Geniza Lab

Marriage document. Fragment from a left side of ketubah de'irkasa כתובה דארכסא, that is a ketubah written as a replacement for a lost ketubah (see also ENA NS 3.3). This we learn from the term כתובתא קדמתא [= her former ketubah] in l. 6. The name of the groom is Manṣūr. 11th century? Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Table in Arabic script, mainly names together with some numbers. Possibly a list of people being assessed for the capitation tax, as several of them are labeled "newcomer" (ṭārī). But could also be related to alms. The names include [...] al-Ramlī; Mūsā b. Yaʿqūb al-Irbilī; Sālim b. Mubārak; Mawhūb b. al-Muʿallim(?) al-ʿAkkāwī; Mawhūb b. Yūsuf Dimashqī; Yūsuf b. Hiba al-Muʿallim; Lāwī b. Samaw'al; Mawhūb b. Khalaf; [...] al-Maqdisī; [...] al-Qalhāwī (from Qalhā, near the Fayyūm); Hārūn b. Mūsā al-ʿAjamī (the Persian). There are also some pen trials in Hebrew.

Legal document. In the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya. "Another woman, Mubāraka bt. Maḥfūẓ, already separated for over four years from her husband, Yefet b. Ḥalfon, who had “escaped the court” and later passed away, appointed Aharon b. Ḥalfon to sue her brother-in-law, Moshe b. Ḥalfon al-Ziyādī, for her husbandʼs burial expenses (for which she was forced take a loan), for her maintenance, and her release from levirate duty (ḥalīṣa). . . . She is presented as addressing the court in Hebrew: 'I could not dwell there, and returned to Egypt, four years ago today [...] hungry, naked, lacking everything. And now, my lords, receive [greetings] of peace, perform for me an act of kindness, have mercy upon me and help me.' At three later points in the document she asks to be 'saved.'" (Information from Zinger, "Women, Gender, and Law," p. 85.)

Accounts in Arabic script. Reused for Hebrew script jottings.

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. Asking Manṣūr to slaughter for Bū l-Faraj on the 14th of Shevaṭ (i.e. serve as substitute slaughterer?).

Document of ḥaliṣa (release from levirate marriage). In the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya. At the bottom there appear the names Mufarrij b. Ṣāliḥ and Surūr bt. [...].

Letter addressed to Abū l-Khayr Mubārak b. Faraj. In Judaeo-Arabic, with a portion of the address in Arabic script. Quite damaged. Contains a story about someone who was driven out (wa-ṭaradūh), but the details are mostly gone. There may be a request for the addressee to help that man. Regards to Ismāʿīl al-Maghribī, Mukhtār al-Zinjārī, and 'your friend' ʿImrān al-Ṣūrī (from Tyre).

Letter from Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan to Avraham Ibn Yiju: two fragments. Aden, 1134.

Letter from Avraham b. Moshe b. Maṣliaḥ to his father Moshe b. Maṣliaḥ. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. Discusses transactions of white lāsīn silk. Abū ʿImrān b. Ghulayb and Harūn b. Shamāri are mentioned.

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involves Mevasser b. Yeshuʿa and Efrayim b. Yefet and the moneychanging (ṣarf) shop of Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Ḥalabī al-Ṣayrafī (the moneychanger) in Murabbaʿat al-ʿAṭṭārīn in Fustat. It seems that Mevasser approached Abū l-Ḥusayn and struck a deal to pay him rent and manage the moneychanging shop, which is currently closed. If he should violate the terms of the agreement, there is a 10 dinar fee to the qodesh as well as a fee for the breaking (or annulling?) of an oath (ḥinth al-yamīn). Needs further examination for the details of the case.

Letter fragment from Menaḥem to Eliyyahu. Onlly the first few lines are preserved. Verso contains the name Abū l-Faraj in giant faded letters.

On recto there is an unidentified document in Arabic script. On verso there are masoretic notes followed by 2 lines in Judaeo-Persian: בוד פא אכיר י פסוק ט…. and אין פא כט בן זנגי פא מדהב י בן נפתלי פא כליף י בן אשר.

Letter from Manṣūr b. Yehuda Muqaddasi to Yūsuf b. Makārim. In Judaeo-Arabic. Has to do with a sensitive matter. "I read your letter and forgot it and have not mentioned it except in these lines."

Letter from the French rabbi Shemuel b. Yaʿaqov probably addressed to Ḥananel b. Shemuel. In Hebrew. Written on a very narrow strip of paper. Dating: Early 13th century. In Hebrew. He complains about Eliyyahu the Judge and bribes to the government/shaliṭ. He tells Ḥananel to compare this letter to Shemuel's other letters to the judge Menaḥem and to 'the Sar' (Avraham Maimonides) so that they can all know all the details.

Letter fragment (opening lines. Written in Judaeo-Arabic with remnants of an address in Arabic script on verso.

Communal accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably submitted to the Nagid (see bottom of verso). For the months of Av, Elul, and Tishrei. Dating: Perhaps 13th century. The sums are generally on the order of tens and hundreds of dirahms. People mentioned include the rayyis Abū l-Makārim and al-Jubaylī.

Letter from Musa b. Yahya al-Majani from Alexandria to Binyamin b. Yusuf Ibn Awkal. Around 1025. The writer came back from his travels in Sicily where he arranged large shipments of fabric, mainly silk. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #118) VMR

Court record, draft. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dated: Monday, 6 Sivan 5252 AM (=ברן), which is 1492 CE. One of the matters is the inheritance of Maṣliaḥ b. Binyamin כדידה who died in Damascus. Testimony is presented by Aharon b. Moshe Qalʿī from the Castro family and Shabbetay b. ʿAzrūn al-Masīnī (from Messina, Sicily). The other matter is the ketubba payment of the widow of R. Shemuel Zekhut and on ongoing case with her brother-in-law Yehuda Zekhut. (Information from Avraham David via FGP.)

Letter from Khalīfa Ḥāmī to Yaʿaqov. In Hebrew with some Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 16th century. The sender heard the addressee was in prison and sent him money. Mentions the kāshif (prefect) Ikhtiyār; Sharaf al-Dīn; a sum of 225 peraḥim;

Calendrical text containing algorithms and mnemonics and instructions for calculation. Dating: No earlier than 1255 CE, as the maḥzor is given as 265.