Geniza Lab

Accounts in Arabic script which list monies (given in Greek/Coptic numerals) owed to (ʿinda) various people, such as Ḥayyim (حايم), Makārim, Yūsuf, Maḥāsin, Abū l-Faraj, Ibrāhīm, Mukhliṣ, Abū ʿAlī, Khalaf, Barakāt, Ḥasūn, Bū Saʿd, Hilāl, and Mūsā. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter with various inquiries addressed to ‘our lord’, including a question about the birkat ḥatanim and about the customs of the meturgemanim with regard to the writing of the divine name with three yods. Datable to after the era of Maimonides, as reference is made to the Sefer Ahava (Mishne Tora). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from Tyre to David b. Daniel, Fustat, probably 1092.

A commentary on poetry, and piyyuṭim, including one by Hayye Gaʾon on the topic of circumcision. F. 1r begins, after a בשמ׳ רחמ׳, ‘A synopsis of some verses of (the poem) את ערובת by Yeḥezqel ha-Kohen “filled with light” (i.e., blind) al-Danūrī b. ʿAlī, in the hand of Efrayim b. ʿAzarya, known as Ibn Faḍlān (?)’. Later references to al-Danūrī in the text indicate he is dead. (Information from CUDL.)

Letter by Israel Gaon b. Shemuel b. Hophni to an unknown community.

Two letters: one in Arabic by R. Hezkiah. Exilarch and Gaon, dated 1039/40 A.D.; the other in Hebrew, by the same R. Hezekiah to Yaʿaqov b. Amram Nagid in Qayrawan.

From a collection of poetic works by Abraham ibn Ezra, including a mi kamoḵa אל בפלא אשורנו בלבי, with a rubric ולה גירה and numbered 110, and an epistle written to Samuel b. Jāmiʿ, which is numbered 115 in the margin. (Information from CUDL.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya, concerning the prisoners taken on account of the debt of 900 dinars placed on the community of Jerusalem. He also laments his personal poverty. Approximately 1029. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yoshiyya Gaon to Efrayim b. Shemarya, in Fustat. The sender's name is partially preserved at the top of the letter, in a different hand to the body of the letter. Dating: Ca. 1020 CE. Written in Hebrew, with the address in both Arabic script and in Hebrew. Mentions another letter in Hebrew and a different letter in [Arabic, presumably]. Also mentions Ṭuviyya ha-Ḥaver. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter; Literary Fragment from a codex containing copies of the correspondence and poetry of Judah ha-Levi.

Fragment from an originally large codex of correspondence and poetry by Judah ha-Levi. This fragment consists of a copy of a letter by Judah ha-Levi to Moses Ibn Ezra. (Information from CUDL.)

Copy of the story of Natan b. Yiṣḥaq the Babylonian, from 'Akhbar Baghdad.' In Judaeo-Arabic, in the hand of Natan (ha-nezer) b. Shemuel. This is a mid 12th-century copy of a mid 10th-century story. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 40.)

Copy of the story of Natan b. Yiṣḥaq the Babylonian, from 'Akhbar Baghdad.' In Judaeo-Arabic, in the hand of Natan (ha-nezer) b. Shemuel. This is a mid 12th-century copy of a mid 10th-century story. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 40.)

Letter of recommendation written by Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq, 'av bet dinsellekol yisra'el', for Yehoshuaʿ b. Eli and David b. Shemuel.

Aram - Copies of six announcements made by a legal court dealing with cases of lost property, libel, slander of a fellow Jew before non-Jewish authorities, recommending a respectable person to coreligionists and condemning the action of certain Jews who desecrated Shabbat.

Letter from Abū ʿAlī b. Abū l-Mānī, in Constantinople, to his father-in-law Yosef al-Baghdādī, in Egypt. Dating: Probably first half of the 12th century, based on the probable mention of the same writer in T-S 13J21.17 (there referred to as Abū ʿAlī the son-in-law of the Ḥaver al-Baghdādī, the pancake-maker). In this letter, Abū ʿAlī recounts how he met his wife, Yosef's daughter, when they were both in captivity. He is trying to solve his financial problems by sending a power of attorney and accessing some of his inheritance. He refuses to accede to his father-in-law’s wishes and divorce his wife. (Information from CUDL and from Ben Outhwaite, “Byzantines in the Cairo Genizah,” in Jewish Reception of Greek Bible Versions, ed. Nicholas de Lange, Julia Krivoruchko, and Cameron Boyd-Taylor.)

Halakhic text, arranged in columns. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. Partially consists of a list of legal queries.

Legal query addressed to Rabbenu Ḥananʾel (b. Shemuel). In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning a man who became sick and had some mental confusion (ikhtibāl al-ʿaql wa-shughl al-dhihn) and something happened with a geṭ. Fragmentary (left side only).

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Yosef Ibn Ghiyāt, in Spain, to Ḥalfon b. Netanʾel ha-Levi. Dating: ca. 1138/39 CE. The letter mostly consists of pleasantries. Yiṣḥaq received Ḥalfon's letters "perfumed with myrrh and frankincense" (כתבך אלכראם מקוטרות מור ולבונה), praises Ḥalfon's nobility and generosity, and asks him when he plans to travel. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Book list. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Many or all of the items are attributed to Yosef Rosh Yeshivat Ge'on Yaʿaqov b. Yaʿaqov Rosh Bei Rabanan.