Geniza Lab

Responsum regarding a marriage permission to the chained wife of a silk dealer, who was on a business trip in the villages of Egypt and was murdered by bandits. His body was found, together with those of others, and was identified by gentiles, who gave his details to Jews who went to search for him. Published by Glick, Sridei Teshuvot, p. 416-443. AA

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, late.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to [...] Abū ʿImrān. Mentions the intercalation of the calendar and something the sender intended to do before he fell sick. He asks for a favor. This letter is stuck to an unrelated fragment (see separate record).

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Many names appear. The main commodity appears to be wheat, sold by the wayba and tillīs. Other units of measure used are the גנבה and the עקדה.

Geomancy.

Table in Arabic script and other cryptic markings (VMR).

Accounts. (Information from Goitein's index card)

Accounts. (Information from Goitein's index card)

Letter from (Abū Saʿd) Ibrāhīm b. Sahl al-Tustarī (d. 1048) to [...] b. ʿAzarya. In Arabic script. The most common [...] b. ʿAzarya in the Geniza is Daniel b. ʿAzarya, but there are also attestations of Yosef b. ʿAzarya, Efrayim b. ʿAzarya, and Shemuel b. ʿAzarya. The last of these, Shemuel b. ʿAzarya b. Mevasser, is known to have been a Qaraite leader in Fustat (he is the addressee of Bodl. MS heb. b 11/10), so he may be the best candidate here. Only the address on verso and the first two lines on recto have been preserved. Reused for something that is probably a Hebrew literary text, but could potentially be a communal letter or a copy of one. Needs examination. ASE

Petition from Naṣir b. Bū l-Faraj, who converted to Islam (ihtadā) under (ʿalā yad) Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn(?) (but perhaps different from the actual Saladin?) in the district of al-Gharbiyya. The addressee is probably Saladin himself (al-maqām al-ʿālī al-malikī al-nāṣirī al-ṣalāḥī, [may God extend] his reign). The other known petitions to Saladin in the Geniza are T-S K2.96 and BL OR 5566B.12. This one has many fewer titles than the others and refers to him only as 'malik' and not 'sulṭān,' so it may date to his period as Fatimid vizier (1169–74). The petitioner introduces himself as having converted, apparently on 19 Ramaḍān 55[.] AH (corresponding to the range 1155–64 CE). The remainder of the petition is lost. Maybe he is seeking to register his exemption from the capitation tax. ASE

Legal document. Small piece from the end of a legal document. Probably from a draft. On verso only the validation phrase, in a different hand. Hebrew. AA

Donations ledger, ca. 1800 CE. There are several hundred additional joins.

Arabic script (VMR)

Pen trials*

Pen trials*

Arabic script (VMR)

Marriage document. A beautiful ornamented ketubah, probably on vellum, from Rashid, Egypt 1780-1789 (according to Lieberman catalogue). The complete date is hard to decipher. The groom’s name is Avraham, the bride’s name is not preserved. The text is faded, and can be partially deciphered. The marriage gift is 60 thousand Mayidish - a common currency at this period. The witnesses are Aharon Tawil and Moshe Fatah (?). Connected with ENA 3306.2 - this is the ‘bill of conditions’ – שטר תנאים of the same couple, by the same hand and layout, probably written at the same time of the ketubah itself. Among the conditions we can find the groom’s promise not to take another wife. Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

See PGP 12852

Marriage document. A badly torn fragment from the top part of an ornamented ketubah, written on vellum, contains only Biblical verses. There are several ketubahs of the same layout, all from the beginning of the 12th century (e.g T-S 16.52; T-S 16.224, most of them by the hand of Halfon b. Menashshe (1100-1139) Hebrew. AA

Marriage document. An upper part of an ornamented ketubah, from Cairo, Friday, 14th of Adar Sheni (according to the calendar 14th is Saturday, Passover evening). The marriage gift is 600 Gold (dinars). The groom is Shlomo Francis and the bride Gracia. Hebrew and Aramaic. AA