Geniza Lab

Letter apparently sent to Qayrawan. Hemdat ha-Yeshiva is mentioned.

Subsequent use: Letter from Ḥassūn b. Nissim ha-Levi al-Barqī, in al-Maḥalla al-Kubrā, to Abū Kathīr Efrayim b. [...]. Mentions people such as Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa. Needs examination for content.

Original use: Unidentified document in Arabic script, possibly a state document. Needs examination.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic - from the end of the 12th or first half of 13th century. The letter is mentioning money to be taken from a certain Mu'ammar who is praised for his masculinity. A small note at the bottom reveals that the letter as been written by a certain Ḥalfon. On the back are crude writing of biblical passages.

Recto: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from "your brother Musa" (Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi) asking the recipent to sell for him the Mishnah and Hilkhot Shehitah and send him the money with the bearer. He also wants to buy the codices of the Torah copied by Abu Sahl the Qaraite that he had seen in the addressee's possession. He sends greetings to one of the women of the family ('al-kabirah'). Verso: the response, from "your brother Yosef b. Hillel." Yosef reports that 32 dirhams were spent on the copies made by Abu Sahl the Qaraite, but he (presumably Abu Sahl) has not yet sold them because he is asking for 60 dirhams. However, Yosef has in his possession 4.5 books (of the Torah? Mishnah?) which fetched 23 dirhams. As for the copies belonging to Moshe, Yosef has not yet been able to sell them for the price that Moshe specified, so he tells him to be patient. ASE.

Note in Judaeo-Arabic saying "our lord" - probably the recipient - has already told R. Eliyahu (the 13th century judge) on Friday to give the rest of the alimony which is 4 dirhems to R. yedutun and he responded "Yes" - not the note is asking that this be done. On the back are arabic writings.

Letter, a short fragment to Abu al-Barakat, whose names appear with many honorifics. On the back the name Abu Ishaq is written in Hebrew script and Arabic script.

Legal document concerning Shelomo al-Tilmisānī. Various names, including Abū al-Kāram and Abū al-Barakāt and Abū Yaʿaqov b. Yosef, are mentioned, along with a sum of five dinars. (Information from Goitein’s index card.) In the hand of Hillel b. Eli. The text also mentions a number of different fabrics.

Letter from X b. Ya’qub from Qayrawan, to Yusuf b. Ya’aqub b. Awkal, Fustat. Describes a dangerous situation in Fustat. Also informs about the passing of the brother of the writer’s mother. Mentions the name of Sa’id Khaluf b. Zakarya al-Ashkar, from b. Awkal’ social circle. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #199) VMR

Congratulations to Eli ha-Kohen the Parnas (dated documents 1057–1107) and his son Abū Kathīr from Ḥasan b. Manṣūr al-Ne'eman from a locality in the Rīf. Al-Mumḥe b. al-Shofeṭ served as cantor. But when he said public prayer for the elders of the community and included Marwān, there was trouble. The addressee knows who the troublemakers were and is asked to intervene with Sayyidnā. Goitein identifies this cantor, son of the slaughterer, as the same peron as the writer of T-S 8J15.3. The shelfmark ENA 2736.20 is either erroneous or no longer exists, true shelfmark TBD. Goitein's transcription is attached.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Fragment (upper right corner of recto). Yefet refers to his departure from Fustat (or Egypt), a period of 20 days, and his worry at the lack of letters. He greets Abū ʿImrān b. Shuwayʿ. He refers to having given something to the 'purifier' (al-muṣaffī).

Recto: Fiscal accounting document (or an official order for the release of funds?), complete with ḥamdala and ḥasbala. Dated: 5 Shawwāl 4xx (412?).

Verso (original use): Letter fragment in Arabic script. Reports on the sale of wheat by Hilāl and good news ("abshirū!") concerning 'the thing which I/you said to Yūsuf.' Some numbers and weights are specified, but not much more is preserved.

Recto (secondary use): Receipt in Judaeo-Arabic written on the back of a fragment of an Arabic-script letter (see separate record). The writer (maybe Shelomo b. Eliyyahu) records that he received 20 dirhams from the judge Yehuda ha-Neʾeman for seder Moʿed. Dated: 23 Tishrei 1441 Seleucid = 1229 CE. 20 dirhams remain to be paid, maybe when seder Berakhot will be delivered.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic to a woman in a late hand. Dealing with commercial or at least monetary matters.

Upper fragment: Informal note from Yosef b. Sheshet to Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Ḥananya. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century. The sender is in a great hurry on account of his upcoming trip. He asks the addressee to send with the bearer, Abū Saʿd Ibn al-Karnīb, the two scarves or turbans (radda) which are with Abū Isḥāq al-Kohen.

Lower fragment: Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Ḥaggay to a woman named Raḥel (but to be delivered to Moshe b. Suhayl). In Hebrew. Dating: Late, probably ca. 15th–17th century. Mentions items that have been sent and small sums of money in medins (מידיש).

Fragment from the bottom of a legal deed in Judaeo-Arabic mentioning sums of money and the names Abū Isḥāq and Abū l-Riḍā. Signed by Yeshaʿyahu b. Maṣliaḥ b. ʿAzaryahu ha-Kohen. There are also two notes in Arabic script, both of which mention "the two women." They seem to be related to the Judaeo-Arabic legal document, but it is not clear exactly how.

Recto: Legal deed in Judaeo-Arabic about a partnership in a perfume/drug shop. Fragment (upper right corner). Location: Fustat. Dated: Probably [15]22 Seleucid = 1210/11 CE (if the Yaʿaqov b. ʿAmram on verso is the same who signed Bodl. MS heb. d 75/10; the other possibility is 1422 = 1110/11). The document concerns two men whose names contain the following components: Abū ʿImrān Moshe ha-Talmid ha-Kohen, Sheʾerit ha-Kohen, [...] b. Abū Naṣr Elʿazar ha-K[ohen], and Khalaf. They previously had a partnership in a perfume/drug shop and then ended the partnership. This document specifies the amounts of money still owed by one to the other (over 800 dirhams). Verso: After the document on recto was torn, a later legal record was added to the effect that Abū ʿImrān b. Abū l-Bahāʾ received the money that was owed to him by Khalaf the cantor: 485.75 dirhams. Someone is in Sūq al-Ghazal (the Yarn Market) in a silk shop. "And these are the dirhams... in his ledger (daftar) in my handwriting." Somone also received 7.5 dirhams' worth of silk. Signed: Yaʿaqov b. ʿAmram. Shela b. Seʿadya.

Letter in a late hand with a very fancy signature. The signature seems to be : חיים ס"ט בכ"ר יעקב זלה"ה שמחון Hayyim b. Ya'akov Simhon .