Geniza Lab

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Medical prescription in Judaeo-Arabic.

Bifolium from a court notebook. Dating: 1244 CE. Several entries. (1) Valuation (taqwīm) of a dowry. Bride: Sitt al-Majd bt. ʿOvadya. Groom: Saʿadya b. Mevorakh. Dowry is valued at 120 dinars. (2) Marriage of a divorcee or widow. Bride: Sitt al-Waqār bt. Yosef. Groom: ʿAfīf b. Elʿazar. Marriage payments: 2 + 20. He will provide for her son Khalaf for 5 years and for her daughter for 10 years. One witness: Shelomo b. Sar Shalom ha-Kohen. (3) Draft of a bill of divorce. Husband: Yefet b. Elʿazar. Wife: Dhahab a freedwoman. The messenger is Yosef. "This miserable entry is submitted to the Nagid for approval" (yunʿim sayyidnā yuʿarrif mamlūkah). The superscription refers to a place called Minyat גימה(?). (Information from Goitein's index cards.)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Letter in the hand of Abū Sahl Levi, in Fustat, probably to his son Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyūb. This is a brief, informal note, which contains nothing more than an exhortation to remember to write to his parents. "Do not ask what is on our hearts from the fact that you have not written us a letter. You know the heart of your mother and our heart. . . ." ASE.

Letter from an India trader, probably in Yemen. In Judaeo-Arabic. He recently came from India (Kullam, recto margin l. 15) and intends to return to India (r15). He refers to Mālikī dinars (r15, v9), which were in use in Yemen. He expresses gratitude with a gruesome turn of phrase: "The flesh on my body belongs to you, and even if I skinned it and (gave?) it to you, it would not repay you." He has purchased a 6-year-old female slave for Sitt al-Ḥusn and two pearl bracelets, among other items, which he hopes will be transported in the Kārim fleet. The addressees should send their letters to Mufliḥ b. Sūdān. Mentions Khalaf the son of the Kohen, Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī, 'the parnas,' and Abū l-Surūr al-Kohen Ibn al-Dawānīqī. He has been unable to collect a debt from Fahd, for in this town there is no one to oblige anyone to pay their debts aside from one’s own ‘gentlemanly character’ (muruwwa). Mentions having sent something to Nahrwara (in India) (v9). (Information in part from Goitein's attached notes and CUDL.)

Account of the Qodesh: building expenditures, ca. 1040. A badly damaged fragment of an account written by Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. Work done at Dar al-Barqi is mentioned, and various payments for water, bricks, clay, lime, pillars, gypsum; also, repairs of doors and windows. Water carriers, masons, diggers, and helpers are paid for different periods of work, in the course of several weeks. The names of the months are preserved, Shevat and Adar. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 191 #21)

Dowry evaluation (taqwīm). Dated: Thursday, 7 Tishrei 1537 Seleucid = September 1225 CE. Bride: Fāḍila bt. Abū l-Faḍl Ibn Shammāʿ al-Ḥazzan, who is mature and a virgin. Groom: Sulaymān b. Hiba Ibn al-Ṭabīb. Marriage payments: 5 + 30. The dowry has about 37 items and its value is approximately 90 dinars. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Account in Arabic script and Coptic numerals.

Informal notes on the settlement of a legal dispute (or several), involving [...] ha-Ḥazzan b. Avraham, Abū l-Khayr Ṣedaqa, Yūsuf b. Barakāt, Shelomo b. Yiṣḥaq, and someone's mother, it seems mostly around houses and living arrangements. Needs further examination.

See PGP 20645

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Lower part of a carefully written list of contributors, practically all of whom appear in earlier or later lists. The first 15 donate 2 (dirhams); 9 donate 1 (d?); 2 donate 1/2 (d); 3 no amount indicated; 4 amount not preserved. Total: 33 persons or households. The collection seems to be one made for a special occasion. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 491, App. C 51 [dated to first part of 13th century])

Recto: Informal note to al-Nezer, in which the writer bemoans his state (e.g. mā baqiya lī khāṭir), and writes, "Tomorrow they will ask me to speak. Perhaps you can write down for me on the other side of this ruqʿa the story of Naomi . . . the matter of this woman is similar (? maslūka) to hers." Verso: Informal note, probably the response from al-Nezer, in which he promises to comply, but not until later in the night. Needs further examination. ASE.

Recto: Account in Judaeo-Arabic. Verso: Pen trials in Arabic script.

List without numbers of communal officials and needy persons, mostly women and foreigners, ending with 'the strangers/foreigners in the synagogue'. Recto: sums owed to or by the community. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 462, App. B 83a)

JRL Series B 4089: This business letter describes commercial transactions and what the author describes as favors or 'gifts' to a fellow trader. The main commodities mentioned are copper and pepper; customs dues, freight charges, porters' fees, and safekeeping are also reported. The mention of a tax paid at al-Furda (the customshouse at the port city of Aden) and the names of Ali al-Nili ('the indigo trader') and Abu Ghalib al-Rubban ('the captain') suggest that the author reports from the port city of Aden in Yemen sometime in the 12th century. The letter continues on the verso. On the men mentioned by name see Goitein and Friedman, India Traders of the Middle Ages, 145, 603; and 153, 325-27; on al-Furda see Goitein and Friedman, India Traders, passim; and Margariti, Aden and the Indian Ocean Trade, passim. See PGPID 5479.

JRL Series B 4089: This document is the continuation of a letter on the recto. The business letter describes commercial transactions, including taxes paid at the customshouse of the port city of Aden in Yemen, and dates to the 12th century. See PGPID 5479.

India Book III, 18: Five accounts written by Ibn Yiju in India, 1136-1139, 1145-1149. These accounts are written on the other side of a letter from Madmun from Aden to India (see II, 23, PGPID 5479).