Geniza Lab

Verso: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mostly consists of especially deferential phrases: ...wa-fa-qad ʿalima l-khāliq anna ʿinda samāʿī... wa-tanwīh ismih wa-ḥusn thanāh min kull ṣādir... wa-anā uqabbil yadayhi wa-akhdumuh...

Verso: Note (ruqʿa) addressed to Abū l-Ḥasan. In Judaeo-Arabic. It seems that the sender has enclosed a copy of Tehillim and wants to sell it to the addressee for 4 1/4 dinars. He should examine it and send it back if he doesn't want to buy it.

Recto: Ketubba fragment. Most of the text here is the dowry list, which includes "royal Rūmī [broca]de" and blue dabīqī curtains. The early marriage payment appears to be 10 dinars, and the number 50 appears further down. There may be more Hebrew here than is commonly found (אילו הדירות... הנדוניא הנזכרת לעילא... מוהר הבת[ולות).

Legal document. In Hebrew. On parchment. Dating: Likely 10th or early 11th century. Involves a guardian (apotropos) named Yefet. The portion of the document preserved here consists mainly of elaborate release formulae, many of which appear in other documents from the same period (e.g., T-S 16.56 and BL OR 5542.6).

Letter from Yehuda b. Sahl, in Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Note that Yehuda's father's name is something else in the Hebrew-script address (neither Sahl nor Yashar; ends with ש). The sender asks Nahray to order a commodity (ḥajar al-māʾ?) from another trader, because there is none in Palestine, and they are importing it from Sāl[...], and that seems to be an inadequate substitute for coral. (This reading is tentative.) He also orders a mantle (īzār) for himself. This document is uncited in the literature.

Mercantile letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower left corner of recto). Dating: 11th or 12th century. Appears to mention "a nice little chest" (ṣufayṭ laṭīf). Not much else is preserved.

Legal document? This is a relatively large piece of paper, but essentially the only text preserved is the name Shelomo b. Natan ha-Levi.

Legal document. There is a good amount of text preserved, but the details of the case are obscure. Involves "the upper part of the house" and a period of consecutive months—so maybe this is a lease.

Letter from Shela b. Mevasser to [Mevorakh] b. Seʿadya. Essentially nothing is preserved apart from these names. (Information from Cohen, Self-Government, p. 243n110, where similar letters are listed.)

Letter of appeal for charity, probably. In Hebrew. Mentions the names Moshe b. Yiṣḥaq and Abū [...]. There are also a couple of words in Arabic script on verso.

Bill of divorce (geṭ). Written and signed by Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (active 1165–1203). Location: Fustat. Dated: Tishrei 14[..] Seleucid, which corresponds to the range 1088–1187 CE. Husband: Abū l-Ḥasan b. A[...] al-Kohen. The wife's name is missing, but she is from Alexandria. There is no note on verso indicating that the geṭ was delivered, but this might have been written on the missing half. On verso, there are a few lines of what look like accounts in Arabic script.

Perhaps a bookbinding—at least four 3 manuscripts are folded around each other here into a narrow vertical strip, partially unfolded at the top. One of them is an order of payment from Abū Zikrī Kohen to Khalīl; another is either a legal document or genealogical list (נין יהוסף הכהן בית דין כהן צדק); there are accounts in Judaeo-Arabic; and there are a few words in Arabic script.

Draft of the opening lines of a legal document. Dated: Thursday, 2 Elul [....], under the authority of the Nagid Avraham [Maimonides]. The scribe stopped here.

Legal fragment (lower right corner). Location: Fustat. Dated: 10 Kislev 14[..] Seleucid, so 1088–1187 CE. Involves [...] ha-Levi.

Letter in Arabic script from Ravaḥ Ha-Kohen ha-ḥazzan (the cantor) al-Baghdādī b. Pinḥas, Ramla, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, end of 1029.

Bill of divorce (get). Location: New Cairo. Dated: Nisan 1[.]83 Seleucid. Husband: [Mu]sāfir b. Avraham.

Legal testimony. involving Sitt al-Nasab known as [...] and Abū ʿImrān known as Ibn Shumayʿ (?). The ends of the lines are missing, and the scribe abandoned the document in line 6.

Small fragment from a ketubba, probably. In the hand of Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya.

Three fragments from a deed of betrothal (erusin). Probably (but not necessarily) Qaraite. The groom is Yefet, and the bride Sirwa (or perhaps Surūr[a]). There is also someone named Iyyov/Ayyūb. These pieces do not join directly. AA. ASE.

Distribution list. Two columns are preserved here. Mentions several orphans, immigrants (e.g., Shemarya Rūmī), and women (e.g., Umm ʿAbīd and her female neighbor).