Geniza Lab

List of clothes for the poor. Dated: 1451 Seleucid, which is 1139/40 CE. Four fragments altogether, three of which being in the hand of the scribe of T-S K15.48, part one. They are headed by the parnas Abū ʿAlī b. Barukh, receiving a muqaddar, and the shomer Abū l-Surūr allotted a shuqqa. All the remaining forty whose names are preserved get a jūkhāniyya. In the fourth fragment (which was attached to the others by a thread), in the hand of the second part of K15.48, a piece of clothing of the sari type, called fūṭa, is given to fifteen persons. Goitein assembled these fragments together while working on the New Series in the Taylor Schechter Collection. The type, form, and state of preservation of the paper and the arrangement of the script on it leave little doubt, however, that they form parts of one document. Words surrounded by { } in the transcription below are in Arabic letters. The Arabic final mem probably represents the word tasallam. 'paid' or 'received.' (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 448, App. B 33 [dated to1100-1140]).

Informal note from Hillel b. ʿEli to Eli b. Yaḥya ("al-Parnas al-Neʾeman"). In Judaeo-Arabic. Asking him to look after Ṣedaqa b. Nufayʿ and his father who were local people and deserving. Verso: 8 persons donate each 1/4 dinar, presumably for the needy mentioned on recto (poor hand, but not that of ʿEli the parnas). (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Rough draft of a question probably sent to a Gaon in Palestine.

Legal document: dissolution of a partnership, concerning a tax farm in al-Maṭariyya.

Court ledger with records of 10 distinct documents. Dated: Ḥeshvan–Elul 1601 Seleucid, which is 1289–90 CE. Several of the entries refer to the presence and/or the house of the Nagid (probably David I b. Avraham b. Moshe Maimonides). At least one specifies the location as New Cairo. Many entries are crossed out. In chronological order: 1. Undated: End of a marriage record. 2. 14 Ḥeshvan: an oath not to pray in the Babylonian or Palestinian synagogues for a period of two months. 3. 29 Ḥeshvan: report of a lost ketubba. The husband is Makārim b. Maymūn. 4. Undated: End of an unidentified document. 5. 22 Kislev: The tax farmer of al-Maṭariyya releases his partner Abū Muʿammar from all claims (unless the latter tries to enter the town before 29 months have elapsed). R. Ḥayyim was present. (Compare DK 236, probably unrelated, but also about the tax farming of al-Maṭariyya.) 6. Undated: Deed of sale regarding land. Mentions Yosef al-Naṣabti (? אלנצבתי). 7. 20 Shevaṭ: Re-engagement (qiddushin) of Sadīda bt. ʿIwaḍ to her ex-husband Bū l-Faraj b. Ibrāhīm b. Efrayim. 8. Undated: Record concerning the inheritance of the late al-Shaykh al-Sadīd. 9. 26 Elul: Another record partially preserved. 10. Undated: Another record partially preserved.

Documentary per FGP - needs examination.

Letter sent from an unidentified man, in Alexandria, to his brother, in Shayzar (Syria). In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender has recently returned from a long visit to Yemen. The addressee has recently moved from Ḥamāh to Shayzar (a smaller town nearby), and is planning to emulate his brother and travel overseas. On verso there are jottings. (Information from CUDL.)

Legal document from February 1255 concerning two members of an orphans’ court who sell certain garments through the “great simsar,” referred to here as ‘munadi,’ or market crier, auctioneer, whose compensation is termed ‘dilala,’ or broker’s fee. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:160, 439) EMS

Letter from Yūsuf, in Alexandria, to family members, probably in Fustat. The letter is addressed to the shop of Abū [...] al-ʿAṭṭār. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1160 CE, based on the mention (lines 11–12) that the writer departed Egypt in the year 51, probably 551H (1156 CE). This is corroborated by the mention of Abū ʿAlī Ibn al-Amshāṭī (see Goitein and Friedman, India Traders, pp. 103–04). The writer summarizes the events of the last four years. He suffered terrible illnesses and nearly perished en route to Constantinople. He lived there for two and a half years, where it seems he developed a new illness and also suffered from "the illness you know about." He survived only due to the grace of God and their prayers for him. He now asks his family members to go to Ẓāfir the tax collector and bribe him with a half dinar or dinar to register the writer as a newcomer (ṭārī) so that he will not have to pay for all four years he has been gone. "Remind him of my name, Yūsuf, who was under the Muʿallaqa (the Hanging Church)." Information in par from Goitein’s index card. The handwriting looks very similar or identical with that of T-S 10J11.11, and some of the same names appear in each letter, including Abū l-Surūr, Abū ʿAlī, and Sitt Ikhtiṣār. ASE.

Legal document. Court record. Dating: 1232. Record of three tannery partners, Rāḍī ha-Kohen, Mufaḍḍal ha-Kohen, and Ṭāhir, who worked in Minyat Ziftā. The total amount of the partnership was fourteen hundred dirhams. Rāḍī and Ṭāhir may have held their portion of the partnership jointly, and Rāḍī seems to have been the managing partner. Rāḍī attests to having paid out seventeen dinars’ worth of hides to Mufaḍḍal, leaving him (Rāḍī) owing three dinars. Lieberman thus infers that Mufaḍḍal’s share of twenty dinars represents roughly one-third of the total value of the partnership. Prior litigation on the same matter in an Islamic court led to a ruling requiring Rāḍī to pay Mufaḍḍal 1.5 dinars each month. Rāḍī seems not to have accepted the ruling, and while Mufaḍḍal seems to have been willing to compromise and accept only one dinar a month, Rāḍī brings "an Islamic document" to challenge him. The case then comes before the court of Abraham Maimonides (though testimony was not admissible as one of the litigants was a relative of the witness). The document does not record any final settlement. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 264)

Shipping certificate of Yosef b. Khalfa. Summer 1062. Details about textile products to send with boxes of crocus. The same goods are mentioned in Bodl. MS Heb b 3.23. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #564) VMR

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, fragment, probably in the hand of Yefet b. Menashshe.

Goitein: Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe Ibn al-Qaṭāʾif to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Asking for oil to be purchased for the synagogue in Dammūh. Yefet also mentions the arrival of ships from Al-Andalus (Spain) and al-Mahdiyya. Greetings are sent to Sitt Naʿīm, Ḥalfon's wife. Gil edited this letter but misidentified the sender as David b. ʿAmmār Madīnī. (Information from CUDL and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #658). ASE

Three fragments of a letter from Yefet b. Menashshe Ibn al-Qaṭā'if (based on handwriting). Gil's identification is different. See individual shelfmarks.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe Ibn al-Qaṭāʾif to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. With instructions about the sale of kohl, pepper, and boxthorn (khawlān). Greetings are sent to Sitt Naʿīm, Ḥalfon's wife. Gil edited this letter but misidentified the sender as David b. ʿAmmār Madīnī. (Information in part from CUDL and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #659.) VMR. ASE.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe Ibn al-Qaṭāʾif to one of his brothers. Fragment (upper right corner of recto). Mentions the phrase/title/name "Sar Shalom." Little else is preserved here.

Recto: A summary of the different names terms applied to girls at different stages of life, perhaps from a halakhic standpoint. Verso: Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. After the writer finished his previous letter, bad news arrived ("what happened in ארבל") that made him weep, and he asks the addressee to inform him of the details. ASE.

Accounting of building expenditures ca. 1230. Fragment of a leaf, of which the bottom left part is missing; it includes three columns of items on both recto and verso. The accounting refers to repairs in Dar Hayyun. Supplies of gypsum, clay, floor tiles, and lime form the majority of the items. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 433 #130)

Fragment of a marriage contract listing items such as a pair of golden ‘dablas’ (a ring without a stone). The notation “’lq” opens the jewelry section, likely indicating a‘laq, meaning precious items. Thirteenth century. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:454; 4:201, 221, 419, 429) EMS

Ketubba fragment. In the hand of Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya. This portion contains mostly a trousseau list.