Geniza Lab

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 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)

State document in Arabic script. Reused for Hebrew piyyut.

Accounts. In Judaeo-Arabic and in Arabic script. Calligraphic. Dated: Rabīʿ al-Awwal 417 AH, which is April/May 1026 CE. Many intricate details about transactions. The main commodity is thawbs. Fellow merchants: Abū Yaʿqūb; Abū Naṣr; Abū l-Ṭayyib Marwān; Mubārak/Mevorakh b. Hillel;

Detailed accounts in Arabic script. Unclear if it is connected to recto or not. Lists goods such as pepper, bamboo chalk (ṭabāshīr), a large and heavy ruby (ḥajar yāqūt kabīr thaqīl), silver, coral, a thawb. Mentions an Abū Saʿd as well. ASE

Document in Arabic script. There might be a person named Buṭrus. Needs examination.

Document in Arabic script. Maybe a letter. On verso there is a Hebrew literary text, listing names of biblical and/or apocalyptic significance.

Recto: Instructions for drawing up a bill of divorce. In Judaeo-Arabic. Listing various scenarios. Of note, Qūṣ and Aswān are listed as two potential cities, suggesting likely origins for this fragment. Verso: Formulary for a bill of divorce. The margins have text in Arabic script, perhaps accounts.

The original text may be the remannts of the lines in Arabic script on the right-hand page of image 1, which appears to be a legal document involving Abū l-Ḥasan, Alexandria, and boats. The other pages were reused for drafts of Hebrew elegiac poetry, and copious jottings in Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic, naming various people. Needs further examination. ASE.

One side: Names in Judaeo-Arabic, including Isḥāq b. Bahā b. Bahā the uncle (ʿamm) of Manṣūr. The other side: Accounts in Arabic script, naming Rashīd al-ʿAṭṭār among others.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and in Arabic script. Customers include al-Qāḍī Yaḥyā and ʿAbd al-Masīḥ

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

Letter fragment possibly concerning trade, in mixed Judeo-Persian and Arabic in Arabic script. The Arabic-script text on verso may be unrelated personal notes. The fragment is labeled "L6" in Shaul Shaked's (unpublished) classification of Early Judeo-Persian texts.

Letter draft or notes in Arabic script, as yet unidentified. Written on the back of a letter in mixed Judaeo-Persian and Arabic (see PGPID 34816).

Document in Arabic script. Letter? "al-mawlā" is mentioned.

Fatimid decree. Two lines in huge script with wide spaces between the lines; faded and difficult to decipher. Reused for a text in Judaeo-Arabic that is datable to the 1090s or early 1100s.

Fragments in Latin script, probably in Spanish. Calligraphic. 4 folios. The third folio may also have Arabic script on it. Needs examination.

Original text: Three lines in calligraphic Arabic script. Possibly part of a document. Prayers for Muḥammad are clearly legible (الحمد لله وحده وصلواته على سيدنا محمد), but beyond that requires further examination. Subsequent text: 4 columns of a Coptic text. Needs examination.

Chancery document in Arabic script. Two lines are preserved on recto. There is some Arabic script on verso, unclear whether it is related (فهو لا يزداد علما...). Reused for Hebrew poetry

Original text(s): Document(s) in Arabic script in a chancery hand. Recto and verso have pieces of what are probably two different documents. Recto looks like a couple words from a decree (وىقطع عن ..). Verso looks like a report or petition with three and a half lines preserved, mentioning al-Manṣūr b. Ṭ[...]. Needs further examination.