Geniza Lab

Perhaps Aden, the last third of Tishrei 1441, which is October 6-15, 1129 This is an excerpt from the terminal memory of a witness that a certain person made some kind of business commitment to Ḥalfon. The date of the certificate, Tishrei 1441, which is October 1129, is the earliest date found in Ḥalfon’s archival certificates. In the inscription section, the last lines of the form of the note, with more or less routine wording, mostly in Hebrew and Aramaic. From the name of the place on the shore of the Great Sea ('דעל כיף ימה רבה') only the first letter, עי"ן, survived, and it is also not complete. Goitein assumes it means the city of Aden. But it is not impossible that 'Aidab' must be completed; See the note to line 12. In any case, it is appropriate to pay attention to the mention of the 'authority' of the head of the Yeshiva, Maṣliaḥ, apparently outside the borders of Egypt and on his way to India. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. What remains is deferential greetings and praises. Verso: Jottings including the name Shelomo (probably Shelomo b. Eliyyahu) and Yūsuf b. Moshe.

Illustration of two birds and a fruit tree, colored in. Very lovely. On verso there is some writing in childish Hebrew script.

Legal fragment. In Hebrew. Mentions Avraham b. Pinḥas.

Legal fragment. This portion contains about a dozen witness signatures, including Ghālib b. Faraj.

Bill of divorce (get). Location: Fustat. Husband: Evyatar.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Very small fragment. Groom: Avraham.

Recto: Draft of letter from Efrayim b. Shemarya to the Nasi, mentioning the elder Abū Saʿīd.

Verso: Hebrew legal document (power of attorney), mentioning Ṣadoq Av Bet Din.

Original document (both sides): Several names in Arabic script, e.g. al-Shaykh Abū Manṣūr . . . Hilāl). Verso (around the original text): Greetings or address of a letter to Yakhin ha-Sar Pe'er ha-Yeshiva Mordekhai ha-Zeman.

Bill of divorce, Fustat, 1248. (Ashtor incorrectly cites shelfmark as T-S NS 324.)

Medical treatise in Judaeo-Arabic. Includes instructions for the Mithridates antidote.

Recto: Targum of Parashat Yitro. Verso: In large, calligraphic, Hebrew script: Shelomo b. Yiftaḥ, to al-Shaykh al-Ajall Abū l-ʿIzz.

Accounts or distribution list in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Dating: Probably 14th century or later, based on handwriting and typical names and the honorific khātūn (U[mm] ʿArab Khātūn).

Literary text in Hebrew with a marvellous marginal illustration of a knight on horseback and a foot soldier, each with bow and arrow, confronting each other.

Court record. Tiqva b. 'Amram is representing his sister Sitt al-Kull in her engagement (she is titled al-mukhatiba = the engaged) to collect amount of 60 dinars from Moshe b. Shelomo. The same Tiqva appeared in another document relating to his sister's engagement - Bodl. Heb. d. 66, f. 46, from the year 1099- one year earlier than our document. Not clear if the same engagement is intended. Signed by Ishaq ha-melamed b. Hayyim, AA

Small fragment from a legal deed written of parchment. Probably regarding a debt from an husband called Sahlan to his wife, but too little text is preserved. AA

Calendar calculations.

Dream interpretation. (FGP)

List of Levites and Israelites.