Geniza Lab

Small fragment of a decree (parts of two lines are preserved, but no full words). Reused for a medical recipe in Judaeo-Arabic. The hand might be one of the known court clerks of the 12th century (Mevorakh b. Natan?).

Formal letter or petition. In Arabic script. 11.5 lines of praise and blessings, followed by 1 line containing a request. Opens: "Marḥaban bi-qudūm al-fāris al-muḥaqqaq..." Needs further examination. Verso has an unidentified text in Hebrew and Aramaic.

Petition from Ṣāliḥ al-Khaybārī, a Jew from the community of Baghdad, to the Fatimid amīr Tāj al-Dawla. In Arabic script. Ṣāliḥ petitions regarding a miserable situation into which he fell after a pledge made to Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn b. Ḥasan. As a consequence, Ṣāliḥ was imprisoned for six months and is still in debt for 300 dinars. In order to repay his debt he was given the task of producing a tunic out of two pieces of Persian fabric, one yellow and one white. This task has not yet been completed, and Ṣāliḥ seems to be seeking the amīr’s understanding and support in this delay. Dating: ca. 11th century. On recto and between the lines and in the margins of verso, there is a Judaeo-Arabic commentary on passages from Genesis, including the days of the creation, the creation of men and the incident of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Information from CUDL and Khan.)

Report to a Fatimid vizier. Khan published T-S K25.221 as the end of petition, but it's impossible to know whether it's a petition or a report. If this join is correct, it's a report. The two fragments are the same size, format, layout and titulature. The differences in the hand on the two documents could be an artifact of the fact that the text on T-S K25.221 is the end of the document and is formulaic, so less carefully written. T-S Ar.22140 was reused for a Judaeo-Arabic commentary on Isaiah 54:1 and 1 Samuel 1:11; T-S K25.221 was reused Hebrew poetry, headed כפיף, and for Arabic accounts. Join: Marina Rustow. (Information from Khan, from CUDL and from Marina Rustow.)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Draft of a begging letter regarding some commercial and apparently personal relationship. A certain Abu al-Ma‘anī is mentioned. A man with this name is familiar from Avraham Maimuni's time, from Alexandria. Verso: draft of opening lines of same document. Both sides are written by Berakhot b. Shemuel who was active in Alexandria during the last decades of the 12th century until 1213.

State document, probably. In Arabic script. Wide space between the lines, 9 lines preserved. On verso there is Hebrew literary text.

Letter probably from Nissim b. Ḥalfon, in Tinnīs, to an unidentified addressee, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: mid-11th century. Almost completely unmentioned in the literature (the exception is Golb, "The Topography of the Jews of Medieval Egypt," p. 138). Identification of the sender is based on handwriting and typical content; cf. Gil, Kingdom of Ishmael, vol. 3, #585–#601. The letter is almost completely preserved; should be edited.

Literary text in Judaeo-Arabic. Includes learned legalistic discussions. After the beginning of a citation of a legal document, it refers to the death of Abū Manṣūr, who is "the son of my sister"; it is not clear if this is an actual person or a fictional example. Also mentions "the illnesses of his heart."

Beginning of a report to the caliph Al-Ẓāhir li-Iʿzāz Dīn Allāh in which a previous report is mentioned. Dating: ca. 411–27 AH, which is 1021–36 CE. On verso there is an Aramaic midrash. (Information from Khan and CUDL.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Unknown sender and addressee; likely one judge or communal official writing to another. The lower left corner is missing. Abū l-Faraj met with the sender and told him that he is taking a trip and that the ketubba has still not been found. It seems that it had been deposited with Abū Zakariyyā Ibn Sugh[mār?] but that someone took it from him. The sender proposes a resolution involving the wife appearing before the court and having a new document drawn up (אלי חית ירסם להא ויקני מנהא) and relinquishing claims against a man (maybe they have divorced, and she was unable to present the ketubba with proof of the payments owed to her).

Administrative note in Arabic script. Unclear exactly how it is related to all the Avraham Maimonides material in this folder. Might be his own handwriting (should be checked against all the other examples), the handwriting of another Jewish official, or even a bulk receipt from a jahbadh? Registering an expenditure of 2005 qarārīṭ (=83.5 dinars) for the ground rent (ḥikr) for the poor Jews of Qaṣr al-Shamʿ for Rabīʿ I 615 AH (=May/June 1218 CE). T-S K25.240 ff.3–6 comprise one cluster (ḥikr receipts?) and T-S K25.240 ff.1, 2, 7, 9, and 10 comprise another cluster (jāliya receipts?). All need examination.

Administrative note in Arabic script. Unclear exactly how it is related to all the Avraham Maimonides material in this folder. Might be his own handwriting (should be checked against all the other examples), the handwriting of another Jewish official, or even a bulk receipt from a jahbadh? Registering an expenditure of 2005 qarārīṭ (=83.5 dinars) for the ground rent (ḥikr) for the poor Jews of Qaṣr al-Shamʿ for Muḥarram 615 AH (=March/April 1218 CE). T-S K25.240 ff.3–6 comprise one cluster (ḥikr receipts?) and T-S K25.240 ff.1, 2, 7, 9, and 10 comprise another cluster (jāliya receipts?). All need examination.

Autograph order in the hand of Avraham Maimonides. Abū l-Majd is to expedite the payment of 81 dirhams to the Muslim Judge Shams al-Din. This is the remaining balance due for the capitation tax of the poor for the Muslim year 614 (ended March 29, 1218) for Shams al-Din. T-S K25.240 consists of small written orders, partly in Hebrew and partly in Arabic script, for monthly payments, made out of the rent-revenue from the pious foundation (waqf) 'Compound of the Poor' or from the pious foundation made by the physician al-Muhadhdhab. All dated orders are from spring and summer, 1218. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 420-421, App. A 48-92; pp. 449-450, App. B 39b [dated 1210-1225]; Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, pp. 218-220)

Verso: Autograph order in the hand of Avraham Maimonides. Abū l-Majd is to send to al-Shaykh al-Thiqa quickly ('and by any stratagem') the payment of 35 dirhams, the remaining balance due for the capitation tax of the poor(?) for the Muslim year 614 (ended March 29, 1218) to the diwan of the Sultan. T-S K25.240 consists of small written orders, partly in Hebrew and partly in Arabic script, for monthly payments, made out of the rent-revenue from the pious foundation (waqf) 'Compound of the Poor' or from the pious foundation made by the physician al-Muhadhdhab. All dated orders are from spring and summer, 1218. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 420-421, App. A 48-92; pp. 449-450, App. B 39b [dated 1210-1225]; Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, pp. 218-220)

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Likely addressed to Avraham Maimonides. "... from Yemen to Qūṣ, and they said there the same thing that Sayyidnā (may his name be eternal) said. They said this to him and denied (what he said?) strenuously and led him to the path of truth... they are preventing him from traveling on account of his legal opponents..."

Recto: End of a letter in Arabic script. The sender asks for a response to this note ("khidma") with news of Sayyidnā (=Avraham Maimonides in this context) and of the mother and the children and the brother Abū Manṣūr.

Verso: Autograph order in the hand of Avraham Maimonides. Written in a mixture of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dated: 2 Iyyar 1529 Seleucid, which is 1218 CE. The cantor al-Makīn is to give the bearer, Faḍl al-Rashīd, a sum of money for the sake of 'jibāyat al-jawālī' (fundraising in order to pay capitation tax(es)). T-S K25.240 consists of small written orders, partly in Hebrew and partly in Arabic script, for monthly payments, made out of the rent-revenue from the pious foundation (waqf) 'Compound of the Poor' or from the pious foundation made by the physician al-Muhadhdhab. All dated orders are from spring and summer, 1218. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 420-421, App. A 48-92; pp. 449-450, App. B 39b [dated 1210-1225]; Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, pp. 218-220)

Verso: Autograph order from Avraham Maimonides. The cantor al-Shaykh al-Makīn is to give 20 dirhams out of the rent from the compound to the judge Yeḥiel for the sake of R. Yosef al-[...]. T-S K25.240 consists of small written orders, partly in Hebrew and partly in Arabic script, for monthly payments, made out of the rent-revenue from the pious foundation (waqf) 'Compound of the Poor' or from the pious foundation made by the physician al-Muhadhdhab. All dated orders are from spring and summer, 1218. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 420-421, App. A 48-92; pp. 449-450, App. B 39b [dated 1210-1225]; Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, pp. 218-220)

Recto: Three fragments of a letter from from Yehuda b. Ṭoviyya ha-Kohen, in Bilbays, to Avraham Maimonides. In Judaeo-Arabic. He reports that he fulfilled the order concerning the ḥaver R. Barukh despite what all the other people said—they don't understand the issue inside and out. The next part seems to do with precious merchandise and a sale—but needs examination.