Geniza Lab

Report from Tyre to the chancery of al-Malik al-Afḍal concerning military and administrative affairs on the coast of Palestine, dating probably to 1108 CE. Same scribe (and possibly same document as) T-S AS 129.149 + T-S Ar.39.280 + T-S AS 116.11 + T-S NS 137.20 + T-S NS 207.44 + AIU I.C.73 + T-S NS 238.99 + T-S NS 244.84. This segment describes how an unidentified enemy gained control of (iḥtawat ʿalā) ʿAsqalān and had ambitions to conquer ʿAkkā. However, the king and his cavalry were victorious over them. Someone believed that "the sultan of Egypt has no power" but this was mere envy. Reused for Hebrew dirges on verso (different scribe and Hebrew content than the other report from Tyre). ASE

Dirges in Hebrew and one apparently in Ladino.

List of valuable goods with prices in the tens of dinars. The name Shemuel b. Moshe appears twice. Evidently jottings of accounts (or part of a trousseau list?). In the same hand there is a Judaeo-Arabic poem or prayer. In a different hand, there are Hebrew verses.

Two lines of a state document probably, based on format. But might also something poetical, referring to love: ḥālī yattaṣilhā l-hawā wa-l-maḥabba wa-ʿindahumā tasquṭ al-munāẓara.... Reused on verso for Hebrew literary text.

Letter of condolence from a woman (name unknown) to Ṣedaqa b. Ṣemaḥ, the son of her late brother. Opens with four lines of biblical verses in Hebrew commonly referred to as צידוק הדין, then continues in Judaeo-Arabic. The deceased seems to be female family member named ʿAzīza, who left orphaned girls behind (ll. 10–11). The sender says that the pain of her bereavement is equal to the pain that she experienced when her brother (Ṣedaqa's father) died (ll. 5–6). She invokes the trope that it is best not to grieve for too long, "because it does no good, all I have gained from sorrow and weeping is blindness." If God sends health to the addressee and his family, they should inform her (the nature of their ailment is not clear, whether it is an organic disease, or illness on account of grief, or something in between). Greetings to Mūsā and to all the addressee's sisters again. Abū ʿAlī, Hiba, and Surūr send their condolences. One of them (likely Surūr) is "sick and ruined" ever since he came from Ṣedaqa with the news. Greetings to Faḍāʾil and Abū Saʿd. On the identity of the addressee: Sedaqa b. Semah (sometimes called "the poet," ha-Meshorer) appears in numerous Geniza documents, including Bodl. MS heb. b 11/3 (dated 1130 CE), Bodl. MS heb. d 66/7 (dated 1132 CE), Bodl. MS heb. d 66/96 (a letter from the silk weaver Abū Saʿd Seʿadya b. Avraham, perhaps the same cousin mentioned here), and DK 230.2 (likewise a letter from Abū Saʿd Seʿadya). (Information in part from Ezra Chwat.)

Letter in Arabic script. There is a very polite opening with expressions of love for the addressee, it seems leading into a request (which is lost). On verso there is a dirge in Hebrew (which appears to be the theme of the T-S K8 binder.)

Official letter in Arabic script. The ends of 6 lines are preserved. Mentions jihād, possibly in the context of the Crusades, since the scribe who reused verso for Hebrew poetry was active around 1100 CE (compare T-S NS 111.140 and all the matches on Joins Suggestions).

Legal fragment. In Hebrew, with some uncommon formulae. Involves Moshe b. Yaʿaqov.

Fragment of a legal document in Arabic script. Dated: 12 Muḥarram 52[.] AH = 1126–34 CE.

Responsum. Index of Geonic responsa and their subject matter, numbered and organised by authority or questioner where known (‘questions of the people of Wādī al-Qarī to rabbenu Šerira Gaʾon’). ;Belongs with T-S Misc. 35.90, T-S Misc. 35.104, T-S Misc. 35.105, T-S NS 310.64 and T-S NS 329.445. (cudl and AA)

Late accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Literary text in Judaeo-Arabic, very faded.

Recto: Accounts in Arabic. Verso: Formulary for a love spell in Judaeo-Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic.

Prayer in Hebrew. Verso contains two lines in Arabic.

Recto: Letter in Arabic script, with the last line in Hebrew. The addressee is Abū Faḍl and his ghulām Bū ʿAdl (?) is mentioned. The rest is neatly written but rather faded. Verso: Apart from a few words in Arabic, appears to be an account in Judaeo-Arabic organized by the parshiyot. Sitt Kāfūr is named.

Letter fragment. Late. In Hebrew. "In this city, nothing is cheap except for bread. . . . 3 ounces of "Ẓefat" are here worth two silver coins. It is not possible to sell wine in this city. I thought, after I leave this place, what will I do in the villages? I do not want to go to the villages, for as you have seen, I returned sick several times because I am not accustomed to walking outside. I said to myself that I will remain here for some time until I raise some [money] (?). . . ."

The bulk of the text is Hebrew, possibly a letter. It praises somebody and describes "a scent superior to qaneh and cinnamon. . . like a section of pomegranate." The original text is in Arabic, probably a portion of a letter.

Fragment of a marriage document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, dated 1123/4 CE.

Legal document dated 1220 CE (24 Sivan 1531) under the reshut of Avraham Maimonides. The handwriting is very rudimentary; needs further examination for content.

Multiple documents sharing one bifolium. (1) There is a draft of a legal attestation that al-Shaykh al-Ḥakīm al-Muhadhdhab Abī Saʿīd b. Shela ha-Sar betrothed a woman who is both a virgin and a divorcee. Al-Muhadhdhab Abū Saʿīd is also named in T-S NS J494. (2) An entry in Arabic containing several words in Judaeo-Arabic: the document of the dowry belonging to the daughter of Yūsuf b. Nufayʿ. Someone of the same name appears in T-S NS J357 (mid-13th-century). (3) and (4): Other entries, it seems also marriage-related, in a mix of Arabic and Hebrew.