Geniza Lab

Upper fragment: Copy of a contract of betrothal (erusin) according to the Palestinian style. Location: Probably Tyre. Dating: Before 1037 CE. Written by Yosef b. Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen. Bride: Malka. Groom: Ḥalfon. Has numerous signatures, including [...] b. Avraham ha-Melammed, Shemuel b. Moshe ha-Ḥaver, [...] b. Shelomo b. Rabīʿ. See M. A. Friedman's edition for further information.

Lower fragment: Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Rabbenu David ha-Ḥakham. Dealing mainly with business matters and also raising money for the capitation tax. Mentions many people including: Ṭāhir al-Simsār; Hiba al-Bilbaysī; Abū l-Makārim al-Kohen. Regards to al-Sadīd and to Abū l-Thanā' and his wife. Shelomo has been suffering an attack of ophthalmia and only wrote this letter with great effort.

Legal fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Names: Hiba ha-Parnas; Yaḥyā; Shelomo ha-Kohen.

Letter of appeal for charity. In Hebrew. Dating: Probably no earlier than 14th century.

Deed of guarantee. In Hebrew. Dating: 15th or 16th century. Concerning a loan of 120 peraḥim from the Nagid to Makhlūf Kammūn. It seems that the guarantors are Makhlūf's sister, his mother-in-law Simḥa bt. Shelomo, and someone named כדוש. As for another sum of 175 peraḥim, this will be paid in full by כדוש alone. The Nagid could possiblly be Natan (Yehonatan) Sholal (1484–1502) or his relative Yiṣḥaq Sholal (1502–1517). Information from Avraham David's edition via FGP.

Letter from a woman (possibly the wife of al-Ramlī named on verso) to Rabbenu [...] b. Shelomo ha-Kohen ha-Hasid. In Judaeo-Arabic. She thanks him for the items he has sent and gives detailed instructions regarding further items to obtain and/or send. Mentions Abū ʿAlī the partner of Ibn Ghulayb and Fuḍayl b. Nāqid. The latter is supposed to obtain a medicinal syrup (sharāb) and ophthalmics (ashyāfāt). ASE.

Legal fragment. The scribe is Shelomo b. [...] ha-Levi. One of the witnesses is Tiqva b. ʿUlla ha-Levi.

Letter fragment from ʿAlā'im bt. Bar[akāt?] to her daughter Umm al-ʿIzz bt. Thābit al-Ṭabīb known as Ibn Abī l-Ḥaqq al-Maghribī. In Judaeo-Arabic. The mother reproaches her daughter for neglecting her all these years. See Goitein's index cards and notes linked below.

Legal deed from Yemen(?). These two fragments are covered with sundry jottings in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, some of them documentary. One of them gives the year as אמש, probably meaning 5341 AM, which is 1580/81 CE. The same note mentions a man named ʿAlī b. ʿAmmār al-Qabbānī. Another jotting reads "we now begin to copy the Zohar." There are also several copies of introductions of letters; copies of piyyutim and maqāmāt (ne'um Heiman ha-Ezraḥi. . . ); and copies of legal documents. The most complete legal document is found on verso of ENA 2750.11, concerning an agreement between Yehuda נביצי(?) and Avraham Ghazzāwī and business in cheese. ASE.

Literary.

Business letter in Hebrew. Mentions bandits (lisṭim). Dating: Late, perhaps 15th or 16th century. Needs examination

Letter from an unknown writer to his 'brother.' In Judaeo-Arabic. Consisting mostly of eloquent blessings.

Magical spells. One folio from a larger booklet. In Arabic script. Possibly for arousing love (tahyīj al-ḥubb?). One of them is to be placed inside the shoe of the man. VMR. ASE.

Recto: Fragment of a letter in Arabic script, possibly a petition. Contains blessings for the addressee: "li-ʿālim(?) khallaṣahu(?) li-ʿālamīn(?) adāma Allāhu saʿdahū wa waṭṭada(?)... majdahu wa ahlaka ḍiddahu wa naṣifu(?) shukrahu wa yanādu(?)." On verso there are accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Two names, Bū l-ʿAlā (..) and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, can be read in the third line.

Small letter fragment, seems to be written by Efrayim b. Shemaryah. AA

Alms distribution list. In Judaeo-Arabic and Greek/Coptic numerals. Dating: Late, probably 13th or 14th century. Lists about 30 recipients of small sums, mostly fractions (type of money not indicated). Characteristic names: ʿAbd al-Karīm, ʿAbd al-Dāʾim, Nāṣir, Naṣrallāh. Beneath the names on verso: "The women - 3. To the poor of the Iraqi (synagogue) - 1. Due to the rabbi - 5." (Information from Goitein's index card)

Looks like a small fragment from a literary piece with colophon from 1351 in Yemeni hand. AA

Testimony (shahada) written in Jerusalem during the gaonate of Daniel b. Azarya (1051–62), October 1057. Draft.

Marriage contract (ketubba) appearing to be between two relatively poor families, as evident by the small marriage gift of 14 dinars. Dowry provided by the groom. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol.2, 249-54) EMS

Mercantile memorandum. One section begins "tadhkira wa-ʿamal...." Dating: Probably 11th or 12th century. Two pieces of parchment have been stitched together (the thread is still preserved). Mentions goods such as oil and kohl, but few details are preserved. Verso is blank. (Information from Goitein’s index card)