Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer asks for a copy of Saadya Gaon's tafsīr of Ezra and Daniel or his tafsīr of Proverbs and Job or one of his commentaries ("parārīsh") on the Torah. He doesn't want it to be like the tafsīr of Psalms, which was written in a lousy hand (ghaliq al-khaṭṭ). The addressee might borrow these books from a friend. The writer's wife and 'mawlā' (father?) send regards. There is a marginal note that ends "if _____, do not send me anything."

List of deceased dignitaries.

List of names with corresponding sums of money. Likely contributors to charity. Dating: First half of the 11th century (or late 10th century), per Goitein (index card #19747). Most of the names have check marks next to them. Written on a very tall piece of paper, in a neat square hand. Names include: Avraham al-Kharīdī (dealer in unperforated pearls); Moshe b. Ghulayb; ʿAṭāʾ b. Muʾammal; David and Masʿūd b. Mevorakh; Yaʾir b. Aharon; Mevorakh b. Yaʾir; Sar Shalom b. Efrayim; Yosef b. Shuʿayb; Yefet b. Sahlān; Khalaf b. ʿAlī; Menaḥem b. Baqāʾ; David b. Shemarya; Yefet b. ʿAmram; Yaʿaqov b. Saʿīd; Raḥamūn b. Yaʿaqov; Yefet b. Hillel; Maymun b. אשמעאי; Yeshuʿa b. Ghulayb; and many more, some quite unusual. On verso there is also a note in Judaeo-Arabic stating that Abū Saʿīd owes half a dirham. There are various kinds of pen trials at the bottom of verso. Compare T-S NS 320.62. The second folio of this shelfmark is unrelated.

Opening of a letter from the yeshiva, probably fall 1053.

Book list in Judaeo-Arabic.

Book list in Judaeo-Arabic. Very extensive (3 bifolia).

Book list in Judaeo-Arabic. Very extensive (69 lines). Gives headers for the books' location on the shelves as well as their names.

Bill of emancipation of a slave (גט שחרור). Location: Fustat. Dated: Thursday, 25 Iyyar 1396 Seleucid, which is 1085 CE. Owner: Mudallala bt. Shelomo. Freedman: Makhlūf. Witnesses: Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq; Shelomo b. Mevorakh ha-Ḥaver; Ṣadaqa b. [...]el, Avraham b. Shalom, and Meshullam b. Yefet. (Information in part from Moshe Yagur via FGP.)

Letter sent from Jerusalem from Rachel b. Avraham Zussman of Prague, in Jerusalem, to her son Moshe, a scribe in Cairo. After opening the letter in Hebrew, Rachel switches to Yiddish. She refers to her desperate financial situation as well as a plague that has afflicted both Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem. She also mentions that the situation in Safed (Ṣefat) has improved. Dated 1567 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Yiddish from Rachel b. Avraham of Prague in Jerusalem to her son Moshe in Cairo.

Unidentified text in Arabic script. Very faded. On verso: "perush qedoshim of Rabbenu Ḥananel (ZL)"

Letter from Shemuel b. Ḥofni to Shemarya b. Maṣliaḥ, probably the father of Efrayim b. Shemarya, the leader of the Palestinian Jewish community in Fustat in the first half of the 11th century. Only part of the introduction on recto and the address on verso have been preserved. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 156.)

Letter from the French rabbi Shemuel b. Yaʿaqov addressed to Ḥananel b. Shemuel. In Hebrew. Contains a rich account of communal controversy and highly unflattering descriptions of Eliyyahu the Judge. See also AIU VII.E.169.

Letter and panegyric from ʿEli b. ʿAmram the ḥaver to Shemuel ha-Nagid Ibn Naghrela of Granada. Dating: Before 1056 CE (the year of the death of Shemuel ha-Nagid). ʿEli writes that every Shabbat when the Torah scrolls are taken out of the ark, he adds to his prayers for Daniel b. ʿAzarya additional prayers for Shemuel ha-Nagid and his sons (Yehosef and Elyasaf). ʿEli mentions that this is his first time writing to Shemuel. It seems that the letter was occasioned by a donation received from Shemuel. (Information from Tova Beeri, "ʿEli He-Ḥaver ben ʿAmram: A Hebrew Poet in Eleventh Century Egypt" [Hebrew], Sefunot 8 (2003), 290–91.)

Booklist?

Letter by R. Sherira Gaon.

Ketubba fragment. The groom may be named Namir (the word after וקבל עלוהי). The bride's is [...] bt. Tamim ha-Zaqen ha-Rofe. The wife's earnings will go to the husband, and he will be responsible for her upkeep. Witnesses: [...] b. Shelomo; Elʿazar ha-Kohen b. Shelomo ha-Rosh Nin ha-Geonim.

Letter in Yiddish from Rachel b. Avraham of Prague in Jerusalem to her son Moshe in Cairo.

Responsum by [Shemuel] b. Ḥofni. In Hebrew. Regarding a partnership.

Writing exercise in a chancery hand, two different hands alternating. Encomium to an official. Join: Marina Rustow.