Geniza Lab

Enigmatic fragment. Possibly some sort of curse or prognostication. It is written in Judaeo-Arabic. The remaining content entirely consists of sentences addressed to a woman. "You will die on your bed, and an illness of the heart will overcome you, and also the bite of a dog and the kick of a riding beast. . . ."

Letter fragment addressed to some dignitary (rabbenu ha-rav). In Judaeo-Arabic. Only the flattering introduction is preserved.

Torah.

Legal fragment preserving the signature of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu and little else.

Verso: Note regarding Abū l-Ḥasan al-Ṣabiyy and 5 dirhams, perhaps a note of a debt or a promissory note. In Judaeo-Arabic. On recto there is a Hebrew literary text.

This very fragmentary legal document mentions a community leader with the Hebrew honorific 'Sar ha-Sarim' ('Prince of Princes'); on the application of this title, first in the 11th century, and most prominently to the Egyptian Jewish leader Mevorakh b. Saadya, and its later more common use, see Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, esp. pp. 220-221 and note 32): someone with the title 'Behir ha-Yeshiva,' possibly the merchant Yehuda ben Moshe ibn Sighmar (see Cohen, ibid., pp. 116-117): and finally, a certain Rabbi Efrayim. The settlement involves a payment to the poor. The verso is blank.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Amulet for a certain Mordekhai.

List of goods and values in Judaeo-Arabic. Dowry list? Accounts?

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Difficult to discern anything of substance. Mentions Abū l-Ḥasan; Mūsā b. [...]; children; someone who did or should clothe the writer; someone who concerns themselves with ashghāl al-yahūd. Possibly a letter of appeal for charity. Verso: There is also unidentified Arabic script.

Legal fragment. Dated: 4[..]3 AM, which just means prior to 1233 CE, but probably substantially earlier. Written in Hebrew, in a calligraphic script. Involves Mori Moshe ha-Levi b. Mori [...] b. Mori Faraj. The elder David b. Yiṣḥaq is named, possibly the well-known Qaraite courtier of the mid-11th-century. Needs examination.

Legal fragment. In Hebrew. Involves [Avra?]ham b. ʿAllān; six gold coins that had been deposited with someone; ʿAṭiyya ha-Sh[...]; Salmān. The signatures of Salmān and ʿAṭiyya appear on verso.

Small fragment from an unidentified document. Look like a draft. The name Abu al-Faraj is visible. The hand is very cursive. On verso pen trial in Hebrew and Arabic script. AA

Damaged fragment from a calendar. AA

Minute fragment from the bottom right of what looks like a letter signed by Elyaqim. AA

On recto funeral speech. On verso reference to the death of Nissim Shlomo Elgazi, on Monday, 25th Kislev 1761. Hebrew. AA

Fragmentary list of names with Coptic numerals. AA

Petition addressed to four brothers (?), the elders Abu al-Baqa, Abu al-Baha, Abu al-Faraj and Abu al-Karam, requesting charity. The supplicant, Harun, writes that he has not tasted bread in days and is emboldened to make his appeal because of the upcoming Jewish holiday. The name of one of the addressees, the shaykh Abu al-Karam, is written on the verso. The cipher at the top, in the small letters, probably is the abbreviation \'b-m\' for bism allah al-rahman al-rahim, found in other Geniza documents and in the Arabic fragments from Quseir al-Qadim published by Li Guo, Commerce, Culture and Community in a Red Sea Port in the Thirteenth Century: The Arabic Documents from Quseir; cf. M. Cohen, 'On the interplay of Arabic and Hebrew in Cairo Geniza Letters, in the R. P. Scheindlin Festschrift, note 19. Undated.