Geniza Lab

Deed of release, in which Shelomo b. Moses b. Shelomo declares that he has no claims against Manṣūr ha-Levi b. Israel or against Yaʿīsh ha-Kohen b. Abraham b. Yaʿīsh. Witnessed by Yaʿaqov b. Joseph, Hiba b. Aaron, Faraḥ b. Muʾammal, Joseph b. Benjamin, Moses ha-Kohen b. Isaac and Shelomo b. ʿAllūn. Dated Thursday, 23rd of the month, 1329 (= 1018 CE), in Fusṭāṭ. (Information from CUDL)

Formulary of legal documents, with פֿבֿפֿ written in place of the names. The types of document are given above the text of each, and they include a הלואה (‘loan’), two examples of a גט חליצה (‘levirate marriage deed’), and גט חירות (‘deed of manumission’). Parts of a שטר צוואה (‘will’) and שותפות (‘partnership’) are also preserved. (Information from CUDL)

Responsa, on the subject of death of either party to a ketubba, false testimony and forged documents. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Abū l-Bayān either to his father or to a distinguished elder. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. The father is titled "rayyis" (in the address). The rayyis Abū l-Bayān is mentioned in ll.6-7 and may be identical with the sender, which would mean that a scribe is writing on his behalf. The letter is very long and mentions numerous family and business matters. Sitt Ihtimām is still in the same state as when the addressee departed: one week sick, the next week healthy. Another woman ('sittnā') had a brief case of colic (qawlanj). Abū l-Riḍā is still "in the same state" (presumably sick). A woman called ṣāḥibat al-dār sent him 30 dirhams for 2 weeks, and some olive oil, then paid for another 2 weeks (this sentence is not clear). Abū l-Mufaḍḍal is doing something (mutaṣarrif fī nafsih) in the same way that he used to do. The people of Damietta and Tinnīs were apparently clamoring for the addressee's presence—the sender tries to dissuade him by asking if it is right for him to exhaust himself on the nights of holidays and sabbaths just to satisfy others and sicken himself. But Abū l-Mʿālī Ibn al-Qasqās came and reported that the addressee's arrival in Tinnīs and Damietta was a great success. There are repeated references to the addressee's factotum and slave (ʿabd, khādim) Abū l-Ḥusayn. When the addressee's letter arrived about obtaining a (tax?) receipt (wuṣūl), Abū l-Ḥusayn went to the son of the Ṣāḥib al-Dīwān, gave him the ruqʿa, and obtained the receipt, "and later, we will give it to the ḍāmin of the quarter." The sender paid 8 2/3 dinars to Abū Naṣr al-Kohen on that day. There follow detailed and lengthy reports on business transactions. People mentioned: Abū l-Riḍā, al-Ḥayawānī, Ismāʿīl, Kātib Ibn al-Saqīl(?), the sister of Abū Manṣūr, Abū l-Mufaḍḍal, Abū l-Munā, the brother of the craftsman (al-ṣāniʿ), Masʿūd, the wife of Saʿd al-Rakkābī(?), Abū Saʿd al-Ṣāʾigh, Ibn Futūḥ, Benaya, Dhakhīrat al-Mulk, and Sharaf al-Dawla. Some of the commodities (there are also many more which are difficult to read): household furnishings, sugar, clothing, honey, raisins, something which was locked up with an iron lock, something that needs to be weighed properly, maybe hemp, sheep (khirāf), and a packsaddle (bardhaʿa). Then he conveys regards from various people ("in both households"), Abū Isḥāq b. Pinḥas, Abū Ṭāhir, and the slave Abū l-Ḥusayn. There follows a report involving Dhakhīrat al-Mulk and Sharaf al-Dawla, at least in part about a Jewish baker from Jerusalem and his son, working in the market of Ḥabs Bunān in Fustat, who were cheating their customers with bad weights (arṭāl), and who were discovered and arrested. It seems that Abū l-Ḥusayn the addressee's slave interceded with Sharaf al-Dawla and used the addressee's influence to have them freed—but now the Jews are worried that this will tarnish their reputation among the gentiles. The sender reports that Abū l-Bayān has not ridden the mules; that he has purchased a new saddle for his donkey; and refers to the arrival of 'al-Shams.' There are three more postscripts in the upper margin, discussing further business matters, mentioning Cairo and Ibn al-Qāḍī, and saying that the khādim Abū l-Ḥasan has gone to Tinnīs with a power of attorney. ASE.

Recto: poem in honour of a new leader. Verso: pen trials and a draft of a letter in Arabic script. (Information from CUDL.) The letter draft is addressed to "Bū l-Majd" and "my dear brother." Underneath there is the name Meir b. Yakhin and also Meir b. ʿAmram. The Hebrew pen trials are rebukes for sluggards (עצל הלא תבוש ותכלם...).

Letter to Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen Sijilmāsī (d. ca. 1149). In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions goods such as garments and soap. Contains a request to help with a shipment that it was in the hands of Nissim b. Yaʿaqov. Also mentions Mukhtār and Abū l-Barakāt. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein notes linked below.)

Letter to a dignitary. The writer apologises for his part in a public disagreement between the writer and the addressee that had previously taken place in ‘the small market’ concerning the correct display of tassels. Pen trials in the margin on verso. (Information from CUDL)

Letter draft or writing exercise in a crude hand; on verso jottings and drafts in the same hand. (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: commentary or treatise, with biblical citations such as Deuteronomy 30:14, Isaiah 51:5 and Proverbs 12:19. Verso: fragment from a letter, mentioning Abū l-Ḥasan. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment from a letter with a lengthy Hebrew introduction. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: letter to ʿArūs b. Joseph concerning business matters, mentioning Abū Sulaymān Daʾūd b. Siḡmār. Verso: jottings of accounts in the hand of ʿArūs b. Joseph. (Information from CUDL)

Letter signed by Shelomo, to his father Eliyyahu the judge, asking him to purchase something for the writer and to reply quickly. The writer sends greetings to Simḥa (ha-Kohen b. Shelomo), Eliyyahu's son-in-law. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 16th century, based on the mention of Avraham Shānjī. Concerning business matters, mentioning the writer’s brother Shemuel, Alexandria and a certain Avraham, also sending greetings to Qamar, Yaʿaqov, Ṣedaqa, AVraham Aleman, Avraham Shānjī and others. (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: note to Abū l-Maḥāsin, asking for guidance in a personal problem (probably in relation to the query on verso), which also involves the fact that ‘she brought 33 and a half’. The writer asks for a quick reply. Verso: legal query in the hand of Shelomo b. Elijah to Abraham Maimonides concerning a man who lives with his wife in a house together with another man and suspects his wife and the housemate of having an affair, and therefore wants to move out, but the wife is refusing to go along with his plans. (Information from CUDL)

Part of Nissim Gaʾon’s Ḥibbur Yafe meha-Yeshuʿa. Recto corresponds to the text from p. 474, l.5 to p. 476, l.12 in Shraga Abramson’s edition. (Information from CUDL)

Business note in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th or 12th century. Mentions the arrival of the merchants and a request that the addressee write something in his handwriting in 'the maḥḍar' (court notebook?). The sender cites his illness ("were it not for my illness and the fact that I cannot move") to excuse himself for not coming in person. On verso there is a note in Arabic script about a sum of money owed. (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: letter to the Nagid. Verso: rhymed poetry. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th or 12th century, based on handwriting. Apparently recounting a legal situation. Excerpts: "The qāḍī took from them the document of... Ṭāhir returned from his travels... his wife to the gate of the qāḍī, and she cried out and said... until we said to them, "O people, do not write [...]"... this female slave who died... [at the time that I wr]ite these words to our master..." (Information in part from CUDL)

Beginning of a letter from the judge Elijah b. Zechariah to Abū l-Faraj. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document, possibly in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, concerning a matter between Yosef the doctor and a certain Ḥaver Efrayim. Refers to the date 1352 of the Seleucid Era (= 1042 CE). (Information from CUDL)