Geniza Lab

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Rabbenu Elʿazar and "the matter of the children of Tamīm."

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Possibly 12th century. Rudimentary hand. Relates that there is violent domestic conflict between Hilāl and his wife. Mentions Ibn al-Labbān and [Abū?] Naṣr b. al-Sadīd.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, fragment containing right margin (angle parking) and right part of some lines. Mentions Ibrāhīm b. Ḥassūn al-Mahdawī.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, 12th c sefaradi hand, should be checked against Maimonides, Yehuda ha-Levi and other known quantities. The writer signs his name Yosef b. [...].

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, small fragment only.

Recto: Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. It seems that a communal official undertakes to not miss any obligations on certain days, regardless of adverse weather, and that he will not get caught up in the drinking of wine. If he is witnessed violating this agreement, he will owe 1000 dirhams to the qodesh. Verso: Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic, in a different hand. Stipulating that a certain person will only fry foods in sesame oil (sīraj/sayraj). Dated: Monday, 4 Av 1758 Seleucid, which is 1447 CE. Witnesses: Shemuel b. Naṣrallāh al-Levi known as ʿAṭṭār; ʿAbdūn al-Kohen b. [...].

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to 'the father' Abū Sahl. The writer reports that a sick man is in dangerous condition (al-marīḍ ʿalā khaṭar (or conceivably ʿalā khuṭṭa)) and he requests help hiring transportation, possibly to Fuwwa. MR. ASE.

State report in Arabic mentioning the amīr Shams al-Dīn, at whom "we looked with an eye of respect" (wa-naẓarnā ilayhi bi-ʿayni l-iḥtirām). Two full lines and two partial lines preserved. MR. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: late medieval (sefaradi-influenced hand), possibly 14th-15th century. Mostly consists of particularly flowery introductory praises.

Marriage document, parchment, middle fragment only.

Qaraite ketubba formulary (FGP)

Qaraite ketubba formulary (FGP)

Legal document. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Minyat Ashna. Dated: first decade of Av 1456 Seleucid, which is 1145 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Abū Sahl Shela b. Meshullam the judge will repay a large debt of 138 dinars to Shemarya ha-Kohen in 6 monthly installments of 23 dinars from Elul 1456 through Shevaṭ 1457. Signed by: Mordekhay b. Yefet; Yeshuʿa b. ʿAmram. The qiyyum also lists Yosef b. Yaʿaqov ha-Mumḥe as one of the witnesses and is signed by Menashshe b. Seʿadya. On verso there is a receipt for all but one installment—115.5 dinars—dated 1457 Seleucid and signed by Shelomo b. Zurʿa and Yefet b. Aharon.

Legal register from the rabbinical court in Fustat, signed by Efrayim ben Shemarya in uncharacteristically calligraphic Hebrew letters. Recto has two entries from Ḥeshvan 1339 Seleucid, and verso has an entry from Kislev 1339 Seleucid (=1027/28 CE). The entry on verso concerns the same case of levirate marriage as found in T-S NS J51 from several months earlier (Elul 1338 Seleucid). Incidentally, it mentions someone named Ḥayyim Ibn al-Jāsūs.

Court record in which the orphan Avraham b. Shemuel al-Andalusi brings his guardians for the second time to court demanding they deliver a balance. The guardians refused since they had been expressly exempted from this duty by the orphan's father. A committee of three, headed by Shemuel ha-Kohen b. Talyun was to look into the matter, but nothing came out of it. Dated Tevet 1339/ December 1027. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 294, 295.) See also T-S 8J4.3.2 + AIU VII.D.4 + T-S 8J4.3 + T-S 13J5.1 (PGPID 2121).

Recto: a child's writing exercise in Judaeo-Arabic, presumably from a commercial apprenticeship: numbers, halves, possibly sums, the word wakkāla, the name Yūsuf or Yosef. Verso: trial of the pen in large Arabic letters.

Letter fragment (left side). In Judaeo-Arabic. Little of the subject matter remains; the writer may be requesting a favor.

Recto: court testimony, possibly a draft, in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, right half only. Verso: left half of a letter in Arabic script. Does not seem to be the Arabic script hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, which we know from other fragments.

Letter fragment from Faraḥ b. Yūsuf al-Qābisī. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Needs examination for content.

Palimpsest. Underneath there are faint traces of an Arabic book hand, and on top there are accounts in Judaeo-Arabic in at least two different hands (maybe more). One of the blocks of Judaeo-Arabic is crossed out with four vertical lines. The others blocks of text have one line running through them, one of which conceivably could be an authentication mark from the original Arabic text. In any case, these business accounts name Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy (fl. late 11th century), providing a date for the fragment. MR. ASE.