Geniza Lab

Letter from Menaḥem to the judge Yehosef. In Judaeo-Arabic. A letter of recommendation poor man who has debts and must pay the capitation tax. Menaḥem also promises to send the quires (karārīs) as soon as he has finished writing them. "As for the capitation tax, it is said that it will not be demanded from the poor, who may obtain for it a rescript from the government (khaṭṭ al-sulṭān)." ASE.

Letter or letters. Recto: Lengthy laudatory preamble in rhyming Hebrew, followed by the body of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic starting three lines from the bottom and extending into the margin. Only formulaic phrases remain. Verso: Another rhyming preamble that starts in Hebrew and transitions into Judaeo-Arabic. It is followed by the body of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, concerning booklets (dafātir) and a big turban (? biqyār) and their prices. Mentions Abū l-Faḍā'il and R. Natan. ASE.

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Avraham ha-Talmid, rebuking him for not coming to the shop as he had promised. Shelomo did not open the shop, because he was waiting for Avraham. He urges him to come tonight, without delay. Quotes Mishna Avot 2:5 ("in a place where there are no man, endeavor to be a man"). ASE.

Late business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions R. Shemuel Būnyāl. Needs further examination.

Letter addressed to Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Moshe b. Ṣalḥūn. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli? Most of what is preserved is formulaic.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Bifolium. Mentions pomegranate seed, licorice, rose water, Abū Sahl, and Alexandria. See PGP 20645

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions numerous names including a Muḥammad and an Isḥāq al-Qass ('the priest') and Sulṭān b. Futūḥ.

Contributors list. Dating: ca. 1095 CE. About 32 entries, mostly identical with those in T-S Misc.8.102. With the exception of Abū ʿAlī "the Pride" who donates 1.5 (dinars?) and Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Ḥalabī who gives 2 together with his workman (ṣāniʿ) and his partner, the others provide either 1 or 1.5 or have not yet decided. (Information from Goitein, Med Soc II, Appendix C, #20.)

Family letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably no earlier than 13th century. Mentions a woman named Sutayta, a woman named Esther, a man who seems to be named Rāwand ('rhubarb'), and a man named Isḥāq.

A butcher's bill for meat for Rosh Hashana. Goitein writes, "On weekends the standard fare was chicken, but for the two days of New Year, when many guests were expected, more substantial meat was needed. Here, obviously, two additional pounds were fetched, when unexpected newcomers arrived. Mutton was preferred to beef and was therefore more expensive. The most expensive meat was the fat tail of a sheep. A mutton's head, symbolizing a beginning, was a favored dish for the New Year's dinner. At the time of this bill the silver dirhem was worth 48 copper fals." Partial translation: On the eve of the New Year: Five pounds and again two pounds of mutton. The price: 5 1/4 [dirhems]. Also beef, five [pounds. The price:] 2 dirhems and 4 fals. Total: 7 1/3. Received: 7 dirhems. Balance: 1/3 + 1/8 Price for one pound sheep's tail: 1 1/8 dirhems. Total balance: 1 1/2 dirhems less 2 fals. (Information from Goitein, Med Soc IV, p. 231.)

Account of repairs of a house, written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (ca. 1127–39 CE). (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 600) EMS

Legal record concerning a house, apparently in Fustat, and signed by […] ha-Kohen. (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 600) EMS

Legal document in the form of a letter addressed to the Gaon (Maṣliaḥ?). In Judaeo-Arabic. Signed by Yefet b. Shelomo and Elʿazar b. [...]. The bearer of the letter is Yosef b. Berakhot ha-Levi. He and his brother Hillel ha-Levi had shown up to the local court escorted by a messenger of the qāḍī, since Yosef had sued his brother Hillel in the Muslim courts, and Hillel was under house arrest (tarsīm). The dispute is over a female slave. Hillel claims that he purchased her from Yosef for 21.5 dinars 'without mushāwara.' However, Yosef claims that he sold her only 'with mushāwara,' and moreover, he only received 14 dinars. Yosef was asked why he sued his brother in the Muslim courts, and he said that he demanded from Hillel multiple times that he return the female slave and take his 14 dinars back. But Hillel refused, and Yosef became angry and took an oath to sue him in the Muslim courts. What happened next is harder to understand, and the document needs further examination. It seems they put the female slave and the 14 dinars in escrow for the time being. Hillel brought two witnesses 'who live with them in אלב[..."—"al-balad" would be the most common word, but the next letter doesn't look like a ל; maybe al-Bahnasā. The brothers, equipped with a letter each, are now coming to the capital for their suit to be resolved. Joins: Oded Zinger and Craig Perry. Description: ASE.

Legal document in which Abu al-Baqa gives to his married son Mukaram the rights to one half of the black female slave named Musk he had inherited from his deceased wife.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions people such as al-Rayyis Abū l-Faḍl, the mother of al-Rayyis Abū Manṣūr, Abū l-Faraj Ṣabbāgh, and Abū l-Ṭāhir Ḥarīrī.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (upper left corner of recto). Mentions Abū l-Surur (their brother Peraḥya?); a request to convey information from Ḥassūn b. ʿAllūn. Yefet has sent something for Yehuda b. [...] with this letter. He mentions a good "made in Fustat, cheap."

Legal document. Bottom only. Scribed and signed by Hillel b. ʿEli.

Recto: The last few lines of an Arabic letter. Needs further examination. Verso: The lower part of a letter of appeal signed by the cantor Yedutun ha-Levi who had fallen on hard times and needs money to support and feed himself. He also alludes to the pains of an illness. The upper half probably had a poem in praise of the recipient, a Levi. In the margin, the writer's name is spelled out in more detail: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū Sahl the cantor of the Palestinian synagogue, may it last forever. ASE.

Letter addressed to Av[raham?] Kohen b. Yosef Kohen, in Fustat. Reports that the two ships from al-Mahdiyya that had been anchored underneath the lighthouse departed on Saturday the 15th of Sivan when the wind became favorable. Mentions a qāḍī. Most of the rest is missing.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Especially what is owed by (Muslim?) women acting as agents. E.g, Sitt ʿAlam. (Information from Goitein's index card.)