Geniza Lab

Request for a responsum concerning a carpenter who let his Muslim employees work making doors on a Saturday. He was ordered flogged by some scholars, while others wanted him to be fined and excommunicated as well. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:297, 330, 590, 599) EMS

Fragment of a responsum (or a letter). In Judaeo-Arabic. EMS. On verso there is an ofan for Roš ha-Šana. The refrain is ה’ אלהים צבאות מי כמוךחסין יה, and a second strophe starts עליונים ותחתונים שמו. (Information from CUDL)

Responsum of Hai Gaon, on the management of orphans’ property. (Information from CUDL)

Responsa numbered 69-72, on kashrut and family law. (Information from CUDL)

Geonic responsa. (Information from CUDL)

Geonic exegetical responsa. (Information from CUDL)

Responsa concerning various topics in civil law. (Information from CUDL)

Responsa discussing various topics, including parturient women and civil law. (Information from CUDL)

Responsum of Moses Maimonides, concerning river travel on Shabbat. (Information from CUDL)

Anonymous responsa on various topics, headed מסאלה לבעץ‫'‬ אלעלמא. (Information from CUDL)

Legal queries, one of them apparently concerned with sharing in partnerships. (Information from CUDL)

Geonic responsa, quoting R. Ḥananel. (Information from CUDL)

Responsum concerning a problematic partnership, with an excursus on valid and invalid partnerships. (Information from CUDL)

Responsum draft. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning the division of property. Several phrases have been crossed through. Information from Baker/Polliack catalog.

One side: four ethical (?) principles in Judaeo-Arabic written over the remains of a few lines in Arabic. The other side: a legal query and its answer (both in the same handwriting) regarding illicit sexual relationships. ASE.

Responsum. In Judaeo-Arabic (mainly). Written on a bifolium. Regarding the leasing of a synagogue to a certain Abū l-Munā. The legal authority who wrote this response discusses the general halakhic background to this issue (and cites BT Megilla 4:1, 26a-b), and provides a formulary for the appropriate legal document. Information from FGP. Written by Nathan b. Shmuel ha-Haver (AA)

Leaf from a file of responsum, written in the hand of Shemuel Ha-Levi b. Saadya.

Four legal queries and one responsum in the handwriting of Daniel. b. Azarya. A part of a collection of questions that were sent to b. Azarya or one of his ancestors, as "Nasi" or "Rosh ha-Gola". The first question is about money that is kept by a guardian for orphans. The second deals with the value of promising money without a contract. The third is concerning a person who says bad things about his wife and as a result his son was seen by the community as "Halal". The fourth is about the responsibility of a person that inherited a vow that he did not fulfill. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, pp. 704-712) VMR

Book of responsa. Joins by Amir Ashur. See FGP and Goitein's note card for bibliographical references.

Letter from a Qaraite religious authority to a pupil. In Judaeo-Arabic. Containing the answers to a number of queries that the addressee had sent him. Chief among them is the proper interpretation of beginning the counting of the Omer on "the morrow of the Sabbath" (Leviticus 23:15–16)—a famous bone of exegetical contention. Rabbanites interpret it as the day after the first yom ṭov of Passover, while Qaraites interpret it as the day after the shabbat that falls during Passover. This writer presents various arguments and proofs and says, "And no one can dispute this with some tradition (i.e. Oral Torah) that they know of. . . because they did not see the messenger, and they are just deriving it (?yastamiddū) from us." There follows a somewhat cryptic analogy to whether or not we believe what a clothier says about the price of his merchandise. There are several additional exegetical issues broached here, and verso reads, "the answer/responsum to the query on 'the morrow of the Sabbath.'" ASE