Geniza Lab

Power of attorney. In Hebrew. Dating: 16th century. Ḥayyim b. Yisra'el Moshe ha-Levi appoints his son Yisra'el ha-Levi as his representative in all of his cases in Miẓrayim, especially the one involving Avraham b. Menaḥem Ashkenazi and the maintenance of the young boy Yeḥiel. Information from Avraham David via FGP.

Business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: ca. Nisan 116[.] Seleucid, which is 1149–58 CE (this date is mentioned in the document). The writer mentions Tyre, Egypt (diyār miṣr), and flax. This is a fragment, containing only the right margin and the beginnings of the lines).

Legal document. Dated: Probably [16]11 Seleucid, which is 1299/1300 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Avraham (II) Maimonides. (Avraham I served 1204–37, which does not match any Seleucid date ending with 11; the handwriting is also consistent with a date ca. 1300 CE—it is quite similar to T-S 13J4.13). Seems to be a power of attorney in which the virgin girl Jalāl appoints somebody as her agent for something.

List of some sort in Judaeo-Arabic.

Official letter to a communal leader. In Judaeo-Arabic. Wide space between the lines. The writer requests a rapid answer regarding what is to be done regarding the contents of the letter the writer had previously sent. Regards to and from various people.

Letter from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides to a certain Avraham ha-Sar (likely the same addressee as in T-S 8J40.2) regarding an excommunication. Muslim courts are mentioned. Needs further examination.

Business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Possibly 11th century, on paleographic grounds. Verso contains one line of Arabic script, perhaps the address. Needs further examination.

Agreement regarding a marital match, Malij, 1492 CE (1803 Seleucid). Corrected in comparison with Goitein's notes and with microfilm copy (Z.F.)

Letter from Abū l-Faḍl b. al-Dhahabī to ʿArūs b. Yosef. In Judaeo-Arabic. Written in two different hands. The writer asks the addressee to let the ṭabaqa and send him the rent. 4 waybas of wheat cost 1 dinar; he wants to have one irdabb per month. "In a letter to ʿArūs b. Joseph (dated documents 1088–1116), a traveling mer­chant with his seat in Alexandria orders one irdabb of sieved wheat every month; he clearly did not wish to receive the entire quantity of the yearly provision at once, because, as he mentions, the price was high (only four waybas for 1 dinar)." (Information from Goitein's note card and Med Soc IV, p. 236, n. 74.)

Accounts in Arabic script and Judaeo-Arabic.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Abū l-Ḥasan ha-Talmid b. al-Ḥaver; Karām b. Yūsuf the brother-in-law of Manṣūr the cantor; and Maṣliaḥ. Regards from the addressee's father and sisters. Congratulations on the addressee's health.

Recto: Letter of appeal for charity in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary hand. Written across a bifolium. Perhaps a draft. Verso: The right-hand page is related to the letter of appeal. The left-hand page is very faded; it seems to be a list of names and dates in a mixture of Hebrew script and Arabic script. Needs further examination.

Letter fragment addressed to a Rayyis. In Judaeo-Arabic. The scribe is named Ibn al-Miṣrī.

Multifragment. 25 fragments, most of them legal, almost all of them in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. See Goitein's index card.

P1: Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Probably a partnership agreement.

P10: Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Only a couple of lines are preserved. Refers to Rosh ha-Qehillot and Abū Saʿd.

P12 + P13: Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involves: silk merchandise, some of it in the form of twisted silk yarn ("maftūl"); parties named Ḥalfon, Avraham, and Ḥakam; possibly a business loss and a dispute and a resolution, which involves one of them stating that he will never enter the opponent's house. Interestingly, this document was edited and the pronouns were switched around (first person to third person and vice versa).

P14: Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Refers to a hijri date; a period of 12 months; a tax farmer (ḍāmin) and Abū ʿAlī; and a partnership (sharika). Likely a join with P15.

P15: Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Mentions a certain Abū ʿAlī. Likely a join with P14.