Geniza Lab

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Late.

Accounts of what Hārūn al-Jābī has collected. In Judaeo-Arabic.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Legal document, small fragment. Involves Sitt al-Hanā' (the same as in T-S NS 226.12? It is not a join, but the hand looks quite similar.)

Letter in Judaeo-Persian. Dating: Late, probably. Needs examination.

Letter from Isma’il b. Yusuf b. Abi Uqba from Alexandria, to Yusuf b. Ya’aqub b. Awkal, Fustat. Around 1030. The writer describes an attack by Byzantines in the sea. They damaged merchandises that were on ships from the Maghreb to Alexandria. They killed several people from one of the ships. Ibn Awkal suffered a large lost for his products. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #216) VMR

Letter from Avraham Ḥazzan. In Judaeo-Arabic. Written in a distinctive, rudimentary hand with some resemblance to T-S 12.271 but probably not the same scribe. The opening blessings are also distinctive (e.g., ואותק דוי ודי... אלנגיב אלמולוד... and then curses on צאלמין אלפאצלין). The sender seems to be requesting wine to revive his spirits, even if just a few ounces (margin, ll.1–2).

Letter of appeal/recommendation from the community of Damascus to the community of Fustat. The senders are writing on behalf of an ʿaguna who has been abandoned by her husband. He is a redheaded Qaraite named Yosef who was traveling with another man named Yosef. They heard that he settled in Fustat and became a Rabbanite. She is living in poverty with four children in Damascus. The addressees are to find the husband and try to force him to return or, if he has died, to send word about him.

Legal document (iqrār) in Arabic script. Mentions 3 dinars. Two witness signatures. Dated, but the date is difficult to read. On verso is a piyyut in Hebrew. Needs further examination.

Letter from Yehuda Kohen, in Jūjar, to Rabbenu [Menaḥem?], presumably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Written in haste. The writer reports that he arrived in Jūjar at midday and found the messenger about to depart. He asks the addressee to send(?) his son to attend the mitzva(?). ASE.

Letter from Yeḥiel b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Ẓarfati, in Jerusalem, to an unknown addressee, in Alexandria. The letter consists of a halakhic discussion, mostly in Aramaic, perhaps a responsum. It concludes with a report that Yeḥiel arrived safely in Jerusalem. Verso: Apart from the address there are jottings or accounts(?) in Arabic script. Information in part from FGP.

Popular literature in Judaeo-Arabic. Conveys the tale of a wise man who is continually amazing a king with his powers of deduction. For instance, he can tell from looking at a Bedouin's horse that it was nursed by a dog, and he can tell from the pre-purchase palpation (taqlīb, dukhūl al-yad) of a female slave that she is not a female slave at all. He explains all of his deductions when the king questions him. With every feat, the king increases his salary/ration of bread. Finally, he informs the king that he (the king) is the illegitimate son of a baker, proves that this is the case, and the king swears him to secrecy and lets him go with enough money to live happily ever after. The document is written across two pages; the second also contains a Hebrew piyyut prefaced by "Yeshaʿyahu b. Elʿazar b. Jābir to Shemarya Kahana b. Aharon." The name Yehuda b. Peraḥya also appears on the final page. ASE.

See join.

Letter of recommendation from Yosef ha-[...] b. Seʿadya ha-Bavli addressed to the communities of Sūra(?) and Qaryat Ismāʿīl(?). Written in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The bearer is a learned man "who has captives" whom he is trying to redeem. The addressees are asked to give him money. The Qaraite community (?וגמאעה אלקראיי) is specifically named.

Letter from Yosef b. Yehuda Kohen to Netanel b. [...]. (The place for the sender's father's name is left blank.) In Judaeo-Arabic, with some Hebrew. The sender trusts that the addressee obeyed his order to shake out the cloaks (aksiyā), for now he is supposed to hand them over to the bearer of the letter, Mūsā b. Yūsuf along with some other items. He is to record the transaction in an account (thabat). He should also look after Mūsā, who is the victim of some misfortune (mujāḥ miskīn). "As for the matter of the ships, the fear is dreadful, terrible." The letter concludes with further business matters and greetings.

Business letter from Yūsuf b. Ibrahim b. Bundār to Abū Zikrī Kohen (aka Yehuda b. Yosef Sijilmāsī). In Judaeo-Arabic and some Hebrew, with the address in both Arabic script and Judaeo-Arabic. Only the formulaic opening and the address are preserved. Reused on verso for the text of the Shabbat Mussaf prayer. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Literary text with a dedication to the boy Aharon ha-Kohen b. Moshe b. Aharon b. Moshe. There may be a second dedication or ownership note that is crossed out.

Literary text with a colophon. "I, Yehuda b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi in Egypt/Fustat, wrote this for the mighty prince Efrayim ha-Levi Ḥakham ha-Yeshiva."

Marriage contract (ketubba). Fragment (lower right corner). Bride: Mubāraka. Groom: David. Witnesses: Yefet b. Ṭoviyya; Seʿadya b. Ḥalfon.

Letter from Umm al-Khayr, the widow of Eliyya al-Dimunshī, in Ragusa, Sicily, to her son Yehuda b. Eliyya in Fustat. Around 1060. The woman lives with her married daughters. The letter is a tearful plea for her son to return home before she dies. In fact, the family had heard a rumor that he died three years prior, so they held a large funeral and mourned him as if he had been present, believing that he died alone in a foreign land with no one to mourn him. But a letter from her son just arrived, awakening her yearning for him. She tells him that his father died in his lifetime, so he should return to his conscience and awaken his soul, and say to himself, "My father died in my lifetime, and now my mother will too. This will be counted as a tremendous sin on my account." She reiterates several times that he must come back before she perishes. (Information in part from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #798.) VMR. ASE.