Geniza Lab

Recto: Fragment of a legal document mentioning [...] b. Menashshe and Shelomo and [...] b. Faraḥ and sums of money. Verso: Fragment of a legal document mentioning Abū l-Khayr Shelomo b. [...] al-Ṣūrī and ʿIzrūn. Possibly documenting the settlement of a dispute. There is a note in Arabic script in the margin. Same parties and possibly the same case as L-G Misc. 33.

Letter from Efrayim b. Nissim, probably from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dating: ca. 1050. The writer tried to get money from Abu Mansur (who is Aaron b. Yashar ha-Tustari) but did not succeed. Musa b. Abi al-Hayy gave the writer books to keep them from the mice while he is traveling. The writer mentions a disagreement that he has with “the Alexandroni”, probably Avraham b. Farah. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #712) VMR

Fragment, concluding 5 lines of what seems a state document in a chancery hand ending with a ṣalwala. Some phrases: "wa l-dukhūl fīhi sana", "in kān l-zamān qad afīḍī/afḍī? wa ma talqu illa kullama", "in tuṭīʿū anfusakum". The last line mentions that the document was written in a hurry "kutiba/katabahu ʿajjil surʿattan".

Letter fragment (lower left part). In Judaeo-Arabic. The handwriting seems familiar. ". . . betroth her and take her, and let him not be absent for a week or. . . tell me what should be done, for I am perplexed. . ." Regards to: mawlāy al-levi and his brother-in-law beḥir ha-kohanim; Abū Isḥāq and his brothers; Abū l-Makārim; Abū l-Faḍl Rosh ha-Medabbrim; Abū l-Makārim b. Nufayʿ and his son. There is a postscript regarding the son of the faqīh Abū Ṭālib, who came and asked the writer to pass on his gratitude to al-Fakhr.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary handwriting. The name [...]r b. Dā'ūd appears in the address. The body of the letter mentions pullets (farārīj) and a certain Yiṣḥaq. Needs preservation; more of the text could be uncovered.

Letter from Yeshuʿa to his father Saʿīd. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 14th century or later, based on handwriting and abbreviations used. This letter was written around the period of the High Holidays. Perhaps this is why Yeshuʿa asks his father to forgive him. Needs further examination.

Fragment, wide margin on the left, two sides of commercial accounts.

Rental document, in Arabic script, possibly a receipt of transportation of unspecified goods, dated to the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal 1259/April 1843. The name of the tenant is Yeshūʿa and involves a property in Ḥārat al-Yahūd. Contains a seal and is duly signed.

This is a commentary to BT Bava Qamma in the hand of Ḥananel b. Shemuʾel, not a legal document. AA

Praise poem for Maimonides (FGP)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter or letter draft in Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed perhaps to Ḥananel ha-Dayyan (but this is not completely clear). The writer complains about his poverty and unemployment. The handwriting is quite difficult. It may belong to Shelomo b. Eliyyahu.

Legal declaration, perhaps a draft, in the name of a certain R. Yeshaʿya and sales of property. Needs further examination.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Fragment from the beginning a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, in lovely and distinctive handwriting. The writer has been forced to stay in a funduq due to an illness, and there is no one there to help him. At one point he visited the house of al-Kohen al-Ṣiqillī, presumably a physician, to take a medicine. Most of the rest of the letter is lost. He mentions Umm Muslim and in the margin reiterates that he has been living in the funduq. ASE.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic; either a fragment preserving only the greetings, or a letter that consists entirely of greetings. Mentions ʿAzīza, Avraham, and Binyamin.

Responsum (FGP). Dating: 17th century. There is a detailed description and edition on FGP.

Letter of appeal for charity. In Hebrew. Dating: Late, probably 16th century. Written by Yehuda al-Ashqar b. Yiṣḥaq b. [...], a resident of Jerusalem who, when circumstances became difficult, decided to approach the Gedolim for help, "setting my face as flint not to be ashamed." The name is partially missing and thus the reading is not certain.

Rental contract. In Hebrew. Dated: Tuesday, 15 Sivan 54[..], so 1640–1739 CE. Sara bt. Yiṣḥaq Malikī(?), the widow of Shemuel ha-Levi Kaʿk(?), in the presence of her late husband's son Menaḥem, leases the ʿaliya above the qāʿa where they live to Avraham ha-Kohen b. Yosef for a period of 12 months. The rent is 30 medins per month ('fine and good' ones).

Letter of recommendation. In Judaeo-Arabic. Written on behalf of the bearer, Abū l-ʿIzz b. Abū Saʿīd. Apart from the conventional material, we learn that the recommendee has been working since Purim as a slaughterer, "one or two heads a day," in order to conceal his face from having to ask or having to ashame himself before the congregation (wa-lā yanfaḍiḥ ʿind al-qahal). It seems that he now wants to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.