Geniza Lab

Literary texts. Possibly a Maimonides autograph. See FGP for identifications.

A legal query to Maimonides written by Yosef b. Shmuel b. Sa'adya and Maomonides autographed reply. Published in Maimonides Responsa (Blau) no. 273. The query is dealing with a circumciser who use to perform circumcission in the vilages. He had a quarell with another person, a physician, who use to perform circumcission in order to harm the circumciser's livelihood. Maimonides eulrd that the physician act wrongly. AA

Legal document. Bill of attorney, written by Yosef b. Shemuʾel Halevi and approved by Maimonides, in his own hand. Published: מע"פ פרידמן, ר' משה בן מימון בתעודות משפטיות מן הגניזה, שנתון המשפט העברי, יד-טו (תשמח-תשמט), עמ' 180-181. Names mentioned: סלימאן, מוסי, אבו אלמנגא, מחאסן Signed by: Shemuʾel b. Saadya Halevi (the scribe's father), Shemuʾel b. Yosef, Moshe Hakohen b. Mordechai Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Recto: Letter fragment, probably addressed to Moshe Maimonides. In Judaeo-Arabic. Reporting on the arrival of Abū l-Mufaḍḍal and mentioning a letter to Abū l-Fakhr al-Ṣayrafī b. Saʿīd. Possibly mentioning the capitation tax (jizya) of someone's father. Verso: Letter from Moshe Maimonides. Autograph. Giving instructions to a certain judge to go to the dyehouse (maṭbakh, maṣbagh) where Abū Isḥāq works and confirm the value of its rent. Information in part from Friedman, Dictionary, p. 723.

Letter from Moshe Maimonides to Abū l-Munā. Autograph. In Judaeo-Arabic. Abū l-Munā is asked to convey Moshe's gratitude to Najm [al]-Dīn on account of the benefaction he bestowed by helping a certain prisoner. Moshe cannot come in person to thank him.

Responsum by Moshe Maimonides. A copy. The responsum corresponds to #355 in Blau's edition ("I am very troubled by various matters, and my body is week, and I have no ability to even read the letters, let alone respond to them..."). Another copy of the same responsum may be found in ENA 2743.3. (Information from Amir Ashur via FGP)

Letter by Moshe Maimonides. A copy. Following the responsum, there is a copy of Maimonides' letter to Pineḥas ha-Dayyan of Alexandria. (Information from Amir Ashur via FGP)

Legal document. Dated: Av 4959 AM, which is 1199 CE. Location: Probably Alexandria, where legal documents in this period tend to be dated according to the anno mundi calendar as opposed to the Seleucid calendar used in Fustat and the other towns of Egypt. Concerns Sitt al-Gharb bt. Yehuda, the divorcee of Abū Naṣr Elʿazar ha-Kohen b. Shelomo al-Ṣayrafī al-Miṣrī. Friedman has synthesized her story based on (a) T-S 8.239 + Bodl. MS heb. a 3/36 (her ketubba, drawn up in Qūṣ); (b) T-S NS J455 (a court record from Aleppo, 1189 CE, in which Abū Naṣr agrees to send her a bill of divorce with the agent Avraham ha-Talmid b. Ḥananel); (c) Moss. VII,75 (that very bill of divorce, which reached its destination); and (d) MS 8254, fol. 15, the present document. Sitt al-Gharb has remarried. Her new husband, Abū l-Ḥasan b. Ibrāhīm, wishes to do business with the half-house that belongs to Sitt al-Gharb. Apparently she was not in agreement. This document certifies that the husband should be prohibited from doing anything with her property until an order arrives from Maimonides. Maimonides is titled "Rayyis" in this document, as he had returned to the post of the Head of the Jews by this date (though 'rayyis' is also sometimes used for any respected physician or dignitary). Information from Friedman's 1988 article, pp. 181–85.

Document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Letter addressed to Moshe Maimonides. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. NB: The identifications and bibliography on FGP (an autograph responsum of Avraham Maimonides) actually refer to MS 8254, fol. 17.

Legal query addressed to Avraham Maimonides, with the latter's autograph responsum. NB: There is an extensive bibliography on this fragment, but it is often erroneously called MS 8254, fol. 16. See FGP under MS 8254, fol. 16.

Recto: Legal document. Dated: 4976 AM, which is 1215/16 CE. Under the reshut of Avraham Maimonides. Involving a certain Abū l-Rabīʿ Sulaymān and Shelomo ha-Levi (unless these are the same person?). Verso: Legal document, formulary/draft. Underneath, there is an extremly faded text block (a letter?) in the hand of Avraham Maimonides.

Kifāyat al-ʿĀbidīn by Avraham Maimonides. Information from FGP.

Legal document from the court of Avraham Maimonides. The members of the court are listed in a neat table: Ḥananel b. Shemuel, Yeḥiel b. Elyaqim, Yiftaḥ b. Yaʿaqov, Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, Yosef b. Shemuel, and Ḥalfon Kohen b. Elʿazar. See Goitein, Med Soc II, 546 no. 16, where this is the "unidentified ENA manuscript" mentioned. Information in part from Friedman, Maimonides Appoints R. Anatoly Muqaddam of Alexandria [Hebrew], p. 153 no. 71.

Current shelfmark: ENA NS 18.36.

Commentary on the Mishna. Maimonides autograph.

Letter fragment from a certain Moshe to the Nagid Avraham (I or II?).

Verso: Letter of appeal from a poor man [...] ha-Levi addressed to the Nagid David I Maimonides (r. 1237–1300) or David II Maimonides (r. 1355–1410). In Judaeo-Arabic. Opens with standard praises as well as a prayer for David's speedy recovery from his illness. There follows a detailed story about money that may be owed to the writer.

Recto: Ayyubid or Mamluk-era fiscal account. In Arabic script. Extremely neat and well-preserved. Mentions Dār al-Malik al-Muẓaffar and al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ. Needs examination.

Legal document. Mentions a certain Rabbenu Shelomo. Signed by [Avraham?] b. David b. Avraham b. Moshe Maimonides. Dating: Before 1313 CE, as Avraham II Maimonides lived 1245–1313.