Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th or 12th century. Large, but faded and damaged. Refers repeatedly to excommunicating certain people; also mentions a fatwā related to the excommunication. The sender has enclosed a testimony and a validation (qiyyum) with this letter. Mentions people such as Barakāt, Shemuel, Abū l-Ḥasan al-ʿAṭṭar, and [...] b. Bū ʿUmar. Needs further examination.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Late (uses the currency cedid). Mentions tailoring (khiyāṭa). The primary text on this fragment is an exegetical work in Hebrew.

State document, possibly. In Arabic script. Chancery hand with wide space in between lines. Only the beginnings of 4 lines are preserved (reused for jottings in between and around them).

Letter fragment or petition, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions a fight with Abū l-Najm in which the sender was possibly wounded (וגרחת ובלג בי אלעטאים) and an associated court case (daʿwā). The text on the other side is cryptic but seems to be praising the power and righteousness of the addressee (and God): אלואצח כמא קרא והוא תאבת פי דיואן אלחק לא אלאה אלא הוא כרסי תאבת ועדל ולולא מכאפתה לאכל אלכלק בעצה בעץ אחיאה אללה.

State document; Fatimid? Seems like a peace treaty/gifts (hudna/hadiyya?) addressed towards the city of Baghdad, possibly, - 'li-l-hudna/hadiyya ilā madīnat al-Salām'. Sums of money, min l-waraq (silver), aʿin (gold), dawāb (cattle), and khadam (slaves) are mentioned, which could be the reparations sent for ensuring a peace treaty or gifts to engender diplomatic relations. The persons mentioned are Abu Bakr and ʿĪsā, who is referred to as Ṣāḥib al-Ḍawāb (Man of cattle). The document is dated Wednesday 15th of a month unknown. Reused for a literary text-oriented at 180 degrees citing Talmudic rabbis and written in a combination of Hebrew and Arabic script (rather than Judaeo-Arabic) — common among Qaraites but more unusual among Rabbanites.

Legal query addressed to Maimonides. Reuven gave a golden needle to Shimʿon, who was to pawn it with Levi. Shimʿon did so and gave the money to Reuven. Later, Reuven repays the money and wants his needle back. But Levi doesn't have the needle any more and claims that Shimʿon already redeemed it and forgot about it. (Information from Amir Ashur via FGP.)

Several lines in Arabic script. Reused for a halakhic text in Judaeo-Arabic. Needs examination.

Love/wine poetry in Judaeo-Arabic.

Small fragment with Arabic script in a chancery hand with wide spacing. Possibly a state document. A few words from the two fragmentary lines read - "bimā tashraḥ min ḥālihim", "jamāl al-Dawla".

Decree, probably. Small fragment. On verso there is a Purim-related text in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya.

State document, a chancery hand; probably Fatimid. Starts with a Basmala and above it are words of blessings upon the Caliph li Maulānā Ṣalla Allahu (....). Mentions the royal kitchen (waṣala ilā l-maṭbakh al-Maʿmūr) and the rations that were sent to it and were claimed by the needful (arbāb al-ḥājāt ilaihi). Reused for a Hebrew text. Needs examination. Indirect join: Oded Zinger.

Small fragment with Arabic script. State document?

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic (FGP). Probably no earlier than 15th century. ASE.

Writing exercises. Mentions Moshe, David, and Yiṣḥaq, but these may not be actual people.

Letter or report. In Arabic script. Wide space between the lines. "...ista'jara lahu mamlūkuka... qabaḍa sabʿa danānīr..." Reused for Hebrew literary text on verso.

Legal notes. A list of the complaints brought by the wife of the Rayyis against her sister the wife of Ṣāʿid. There are numerous claims. (1) The Rayyis used to provide wheat and loans of money to the wife of Ṣāʿid, and she now owes 30 dinars that she has not repaid. (2) The two sisters jointly owned (or rented?) a house near Bāb al-Yahūd worth 250 dinars. There is some issue with the rent, such that the wife of Ṣāʿid owes 14 dinars. (3–5) These entries deal with items such as salted meat, clothing, jewelry, and household goods, and the wife of Ṣāʿid owes ~10 dinars for each item. There is a single entry on verso phrased as a legal query, which may or may not belong together with the entries on recto. "She mentioned that she loaned two amber statues and golden rings and silver with which she contracted marriage. Does he have to return them or not?"

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably 18th or 19th century. Mentions Jerusalem. From a certain Mordekhay. Possibly a North African dialect (דייאלו). ASE.

Petition or report. In Arabic script. Quite faded. The ends of 5 lines are preserved. Mentions that a certain ʿāmil is more capable than somebody else (aqdar minhu) and then mentions "the lofty order" (al-amr al-ʿālī). Reused for Hebrew literary text on verso.

Letter draft in Arabic script addressed to a Fatimid qāḍī and dāʿī. Needs examination.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.