Geniza Lab

Remnants of an Arabic official document on top of Hebrew piyyut - needs examination.

Literary - recommend suppress

Remnants of an Arabic text on verso - needs examination.

On verso a note, probably a draft of an agreement about a quarrel between husband and wife. The husband is taking upon himself not to leave her. On verso very faded dowry list. AA

Arab text on top of Hebrew literary text - needs examination.

Literary. Few words in Arabic. Needs examination

A draft of a beginning of a letter

Verso: Medical prescription in Arabic script. On recto, Hebrew piyyut.

Letter in Arabic script. Approximately 8 lines from near the top are preserved. Written in a chancery-esque hand and in an elevated register. The sender and presumably the addressee are Jewish, since he swears by the Torah. The sender conveys his worry (hamm) and describes how he read a letter to its end and mentions his distress over the cutting-off of the correspondence (inqitāʿ al-mukātaba). He says he must resort to an oath to clear his name before the addressee (وقد احتجت الان الى يمين في الوسط(؟) لتبرؤ ساحتي عندك والله العظيم وحق التوراة...). Reused for Hebrew literary text (recto). Join: Alan Elbaum.

Letter sent to a woman. In Arabic script. Small fragment (upper right piece of recto, some of the address preserved on verso). Dating: 11th or 12th century. The preamble ends with a calendar date and a ṣalwala. The sender leads with something about his (or her) late mother (anā wa-wālidatī raḥimahā Allāh), then refers to the addressee's benefaction (ان تتفضلي كما لم تزل عوائد...).

Two legal documents written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (ca. 1100–38). Recto: Possibly a debt acknowledgment. Fragment (upper right corner). Involves Abū Sahl Menashshe b. Yehuda who owes 5 dinars to [...] b. Efrayim ha-Kohen. 1 dinar will be paid per every הרגה (the meaning is unclear; Goitein's index card suggests חרגה, "fit of anger"). Verso: Oath to be given by Ḥassūn/Yefet b. Ḥalfon to his brother-in-law Avraham b. Yosef that he had paid (him?) the 4.5 dinars given to him in Abyār. There is an itemized list, mentioning goods from Syria (al-Shām). Underneath the names of probably family members (recipients of some of the money): Rashīda bt. Ḥalfon, Abū ʿAlī b. Ḥalfon, al-Ṭarābulsī b. Abū l-Khayr. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Literary - recommend suppress

On verso remnants from an official Arabic document - needs examination.

Petition, or a regular letter resembling a petition. In Arabic script. Tarjama in the right margin, but the sender's name is not clear (ʿIzār? ʿIdāl? ʿImrān?). Seven lines of the text are preserved. Dating: Likely Ayyubid or Mamluk based on the layout and formulae used. Needs examination. On verso there is piyyut.

Probably an Arabic literary text, very torn - needs examination.

Some very faded Arabic text on verso, only few words - needs examination.

Administrative document(s). Dated: 52[6?] AH. Mentions al-Dīwān al-Khāṣṣ. May mention waterwheels (sawāqī). Some of the same language appears in the entries on both recto and verso. Reused for Hebrew piyyut. Needs examination.

Text in Arabic script on one leaf. Order of payment? Ṣuḥḥa li-l-shaykh al-ajall Abū l-Ḥajjāj yadfaʿ l-muwaṣṣilihā...

Private letter, mostly contains blessings

Document in Arabic script. Moderately wide space between the lines. On verso there are readings for Shavuʿot. Needs examination. (Information in part from CUDL.)