Geniza Lab

Formulary for a letter of appeal for charity. In Hebrew. It is a formulary because about 11 lines from the bottom, it asks the addressees to help "so-and-so from the city of such-and-such." (The description on Ktiv differs: "Letter to Ramle; Abraham ben Isaac, Ibn Al-baḳrah, active 11th century.")

Ketubba fragment. In Hebrew and Aramaic. Dated [..]24 Seleucid. Bride: [...] bt. S[...], virgin. It is a very small strip.

Ketubba fragment. Dating: 1141–59 CE, based on the reshut clause naming Shemuel ha-Nagid. Groom: Natan. Bride: Sitt al-Turaf bt. Yeshuʿa, virgin. witnesses: Yosef b. Yehuda, Shemarya b. A[...], Ḥiyya.

Ketubba fragment. Dating: 14[..] Seleucid, which is 1089–1188 CE. Possibly this could be narrowed based on the reshut clause naming ha-Nagid ha-Gadol (Shemuel b. Ḥananya?). The groom is named Seʿadya. There are some jottings in Hebrew script on verso.

Small scrap. All that remains is "Yeshuʿa b. Yosef, I try the ink" (i.e. a pen trial).

Letter from Yeḥezqel b. Shemuel to an unknown addressee. In Judaeo-Arabic. He reports that Sitt ʿAnbar is very sick, and she has developed a delusion (takhayyul fāsid) regarding the addressee, namely, that he must be sick as well. Yeḥezqel asks him to come back or write back quickly with news of his health to alleviate her suffering. He also wants the addressee to ask Abū l-Majd the son of the judge whether Abū l-ʿIzz left the writer's copy of the commentary on the Mishna (of Maimonides?) with him, and if so, to obtain it and return it to him. ASE

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Nisan 4977 AM, which is 1217 CE, under the reshut of Avraham Maimonides. It is a bill of sale for a female slave named Muhja. Yefet b. Meir sells her to Yeshuʿa b. Yehuda for 27 dinars. Information in part from Craig Perry.

Torah, Samaritan script, Genesis 36–37.

Recto: Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Beẓalel b. Ḥayyim to David I Maimonides (b. Avraham b. Moshe). In Hebrew. Defending the Guide for the Perplexed. Verso: Alongside the address of the letter on recto, there are three lines of calligraphic Arabic script, probably a draft of the beginning of a petition, with a taqbīl clause and various titles (al-kabīrī al-ajallī al-sayyidī).

Ketubba. Date: Sivan 1420 Seleucid, which is 1109 CE. Groom: Ḥalfon b. Tamīm ha-Zaqen. Bride: Sitt al-[...]. The non-formulaic portion is in Judaeo-Arabic. Witnesses include: Menashshe ha-Kohen b. Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen, Yosef b. Saadya, Shemarya b. Aharon, Elazar ha-Levi b. Avraham, ʿAmram b. Ya'ir(?) the judge, Avraham b. Shemaʿya ha-Ḥaver, Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi.

Ketubba fragment. The location, date, and names do not appear to be preserved on this portion. The bride is a virgin. The non-formulaic portion is in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably in the hand of Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya: start with T-S 12.141 and look at Joins Suggestions for more in his hand.

Letter from Yosef and Nissim b. Berakhya (Qayrawan) to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. ʿAwkal (Fustat), ca. 1020, on the death of the Nagid, Avraham b. ʿAṭā. According to the sender’s words, the Maghreb is in a state of decline. The situation is difficult in Gabès as well as in the western parts around Sijilmāssa. A famine and a drought are mentioned. Refers to financial matters, some involving the academies, others involving the people of Gabès who had sent 100 dinars to Fustat some years ago but the money was lost track of. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 435.)

Literary work in Judaeo-Arabic on the laws of divorce.

Non-Geniza. Letter dated 1808 CE. In Hebrew and perhaps another language.

Non-Geniza. Letter dated 1849 CE. Regarding the coronation of a hasidic rebbe by the community of מזירוב.

Non-Geniza. List of manuscripts in the library of Shelomo Halberstam.

Non-Geniza, probably. Private letter in Yiddish.

No image

Non-Geniza. Poem for the coronation of Alexander II (1856 CE).

. Not digitized? Catalogued as a document from Yemen.