Geniza Lab

Karaite instruction for writing a ketubah.

Letter formulary in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ottoman-era, probably. These are similar to the formulae used in the preponderance of Judaeo-Arabic letters in the Yevr.-Arab. II folder.

Eclectic set of documents sharing a single folio. Dating: Early 15th century, probably. Recto: Letter copies. In Hebrew. The first letter mentions the Mourners of Zion. The writer seems to have received a rebuke regarding an error in something he copied, since he writes, "Perhaps the copyists confused the text in their haste to spread the good news from one person to another. When I saw it written like this in the copies, that is how I copied it, not adding or subtracting anything." The second letter is from the community of Cisneros (ציץ נירוש) to Ḥasdai Crescas (d. 1410), thanking him for his letter and conveying the good tidings of a merciful messenger of God who was sent to redeem the Jews from the oppressive edicts of the Christians. This letter may be connected to the messianic claimant Moses b. Isaac Botarel of Cisneros, who rose to prominence following the anti-Jewish edicts of 1391 and who counted Crescas among his followers. ASE

Verso: There are at least three different textual units, all in Judaeo-Arabic. The first text block is a list of books: "(1) The book of Yosef ha-Kohen, he is Josephus ben Goryon. (2) The authors of the targum: Onqelos the convert and Yonatan ben ʿU[zziel]. (3) . . . Yishmaʿel Ashʿariyya (referring to the theological school?) . . . (4) And theirs is the book of al-Ṣaḥḥāḥ by al-Jawharī (d. 1008). (5) And the book of al-Azharī, which is. . . from the book of al-Ṣaḥḥāḥ." There is more, but it is difficult to read. The second text block is in the same hand as the first, written at 90 degrees. It is a note to another person. The writer swears by the Torah and by God that the white woollen farjiyya (a garment) that he took from the addressee, and the "afrandi" dinar (a type of metal? from the Persian for "splendor"?), and a couple other items—all of these he gave to Moshe al-Tājir the Qaraite who had been in prison but who was released. May God curse the writer if he is lying. The third text block, in a new hand, is incomplete and includes the sentence, "This man obeys the law, and he will do whatever the law requires of him." ASE

Letter of appeal for charity. The writer and the addressees do not appear to be named. The writer asks the addressees for help equipping his daughter with a dowry.

Page from a book of legal formulas of a marriage contract by a proxy probably from Siddur R. Nathan if Sijilmasa. Written by Shelomo b. Shemuel b. Sa'adya (mid 13th century). AA

Literary. Beginning of a Qaraite treatise on the aviv (observation of the barley crop) and intercalation. By Yehuda Meir Rofe. Explains the difference between the Rabbanites whose year begins in Tishrei and the Qaraites whose year begins in Nisan. Gives an origin story for the Seleucid calendar, involving Alexander the Great and Shimʿon ha-Ẓadiq.

A long agreement of financial claims.

Recto: Letter draft addressed to Shemuel Kohen, ʿOvadya Levi, and Moshe Rofe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions someone traveling to Istanbul and mentions the addressees' enemies. Verso: Letter draft addressed to Avraham b. Ẓaʿir. In Judaeo-Arabic. Unclear if it is part of the same letter as recto.

Bifolium with four pages. First page: Legal record in Judaeo-Arabic. No signatures. Mentions the government (sulṭān). Dated Jumāda II 488 Hijri = 1095 CE. Second page: Legal record in Arabic script. Signed by the scribe Ḥasan b. [.]liyā(?). Mentions a jamāʿa. . . a monthly payment. . . al-ḥāra al-mutawajjiha maʿrūfa bi-l-waqf al-Mufawwīḍ(?). Needs examination.

Letter, or rather a legal query, from [...] ha-Kohen b. Avraham to a communal authority addressed as 'exilarch.' In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Unknown, perhaps 13th or 14th century. This very long letter conveys the tale of a legal dispute involving a codex, a pawn, and a debt. The writer details his travails with various adversaries and his imprisonment at the order of the Muslim court and the physical violence that came to pass. He wants the addressee to make a judgment in this case and exert his authority to help secure the writer's rights. Needs much more examination.

Commentary on Prophets. In Judaeo-Arabic.

Liturgical. List of sedarim for the books of Samuel, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets.

Liturgical. Muqaddimat for parshiyot from Leviticus. "Muqaddimat ("Introductions" or "Prolegomena" in Arabic) are short homilies which introduce the weekly Torah reading (parashah). They usually also refer to the weekly reading from the Prophets (haftarah) and a specific Psalm. A few muqaddimat include some liturgical poetry." Informaton from https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0021/html/GasterHebrewMss1324.html.

Liturgical. List of sedarim for the books of Samuel and Kings.

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Wednesday, 15 Elul 1648 Seleucid = Muharram 738 Hijri, which is 1337 CE. Ṣafiyy b. Ibrāhīm al-Ḥazzān accepts a 10 year contract to serve as communal slaughterer (specifically for fowls) and as cantor in the Dār b. Sameaḥ (=Dār Simḥa) Qaraite synagogue for a salary of 5 dirhams nuqra a month. There are three witnesses. This may be the earliest dated document pertaining to the Dar Simḥa synagogue.

Literary treatise in Judaeo-Arabic on the laws of sheḥita. Discusses among other things the extent to which Arabic parallels are admissible as arguments for the interpretation of certain Hebrew words.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Contains a very detailed account of the viewing of a new moon.

Legal document related to a divorce. Dated: Thursday 12 Tammuz 5537 AM, which is 1777 CE. Husband: Raḥamim Levi Ḥazzan b. Naḥum Levi Qayyim. Wife: Qamr bt. Seʿadya Levi Qayyim. The grounds for divorce: She is wicked and vulgar (לאנהא רשעה קלילת אלאדב). He claims, and his neighbors attest, that she does not speak to him or respect him but only insults him and curses his ancestors. This is not the way of respectable Jewish women, but rather the way of the women who are fājirāt, al-khārijāt ʿan ṭarīq al-ḥaqq. Because the court accepts this testimony, she will not receive the delayed marriage payment. On verso there are piyyutim.

Colophon for an unknown work dated Shawwāl 896 Hijri, which is 1491 CE. "This work and its companion were written in the name of (=by?) אלהכ׳ b. Yehuda Ibn al-Khāzin. The most interesting element of this colophon is the subsequent statemen that the volume is dedicated to (part of the heqdesh of?) the Dār Sameaḥ = Dār Simḥa Qaraite synagogue. There is a marginal note in a different hand that reads, "At the beginning of the building/foundation of the aforementioned synagogue." Haggai Ben-Shammai has written that the Dār Simḥa synagogue (the source of much of the Firkovich, now RNL, collection) is known from documents from at least the beginning of the sixteenth century." Ben-Shamnmai, "Is 'The Cairo Geniza' a Proper Name or a Generic Noun?" in From a Sacred Source, p. 44. This document supports that dating and suggests that the synagogue was new (or renovated?) in 1491 CE. But see Yevr.-Arab. II 850, a document from 1337 CE that shows that the synagogue existed 150 years earlier.