Geniza Lab

State decree from the Fatimid chancery, written under al-Ḥākim, al-Ẓāhir or al-Mustanṣir to an official in Egypt regarding a dispute over irrigation canals and access to water — insofar as one can judge. Only the left half of the lines are preserved. About 1.3 meters of what was once a much longer decree. The joins of the decree fragment when pieced together refer to the need of restoring the area surrounding the gulf/bay - 'li ḥāja dāʿiya ilā ʿimārat al-khuluj' and the allotment of irrigation from these canals: 'aqsaṭ min al-rī min hādhihi l-khuluj. Verso: Efrayim b. Shemarya uses and reworks passages from the Sheʾiltot for a sermon. Top of the rotulus is headed Shabbat Bereishit (see separate record). Join: Roni Shweka (bottom six fragments) and Rebecca Sebbagh (top fragment). Before 1055. See also Mosseri VI.117.2, which may belong to the left side of this decree. (MR)

Efrayim b. Shemarya (11th c) uses and reworks passages from the Sheʾiltot of Aḥay of Shabḥa (8th c) for a sermon. Written on a Fatimid decree rotulus (see separate record). The top of verso is headed Shabbat Bereishit, presumably the occasion of the liturgical cycle for which Efrayim needed the sermon. Join: Roni Shweka (bottom six fragments) and Rebecca Sebbagh (top fragment). Before 1055 (death of Efrayim). See also Mosseri VI.117.2, which may belong to the left side of this decree. (MR)

State decree, fragment of right margin, line 3 mentions "this day"

Report to a Fatimid vizier. Khan published T-S K25.221 as the end of petition, but it's impossible to know whether it's a petition or a report. If this join is correct, it's a report. The two fragments are the same size, format, layout and titulature. The differences in the hand on the two documents could be an artifact of the fact that the text on T-S K25.221 is the end of the document and is formulaic, so less carefully written. T-S Ar.22140 was reused for a Judaeo-Arabic commentary on Isaiah 54:1 and 1 Samuel 1:11; T-S K25.221 was reused Hebrew poetry, headed כפיף, and for Arabic accounts. Join: Marina Rustow. (Information from Khan, from CUDL and from Marina Rustow.)

Petition concerning someone named Simeon (سمیون), most likely a Christian. 6 short lines and 3 long lines are preserved. May mention Yemen in l. 5. The fragment is made of two pieces of paper glued together. On verso there is Hebrew literary text.

See T-S NS 110.14 for description.

Writing exercise in a chancery hand, two different hands alternating. Encomium to an official. Join: Marina Rustow.

Note with financial content. In Arabic script. 16 full and 4 half lines on paper. Fiscal hand, curvilinear lines and some words are stacked at the end. Perhaps the document was written by a lower official. Contains: basmala; al-'abd; and mentions "al-khassa" a financial account and "man talaba dhalika min," both towards the end of the document. Many numbers and the verb "addada" (x2) in the middle section.

Tax receipt for jawālī with registration marks.

State document that begins "waṣala ilā bayt al-māl al-maʿmūr."

State document in Arabic script. Reused for Hebrew literary text. In the hand of ʿEli b. Yeḥezqel?

A fiscal document, one of several state documents recycled by ʿEli b. Yeḥezqel ha-Kohen, active in Jerusalem, d. ca. 1055, social services officer (parnas) of the Jerusalem Rabbanite community, a correspondent of Efrayim b. Shemarya. Other of his recycled texts include T-S NS 109.34, T-S NS 110.6, T-S NS 199.154, T-S NS 277.168, BL Or. 5557B.19, T-S 8H22.18, T-S H5.11, T-S H7.25, T-S K6.33, T-S Misc. 10.32, T-S NS 109.34, Moss. IV,383.1. Signed documents in his name: T-S 13J36.6, writing from Ramla to Eli ha-Kohen b. Yahya, before 1071 (the head of the yeshiva is referred to as still residing in Jerusalem); T-S 10J29.5, a letter from Jerusalem; see Goitein for five letters of Eli I ha-Kohen b. Ezekiel sent through ʿUmar b. Yusuf and son(s) to a postal agency in Old Cairo, called three times "al-Ḥusayn b. Ṭāhir," and twice "Najāʾ b. al-Ḥusayn al-Anṣārī and Tamim b. Najāʾ"

Legal document in Arabic script. There is part of a witness's signature on bottom. On verso there is Hebrew literary text. Join: Marina Rustow. The date 437 AH appears in the first line, which is 1045/46 CE.

State document in Arabic script. Likely a fiscal account There is a ḥamdala and a ṣalwala at the bottom. Reused for Hebrew literary text.

Report from a Fatimid official. Dated: Dhū l-Qaʿda 495 AH (August–Sept 1102) — but this reading might be incorrect. Talks about the cutting off of the roads. From 1102 to 1107 there was a Fatimid campaign out of Ascalon against the crusaders.

Decree fragment. One fragmentary line and the top of another. Illā 'adda afṣadda al-in[ ]. Reused for the Hebrew script document on recto--a fragment of ten lines.

Petition in Arabic script.

State document, small fragment. Written in enormous script, which seems most suited to a decree except that two of the words are ʿalā mamlūkihi. Reused for Hebrew literary work.

Draft report containing two taqbīl and narratio (inhā’) sections. The first section mentions local residents impeding access with stones. Reused for Targum Onqelos of Numbers 28:26-31

Petition. In Arabic script, in a beautiful chancery hand. Portions of 4 lines are preserved. Includes the raʾy clause (fī hādha l-bābi ʿālī l-raʾyi in shāʾa llāhu). On verso there are liturgical instructions in Judaeo-Arabic followed by a prayer in Hebrew (attributed to al-Zinjārī?).