Geniza Lab

Arabic poem, transcribed into Hebrew script. At least some of the originally Islamic elements were kept ("fa-wa-lladhī anzala furqānahu ʿalā l-nabiyyi l-muṣṭafā l-muntajab"). There are two bifolia here, so 8 pages. The order is somewhat difficult to reconstruct, but it appears to narrate the love between a woman named Jamal(?) and a man named Ghamr(?) and the poetic letters they exchange. Ghamr dies, and she elegizes him, and a man named Qutayba then starts to court her. Al-Ḥajjāj (the king?) appears as well. There are several joins (see T-S Ar.37.15, T-S AS 161.95, and FGP Joins Suggestions). Merits further examination.

A story or an historical account mentioning some places in Lebanon and Syria, the sultan and the slaves of the Amir

Fragment of a private letter, sending regards to a certain man and his son Yosef.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. This is a long and well-preserved letter from somebody close to the communal leadership (mentions the Gaon, Av Bet Din, etc) in Fustat/Cairo. Should be edited.

Book list in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. See T-S K3.41 for a similar booklist in his hand (possibly but not clearly a join).

Copy of fiscal accounts for the kharāj tax collected in Khorasan and the annexed territories. A Fatimid copy of an Abbasid tax register? Apparently only cited in Hopkins, Studies in the grammar of early Arabic (1984), p. 199. Needs examination.

Note from Abū Thābit al-Ṣayrafī to a certain Rabbenu Shemuel asking him to declare a ban of excommunication against whoever cast a spell on someone or willed him harm and does not reverse it immediately. Shelomo b. Eliyyahu makes the same request in ENA 4020.49, but without further evidence about the identities of Abū Thābit and Shemuel, there is no way to know if the two documents are connected. ASE

Letter from an old cantor to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. He is complaining that his post was taken by someone other than his son. He lived in the synagogue compound and whenever he heard the voice of the other cantor, his illness grew worse. "It is in fitting with our sense of justice that any one should retain his position. If my son is treated like this during my lifetime, what will happen to him after my demise?" He mentions that he has "cast himself down" (fa-qad ramā nafsahu) and that his severe illness costs him at least 5 dirhams every day. (Information in part from Goitein, Med Soc II, pp. 89–90).

Literary text in Hebrew. Late. It is a first-person account of a journey to Gehennom, which the writer composed and sent to Rabban Gamaliel after he had returned to heaven. He reports that he had difficulty persuading the angels to take him there at first, because he was too righteous. He also reports that the demons eat the sinners and then defecate them onto the fires where they burn. ASE.

Legal report in a Qaraite court register. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Cairo. Dating: Unknown. Catalogued as 1101 CE, but this date does not appear on the microfilm images. Perhaps the missing digits were legible in the past or remain legible on the physical document. The date in the microfilm reads "Sunday night, 7 Tevet, 14[..] Seleucid." The digits את appear at the beginning of the year, but this gives only an earliest possible date of 1089 CE and a latest possible date of 1688 CE. Based solely on the script, a date in the 13th century seems more likely. The scribe has the unusual name Neḥam'el b. Mevorakh b. Yehuda b. Aharon. The document is a fascinating report on the Qaraite court of Cairo's investigation into the years-long rumors about the relationship between Abū Naṣr b. Qayūma and an unnamed woman who is alternately referred to as "the daughter of Abū l-Maʿālī b. Tāmār," "the wife of Abū Saʿd b. Ṣadaqa al-Labbān," and "the woman." It appears that the woman had a petition (ruqʿa) written on her behalf to the communal authorities, which came into the possession of the scribe, who subsequently brought it to the attention of the Qaraite authority, ha-Nasi ha-Gadol, who called for an inquiry. The council first summoned the woman and her husband (called her "waliyy" or "guardian"). (1) She reported that Abū Naṣr had been stalking her for years, visiting her house three or four times a day. She was frightened of him and told her husband's paternal aunt that if she ever saw Abū Naṣr visit when this woman was alone, she should come down and join them. She had gone several times to the court to complain about him, but nothing came of that. When asked whether she knew who wrote the petition (ruqʿa), she admitted that in fact she was the one responsible for it, but the person who wrote it for her added some things she had not said and left out other things she had said. (2) As for the husband, he responded that he didn't know anything about this. All he knew was that his wife hated to have Abū Naṣr in their house, but he never knew why. (3) Abū Nāsr was then summoned. He denied everything. But then he admitted that he had previously been summoned to court and been issued a restraining order not to enter her house for a period of a year and a half. They questioned him repeatedly, but he wouldn't admit anything else. (4) The woman was then questioned in Abū Naṣr's presence what she had said in his absence, and she was unwilling to repeat what she said before. Rather, "she changed her story. . . and said, 'I hated. . .'" (5) Abū l-Faraj al-Ṭaḥḥān reported to the court and attested that whenever he visited the house of his brother-in-law Abū Saʿd b. Ṣadaqa al-Labbān and Abū Naṣr b. Qayūma was also present, he witnessed Abū Naṣr's vulgar speech and behavior toward the woman, but he had no knowledge of whether anything else passed between them. (6) A number of other women were then questioned. They confirmed that the woman under investigation had complained to them numerous times about Abū Naṣr's harassment (taʿarruḍ) of her. However, the scribe writes, because their testimony entirely derived from what the woman herself told them, there is no need to record it in this document. But he notes that these women confirmed her "agitation" (imtiʿāḍ) whenever she talked about Abū Naṣr's behavior to them. At this point the court determined that they needed to gather more testimony. Thus they agreed that the next day a ban of excommunication would be declared against anyone who had knowledge of the affair and did not come forward to testify about it. The scribe records the date and his name, and several witnesses sign: Netan'el ha-Kohen b. ʿAmram; Yefet ha-Melammed b. Ḥalfon(?), Avraham b. Yefet, and probably others that are now faded. He adds an addendum the following day stating that he attended "al-majliṣ al-marsūm" (Goitein interprets this as 'the next prayer service') of the Qaraites in Cairo and declared the agreed-upon ban of excommunication, effective for a period of one week. This addendum was witnessed by Avraham b. Yefet and Yefet ha-Melammed b. Ḥalfon(?). This document is mentioned several times in Zinger's dissertation and in Goitein, Med Soc V, 314 and 592. ASE.

Letter from a woman named Harja, somewhere in Syria, to her brother' Hārūn Fayrūz in Cairo. This letter contains an update on her stomach illness and blindness after she had gone to see the physicians (see the earlier Yevr.-Arab. II 1457, and see tag for other letters by her).

Letter from a woman named Harja, somewhere in Syria, to her brother ʿAbd al-Dā'im Ibn Fayrūz, in Cairo. See tag for other letters by her.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Writer and addressee unknown, but both are Qaraites. The letter describes the great solidarity of the Qaraites and how they protect each other from the impact of oppressive decrees of the government. It also discusses Dammūh. The Rabbanites go there year-round, whereas the Qaraites mainly go there during the month of Adar. Needs further examination.

Letter from a woman named Harja, in Jerusalem, to her brother ʿAbd al-Dā'im Ibn Firrouz, in Cairo. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. See tag for other letters by her. Needs examination.

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.