Geniza Lab

Account of the Qodesh: revenue from rent, ca. 1040. A fragment seemingly belonging to the same record as T-S NS J264a and also written by Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. It contains a partial accounting of rent collected for (probably) Dhu'l-qa'da and Dhu'l-hijja, i.e. the accounts for five months, between T-S NS J264a and this one, are lost. Almost all the tenants are identical with those of T-S NS J264a. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 184 #16)

Legal document in Arabic script. This fragment contains the bottom portion only, with many witness statements/signatures. Very damaged. On verso there is Hebrew literary text.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Letter/petition in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely early 13th century. Dealing with communal politics and controversies at length, but in vague terms. It likely has to do with Avraham Maimonides' decision regarding the appointment of 3 judges in Alexandria (see Mordechai Akiva Friedman, "The Nagid, the Nasi and the French Rabbis: A Threat to Abraham Maimonides' Leadership" Zion 82 (2017) 193–266). This letter is addressed to someone titled Sayyidnā or at least someone close to him; mentions R. Yiṣḥaq throughout (possibly Yiṣḥaq b. Ḥalfon); also mentions (at the bottom of verso) a judge named Ḥananel ha-Ḥasid, likely the well-known Ḥananel b. Shemuel. The last line of the fragment also mentions an evil man possibly named Abū l-ʿAlāʾ Munīr. Needs further examination. (Identifications provided by Amir Ashur and Mordechai Akiva Friedman.)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Recto: from an Arabic medical textbook, including the opening of the chapter on phlebotomy of the basilic vein. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic list of members of various families headed with the word "tarḥīm" (memorial service/prayer, except that some of these individuals seem to still be living, e.g. "Natan ha-Kohen has two sons, Shemarya and Shemuel"). ASE.

State document (decree?). In Arabic script, in a chancery hand. Huge letters and wide space between the lines. Some words: ...الاحتجاج ويتعجل حمله(؟)... فقد علم الله.... Reused for a Judaeo-Arabic literary text.

Fiscal accounts relating to agrarian administration for the kharājī year 430 (spanning the lunar years 431 and 432 AH, corresponding to 1039–41 CE) issued by Idrīs b. Isḥāq and detailing the revenues in vetch, chickpeas and clover and the overall amount of produce. Quantities are expressed in irdabbs. (Information from Khan.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. In a lovely hand; the same scribe seems to have reused numerous Arabic-script documents for literary/liturgical text (see Joins Suggestions). This letter was intended to be sent from Fustat to an addressee who had recently set sail from Alexandria (presumably this is a draft or it was never sent). The letter opens with a quotation from Jeremiah 17:7. A few days after the addressee(s) set out to sea from Alexandria, Abū l-Faḍl (or Ibn al-Faḍl?) Ibn Sabra arrived "drowning" (ghāriq), which caused distress to everybody (did he survive a shipwreck?). The sender reports that the Nile completed its flood (al-māʾ qad awfā) at "5 from 17," which probably means 5 fingers short of 17 cubits. ("A cubit until the height of twelve cubits was divided into twenty-eight fingers, and equaled 0,539m≈54cm. A cubit above the height of twelve cubits consisted of twenty-four fingers, and equaled 0,462m≈46cm," per Kristine Chalyan-Daffner, "Socio-Cultural Attitudes to the Flooding of the Nile (13th–16th Centuries)" (2015).) The sender reports that everything in Egypt is perfect under the ruler (al-Mustanṣir or a vizier?), that new territory is conquered by him every day, that coins have been minted for him, ואלדעוה פי מכות (this phrase is difficult to understand—does it refer to the Fatimid Daʿwa?), and his forces have reached as far as Minyat al-Rudaynī (in the Sharqiyya district in the Nile Delta). ASE.

Letter from the office of Yehoshua the Nagid (d. 1355), a grandson of a grandson of the Rambam, to the Jerusalemite synagogues concerning an erection of a Sukkah and redemption of pawned Torah bells.

Original text(s): Document(s) in Arabic script in a chancery hand. Recto and verso have pieces of what are probably two different documents. Recto looks like a couple words from a decree (وىقطع عن ..). Verso looks like a report or petition with three and a half lines preserved, mentioning al-Manṣūr b. Ṭ[...]. Needs further examination.

Letter of condolence from Mawhūb b. Aharon ha-Ḥazzan, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat (?). Dating: ca. 1070. This is a draft. The writer expresses his sorrow for the passing of Nahray’s wife, the mother of his son Abū Saʿd Nissim b. Nahray. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #756.) VMR

Letter from the French rabbi Shemuel b. Yaʿaqov to Avraham Maimonides. In Hebrew. Written across at least two bifolia. Among many other matters, Shemuel objects vigorously to a legal opinion of a certain R. Yeshaʿya which Avraham apparently inclined to accept: "Do not think that he is a great man and a great sage and that we are ignoramuses...." The letter also includes information about Shemuel's contact with rabbis in ʿAkkā. (Information from Friedman, "The Nagid, the Nasi and the French Rabbis," 230, 260.)

Family letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to a 'son.' Dating: Unknown; might be 11th century. There are some unusual phrases, such as "al-ʿāqiba li-barakāt" instead of the standard "al-ʿaqiba lil-khayr" (meaning "may it all turn out well"). There is a long prologue with expressions of longing and conveying happiness at the news of the arrival of Zayn. Then the sender says that they are in a terrible state of fear (khawf) from something. Wheat is "8 for a dinar." The addressee is asked to (send a petition and) "obtain a rescript (tawqīʿ) for us from your in-laws(?)...." Greetings to various people, including Sitt al-Ahl; the sender's sister; and the sister(?) of Bū l-Ḥasan and her children. Greetings from Bū l-Khayr, Yūsuf, ʿAshā(?), Khulayf, and Banīna and her mother.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic on the back of astrological prognostications for the days of the month.

Account of the Qodesh. Revenue from rent. Dating: probably ca. 1043. The right margin of the leaf is missing; however, we have in it an almost complete list of revenue for one month, Rabīʿ I, and fragmentary details on the preceding one, i.e. Ṣafar, and the following one, i.e. Rabīʿ II. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 203 #27.) Previous description for T-S AS 145.18 (old PGPID 8612): List of rents collected from premises belonging to the Shāmī synagogue. Written by David b. Shekhanya. Dating: No later than 1025 CE. See Med Soc II, p. 436. (Information from Goitein's index card.) Join: Oded Zinger.

Medical recipes for dental hygiene. Medical text regarding the importation and trade of miswāk sticks to be used as toothbrushes, of honey, ginger, pepper, zatar (wild oregano) and other spices that are related to the treatment of mouth and tooth. The text preserves some indication for the preparation of the aforementioned ingredients, including their baking; other instructions deal with the dipping of the miswāk in a medical preparation. Mention is made of glass from Syria and of Salt Andarānī, which is believed to be the same as the salt of Sodom mentioned in the Talmud and to derive from the Syrian town of Andara. Information from CUDL.

Recto: Petition or report to a Fatimid vizier, ending only, including raʾy, ḥamdala and ḥasbala. 5th century AH/11th century CE. Possible join with T-S Ar.22.140 which uses the same titulature. Verso: Hebrew poetry.