Geniza Lab

Small fragment of a legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Damaged, difficult to extract much. (Information in part from CUDL)

Accounts. In Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew numerals. (Information from CUDL)

Accounts, mentioning several purses, sums in dinars and names such as al-Anṣārī. (Information from CUDL)

End of a legal deed from Fustat. Only the date and one signature are preserved. Dated to 5295= 1534. Signed by the scribe Nathan b. Abraham. AA

Letter of Abū l-Maḥāsin b. ʿAlī the trader, introduced by citations from Proverbs 3:4, Psalms 37:11 and 119:165. Mentions consingments of medical commodities such as betel palm (fawfal), amomum (qāqulla) and quince (safarjal), a doctor’s visit and names such as Naḥūm the perfumer and Abū Manṣūr Ibn al-Ṣāʾiḡ (goldsmith), cousin of the writer. (Information from CUDL.) The writer excuses the poor appearance of his letter ('my mind is not present') on account of his great preoccupation for his two friends who are sick, Naḥum al-ʿAṭṭār and his cousin (b. ʿammatī) Abū Manṣūr the son of the tax farmer of ברמא. The writer leaves the shop and visits each of them 5 or 6 times a day, because they are 'cut off' from anyone who can go to the physician for them. ASE.

Accounts, mentioning several sums of dinars and names such as Ibn al-Majjānī. Hebrew numerals. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment from a private letter. The writer express his longing for the addressee. AA

Literary

Legal document mentioning a certain Ibn Mihnab (?) ("son of the idiot"). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Refers to moving from a man's house to somewhere else. Also to 'the rent of the middle.' (Information in part from CUDL)

Informal note written and signed by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu addressed to 'al-Kohen.' The addressee must not hand over the garment that 'the Jew' bought from him and pawned, because it has gone out of his possession and belongs to somebody else who will pay the debt and redeem the thawb.

End of a fragment, contains only the name of Perahya. The nature of this fragment is unclear and could be an address on a letter or a colophon. AA

Halakhic work, possibly a responsum, concerning betrothal and marriage. Features the proverbial Reuben and Shimon. (Information from CUDL.) Reuven engaged or betrothed the daughter of Shimon without seeing her. "As the time of the wedding approached, Reuben demanded to see her first. At this point, the manuscript is badly damaged, but it appears that Shimon rejected Reuben's demand and argued that a man should see his bride only after he marries her." See Ashur, A. (2008). T-S AS 149.178: A Legal Query in Judaeo-Arabic concerning a Bashful Bride. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, October 2008]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.48230.

Legal record(s) in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. The one on recto involves a dispute over wood (akhshāb) and someone named Abū Zikrī.

Accounts, mentioning Cairo and names such as Ibn Miska, Ibn Abū l-Surūr, Abū l-Khayr and Abū l-Ṭāhir, and quantities of currency. Hebrew numerals. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document(s). In the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya? Recto is written in Hebrew and mentions Elḥanan Resh Sidra. Shemuʾel Ḥemdat ha-Yeshiva b. Abraham, verso is in Judaeo-Arabic and mentions the Jews in Fustat and Ibn al-F[...] and [...] al-Dawla. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions a basket or container (qafaṣ), 550 dirhams, and balances (mawāzīn). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Note/order addressed to Abū l-Faraj al-Kohen. In Judaeo-Arabic. Instructing him to collect four dirhams from the bearer, the 'boy' (ṣabiyy) of the sender. The note was left incomplete.

Letter from Yosef b. Avraham to Avraham b. Yiju reconstructed from four fragments (the last discovered after the publication of the English edition). The letter was written about a year before IB III, 1, 1136–39. Yosef had a partnership with a young man named Abu al-Faraj b. Musa/Moshe al-Baghdadi. As the investor, Yosef was supposed to receive two thirds of the profit. However, the young man tried to escape from India to Ceylon and from there to another location. Despite this, Yosef is careful not to expose the young man and is willing to provide him with funds to return to Aden, in order to preserve the young man's reputation. The letter also contains various details and instructions regarding Ibn Yiju's and Yosef's commercial dealings. (III, 4 = T-S 10J12.5 III, 5 = T-S NS J181 III, 6 = T-S AS 146.12 III, 6a = T-S AS 149.184)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, probably sent by Abū l-Surūr. Damaged and quite wrinkled. Dating: Looks like 12th or 13th century, based on hand and layout. (Information in part from CUDL)

Piyyutim, probably.