Geniza Lab

Letter from ʿImrān to Abū l-Ḥasan. After a deferential opening there is a sharp warning to send the silver quickly with ʿUthmān and not to make the sender have to come out and get it.

Letter fragment. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Opens with grandiose blessings for the addressee. In the margin mentions the arrival of בן חניך.

Court record. Dating: Perhaps 10th or 11th century. Rayyisa bt. Yosef Bīmī, the wife of Yeshuʿa b. Nissim, vehemently accuses ("mustaghītha mutaẓallima mustaʿdiya ʿalā") Seʿadya b. Binyamin Khaybarī of retaining 4 dinars that are due to her. Her husband acted as her agent. All this is written out twice. On verso there is a Talmudic excerpt in the same hand. (Information from Goitein's index card and Med Soc II, 611n25.)

Legal document. This fragment describes a partnership in a dyeing business between Efrayim b. Yaaqov al-Mawṣilī and Abraham b. Hiba al-Dimashqī. Efrayim, the owner of the shop, invests slightly more capital (nineteen dinars to Avraham’s seventeen dinars and five qirāṭs). Abraham is to manage the shop, and he is granted one dirham each day from partnership funds for his maintenance/ Efrayim seems to be granted a similar amount. Profits and losses are to be divided equally, though rental income from the shop itself goes to Efrayim, as he is the owner of the shop. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 66)

Legal testimony. Stating that Yeshuʿa Peʾer ha-Qahal and Bunyām b. Sibāʿ and his mother and Ḥāzim appeared and fought over 1.5 dinars that Sibāʿ owed to Ḥāzim, with Yeshuʿa attempting to mediate. They reached a settlement that Bunyām would pay 30 dirhams and his mother would pay 10 dirhams over a period of 4 months. The date might be 1525 Seleucid, but this is written in an unusual way, and 400 is crossed out and replaced with 500. If 1525 is correct, then the document is dated 1213/14 CE. On verso there are blessings for the caliph in Judaeo-Arabic, presumably practice for a petition (cf. Moss. IV,56.1 and T-S NS 110.26).

Headed 'Still owed by the people,' this is the upper part of a long list of persons who had not yet made good their donor pledges. In two cases (of eight dirhams each), the outstanding amount is designated as balance. In all the others, obviously the sums accompanying the names represent the total pledged. Written by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. Many persons are known from contemporary documents (ca. 1220). Recto = App B 38, contains expenditures on clothing for communal officials. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 499, App. C 87)

Expenditure of 427 1/2 bakhaya dirhams on clothing for communal officials, on payment of a balance due for the distribution of wheat and other items. Superscribed: 'Collected 427 1/2. The expenditure entirely in bakhaya' (= dirhams bearing the inscription bkh). The lists on verso (see App. C 87) was written by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (ca. 1220). (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 449, App. B 38 [dated 1210-1225]).

Receipt/accounts for R. Shimʿon, who received them in the presence of R. Avraham Kohen. In Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew numerals. Mentions coral and a person named Nuṣayr. More names on verso: Ibn Ḥaniyy(?), the female neighbor of Ibn Shudayqāt(?), and R. Yosef al-Ṣāʾigh.

Inventory of a wine cellar, listing the sales of a retailer who at the opening of the store had 650 tamawiyas (containers for wine) in his makhzan and sold quantities ranging from a quarter jar (twice) to 110 jars. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 258, and from Goitein's index cards)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Old, according to Goitein. Perhaps 11th century. Detailed list of rent for shuqqas (robes) and ʿamāmas (turbans) as well as some other graments and items. The name Bū Yūsuf b. Bahlūl appears. See Goitein's note card for further information.

Legal document. Order of payment issued by “your friend Abū al-Faraj" to the elder Abū l-ʿAlāʾ, instructing him to hand over 122 dirhams to the unnamed bearer. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Includes expenses for the maks (customs duty?), and the capitation tax (jāliya) in Syria for the years 20 and 21. Names mentioned: al-Shaykh al-Rashīd Ṣayrafī b. al-Dayyan; Ibn Karīm al-Iskandarī Ṣabbāgh; Ibn Bayān; Bū l-Ghayth the tax farmer of Hebron (ḍāmin al-Khalīl); and [...] Ibn al-Ghuzūlī.

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning a release granted by a creditor to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal, dated [14]36 Seleucid, which is 1124/25 CE. Information from Shivtiel/Nissen catalog.

Awaiting description

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Khalanjān (mild ginger) is one of the items listed.

Alexandria; Probably about 1143-1145 ʿAmram b. Yiṣḥaq sends Ḥalfon a short greeting for Purim. Abu Al-Ma'ali wanted to help Abu Al-Fakhr, the son of Ḥalfon’s brother, Abu Ali Yeḥezqel, to do what he had not succeeded in doing. As it appears from his words, the intention is probably to get married, and it is possible that Abu al-Ma'ali wanted to offer him a match. Amram asked for Ḥalfon’s help in the matter and expressed his sorrow that Ḥalfon also failed to reach the implied goal, which was to marry a wife. According to Amram, Abu Al-Fakhr was like one of his sons, an expression that alludes to the familial closeness between them. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Qaraite. Beautifully written. Fragment, containing mostly the trousseau. Line 1 refers to a son from the woman’s first marriage. The sum of 463 dinars is mentioned in lines twelve to thirteen, which was brought in by her, but belonged to “the orphan.” (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter fragment (middle part) in which the writer describes how he was insulted in the synagogue by the scholar, Sheikh al-Najib, but expresses no resent against him. On the contrary, he hopes the latter will be a shield for Israel in hard times. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 306, 307, and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter/petition from an unknown writer to the Head of the Jews. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer complains about ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (probably his son) and his mistreatment of a woman in the house (the son's wife?) for whom he refuses to provide. When the writer confronts him, he shouts at him while chewing his mastic, "My mother left, and you stayed in my face." He refuses to sit like a normal person. The addressee is asked to arbitrate between them, for the wretched petitioners (al-suqamā') are perishing. The letter is written on a reused page of accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, of which a few lines are visible at the bottom of verso. ASE.