Geniza Lab

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions: that Peraḥya's letter arrived with ʿAyyāsh; 17 dirhams; a woman (their mother?) praying for Peraḥya; a (capitation tax?) receipt (barāʾa) for 1/2 dinar; the addressee's preoccupation on account of a woman; Abū Saʿd; the government (al-ṣulṭān); and someone living in Fustat. The letter also deals with a fūṭa garment and some dirhams; something was intended for the addressee's mother. The crux of the matter is that the addressee should send something, because ʿAyyāsh says that he forgot that thing with Khiyār. There is also a qāḍī mentioned near the beginning of the letter. Yefet refers to "your mother and your sisters" and sends greetings to Abū Saʿīd (probably Ḥalfon) and Sitt Naʿīm. Join: Oded Zinger. Needs further examination now that the letter is complete.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Greek/Coptic numerals. Organized by parasha of the week. Names include "the father of al-Ḥakham Hiba," Nāṣir, and Yosef ʿŪdī.

Letter fragment (opening lines only). This part of the letter at least is in Hebrew.

Letter fragment in Hebrew addressed to ʿEli ha-Kohen. Little of the content remains.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. The hand may be known.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Damsīs (recto) and Jūjar and Sammanūd (verso). There are also a few lines of Arabic script on verso.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Mentions the Rayyis, a tax (?mas), and Yosef ha-Kohen (in the address).

Formularies for a love (maḥabba) spell and a love (tahayyuj) potion (using סבנאדג, the brain of a colored pigeon, and some of your urine).

Letter addressed to several dignitaries and judges, including Aharon and Seʿadya. Small fragment (upper right corner). In Hebrew (for the introduction) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body). Moderately wide space between the lines. Informing them about something to do with the commercial dealings of Abū l-Riḍā.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary hand. Recording how much money the 'segan' (=deputy; this seems more likely than sajjān) and the rayyis took on each day.

Letter from a woman (ʿammat al-dayyān) to her brother-in-law. In Judaeo-Arabic. She asks him to deliver some goods or money and prevent(?) someone from traveling. Regards to Sitt Dhahab and the writer's sister.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Elegant hand. The writer inquires about whether the addressee's cousin (ibn ʿamma) will come.

Accounts in Arabic script.

Letter of appeal from a woman whose husband had abandoned her with Muslims. "In this fragmentary letter a woman bitterly describes her marital misfortunes. Her husband brought her and her eight year old daughter to live among non-Jews. He then abandoned them with no food or drink. She fell ill [with pleurisy—"itbarsamt"] and was forced to turn to her gentile neighbours for assistance. Her daughter died. Deserted, diseased and bereaved, she sought release from her marriage. She was advised, "Sell your hair and ransom yourself". The iftidā' or "ransom" divorce, which is referred to here, entailed the wife's renouncing her claim to the delayed mohar payment. The purport of the advice here seems to have been that even if she would be left completely destitute and would have to sell her hair for support, she should initiate divorce proceedings and ransom herself from the marriage. This reminds us of R. Akiba's instructions to a man who wanted to divorce his wife without paying her the full ketubah settlement: "Even if you have to sell the hair on your head, you must pay her her ketubah" (M. Ned. 9:5). In the present case the wife seems to have been reluctant to do this. She wanted assistance in accomplishing the divorce without losing what was due her as divorce settlement (ḥaqq). This document is described by Goitein, in Med. Soc. 3, 272. Goitein offers a different explanation of the advice given the woman to cut her hair, viz. by cutting her hair and sending it to the religious authorities, she would humiliate herself and thereby compel them to take action on her request to perform the ransom divorce. See the reference on p. 487, n. 136, for women of the court sending their hair to an important general. The fragment is in a poor state of preservation, and some of my readings are uncertain." Information, edition, and translation from Friedman, "Divorce Upon the Wife's Demand," p. 117f. See also Zinger, "She Aims to Harass Him," and "Long Distance Marriages" (note 57).

Marriage document. Lower part, probably of a ketubah, written by a typical 13th century hand. Some of the dowry list is preserved. Signed by […] Hakohen b. Moshe and Shlomo b. […]. On the right margin שהד פרח?? Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic. AA

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment: right side only. Dating: Possibly first half of the 12th century, based on the reference to the merchant Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī (see Friedman, India Traders, p. 258, n. 1). The sender seems upset about the quality of a certain item that he bought from Yiṣḥaq. There is a matter of a deposit involving Khulayf b. Hārūn. He asks for news of Abū l-Ḥasan (and collection of the gold owed by him). The sender has sent a mat (? ḥaṣīr) with Ibn al-Dawāniqī. Regards to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllān, Khallūf al-Nafūsī, and Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī.

Original document: Accounts in very small Arabic script. Subsequent document: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to a woman. Written in the spaces around the original Arabic script. The writer reports on his meeting with the prospective groom of the addressee's daughter, in which they reached an agreement that the man would go to Bilbays and betroth (yuqaddis ʿalā) the woman (al-ṣughayyira) there and maintain her until Shavuʿot (al-ʿAnṣara), at which time the wedding will take place (yadkhulu baytahu). The early marriage payment is to be 5 dinars "with the conditions" (bi-l-shurūṭ: on this term see Ashur's dissertation, p. 217, n. 9) and the late marriage payment 20 dinars. Following the betrothal, the fiance's brother is going to take her to Cairo and rent her a house and maintain her until Shavuʿot when the marriage will take place. The writer warns the addressee 'not to let him come close' without paying the 5 dinars of the early marriage payment. He then suggests that there will be a second betrothal (taqdīs/qiddushin) ceremony in Cairo. He exhorts the addressee to be diligent in all this so that her daughter will obtain her livelihood/support. The letter becomes more difficult to understand around here. The writer mentions the army or army camp (al-ʿaskar) in connection with his own affairs. The letter is very faded in some places; this reading is provisional. Merits further examination. ASE.

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The same scribe left at least five other letters: see tag. In other letters, he writes to his father in Minyat Qā'id and is treated for a febrile disease by a physician named Ibn Ḥabīb. In this letter he mentions Abū l-Ḥasan (he has a brother of this name), discusses business matters, and mentions a bathhouse (ḥammām). Verso: Letter draft in Arabic script addressed to Abū Naṣr. Only the first two lines are present. Underneath, there is a line in Judaeo-Arabic (different hand than the letter on recto) that reads, "[my lett]er to you, and read it—O he who forgot me and whom I have not forgotten"; this is then transcribed into Arabic script. ASE.

Responsum. Long and narrow strip of paper, containing a responsum regarding the property of orphans. It seems that the ruling is not to deliver the property to the claimant. Citing BT ketubbot 87a, and probably BT Baba Batra 23a and Arakhin 22a. Also mentioning a legal deed that has to be fulfilled and a testimony. On verso remains of an Arabic text. (Description from FGP by A. Ashur). Judeo-Arabic and Aramaic. AA

Verso (original use): Fragment of a state report. The ends of 6 lines are preserved: "...the ṭalḥiyyūn(?), and there did not remain in al-Ramla... Muḥammad(?) b. Muḥsin(?) al-Anṭākī... the reins(?) of the slaves in it... with seventeen horses... they went out against it... the remaining ones..."