Geniza Lab

Recto: Document in Arabic script. Needs examination. Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions a number of people with grand titles, such as Saniyy al-Dawla b. al-Nezer Tāj al-Kuttāb and Tāj al-Dīn. Otherwise, the content of the letter is not clear.

Letter fragment in Hebrew. Little of the content remains. The entire remaining space of the fragment is filled with cryptic jottings in Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, and Arabic script. Needs examination.

Recto: Letter fragment in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Little of the content remains. Verso: Document in Arabic script; only a small, faded portion of the original document remains.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee is called 'my brother.' The content is not clear; mentions someone fearing death and mentions the capitation tax (jizya).

Recto: court testimony, possibly a draft, in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, right half only. Verso: left half of a letter in Arabic script. Does not seem to be the Arabic script hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, which we know from other fragments.

Palimpsest. Underneath there are faint traces of an Arabic book hand, and on top there are accounts in Judaeo-Arabic in at least two different hands (maybe more). One of the blocks of Judaeo-Arabic is crossed out with four vertical lines. The others blocks of text have one line running through them, one of which conceivably could be an authentication mark from the original Arabic text. In any case, these business accounts name Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy (fl. late 11th century), providing a date for the fragment. MR. ASE.

Accounts in Arabic script.

Original document: Accounts in very small Arabic script. Subsequent document: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to a woman. Written in the spaces around the original Arabic script. The writer reports on his meeting with the prospective groom of the addressee's daughter, in which they reached an agreement that the man would go to Bilbays and betroth (yuqaddis ʿalā) the woman (al-ṣughayyira) there and maintain her until Shavuʿot (al-ʿAnṣara), at which time the wedding will take place (yadkhulu baytahu). The early marriage payment is to be 5 dinars "with the conditions" (bi-l-shurūṭ: on this term see Ashur's dissertation, p. 217, n. 9) and the late marriage payment 20 dinars. Following the betrothal, the fiance's brother is going to take her to Cairo and rent her a house and maintain her until Shavuʿot when the marriage will take place. The writer warns the addressee 'not to let him come close' without paying the 5 dinars of the early marriage payment. He then suggests that there will be a second betrothal (taqdīs/qiddushin) ceremony in Cairo. He exhorts the addressee to be diligent in all this so that her daughter will obtain her livelihood/support. The letter becomes more difficult to understand around here. The writer mentions the army or army camp (al-ʿaskar) in connection with his own affairs. The letter is very faded in some places; this reading is provisional. Merits further examination. ASE.

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The same scribe left at least five other letters: see tag. In other letters, he writes to his father in Minyat Qā'id and is treated for a febrile disease by a physician named Ibn Ḥabīb. In this letter he mentions Abū l-Ḥasan (he has a brother of this name), discusses business matters, and mentions a bathhouse (ḥammām). Verso: Letter draft in Arabic script addressed to Abū Naṣr. Only the first two lines are present. Underneath, there is a line in Judaeo-Arabic (different hand than the letter on recto) that reads, "[my lett]er to you, and read it—O he who forgot me and whom I have not forgotten"; this is then transcribed into Arabic script. ASE.

Accounts in Arabic script. ASE.

Recto: Accounts in Arabic script. Verso: Lists of household items in Judaeo-Arabic. No values given. There are separate lists for garments (... mukhmal; niṣfiyya jadīda; thawb; ʿamāmatayn) and for utensils/furnishings (ṭāsa; kursiyy; ibrīq).

Recto: Letter fragment (upper part only) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (identification based on handwriting). In Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to a group of people, it seems. He states that he is in good health and mentions the woman known as 'al-kabīra.' Verso: Letter fragment (upper part only) in Arabic script. Addressed to Ṭāhir. Mentions a matter of two dinars. ASE

Recto: Legal document, possibly a court record. Regarding an engagement (shiddukhin). Fiance: Yefet b. Binyamin b. Refa'el ha-Levi ha-Talmid. Fiancee: Fāḍila bt. Bū l-Khayr Binyamin b. Faraḥ. Verso: One line in Judaeo-Arabic, possibly connected to recto, mentioning the money due to a wife (muqaddam, mu'akhkhar, ʿaml(?), and kiswa). There are also several unidentified lines in Arabic script. Information from Amir Ashur via FGP.

Recto: Legal fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Deals with a payment by installments. Verso: Document in Arabic script. The word "mablagh" (=amount) is clearly legible; the rest needs examination.

very damaged. Probably a draft of a legal deed regarding inheritance of a land. Written by EFraim b. Shemarya. There is also a document in Arabic script on the other side. AA

List or table, three columns organizing series of words and Coptic numerals with no particular coherence. Some words include دجاج، سكر ، خبز، اجرة قاعة، كنس قاعة، ثاني جمعة. The title could reveal more about the contents and their significance, it reads "الخراج (؟) الذي خرج على ال...؟". Needs examination.

Recto: Business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dealing with the copying of quires (karārīs) for Sayyidnā al-Nasi. Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān told the writer that the addressee had sent 4.5 dirhams, but the money never arrived. Verso: List in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. The writer excuses himself from attending in person on account of an illness (lines 7–8). Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Very damaged. Unclear how it is related to recto.

List of some sort in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Recto: Document in Arabic script, probably a personal letter (kharajtu. . . ummī). Verso: Several lines in Hebrew script, probably poetry.