Geniza Lab

Fragment in an Indian Devanāgarī script, but in an as yet unidentified language. Possibly a letter. See Bohak, G. (2008). T-S AS 159.248, T-S AS 159.247: an unidentified Indian language. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, March 2008]. Further discussion here: http://lughat.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-little-mystery-unidentified-indic.html, and here: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=7875. Several commenters suggest that it may be a dialect of Gujarati written in Nagari script.

Remnants of eight lines in the hand of the court clerk Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (dated documents 1100–38) consisting mainly of legal verbiage. Yosef Lebdi's son, Abū l-Barakāt, set out to retrieve the goods and other assets his father had left on the India route. Abū l-Barakāt appointed Yosef's widow, probably his own mother, as a caretaker to look after the estate until he returned from his voyage.

Excerpt from a Gaon's responsa in Ḥalfon's writing A very small section of a genius answer. בע"א, written in Hebrew and Aramaic, remains of a halachic discussion in which it is quoted from the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 31a-12b) regarding the joining of witnesses to each other and the matter of a court. According to the hypothesis, the subject of the discussion in this part of the answer is the joining of testimonies or evidence to maintain a yard. In the Hebrew text, remnants of the end of Gaon's answer letter, which includes a request for support for his yeshiva, as found in Gaon's Babylonian answers. Although little can be gleaned from the passage, it is published here in the hope that other passages connected to it will be discovered in the future. As with the other passages that were identified based on the writing alone as being written by Ḥalfon, the identification is certainly not complete, but in this case, it seems most likely. The passage adds, therefore, some addition to the character of Ḥalfon as a sage who copies the answers of the geniuses for his needs. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)

Small fragment of a letter from Ḥalfon b. Netanel, in Fustat or Cairo, to his brother Yeḥezqel. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: No later January 1136 CE, as Ḥalfon refers to his attendance before the Gaʾon (=Maṣliaḥ), so it must have been written before he departed for Spain in January 1136. (Information from India Book 4, Hebrew description below.)

A tadhkira - memorandum of goods sent, written probably by Abu Zikri Kohen. On line 1 we might be able to complete [Abu al-Khay]r [b. M]usa al-Barqi, who is known from India Book (e.g India Traders, p. 314, n. 15). Should belong to India Book V. AA

Two torn and damage fragments from a tadkhira- business memorandum, regarding amount of money and items (such as saffron). Probably written by Abu Zikri Kohen, so should belong to India Book V. AA

Letter from Abū l-Faḍl, in Alexandria, to his son Ismāʿīl al-Fāṣid al-Yahūdī, in Aden. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Dated: Iyyar of the year 571 AH, which is 1175/76 CE. Awaits more detailed summary. See Goitein notes linked below.

Responsa in Avraham Ibn Yiju's hand: legitimacy of a manumitted female slave's marriage and status of her children, Yemen, ca. 1140.

Account. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1134 CE. Probably sent together with the letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq, in Aden, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel, in Baruj (India). This is an account that Khalaf wrote summarizing an entire year of his commercial activities on behalf of Ḥalfon. It is the only surviving account in the Geniza that a merchant in Aden sent to a business partner in India. The prices are given in the coin of Aden, the Malikī dinar, corresponding to 24 qirats. See Hebrew description below for further information.

Order of payment from Abū Zikrī Kohen. Khalīl is to give the bearer one raṭl of lamp/linseed oil (zayt ḥār).

Awaiting description

Estate of Nissim b. Yaʿqūb, a merchant who died in Suakin (present-day Sudan) on Monday, 7 Shaʿbān 503 AH (approximately 1110 CE). The handwriting appears to be that of Hillel b. ʿEli. Information from Goitein's notes.

Responsum, probably from the eleventh century, regarding the marriage of Reuben with a female slave in India. See also PGPID 5544.

Responsa in Avraham Ibn Yiju's hand: legitimacy of a manumitted female slave's marriage and status of her children, Yemen, ca. 1140. See also PGPID 1347.

Awaiting description

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq in Aden to Avraham Ibn Yiju in Jurbattan (Srikandapuram), dated August 1147. The letter contains information on their commercial transactions. The hole in lines 40-41 was already there in the time of writing.

See under ENA 4020.41.

Letter to a merchant away in the Far East, whose interests were protected by the 'Nagid David'. Aden, ca. 1180.

India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; English to come)

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes linked below. This letter may be continued in Bodl. MS heb. d 66/14 (identified by Oded Zinger).