Geniza Lab

Document of an unknown nature. Might be a letter informing the named of various people but the content is unclear.

Segment of a responsum regarding a child of a female slave.

Responsa in Avraham Ibn Yiju's hand: legitimacy of a manumitted female slave's marriage and status of her children, Yemen, ca. 1140.

Responsum of the Gaon Shelomo b. Yehuda concerning a woman who proselytized for a man.

Responsum of R. Hayya Gaon in the Arabic original.

Copies of various letter by Ishaq Laniado. Late.

Recto: upper part of a leter in Arabic from [Majd? Umar?] b. Yusuf, asking the recipient to fulfill the request of "mawlay al-qa'id (?)" and to send a messenger. Verso: from the Torah commentary of Shemuel b. Hofni Ga'on. ASE.

Business and/or family letter in Arabic script. Fragment (lower part only). The sender reports that he arrived in Tinnīs. Greetings to the teacher Sulaymān, to Yūsuf, to Bū ʿAlī, and to the sender's wife and a girl. On verso (and bottom of recto) there is Hebrew piyyut.

Two unrelated Arabic-script documents glued together for the sake of reuse. Upper document: Legal document. Parties mentioned include Abū l-Faḍāʾil Nāṣir b. Karam b. Ṣadaqa and Abū Muḥammad Qāsim b. ʿAlī(?). Possibly mentioning a marriage, an adolescent boy, and a house - but needs examination. One witness signature is preserved (with a date that is difficult to read). Lower document: State document. Only the first few words are preserved from ~12 lines. The Judaeo-Arabic text on top of the state document is mixture of love poetry and humorous anecdote. On verso there is the continuation of the same text, but mostly Hebrew poetry.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably the same scribe as T-S 13J34.5 (Alexandria, 1090 CE) and T-S 13J35.5. Mentions Avraham the Byzantine scribe (who also features in Bodl. MS heb. d 66/43). Twice mentions sūq al-bazz (the clothiers' market). The substance of the letter is a dispute involving the writer and the cantor and the synagogue service. On verso there are piyyutim.

Legal document: deed of sale in Arabic for the purchase of part of a house. Abū l-Faraj Ṣemaḥ b. Ṣedaqa b. Ṣemaḥ the money-changer buys part of a house in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ in Fustat from his uncle Dāwūd b. Ṣemaḥ the indigo dealer. The house abuts the former church of St Michael, the oven of al-Jalāl, and the house of Maymūn b. Dāwūd. Dated 10–20 Shaʿbān 448 (October-November 1056 CE). On verso there is a liturgical text in Hebrew. (Information from Khan.) It is unusual that the document is written on a bifolio; it may be a court copy, which would also explain what seems to be an archival annotation on verso summarizing the document (which Khan deciphers in part but doesn't discuss). MR

Probably a legal document in Arabic script, referring to someone demanding his rights. Small fragment. On verso there is Hebrew literary text.

State document in Arabic script. Approximately 12 lines are preserved. On verso there is piyyuṭ in the same hand as verso of T-S NS 325.232 + T-S 16.114 + T-S 24.57. Dating: ca. 1100 CE. Joins: Alan Elbaum. Needs examination.

Business letter dealing with spices. In Judaeo-Arabic. The hand is likely that of Yedutun ha-Levi. (Goitein, too, flagged the script as familiar.) The letter is addressed to a 'brother' (Moshe ha-Levi?); mentions Abū Saʿd and 'your paternal uncle Bayān.' The letter is damaged but is a valuable source of information for the business of a druggist (ʿaṭṭār). Commodities mentioned include storax (mayʿa) and saffron. The writer does not know precisely the weight of the saffron; the addressee should weigh the burniyya together with the saffron in it and subtract the weight of the burniyya. The writer is suffering an attack of ophthalmia (and Isḥāq is too), but he will try to "go out" (from Fustat) if he is able to. On verso there are piyyutim (not necessarily in the same hand as recto; needs examination). ASE

Official letter in Arabic script. Mentions business or fiscal accounting words like istikhrāj and ḥisāb. Joins: Marina Rustow. Needs examination.

Bifolio with one page of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Also writing exercises in Arabic script (with some Judaeo-Arabic transliteration). Also Hebrew poetry.

Fol. 1v: Letter in Arabic script. Likely business-related. There are some deferential phrases (versions of the raʾy formula). Needs further examination. Fol. 2v: Possibly state correspondence, possibly a draft. Wide space between the lines.The same scribe reused verso of each fragment for Hebrew poetry. Needs examination.

Legal note(s) in Arabic script. The most preserved one: "The buyer: [...] b. Ḥammūd b. ʿAmmār.... on the defects (al-ʿuyūb)... from the aforementioned price." The nature of the sale is not clear.

Ownership note on a prayerbook or book of piyyuṭim. "Belongs to the cantor Ghālib b. Ḥalfon."

Petition to the Ayyubid sultan al-ʿĀdil regarding the capitation tax. Dating: ca. 596–615 AH, which is 1200–18 CE. The petitioner asks that his tax rate be modified from the middle rate (2 dinars), which he cannot afford to pay, to the lower rate. On verso there are some Hebrew poetical texts (possibly piyyuṭ) mentioning Iṣḥaq Khanāf (?). (Information from Khan and CUDL)