Geniza Lab

Upper fragment: Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: 1437 Seleucid, which is 1125/26 CE. Involves Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya b. [...], Aharon b. Yefet, and the revered judge (qāḍī) Hibatallāh. Aharon may be [Abū l-Ḥa]san (l. 5). Sums of 11, 7, and 4, dinars are mentioned. A payment is agreed upon. This fragment is very damaged. Note that the small flap beginning in line 7 is misaligned (the left side should be raised one line).

Lower fragment: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Opens with a poem in Hebrew. The addressee is asked to bring a "fine ingot" (sabīka ṭayyiba) from India weighing 5 raṭls, free of "taqalluʿ(?)." The handwriting is probably known. ASE

Formulary for a magical spell. Small fragment.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Very deferent. Mentions (or is addressed to?) the Gaon and the Av ha-Yeshiva. Needs examination and transcription.

Ismāʿīlī material in Judaeo-Arabic. Appears to be the introduction to a copy of the 'waṣiyya' written by al-Manṣūr Billāh Amīr al-Mu'minīn (=the 3rd Fatimid caliph, al-Manṣūr bi-Naṣr Allāh?) before his death (intaqala ilā raḥmat Allāh). But needs further examination.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning bibles or codices (maṣāḥif).

Colophon to Kitāb Khalq al-Insān by Abū l-Ḥasan Saʿīd ibn Hibat Allāh (1045–1101). In Judaeo-Arabic. This copy was completed 7 Shevat 4883 AM, which is January 1123 CE. The next lines of the colophon name (the patron?) al-Rayyis Abū Manṣūr Ṣāliḥ Ra's al-Mathība al-Hārūnī (=a Kohen?) b. [Su]laymān Ra's al-Mathība al-Hārūnī - which, according to the titles, name, nasab and date can fit the gaon Maṣliaḥ b. Solomon. On the author of the original text: Saʿīd b. Hibat Allāh was a "Nestorian Christian court physician to the ’Abbāsid caliphs al-Muqtadī (ruled 467-487 AH/1075-1094 CE) and al-Mustaẓhir (ruled 487-512 AH/1094-1118 CE) and physician at the ’Aḍudī hospital in Baghdad. This treatise on the generation and development of human beings from conception to death is in fifty chapters." (Information from Bodleian catalog, description of MS. Pococke 66.)

Upper fragment: Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involves Abū l-Munā and [...] b. David ha-Parnas and [Shelomo?] b. Ḥayyim ha-Sheviʿī. Cf. T-S 8J4.24, not a join but potentially involving some of the same people.

Legal document (or 2 documents) in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. The one on the right involves a marriage. The one on the left is signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya.

Popular literature in Judaeo-Arabic. Set in the time of Muḥammad. Involving ʿĀmir ibn al-Ṭufayl, Zayd, and a female slave. Needs further examination.

Popular literature. A battle scene from Sīrat ʿAntar. This excerpt begins with the line "وبوارق البيض الرقاق لوامع في عارض مثل الغمام المرعد." There are at least another 300 pages from the same book preserved in the Geniza. The largest chunks are in T-S Ar.13.3 (228pp) and AIU VII.B.1 (38pp).

Document in Ladino. Unclear what it is. Needs further examination.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, probably no earlier than 17th century.

Legal testimony. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Heshvan 136[2?] Seleucid, which is 1051 CE. Involves Abū l-Ḥasan Yoshiyya ha-Nasi and Daniel ha-Nasi; also mentions Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya; someone known as Ṣahrajtī; and Ibrāhīm Ibn Sughmār. Signed: Ḥalfon b. Shabbat; Shelomo b. Natan. The content of the legal case is not immediately clear; needs further examination and transcription.

Letter of recommendation sent from Ramla, presumably to Fustat. In Hebrew. On behalf of Moshe b. Shemuel. His father Shemuel died this winter, as there was a great epidemic (dever) in Ramla this winter, in which many died 'of our Jewish brethren.' Shemuel left a widow, his son Moshe, and a 7-year-old daughter.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Large and well preserved. Release granted by Yaḥyā ha-Kohen to Abū l-Waḥsh Sibāʿ, the husband of his sister's daughter. Consists almost entirely of legalese, including 12 lines of wa-lā X wa-lā Y wa-lā Z.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 18th or 19th century.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic.

Guide for the Perplexed. In Judaeo-Arabic. Likely 13th century, based on handwriting, which may be known from other documents. Looks like the hand of Yedutun ha-Levi but has a different aleph.

List of names with some numbers. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late. Spanning four columns. Alphabetized.