Geniza Lab

Three small fragments of three different letters in Arabic script.

Fragment of a letter in scribal Arabic script.

The middle fragment is the a small fragment of an Arabic letter, preserving the first line of the letter and the address: to Sammanūd, to al-Shaykh Abū Khayr (?) from his servant Ḥusām.

Account in Arabic script (information from Marina Rustow). On recto there is Sa'adia Gaon's translation of the Pentateuch, Leviticus 11:13-20 (information from Penn Catalog).

At least two documents across two fragments (which belong together). In Arabic script. Two of the documents look legal/administrative. A third text-block is an extended discourse on practical vs. theoretical medicine; possibly literary, but requires further examination (Alan Elbaum). One of the administrative documents is a receipt or income statement/account related to al-Maḥallā dated Muḥarram 628 (1230). (Marina Rustow)

There are 3 items sharing this shelfmark:515/1: Formulary for a Qaraite ketubba. In Hebrew.515/2: Prayer for Moshe Firrouz. In Hebrew. 515/3: Several lines of jottings in Arabic script, on verso of a literary text in Hebrew on kashrut.

Recto: Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Beẓalel b. Ḥayyim to David I Maimonides (b. Avraham b. Moshe). In Hebrew. Defending the Guide for the Perplexed. Verso: Alongside the address of the letter on recto, there are three lines of calligraphic Arabic script, probably a draft of the beginning of a petition, with a taqbīl clause and various titles (al-kabīrī al-ajallī al-sayyidī).

Legal record (#36). Liquidation of a trust. Revised copy of Yevr.-Arab. I 1700.15, recto. See PGPID 9395 for summary. Witnesses: Ḥiyya b. Yiṣḥaq. Efrayim b. Meshullam. There are two lines in Arabic script underneath this record at 90 degrees which need examination.

Accounts in Arabic script. There is also an addendum to the document on the recto. (Information in part from Goitein, Med Soc II, p. 435 (Appendix A, #174)) ASE

Accounts in Arabic script.

Legal document or documents. The primary block of text on verso appears to be the original legal testimony, written in Judaeo-Arabic. Very faded. The second block of text reads, "Naṣrallāh b. ʿAbdallāh Nafīs(?) witnessed regarding the aforementioned Abū l-Ḥasan and Abū l-Faḍl the brother of the aforementioned Naṣrallāh and his wife." Verso contains three more blocks of text, one in Arabic script and two in Judaeo-Arabic (one of which appears to be a summary of the Arabic script). All of these appear to be witnesses' addenda to the legal document on recto. Needs further examination.

List of names of men and/or households, possibly in Cairo. The list fills a narrow bifolium. There are a few lines in Arabic script at the bottom of one page. Beneath every entry there is a word in Arabic script, perhaps variations on the root علم. A donations list? Needs examination.

Magical fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dated: Wednesday, 16 Adar 5005 AM, which is 1245 CE. Gives a spell for annulling other spells, warding off umm al-ṣibyān (infant colic or epilepsy), and exorcising the spirits of the jinn from one who is afflicted (muṣāb). It should be concealed from ignoramuses. The formula is copied out, following a basmala, in both unconnected Arabic script and in Judaeo-Arabic. The Judaeo-Arabic portion concludes with Q10:81, "Moses said, 'What you have brought is [only] magic. Indeed, Allah wille expose its worthlessness. Indeed, Allah does not amend the work of corrupters.'"

Bifolium with four pages. First page: Legal record in Judaeo-Arabic. No signatures. Mentions the government (sulṭān). Dated Jumāda II 488 Hijri = 1095 CE. Second page: Legal record in Arabic script. Signed by the scribe Ḥasan b. [.]liyā(?). Mentions a jamāʿa. . . a monthly payment. . . al-ḥāra al-mutawajjiha maʿrūfa bi-l-waqf al-Mufawwīḍ(?). Needs examination.