. 474 note 19.)

Multifragment. P2: Maghribī business letter from the 11th century. Nearly entirely preserved, but faded. Mentions well-known merchants such as Barhūn Ibn al-Tāhirtī (r4). Needs examination for content. Uncited in the literature.

Legal query addressed to Great Rav Elʿazar of Alexandria (ha-Gaon, ha-Nasi). Concerning two men who had an argument over chess. "The two spread out the chessboard and played in accordance with the rules, play after play, and move after move, when a checkmate (shēh mēt) came in sight to A, without B noticing it." The remaining script indicates that one party was not agreeable. (Information from Goitein's index card and Med Soc V, p. 44.)

Letter fragment sent from Alexandria to Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer tried 2 or 3 times to travel, but it was impossible owing to the rain (shitā). (Information from Goitein's note card)

Letter ending written from Fustat to Alexandria about a dispute between Yehuda (al-'Ammani?) and Yusuf al-Ifranji in the days of Avraham Maimonides. Apparently Hananel did not allow Yehuda to travel from Fustat to Alexandria before an answer to his letter reached him. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Declaration about five generations of males and females related by ramified family connections. Dated to the 13th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 286)

Bifolio with weekly communal accounts for August–December 1387 CE (1698 Seleucid). In Judaeo-Arabic and Greek/Coptic numerals. The money collected is handed over every week (20 weeks) to another person. The second fragment under this shelfmark is a bifolio of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals; unclear if related. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Earlier text: Letter from a man to his father. In Judaeo-Arabic. Contains mostly regards to family members and extensive urgings to come visit for the Sabbath. AA. ASE.

Later text: Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. AA. ASE.

Account including list of goods and their costs in dirhams, arranged in two columns (data from Baker & Polliack catalogue). AA

Popular literature in rhymed Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably no earlier than 13th century. 8 folios. NB: Goitein's index card refers to this fragment as "daily household expenditure for the months of Shevaṭ and Adar," but this must refer to a different fragment, probably somewhere in the T-S Ar.54 folder.

Fragment (lower part) in the same hand [Shelomo b.Eliyyahu's] as T-S K15.74; T-S K15.88; T-S NS J256. List of cash receipts, arranged according to days and indicating which official collected the sums and to whom they were delivered. In several cases, orders of payment, referred to here as hawala, literally, transfer of debt, were given. Some items are noted as 'balance of his vow,' or 'part of what he owes.' Only the column 'Tuesday,' headed by the Nagid who gives 10 dirhams (next highest payment: 5), is completely preserved (9 contributions). Besides a hawala of 5, there were 34 dirhams in cash, of which 25 were delivered to the parnas Baqa, while the writer retained 9. The total of one collection, presumably for a week, was 162 dirhams, for which a collector's fee of 6 dirhams was charged, while three other persons, two parnasim and a beadle, brought 45 plus 19 dirham plus 1 dinar and 45 plus 10 1/2 [? not visible on microfilm]. Total 119 1/2 dirhams plus 1 dinar; also a sum of approximately 160 dirhams, for which a jibaya, collection fee, of 6 dirhams was paid. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 488, App. C 45, dated first part of 13th century)

Copy of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Written on a reused fragment of a letter in Arabic script (the only part preserved is the basmala and the opening "ṣalawāt Allāh wa-bara[kātuh]"). Describing the endeavors of Abū Saʿd "the seventh" to become head of the Jews by bribing the vizier ('mutawallī bāb al-sulṭān') Ibn al-Salār. These endeavors were directed against the court physician and head of the Jews, the Nagid Abū Manṣūr Shemuel b. Ḥananya (in office 1140–59 with interruptions). (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 32, 528, and M. A. Friedman's article on Zuta, p. 479.)

Account of a partnership, ca. 1218-19. Fragment of a leaf on which the accounting for the apartment of Ibrahim b. al-Sha'ir is presereved. The apartment is in the compound named after Menashshe (b. Yosef, the judge). Ibrahim b. al-Dayyan, mentioned in our documents of this period, is perhaps the son of the judge who lives in the apartment, half of which belongs to the qodesh. The compound is elsewhere described as shirkat al-Dayyan R. Menashshe. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 422 #125)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Business letter in Hebrew and Arabic script about the sale of silk, flax, olive oil and other commodities.