Geniza Lab

Letter from Avraham b. Natan Av, judge in Cairo, to al-Mumhe, i.e. "the specialist," meaning a permanent member of the court, whose name is not preserved, and who was apparently in charge of the money of the qodesh, ca. 1100. Report concerning money of the qodesh after the death of its holder. A certain parnas, Musafir, has donated five dinars to the heqdesh of the synagogue of Cairo. Sa'id, "the head of the congregations," who was given the money in order to bring timber from Alexandria for this sum, died before he could go to Alexandria and the money was left with his widow. An inquiry (carried out by the court) into the matter has shown that the qodesh still owes the widow money and the writer asks that the balance be paid to her. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 220 #35)

Legal deed, draft of a bill of authorization written by Efrayim b. Shemarya and Yefet b. David

Legal deed. Unclear if any of the details of the case are preserved.

Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragmentary (left side only, long vertical strip). Mentions people such as [...] al-Ḥaver al-Jalīl; Abū l-Qawām; and 'my master Daniel.' The sender seems in distress about something and alludes to unrest or wars (in Hebrew): "...many, many Abyssinians (kushim)... to us, to the sword of the Ishamelites... Egypt, and we pray to God...."

Petition, probably. In Arabic script, with gigantic space between the lines. Portions of the last few lines are preserved. Mentions bearing witness about something; probably the tail end of a raʾy clause (...al-ʿālī fī dhālika in shāʾa llāh); and concludes with prayers for Muḥammad and a ḥasbala.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Only the beginnings of 5 lines, consisting mostly of formulaic phrases, are preserved. Dating: Perhaps 12th or 13th century.

Verso: Opening of a letter from Sherira Gaon sent to Qayrawān. Dating: ca. 970 CE. This is a continuation from the first part of the opening, in T-S 12.370. (Gil, Kingdom, vol. 2, Doc. #22.) VMR. But Gil does not seem right that the two fragments are actually joins with each other.

Recto: First two lines of a letter (state document?) in large, calligraphic Arabic script. Not a Fatimid chancery hand.

Medical recipe in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th–13th century. Mentioned in Med Soc II, p. 579, n. 63, where Goitein lists similar fragments and notes that "the student of this material should discern between prescriptions actually issued for patients and others copied from books for the purpose of study."

Medical recipes and remedies in Ladino. On the recto the ingredients and recepticles include "asucar/sugar" (l.10r) and "vasya de laton" (l.14r), also written as "vasya de alaton" (l.12r), which could indicate a container made of a copper-zinc alloy whose yellow-gold color points to the word's etymology in Turkish "altın/gold" (information from the Diccionario de la lengua española – Real Academia Española). On the verso "limones" (l.1v) are mentioned as well as "ash/seniza" (l.6v). MCD.

List of expenses in Judaeo-Arabic. Very neat. Lists many names, including many Muslims and at least one Christian. Dating: Probably late.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, with one line of Arabic script. VMR. ASE.

Accounts or perhaps a distibrution list. In Judaeo-Arabic. Late.

Recto: Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. On verso there are a few words in Arabic script, very faded. VMR. ASE.

Medical instructions in Arabic script for weakness of the vision (ḍuʿf al-baṣr).

Document in Arabic script (VMR) and another unidentified script. Needs examination.

Legal rebuttal regarding the lawsuit between Yosef Lebdi and Wuhsha over the possession of 22 bales of lac. So far, six bifolia and two leaves have been identified, totaling 28 pages of what must have been 40 pages in 2 quires. It seems that the judge in the lawsuit ruled in Lebdi's favor. A certain 'rayyis' wrote and published a critique of the ruling and supported Wuhsha's position. The judge answered with a rebuttal, and what has survived in the Geniza is the rayyis's rebuttal of the judge's rebuttal. The writer often quotes passages from his original critique and from the judge's answer. While the document is complex and obscure, the positions of the two sides are simple. The judge believed Lebdi's agreement with his two partners, Farah and Abu Nasr, includes the 22 loads of lac in question, as long as the other party does not provide proof that it does not include them. The unnamed rayyis argued that since Lebdi had no proof that the 22 bales belonged to his partnership with Farah and Abu Nasr, they must be considered as belonging to Farah's and Abu Nasr's heirs, since the bales are in their possession. In other words, since the bales are in the hands of the heirs, the burden of proof must be on Lebdi. Farah and Abu Nasr, it must be remembered, were murdered in Aydhab. Lebdi was entitled to 29 shares out of 30 of everything in their partnership and Abu Nasr and Farah had between them only one share. Farah's heirs already took their small share of the 22 bales of lac. It is worth noticing that only Wuhsha is mentioned as 'the heir' to Abu Nasr, even though we know she had another brother and two sisters. The trial between Lebdi and Wuhsha took place in 1104, three years after Lebdi came back from India, because the judge intentionally delayed the proceedings to give the parties time to come to an agreement. The last fragment, whose place in the larger document is not known, contains the information that the case was brought before a Muslim judge, who ruled in Wuhsha's favor. This document was thus written during or shortly after 1104. ENA 2855 16: I, 27a p. 1 T-S Ar 47 245: I, 28, p. 1 ENA 2855 15: I, 27a, p. 2 T-S Ar 43 272: I, 27 T-S G2 60: I, 28a, pp. 1-8 T-S Ar 49 33: I, 28b. For further explanation of the complex codicology of this document see Friedman's notes in pp. 174-177 in the Hebrew edition, and pp. 242-244 in the English edition.

Letter from an unidentifed writer in Rashīd to Shelomo Ḥalafta. In Judaeo-Arabic. Long and well-preserved, though some of the text is cut off in the FGP image. Same addressee as in ENA 3486.1.

List of names with western Arabic numerals. Kialokos, Aripol,. . .

Literary text. Written in a mixture of Arabic script and Hebrew (for biblical quotations).