Geniza Lab

Fatimid-era petition. Dating: 422–23 AH, which is 1031–32 CE. End of a petition to the caliph al-Ẓāhir requesting the return of a church to the Christian community and the payment of a sum of 24 dinars in yearly installments of 6 dinars. On verso there are biblical verses with a Hebrew commentary relating the verses to recent historical events. (Information from Khan and CUDL)

Letter probably from Sulaymān al-Maghribī, in Gaza, to his brother-in-law ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Ṣā'igh, probably in Fustat/Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, after 1425 CE because the currency ashrafī is mentioned; likely 15th or 16th century. Among other matters, the writer complains that a certain woman passes the holiday with her own family and not with the writer. This is a very long and nearly complete letter. Needs further examination. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE

Letter fragment addressed to a woman. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Perhaps late 12th or early 13th century, based on the handwriting. The writer accuses her of having ruined the honor of her family and his family, although he does not believe the more serious rumors about her. Information in part from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Avraham b. Natan, possibly in Tyre, to a tenant of his, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Gil identified the sender based on his handwriting. Dating: ca. 1094 CE. The sender tells the addressee to pay the rent that is due to Nahray b. Nissim (called both "Rabbenu" and "Gadol ha-Yeshiva"), who will forward it to the sender, who needs it to pay his own rent. The addressee and his wife must be very careful in looking after the house, and especially must not sublet it to anybody who will mess it up. They should send an update on it, and inform the sender about who is living on the lower floor. The lower floor must not be let to a Jew, "because a Jew will want an oven (tannūr) and kitchen (maṭbakh)," which is not feasible on the lower floor. "You know that I let it ONLY to you. Comply(?) with the terms and pay the rent which you owe to Rabbenu Nahray." (Information in part from Gil's edition and Goitein’s index card.)

Letter in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (per Goitein) to an unidentified person. In Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee's mother and sister were involved in an affair of 220 copper dirhams belonging to the widow of Abū l-Surūr who had 'screamed' against her 'oppressor.' The qāḍī had already dealt with the matter which was a "desecration of the name of God in public" (חילול השם בפרהסיא). Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter fragment. In Arabic script, with the Hebrew names (Shabbetay b. [...] and Barukh) written in Hebrew script. Mentions Shavuʿot (al-ʿAnṣara) and a Christian named Buṭrus and al-Mawlā Ibn al-Sabīʿī (="the son of the Seventh").

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. In an unusually calligraphic style with some space between the lines. Very damaged. Mentions someone named Bū Manṣūr. Note that there are two fragments under this shelfmark; the other one is literary ("the first Hebrew phrase from each verse of Psalms 95:1-101:8,102:4-103:22").

Family letter from a son to his father, Abu al-Muna al-Muwaffaq. Two main family matters are discussed. First, the son states that his brother-in-law, a Rumi, has stolen the Ketubba (marriage contract) of his sister. The son had intended to bring the Rumi to the head of the police or to the rabbinical court, but he had already run away. Secondly, the writer asks his father to allow his brother, Abu Ishaq, to spend the holidays with him. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 114, and from Goitein's index cards)

Bifolium containing Hebrew literary text (evidently lists of haftarot) as well as a single page containing drafts for a letter addressed to Abū l-Fakhr b. Abū Isḥāq b. Abū l-Fakhr al-Amshāṭī. This letter draft is in calligraphic Arabic script; there is also some Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew in the space around it.

Family letter in Arabic script. Mentions Cairo and the writer's mother and an amir. Needs further examination. On verso there is an Aramaic text, apparently (per FGP) Zechariah 3:2, 9; 4:2 (tosefta to the haftarot).

Tiny fragment of an Arabic-script document in a chancery hand. Mention a sum of X-hundred dinars and the phrase "...which are mine, and that..." (allatī lī fa-tilka).

Probably part of a court record. (Information from CUDL)

Possibly part of a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Possibly part of a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Possibly part of a letter. In Arabic script. The first words of about a dozen lines are preserved. (Information in part from CUDL)

Possibly parts of a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. Small fragment (upper right corner). Mentions the name Yosef [b. ...] Elʿazar. On verso there are quotations from Zechariah 8:19–23, Obadiah 1:21; Jonah 1:1–5 (haftarot?). (Information from CUDL.)

Fragment of a business letter in Arabic script (wa-innamā katabtu... al-ḥisāb...).

The beginnings of two lines of an official letter in Arabic script. On verso reused for Hebrew seliḥot.