Geniza Lab

Karaite marriage agreement between Hananya b. Ya'aqov Halevi and Esther known as 'Aziza d. Eliyyahu b. Sa'adya.

Karaite betrothal deed. Shelomo b. Aharon Hakohen is married Huna d. Yeshu'a

Two drafts of Karaite legal documents. On recto testimony on a debt. On verso regarding inheritance. No date or signatures

Agreement between two partners in a dyers business. One of them want to perform a job of making cheese in the Rif and the other want to get compensation.

Karaite bill of debt. Not complete and lacking the date.

Karaite testimony about a debt incur by a person to the poor.

On recto a legal deed regarding immovable property dated Thursday 2nd Kislev 5476 (1736). On verso two other legal documents, one regarding orphans and the other one declaration on payment of a debt.

Karaite bill of release

Karaite bill of sale.

Magical fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dated: Wednesday, 16 Adar 5005 AM, which is 1245 CE. Gives a spell for annulling other spells, warding off umm al-ṣibyān (infant colic or epilepsy), and exorcising the spirits of the jinn from one who is afflicted (muṣāb). It should be concealed from ignoramuses. The formula is copied out, following a basmala, in both unconnected Arabic script and in Judaeo-Arabic. The Judaeo-Arabic portion concludes with Q10:81, "Moses said, 'What you have brought is [only] magic. Indeed, Allah wille expose its worthlessness. Indeed, Allah does not amend the work of corrupters.'"

Part of a Karaite legal document concerning orphans

Letter draft in Judaeo-Arabic. Perhaps intended to be sent from Fustat/Cairo to Jerusalem. Dating: Unknown, catalogued as 18th century. The writer reports on the money that was with the addressee's brother (? karīmak) Yaʿaqov Ḥazzan and his maternal uncle Yehuda Rofe. He recounts how the addressee traveled to Jerusalem, then to Istanbul and "the lands above it," then Damascus where he married, then Jerusalem. Also mentions the Dār Simḥa synagogue in Cairo.

Karaite court record.

Letter from Avraham Ẓaʿir, Jerusalem, to the Qaraite community of Fustat/Cairo. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer greets a great many people by name, including the ḥakhams Yeshuʿa Rofe and Avraham Rofe b. Aharon Rofe, and Eliyya Levi. It seems some or all of these people had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The remainder of the letter is a sharp rebuke for the addressees' failure to fulfill their vow to raise money and sent it to the Jerusalem community upon their return. The letter also contains the cryptic line, "We are Jews like you. Do not think us of the party of the wicked man from Istanbul." (Could this refer to Shabbetay Zevi? Gershom Scholem writes that he did have a number of Qaraite followers. Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi, p. 776.) Needs examination.

Karaite partnership agreement in cheese producing.

Letter from Yaʿaqov to his son Shemuel and wife Umm Shemuel. In Judaeo-Arabic. Written over four columns and folded like a bifolium. The writer castigates his son sharply for not allowing his mother to leave and return to her husband like she had promised she would do when she went to stay with him. He conveys a detailed tale of a financial dispute with a certain faqīh and various other parties. He reiterates his demand that Umm Shemuel return immediately. Needs further examination.

Karaite Bill of debt

Karaite bill of debt.

Notebook of a merchant and/or druggist. Bifolium from what was probably a larger notebook. Dating: Unknown. Catalogued as 16th century. A date is given at the bottom of the last page, but it is difficult to interpret. In Judaeo-Arabic. Uses the usually-Ottoman-era honorific khawāja. The document contains medical recipes and several detailed first-person accounts e.g. of arriving in Jerusalem and the commodities dealt with and the expenses incurred. Needs further examination.

Karaite agreement. No date preserved