Geniza Lab

Letter in Yiddish from Rachel b. Avraham of Prague in Jerusalem to her son Moshe in Cairo. Join by Esther-Miriam Wagner, "Vis, liber zun, ikh hob dir vil brif geshribn: Yiddish letters in the Genizah." [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, October 2009]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.55277.

Letter discussing the liturgy, specifically the different siddurim of R. Shelomo (who must be Shelomo b. Natan of Sijilmassa), the seder moʿed included in the Mishne of R. Moshe (Moshe Maimonides), and that of Rabbenu Saʿadya (Gaʾon). The writer points out that no one from the communities of Fusṭāṭ or Cairo (מן אהל מצר ואלקאהרה) has produced anything like it – he’s complaining about a lack of native talent among the Egyptian Jews (since Maimonides was a Spaniard and Saʿadya, despite being born in Egypt, was evidently viewed as an Iraqi). He refers to Maimonides as אלרייס (al-Rayyis, ‘the Head’)– so he is still alive then and probably in the earlier period of his time in Egypt – and says that the Rambam has been teaching אלגמר ואלטב, ‘talmud and medicine’. (Information from Ben Outhwaite via https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/genizah-fragments/posts/qa-wednesday-ben-outhwaite-managing-gru-time-covid)

Colophon in the handwriting of Evyatar Ha-Kohen b. Eliyyahu Gaon.

Copy of a fihrist of Saadya Gaon’s works sent to Fustat by the gaon’s sons Sheʾerit and Dosa in 953. The copy is dated 2 October 1113. In the fihrist the exact date of Saadya’s death is given as Sunday, 26th Iyyar, 1253 of the Seleucid Era, corresponding to 15th May 942 CE. Another, more complete, copy of the same fihrist is found in T-S 10G5.7. Verso is blank. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 30 and Allony, Frenkel, The Jewish Library in the Middle Ages, p. 312.)

Page from a court ledger with some legal documents written by Avraham b. Nathan Av. One of the court records is dated to the year 1099 and deals with items belong to Abu Ya'aqub. The record is starting on verso; left side and there is a reference to אלוף הבינות that is Mevorkah b. Saadya. Signed by [Avraham b. Shma'aya nin] Shma'ayahu Gaon. On the left page of recto a court record between Ma'ali and b. al-Sukari (the sugar maker). Signed by Ishaq b. Sh[muel the Spaniard] together with Avraham who is mentioned above. Verso, right side is written by a different hand regarding Ya'aqov and 'Imran(?). AA

Book list written by Yosef Rosh Haseder. See Alloni, The Jewish Library, no. 100 (the shelf mark given there is TS NS 298.3, and should be corrected)

A letter of a man identified by Bareket as Sahlān b. Abraham to Segan ha-Yeshiva (Aaron the cantor), we read that “when the complaining of the wife of ʿAlī b. Bishr ben Dardān/Durdān continued, the matter required the appointment of a representative to go to her to investigate her matter since she is veiled. (Info from Oded Zinger PhD, p. 44n86). On the same page and on verso an Arabic letter - needs examination.

Booklist?

Polemic against the house of the exilarch. Dating: 1040–41 CE. After a disagreement between Kafnai, Bustanay's father, and his father in law, the head of the Yeshiva, the entire family of the exilarch dies (and King David appears to the head of the Yeshiva in a dream). Bustanay is only surviving descendant of King David. The head of the Yeshiva raises him and occupies his place among the elders of Baghdad, but refuses to cede the position when Bustanay turns 16. The case comes before the caliph ʿUmar Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, who is impressed that Bustanay does not flinch when a mosquito bites him. The caliph appoints Bustanay as exilarch and marries him to a daughter of the King of Persia, who had been captured in battle. She bears children to Bustanay but is never manumitted and never converts to Judaism. The point of the polemic: all the descendants of Bustanay are compromised, and the true house of King David will be revealed only in messianic times. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 2, p. 4) Join: Moshe Gil. In the hand of Sahlān b. Avraham (per Gil, Kingdom, vol. 2, p. 4), copied in the following circumstance: Daniʾel b. ʿAzarya, who was a nasi (from the house of the exilarch), had arrived from Iraq in Palestine and supported the gaonate of Shelomo b. Yehuda. Followers of the rival gaʾon, Natan b. Avraham, including members of the Iraqi congregation in Fustat, among them Sahlān b. Avraham, cast aspersions on Danʾiel b. ʿAzarya presumably also against Shelomo b. Yehuda. (Rustow, Heresy, 314) For a parallel text, see PGPID 35180.

List of books in the library of Zakkāy b. Moshe who was a dayyan in al-Maḥalla 1127–50 CE.

State document in Arabic script. Two lines, huge space between them. ...ḥukmahu wa-qālat lahu mā shi'ta... Reused for piyyutim.

From a volume of piyyuṭim for Yom Kippur. The title page gives the name of the author or owner twice: Aharon b. [...]. There are two more lines in Arabic script containing some pious phrases.

Business letter in Arabic script. Missing the beginning. Mentions places such as Malīj (l. 2) and probably Maḥalla (l. 8, though it looks more like مقلة). The sender has sent a sealed purse of 10 dinars (l. 6) and gives instructions for what should be purchased. May mention Dār al-Ṣināʿa (antepenultimate line). Needs further examination. On verso there is Hebrew literary text including poetry.

Poetry (ghazal) in Arabic script. On the other side there is piyyuṭ in Hebrew.

Introduction to a literary treatise. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning al-Mutanabbī, the Būyid amīr Muʿizz al-Dawla, and the vizier Abū l-Faraj Muḥammad b. al-ʿAbbās (Ibn Fasānjas).

Letter addressed to ʿUlla ha-Sar ha-Nikhbad b. [...]. In Hebrew (for the poetic opening) and Arabic in Arabic script (for the body). Only the upper right corner is preserved; a few words are missing from the end of each line, and it is not clear how much is missing from the bottom. From what is preserved, the letter seems to consist entirely of flattery and an apology for something.

A few words in large Arabic script: al-mawlā al-shaykh al-makhdūm. State document? There are also several Hebrew literary texts on this fragment.

Accounts in Arabic script. In a chancery hand. State document? Some legible phrases: ...maqbūḍa ʿan... ʿAbdallāh al-Ḥanafī... jumlatuhum wa-nuṣf min... al-yahūdī... In the margins and on verso there is a Hebrew literary text. On verso there are also a few remnants of letters in Arabic script from the ends of the lines of an earlier document.

Business letter, probably. In Arabic script. Fragmentary (upper right corner). Reused on verso for a Hebrew poem. Needs examination for content.

Bifolio with an unidentified text in Judaeo-Arabic - maybe poetry.