Geniza Lab

List of names and numbers, perhaps a donations list. Dating: Probably 18th or 19th century. Includes surnames such as Mosseri and ʿUraybi.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions an illness (maraḍ) and aṣḥābunā.

Letter or legal query addressed to Ḥananel b. Shemuel, probably identical with the well-known judge of the early 13th century (and son-in-law of Moses Maimonides). None of the substance remains except that the writer asks for guidance regarding a certain matter.

Legal document: Bill of divorce. Dated: Monday 14 Tammuz 1454 Seleucid (1143 CE). Location: Minyat Zifta. Husband: Yakhin ha-Kohen b. ʿUlla ha-Zaqen. Wife: Rūma bt. Ḥasān. Scribed and signed by the judge Shabbetay b. Avraham ha-Ḥaver. Also signed by Yeshuʿa b. Shemuel ha-Melammed. The attestation on verso that she received the get is signed by Yosef b. Shemarya and Seʿadya b. Natan.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Narrating some letter exchange involving the writer's cousin (ibn ʿamm) and paternal uncle (ʿamm).

Recto: Letter from Yiṣḥaq de Curiel. In Ladino. Verso: sums.

Documentary text: Jottings(?) in Arabic script. The main text on the fragment is Hebrew and literary.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Apparently describing a certain man's marital issue, but this is opaque. Needs examination.

Recto: Deed of a sale. Dated 145[.] Seleucid, which is 1138–48 CE, which is consistent with the reshut clause invoking the Nagid Shem[uel b. Ḥananya]. Also mentions the name Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen ha-Zaqen. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic commentary on Daniel 1 and Ashpenaz the Chief Eunuch.

Accounts in Ladino.

Accounts in Ladino.

Probably from a letter in late Hebrew. AA

A very damaged bill of divorce. On verso very faded document, hardly legible. AA

Book list in Hebrew. Dating: Probably 16th century, as the latest author mentioned is Shelomo Almoli (Istanbul, 1460–1530). (Information from AA and Allony et al.)

Late. A fragmentary document dealing with excommunication and oath. Hebrew. AA

Note in Arabic script. Consisting of three lines. Probably legal, since it opens with a name (Hiba b. Yehuda al-[...] and a number (728?). Needs further examination.

Left part from a Hebrew letter dealing with people who desecrated Shabbat. Hebrew. AA

Hebrew poetry.

Begging letter in Hebrew addressed to the 'community of foreigners (loʿazim) from a widow with five children. Already a recipient of communal charity, the writer requests that the \'almoner\' (gabbae= gabbaʾei sedaqa) be given instructions to increase her allotment (tamid) owing to her children's needs. She complains that the children are hungry and cold, and requests that the addressees also give consideration to their clothing. Verso is blank. No date. (Information from Arnold Franklin and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, II, 102, 105, 543 note 27.)

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Abū l-Khayr; Faraj; ʿIwāḍ; some quarter-dinars (? rubāʿiyya); and perhaps a Taherti (last legible word of right margin). If the last is correct, the dating is 11th century.