Geniza Lab

Fragment of a ketubba (שטר פרנא). Location: Likely Tyre. Dating: ca. 1090s. The handwriting of the scribe seems to be identical with T-S 16.198, T-S 16.375 (Friedman, JMP, doc. 46), T-S AS 146.83 (Friedman, JMP, doc. 60), and ENA NS 3.22 (Friedman, JMP, doc. 64). Bride: Sutūt bt. Ṣabāḥ, a virgin. Her agent is Elʿazar b. Yosef. Few other details preserved. Goitein also identified T-S 8J4.18c and UPenn E 16516 as having been written by the same scribe. (But there is some potential ambiguity since on his index card for T-S 16.198 (#8182), he writes, "No! Simply Ḥalfon b. Menashshe.") (Information from Friedman's edition and Med Soc III, pp.201–02 and 466–67 note 145.)

Letter sent by a man from Sicily who had immigrated to Tyre, describing a civil war in Sicily and the bad economic conditions under which his family lived. Dated to the mid-11th century. (Information from Gil and Ben-Sasson.) The writer and addressee are both unknown. He mentions Abū Yūsuf b. Ismāʿīl [al-Andalusi], known from several other letters of the mid-11th-century. He writes, "I witnessed things I never wanted to see: the bloodshed was such that I walked on corpses like walking on the ground; a great epidemic (wabā')"; and a great inflation. His own warehouse and that of his brother Saʿīd were pillaged. Years after these events, two months before the death of his father, his father purchased a house with gardens for 100 dinars from a Christian. The civil wars (fitan) then resumed, the house became worthless, and his father died. He and his Saʿīd then set about collecting all the debts owed to their late father and the goods their father had deposited with others, chiefly with one flax dealer. Saʿid told him they would split everything 50/50. The entirety of verso deals with how the writer was initially cheated out of his share of the inheritance—it seems by Saʿīd who was in cahoots with their brother-in-law Yaḥyā b. al-Munajjim—and the aftermath. ASE.

Fragment of a letter from Shemuel ha-Ḥaver b. Moshe, Tyre, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, Fustat, probably the middle of the eleventh century.

Writ of agency written in Tyre, approximately 1025.

Letter from Shemuel b. Moshe, Tyre, to Eli b. Amram, Fustat, approximately 1050.

Letter from ʿEli b. Yehezqel ha-Kohen, Jerusalem, to Eli b. Hayyim ha-Kohen, Fustat, concerning Eli b. Yehezqel's travels to Acre and Tyre, return to Ramla, and his serious illness there. "I was attacked by vomiting; I exploded from above and below, over 300 times (lit. "sittings"); everybody in the house gave me up. The doctors came on Saturday night and saw that I was finished and that there was nothing to be done any more. I made my will... [then improved]... but I still have terrible weakness." Also mentions the rent from the heqdesh (pious foundation) to the poor people in Jerusalem and other private and public affairs. 1060 (Gil's estimation). (Information from Gil, Palestine; and Goitein's index cards, including index card #27100.) VMR; ASE.

Fragment of a ketubba (marriage contract) which stipulates that the bride would move from Tyre to Akko in twelve months, ca. 1028-1037. Text in Arabic script on verso.

Document containing a few names: Abu al-Faraj b. Asad, Shemuʾel b. Surur. Also mentioned are representatives of the Sultan, the destruction of houses, and the sum of 500 dinars. Tyre, 1546 sel., (1234-5). (Information from Goitein index cards) VMR

Lengthy testimony describing that at the arrival of the ships from the West in Alexandria, Shelomo b. Hillel from Aleppo and Amran b. Yosef from Tyre had a dispute regarding 4 dinars, which was settled after the intervention of colleagues. 21 Av 1098. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Letter draft from Hillel b. ʿEli, in Tyre to the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saʿadya, in Fusṭāṭ. Ca. 1094 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract, upper right portion, between Yosef b. Mawhūb and Sittān bt. Mevasser b. Yeshuʿa, written in Tyre, dated (not completely legibly) from the destruction of the Temple, along with blessings and pious wishes for the redemption of Israel. The text is a Hebrew rendition of an Aramaic-Palestinian-style marriage contract. Items in the dowry list include gold coins, earrings and a wristband. The brother of the bride, Yeshuʿa b. Mevasser, acts as her agent and representative. Dating: 11th century. On verso is the beginning of Kitāb ḥudūd al-bulūgh wa-l-idrāk (Treatise on the attainment of majority), possibly by Shemuʾel b. Ḥofni. (Information from CUDL)

Report from a Fatimid official, probably sent from Tyre. Dating: 1108 or 1109 CE, as it concerns the events in Tripoli following the flight of Fakhr al-Mulk Ibn ʿAmmār (cf. T-S AS 153.176 + T-S AS 153.177) and around the time of the fall of Tripoli to the Crusaders. The document resembles another report to al-Malik al-Afḍal also preserved in the Geniza, T-S 16.114 + T-S 24.57 + T-S AS 11.383 + T-S AS 146.195, edited by Geoffrey Khan (ALAD doc. 111). Among many other matters, it discusses: a request for a Fatimid fleet to come to the aid of Tripoli; how Ibn ʿAmmār was an enemy of the people and of the notables (muqaddamīn) of Tripoli and of the Fatimid state; how the traitorous al-Sharīf al-ʿArīḍī had been sending Ibn ʿAmmār state secrets (akhbār al-dawla) until Sayf al-Mulk b. ʿAllūn ordered the former to be detained; how a boat containing twenty-two men and women arrived from Crusader-ruled ʿAkkā (Acre) after letting themselves into the city over its walls by rope; how those newcomers report that Muhannad b. Ghawth had returned to Jabal ʿĀmil(a) and Kafr Birʿim, where he now serves the Franks and lived among them; a blood feud between Banū Ḥaddāthā (حداثا in present-day Lebanon) and the neighboring Banū Shabakhtān, a disruption that the authorities in the sender’s location had to manage; and something to do with army regiments (al-muwallada and al-sūd, "the blacks"), taxes, and Franks. Needs further examination. On verso there is a Hebrew prayer (the second baqqasha of Seʿadya Gaon). T-S NS 125.135 is a join for the prayer on verso but not for the report on recto. There are still several fragments missing. Joins: Alan Elbaum. ASE. Description from PGPID 20866: Recto: Hebrew prayer Verso: Arabic document or letter - needs examination.

Torn fragment from a letter regarding stolen books that were bought by the writer in order to save it while he was in Tyre. The government is also mentioned. Might join with T-S AS 145.133: Small fragment of a letter. Mentions [A]haron ha-Haver b. Yoashiyahu, and Alexandria. On verso the writer referred to a bill of divorce, and mentions the son of the Gaon who is located in Fustat. AA

Marriage contract (ketubba) from Tyre, ca. 1079. Preserves the full name of the groom and a notable phrase for the promise of mohar. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 460-1) EMS

Legal document from Tyre between Musafir and Amram reagrding a payment of a debt. AA

Recto: Legal. Drafts of two different documents. One document states that it was drawn up in Fustat, is dated no later than 1081 CE (Tishrei 13[.]3 Seleucid), and involves Khulayf, Ḥalfon ha-Zaqen Ḥemdat ha-Yeshiva b. Fuhayd, and the city of Tyre. The other involves Moshe ha-Kohen. Verso contains Judaeo-Arabic glosses, at least some of which are for the Mishna of Shabbat.

Letter from Tyre to David b. Daniel, Fustat, probably 1092.

Marriage contract (ketubba) possibly from Tyre that includes the list of goods in the dowry: a cloth, a curtain, a lamp, two dyeing vessels, two jugs, a chest, and a house. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Tripoli or possibly Tyre to the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saʿadya. Dating: 1094–1111, based on Mevorakh's titles. The handwriting resembles that of ʿAmram b. Aharon ha-Kohen. Gil claims that the sender's son is in Crusader captivity but does not explain why he thinks so (the phrase "the little boy who remains" in l. 10 is clearly insufficient). The sender complains of his poverty and dependents and asks for help settling in Fustat. (Information in part from Gil.)

Fragment of a writ agency, written in Tyre, 1012.