Geniza Lab

Legal deed. Rental contract. In Hebrew. Dating: Second half of the 16th century. Siwār, the wife of Shemuel b. Yiṣḥaq de Molina leases an apartment to Avraham al-Jazīra. Information from FGP.

See ENA NS 37.2 Needs further examination.

Late legal document in Hebrew regarding the arrangements following somebody's death and the expenses of the mourners including an Esther and an ʿAzīza.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Many names and numbers listed.

Fragment (lower right corner) of a late letter in Hebrew. Mentions a consul (הקונסילו); someone going to Egypt/Fustat; "I looked everywhere and found no cure except for this. . . ." The writer signs Yaʿaqov Sh[...].

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning various garments, several of silk.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Late.

Table in Arabic script, possibly an account.

Letter fragment "in the handwriting of Natan ha-Kohen b. Mevorakh (the grandson), written in his name and that of Yeshuʿa b. Yefet; his son Mevorakh is a signatory thereto as well; their ‘alāma: yeshaʿ rav (‘a great salvation’ like that of the Gaon Shelomo b. Yehuda). Yeshuʿa ‘the excellent (haver), the judge’ b. Yefet was also one of the scholars in Ascalon at the beginning of the twelfth century, and it seems that he was a partner of the Natan ha-Kohen family in managing the affairs of the Ascalon community (see: 588, upper margin, line 7; 589, upper margin, line 6)." Gil, History of Palestine, 199, note 73. Ṣedaqa ha-Zaqen is also mentioned here.

Legal deed. In Hebrew. Location: Salonika. Dated: Sunday, 7 Adar II 5331 AM, which is 1571 CE. Yiṣḥaq Romano and Yisra'el Eliyya acknowledge that they owe 1323 silver akçes (לבנים/אשפרוש) to Moshe ʿAmi. They previously owed him more money and repaid part of the debt; this is the remaining balance. They will repay him before Shavuʿot. Witnesses: Yiṣḥaq b. Barukh; Avraham Lubina (?לובינה); Yosef b. Shemuel אלוו; and Yosef b. Yeshaʿya Barqash(?) ha-Levi. Information from Avraham David via FGP.

Shiddukhin document (or a draft of one) for the daughter of Ḥalfon b. Moshe. The conditions include sums in peraḥim and discussion of living arrangements. The year is given in the final line but is very faded.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic to a certain Nissim and a certain Shalom Pinḥas. The writer is in some distress and perplexity and repeatedly mentions someone "who is a youth and his wife is a small girl." He also mentions arrangements for the orphans in general, and sums of money in Ashrafīs. Possibly connected to the legal document recto, possibly not. Needs further examination.

Literary. Judaeo-Arabic. This is either Maimonides' introduction to Perek Ḥeleq of Sanhedrin, or a work quoting it. Elaborating the 13 principles of faith; this excerpt focuses on the first principle. Information from FGP.

Business letter addressed to Abū l-Faraj (Yūsuf b. Yaʿqūb?) Ibn ʿAwkal. In Judaeo-Arabic. This document appears to have been overlooked by past Ibn ʿAwkal scholars. One curious element: the letter mentions al-Jazā'ir four lines from the bottom (and al-Andalus three lines from the bottom). See Goitein's note on T-S J1.29, a dowry list from 1140 CE: "Al-Jazā'ir became the name of the town of Algiers, called so after the islets near its coast. But I have little doubt that in the Geniza the word designates the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea. Cf. EI2, s.v. "Djazā'ir-i Bahr-i-Safīd." Med Soc IV, 455.

Legal document (iqrār) in Arabic script. Ḥammād b. Hiba al-A[...] makes a declaration concerning the jahbadh of the diwan and a sum of 70 dinars. Dated: Rabīʿ al-Awwal 435 AH, which is 1043 CE. Reused for Judaeo-Arabic midrashic text on the 10 commandments.

Letter fragment, In Judaeo-Arabic. Little of the substance remains, mainly allusions to distress, good wishes for the future, and greetings to a large number of family members by name.

Legal draft. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning Rabbenu Ḥalfon ha-Sar ha-Gadol. Concerning some financial transaction involving 44 dinars. The date has been left blank.

Hebrew poems in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. There are also pen trials in a different hand.

Document in Arabic script. Difficult to read. On verso there are various jottings in Arabic script as well as the name ʿEli b. [...] written in Hebrew script.

Magical fragment. In Arabic script, with pious Islamic phrases (incl. lā ḥawla wa-lā quwwa illā billāhi al-ʿaliyy al-ʿaẓīm). With stars of David.