Geniza Lab

Note in a Spanish hand concerning payments and mentioning a substance zanjfur (vermilion) and Abū l-Faraj. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Shemuʾel b. Eli gaʾon in Baghdad. Contains the names Gūlā (גולא) b. Khalaf and Manṣūr b. Kūtā (כותא). Partially written in Aramaic. Gil and CUDL say this is an autograph, but according to Amir Ashur and Marina Rustow, this hand is identical to that of the gaʾon's disciple Yosef b. Yaʿaqov rosh ha-seder of Irbīl. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #79, and from Marina Rustow.) The extant text includes blessings from the opening of the letter and makes a reference to debts. Biblical quotations are introduced by שנא and marked with pairs of supralinear dots. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Salāma b. Asad (?) the perfumer to Abū Saʿīd, concerning business issues. 11th century. (Information from CUDL)

Letter, consisting mainly of greetings, from Judah Levi to his family, including his brother-in-law Sulaymān, his brother Raḥamīm, his cousin Sawād, and the addressee’s sister, aunt and mother, all called Sitt al-Maṣūna. Also mentions Levi, Shelomo, Joseph, Elʿazar, and Shabbetay, among others. Dated 25th Sivan (probably 16th century). (Information from CUDL)

Letter mentioning Reuben the apostate. In a late hand. Alternate description: Letter, mentioning Reuben ‘the proselyte’ and greetings to many family members, including the writer’s paternal uncle Zigdon and his maternal aunt Ḡarība. On verso are jottings which say ‘from ʿAmram אילא Zigdon’. C. 16th century. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment from the beginning of a letter, sent to Fusṭāṭ. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from the wife of Baṣīr the bell-maker (al-jalājilī) to the Nagid David, asking him to help return her husband, who was living in a Sufi community, to his family and to the Jewish faith. She also asks for medicine for her child. "Our Lord has promised the little one a medicine for the ear, for he suffers from it. There is no harm in trying it out, seeing that even the barber is playing with it without experience. May God have mercy!." "[This very night.]" (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim to ʿAyyāsh b. Ṣedaqa ha-Maḡribī in Jerusalem (c. 1067 CE). List in margin on verso. (Information from CUDL)

The fragment preserves the opening of a letter to an individual, which is prefaced with eleven short lines of biblical quotations (arranged as a pair of quotes on each line). There are traces of faded Hebrew text on verso. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document concerning debts, mentioning [...] b. Moses, Moses b. Shelomo (known as Ibn Ḥassān), and Abū Naṣr. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Poetic letter to Shemuʾel ha-Nagid, with jottings in Hebrew (repeated lines of Esther 1:1) and Arabic (see separate record). (Information from CUDL)

F.1: calendrical reckoning for the years 1018–19 and 1019–20 CE. F.2: legal documents. Recto: document, mentioning Abū Abraham Ismaʿīl b. Ṭalyon, Maḵlūf b. Mūsā and a large number of objects; dated Adar 1338 of the Seleucid Era (= 1027 CE). Below is a document concerning debts which Judah b. Ḥudayd owes Ḵalaf b. Sahl. Signed by Samuel ha-Kohen b. Avṭalyon and Aaron b. Isaac, and dated Kislev 1336 of the Seleucid Era (= 1024 CE). Verso: document from Fusṭāṭ concerning financial matters between Isaac b. Elijah, known as al-Qaš[...] and Samḥūn. Dated Nisan 1340 of the Seleucid Era (= 1029 CE), and signed by Abraham he-Ḥaver b. Sahlān, Samuel ha-Kohen Roš ha-Qahal b. Avṭalyon and Ṣedaqa b. Yaḥya. Below is an addendum, concerned with modalities if Isaac travels abroad; with the same three signatories. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Legal document for a partnership between Berakhot ha-Levi b. Shemuʾel and Ṣedaqa b. Ṣemaḥ. Dating: 1127–39 CE, as this was drawn up in the court of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. Signed: Yosef b. Ḥalfon b. Yosef ha-Kohen. (Information in part from CUDL.) Join by Oded Zinger.

Letter from Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli to Elʿazar b. Yosef, the brother of "the great rabbi" Seʿadʾel b. Yosef. In Judaeo-Arabic with some Hebrew. Fragment (upper part of recto). (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal document concerning debts, mentioning [...] b. Ḥayya ha-Kohen and Abū [...] b. Shemuʾel. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, and dated 1438 of the Seleucid Era (= 1127 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Legal documents in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Recto: betrothal deed between [...] b. ʿEli (known as Ibn Ḥunayn) and the daughter of Ṭahor. Verso: legal document concerning a house. (Information from CUDL)

Bill of divorce between Kulla bat Yefet and Ṣedaqa (?) [...]. Written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and signed by Isaac b. Shemuʾel ha-Sefardi and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe on recto and (attesting the delivery) on verso (partly embellished). (Information from CUDL)

Power of attorney, written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document concerning a gift, probably between ha-Sar Nathaniel Rosh ha-Qehillot and his wife Sitt Milāḥ. Written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: shortly before Elul 1437 Seleucid, which is 1126 CE. Abū l-Munā Yiṣḥaq b. Netanel ha-Levi sued Abū l-Faraj Menaḥem b. Shemarya ha-Levi with a document that had been drawn up in Muslim courts requiring Abū l-Faraj to repay debts and silk and everything else owed to Abū l-Munā (perhaps after the dissolution of a partnership?). A compromise was reached in Jewish court, namely, that Abū l-Faraj will settle and pay 1 defective (? ʿālil) dinar and 2 proper dinars. He pays the defective dinar at this time and agrees to a monthly payment plan (for a period of 3 months) for the outstanding 2 dinars. Joins: Oded Zinger.