Geniza Lab

Talmudic Commentaries: Might be by the hand of Halfon b. Netan'el Halevi. Needs further examination

Recto: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Only the formulaic beginning is preserved. Written on a reused page that already had a few words in Arabic script written on it. On verso there is a Hebrew alphabet writing exercise.

Letter fragment from Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tāhirtī. Mentions details about money exchange and shipments of pepper and silk to and from Palermo. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #352) VMR

Court record, partially preserved. One of the parties involved was a certain Abū al-Khayr. Dated Iyyar 4...

Memorial list, probably. List several kohanim.

Legal testimony, fragment. In Hebrew. Muʿammar and Aharon the sons of Bāqī(?) came to the court complaining about a matter of 100 silver pieces.

Letter addressed to the officials Ẓedaqa ha-Levi and Yaʿaqov [. . .]. In Hebrew. Dating: 16th century, based on Avraham David's assessment. The letter concerns collecting debts in Alexandria and someone fleeing, perhaps by way of Damietta. Mentions additional people: Shemuel Filokrono(?) and Shemuel Seretero(?) and Makhlūf b. Marzūq. Information in part from Avraham David's edition via FGP.

Small fragment from a court record or a letter informing the arrival of a letter from the court.

Small fragment from a bottom part of a legal deed, signed by Sa'adya

Letter sent by Hezekiah b. Shelomo to Mevorakh b. Saadya, reporting that he lost money and asking him to look after him for four months. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter sent from the Jewish community of Aden to a dignitary named Abū Zikrī, likely the Gaʾon Sar Shalom b. Moshe ha-Levi. Dated: Kislev 1497 Seleucid, which is 1185 CE. With a long, flattering Hebrew introduction, and the body of the letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee's father's name appears at the bottom of recto, and Moshe is a plausible reading, though the מ would have to be very elongated. They wish for the visit of the addressee, and they congratulate him on something to do with Alexandria and somebody who was arrested. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Ketubba fragment. Bride: Sitt al-Majd. Decorated with thin red geometric designs/frames. On verso there is a related legal document dated Sivan 1556 Seleucid, which is 1245 CE. Goitein summarizes, "When he inherited from his father 1/2 house she asked him to give it to her against [...]. He had no further obligation from dowry or delayed marriage payment." (See Goitein's index card for further information.)

Ornamented Colophon of Bible. AA

Magical recipe. To make X love Y? Mixture of Hebrew and Arabic characters (FGP)

Fragment from the bottom of a legal deed, probably written by Natan b. Avraham. One of the parties is Abu al-Fadl. Signed by Yeshu'a b. Yakhin (AA)

Letter from Bū l-Faraj b. Aharon Levi to Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen (d. ca. 1149). In Judaeo-Arabic. None of the substance is preserved, only the formulaic opening.

Letter to Elʿazar ha-Zaqen. The introduction is written in formal Hebrew, with wide space between the lines. What remains of the content is written in Judaeo-Arabic in the margin (narrow space between the lines).

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning incense and mercury and a donkey and many other items.

Small fragment of a letter in Hebrew. Wide space between the lines. "I arrived safely in Sambūṭya (=Sunbāṭ)... may His blessing fall on him and his son for good, and with heaven's aid, I plan to travel to Damietta and from there to Tinnīs.... his seat... not as warning but only as reminding...." Interestingly, both Damietta and Tinnīs have glosses written above them (אי כפתור and אי חנס respectively).

Pastoral letter with widely-spaced lines, from a Nasi, possibly David b. Daniel. Announcing that Meʾir ha-Sar and Yiṣḥaq ha-Dayyan will appoint all ritual slaughterers (טבחים) and guards in the community addressed and look after their religious needs. "Elsewhere in the same letter the writer announces another of the prerogatives he plans to exercise over the community and, at the same time, justifies his authority: 'We shall select ten elders out of your notables and strengthen their arms so that they may lead the people, as it is incumbent on us to appoint elders, judges, and magistrates. This is our inheritance and that of our forefather King Jehosaphat, as it is written in Scripture: 'And he set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah' (II Chronicles 19:5)." Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, 208–09. On the other side, there is an astronomical piyyuṭ. In the bottom and left margins, there is a "narrative of the dreadful calamities that occurred in Lucena (אליסאנה), may God protect it." (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)