Geniza Lab

Mercantile accounts in Arabic script. Mentions cinnamon, pepper, coriander, dates. Written in the blank space remaining on a bifolio of Hebrew poetry.

Recto: Official letter. Approximately 14 lines are preserved. Dating: No earlier than 1021 CE, since al-Ḥākim was dead at the time of writing. Possibly dating to the reign of al-Ẓāhir (1021–36). A letter of gratitude for the sender's patron(s) who aided him in obtaining a decree/rescript renewing his appointment in a certain position. Mentions Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan b. Qāsim ("his waliyy and khādim") who brought a mighty decree (sijill muʿaẓẓam) from the caliph (min al-ḥaḍra al-muṭahhara), apparently renewing the sender's appointment "in carrying on my service these districts" (bi-l-jary ʿalā rasmī fī khidmatī bi-hādhihi al-aʿmāl) "and informed me of the benefaction of my masters...." The sender blesses the addressee that he be "in the shadow/protection" (bi-ẓill) of al-Ḥākim (God's peace be upon him / salām Allāh ʿalayhi). Goes on to mention the gratitude of the whole "community" (al-jamāʿa). The line containing the ḥamdala and ṣalwala was originally located at the bottom of the document, but it has migrated to the top due to how it was rolled, glued, and cut open. On verso there is dream interpretation in Judaeo-Arabic. Somehow related to BT Ber. 55 ff (information from Gideon Bohak via FGP). ASE

State or legal document in Arabic script. 6 lines are preserved, with moderately wide space in between. Mentions "wa-khaṭṭ al-shaykh Abū l-Faraj" and "[...] al-madhkūr." On verso there is Hebrew text in a very crude hand. Needs further examination.

Large account in Arabic script. Unclear for what. Sums of money are listed together with months of the year. The year 497 is mentioned = 1103/04 CE. Reused for Hebrew (piyyuṭ?) on verso. Needs further examination.

Ownership note on a literary work that resembles but is not identical with Ruth Rabba (information from FGP). "The undersigned witness that Yehuda b. Ovadya sold this commentary to Elazar b. Yehuda. . . ."

"Although the majority of the material preserved in the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection comes from the periods of Fatimid and Ayyubid rule in Egypt, it is not unusual to come across much earlier or much later material. The fragment T-S Misc.22.310, that was brought to my attention by my collegue Dr Amir Ashur, belongs clearly to the latter group: at the bottom of f. 2v it bears the date August 10th 1865 together with the signature of the petitioner, an Italian subject, Jacub Dayyan. The fragment is a large paper bifolium and each of its leaves was folded in two on its width, thus dividing the writable surface into eight columns. Four columns are filled with the Italian text of the petition in a large, elegant and very slanted handwriting, which is easily legible; one and a half columns contain Arabic text, written in a seemingly clear – yet actually quite impenetrable – script, which appears to be an abridged version of the Italian document. The petition is addressed to the Illustrissimo Signor Cavaliere Licurgo Macciò Regio Console d’Italia in Cairo, the Royal Italian consul in Cairo, and it deals with a private matter, the subtraction, detention and exploitation of a pair of cows belonging to the petitioner, Jacub Dayyan, by an administrator of His Excellence Ibrahim Bey." Gabriele Ferrario, Fragment of the Month, March 2011.

Letter from Mordechai b. Yizhaq Shraga Feivish, perhaps in Rafah, to R. Yom Tov the Av Beit Din of Cairo, probably Yom Tov Israel Cherezli who served as chief rabbi in Cairo from 1866–84. Written in Hebrew. He writes to inform the rabbinic authorities that the bill of divorce he gave his wife is illegitimate, because he was under duress by wicked people. He expands on the wickedness of the locals and how "underneath justice (mishpat) there is perversion of justice (mispaḥ), and underneath righteousness (ẓedaqa) there are screams (ẓeʿaqa)." Mordechai's wife, Royze bt. Hayyim Yizhaq, "screamed" at him day and night and said that if he refused her a get she would prostitute herself. Thus he was forced to give her a get. He came up with the trick (perhaps she was illiterate) to give her a get under a bogus name, and here in this letter he gives his true name (twice) to R. Yom Tov. He then pleads with R. Yom Tov ("I scream because such evil should be done in Israel") to side with him and presumably to declare the divorce null. He adds a postscript, "The true ketubba that I gave her on the wedding day is entrusted with the Consul in Port Said." ASE.

Recto: Document in Arabic script, possibly drafts of formal addresses for an important person. There is also one line in Hebrew characters reading 'morenu Shem[arya?].' Verso: Hebrew literary text.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Business letter, first half of the 16th century. The subject matter is a dispute between merchants who dealth in skins, pepper, and tin. An Avraham b. Hayyim is named. Information from Avraham David's edition.

Recto: Fragment of a letter in Arabic script. Verso: Piyyut.

Record of a testimony written in Alexandria regarding a family excommunicated by Daniel b. Azarya. The members of the family desecrate his memory. Date: May 1079.

Letter from Avraham b. Natan Av ha-Yeshiva, probably Fusṭāṭ, to the cantor Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham, Damsīs. Much of the letter has to do with Avraham asserting his authority, including issuing a stern warning to a man named Ziyād ("this is a donkey's name") in Shubrā Damsīs who is to cease and decist from slaughtering birds, otherwise he will be prosecuted. Avraham also tells the addressee to sell the goods (? tarika) of R. Matitya and send the earnings with Ṣabāh or whomever else from the merchants. Avraham has already received the value of Matitya's goods that had been left behind in Damīra.

Letter from Aharon b. Yeshuʿa ha-Rofe to Yiṣḥaq ha-Rav ha-Muvhak b. Shemuel ha-Ḥasid ha-Sefaradi. The writer received the addressee's letter regarding the wherebaouts of Abū l-[...] b. Abū l-Maʿālī b. Asad and reports his efforts to track him down. He heard that he was in Damīra, so he sent two messengers, but he had just barely left and gone on to Jūjar. There is then a somewhat difficult line—perhaps that the writer again had to send a messenger instead of going in person, because Jūjar is on a different branch of the Nile than that of al-Maḥalla, "for between al-Maḥalla and it are two rivers (baḥrayn) and a lake (buḥayra)." The writer sent with the messenger several letters, including to the cantor and to the head of the congregation. The writer will follow the orders of the great judges. In the margin he praises but does not name the Nagid (Sar ha-Sarim Rosh ha-Seder). Apart from the address, verso contains several jottings in Hebrew. ASE.

Letter of appeal from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in the synagogue of the Jerusalemites in Fustat, to a communal dignitary. The letter is signed and dated: 1508 Seleucid, which is 1196/97 CE (1508 Seleucid). Moshe describes how he is a cantor like his father and grandfather and great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather and his paternal uncle, and how the recipient has always bestowed favor on his father and grandfather. Perhaps he wants an official appointment as a cantor in Fustat? Moshe lived much of his life in Qalyūb but was evidently staying in Fustat at this point. ASE.

Court record. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: Ṭevet 1438 Seleucid, which is 1126/27 CE. A woman (Ḥasana bt. Menashshe ha-Kohen the wife of Elʿazar b. Mevorakh ha-Kohen) had sued her brother (the banker Abū l-Ḥasan Shelomo b. Menashshe ha-Kohen) in the Muslim courts after she learned that the female slave (Iftikhār) she had purchased from him (for 17 dinars) had "defects" (ʿuyūb) which made her want to return her. They settled the matter when her brother agreed to reimburse 1.25 dinars of the purchase price. She has now received the settlement money, and she releases her brother from all subsequent claims against him in this matter. (Information in part from Craig Perry via FGP.)

List in large Arabic script. Perhaps materia medica? Saffron (zaʿfarān) appears. Reused for Judaeo-Arabic jottings of formulaic phrases from a letter and the beginning of a recipe for hiera (iyārij) which includes saffron.

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. Verso: Halakhic text on creeping things (שרצים / شراصيم) in Hebrew and in Arabic script interspersed with Hebrew.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Three court records dealing with the same conflict over bay windows of two confronting houses which were touching. Dated: Tuesday, last decade of Shevaṭ, 1419 Sel. (February 1108). When both houses fell into disrepair and, after many years, one of them was rebuilt, witnesses testify that the alcove of the original house had protruded from the wall by about one cubit. Signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya. Written by Hillel b. Eli. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 61-62, where he mistakenly cites this as T-S Misc.24.5, for which see PGPID 35229 and Med. Soc. I p. 110. We have retained all index cards and both transcriptions under both PGPIDs.)