Geniza Lab

Letter of business from Yisrael b. Yosef b. Banuka to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. The letter was written when Nissim, Nahray's father, was still alive. The letter is about a deal that was made to sell beads. Circa 1040 (Gil estimate). VMR

Fragment of a letter from Yusuf b. Eli Kohen Fasi, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Mentions dinars that should be exchanged, and that several letters for Nahray arrived in Alexandria from Tripoli after 25 days. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #403) VMR

Booklist. (Shelfmark should be checked.)

Maimonides' decree on menstrual purity. Dated 1487 Seleucid, which is 1176 CE. See Eve Krakowski, "Maimonides' Menstrual Reform in Egypt," JQR (2020), 245–89.

Letter from Hilāl, in Alexandria, to Mufaḍḍal b. al-Dayyān, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic. The subject matter is vague; the writer agrees with what the addressee wrote him, and he is at his service, and he goes on to discusses various business matters.

Original text: Literary, in Hebrew. Maybe an ethical will, telling someone to never cease praising God. Might also be a very elaborate letter. Secondary text: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic in the margin of recto: yā mawlāy wa-sīdī. . . Tertiary text: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic on verso. The writer wishes to repay his debts/promissory notes (tawfiya ḥuqaq) including his debt to (ḥaqq) Abū l-Ḥasan. He asks the addressee to help him and tell him what to do.

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to Abū l-Faraj. Only the opening remains. Verso: Letter from Shelomo (likely Shelomo b. Eliyyahu) to his father. In Judaeo-Arabic. He writes, "I met with Ibn al-ʿAmīd, and he prescribed me herb water (? mā' baql) and chicory syrup. Every doctor prescribes herb water for me." One senses frustration. The rest is quite faded. ASE.

Colophon of a notebook (זו הקוטראס) containing Hebrew prayers. Written by Nissim b. Nahray, probably still a child, in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ, Fustat (called Ṣoʿan Miṣrayim).

Calendar for September 1153-September 1156 for Avraham Ibn Yiju's private synagogue.

Book list. In Judaeo-Arabic. Most of the entires are the biblical commentaries of Ibn Balʿam (d. ca. 1070). Saadya's Sefer ha-Galuy also appears.

Literary text on the calendar. In Hebrew with Judaeo-Arabic marginalia. Several dates are mentioned as well as named (Seʿadya and Moshe b. Yo'av).

Booklist

Book list.

Book list. 28 numbered entries. Uses the word "taftar" instead of "daftar" (t < d switch). Dating: the latest author on the list is Yiṣḥaq Ibn Ghayyāth (d. 1083).

Book list.

Book list. Dating: Likely 12th century, as none of the books listed are later than that.

Latest, most formal, and most perfected, copy of the Book of the Calendar Controversy. About the disagreement between Jewish leaders of Palestine and Babylonia on how to calculate the calendar year in 921/2. This led the Jews of the entire Near East to celebrate Passover and the other festivals on different dates over the course of two years.

Megillat Evyatar, probably composed by Evyatar Gaon and was read in synagoges. Probably was composed in 1094. (The scribe might be Shmuel b. Ya'aqov- a French rabbi active in Egypt in the first two decades of the 13th century. AA)

Responsum of Avraham b. Maimonides.

Exposition of a halakhic point (taʿlīq ʿal sefer Nezaqim) which the writer says he heard from Avraham Maimonides.