Geniza Lab

Legal document concerning a transaction, mentioning Abū ʿAlī and Qalyūb. (Information from CUDL)

Testimony from the wife of Abū Naṣr al-Ḥalabī, the daughter of Abū l-Majd(?). (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal document issued to Abū l-Faraj; signed by [... b. N]athan ha-Levi and Baraka ha-Kohen b. [...]. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document possibly concerning the manumission and conversion of a female slave. Mentions [...]l b. Elʿazar. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment: bottom half. The sender complains that the bustān is ruined: the livestock have died of hunger and the produce has dried up, and al-rayyis Abū Isḥāq has taken possession of the bustān. No one remains except for the guard. Someone has cried out (istaghātha) and said, 'the bustān is ruined!' The sender urges some action on the part of the addressee.

Recto: one line from the superscription of a ketubba. Verso: probably an Arabic document. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document concerning a settlement of 17 dinars belonging to ‘my son Sālim’. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Written under the rule of the Nasi David b. Daniel b. Azarya (1082–94 CE). Ḥasana bt. Shaʾul, the widow of Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham, with whom she had two sons, Avraham and Naḥum, now wishes to marry Yefet b. Hillel Ibn al-Ṣabbāgh. The court apparently investigates the plan for the maintenance and upbringing of the orphans. Needs further examination. (Information in part from CUDL)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew numerals. Crude handwriting and spellings. Mentions "the runner (raqqās) of the capitation tax, for/from Makhlūf" and then "Manṣūr the collector of the capitation taxes' (jābī al-jawālī). (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal document dated 2[.] Elul 1423 of the Seleucid Era (= 1112 CE). Mentions Efrayim ha-Kohen and Nathaniel. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document concerning a financial settlement. The witnesses are Abū l-Faraj and Daʾūd. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions: Hillel b. Abū [...], the mint (dār al-ḍarb), Damascus, Alexandria, reaching the city/fortress (thaghr) of the sulṭān Sayf [...]; Abū l-Munā Ibn al-Dumyāṭī. The name Shelomo appears on verso (part of the address?). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Legal document in the hand of and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Involves a woman named Sitt al-ʿIrāq. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from a father to his son. "I heard that you are diligent with your teacher and honoring your mother... My son, you are no longer small. Others of your age are already married. All that I ask of you is to look after your siblings...." He mentions 5 dinars. Greetings to the son's mother, brothers, and sister, and to the teacher who is a ḥaver. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: beginning of a testimony, dated Elul [...] of the Seleucid Era. Verso: short note. (Information from CUDL)

Small fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee is called 'my brother.' Unusual handwriting and wide space between the lines.

Legal document dated 1507 of the Seleucid Era (= 1196 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. Addressed to Abū Ṭāhir Barakāt b. ʿAlī al-Baghdādī. The layout is somewhat unusual. It opens with blessings and longing and mentions the passing of time (not a person named Mar al-Zamān). Mentions a woman who has died (raḍiya Allāh ʿanhā). Mentions Abū l-Faḍl R. Maṣliaḥ. The last words in the upper margin are 'they have taken the money/property.' In addition to the address, verso contains the remains of an earlier letter or letter draft addressed to a woman. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Legal document. Fragment: Upper left corner. Location: Banhā. Dated: [14]61 Seleucid, which is 1149/50 CE, under the reshut of Shemuel b. Ḥananya. The substance of the matter is difficult to figure out. It involves a certain [...] b. Shemuel ha-Levi. Excommunication is involved and there is reported speech (yā mawlāy qad aḥramtu/uḥrimtu...) (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment: upper right corner. It seems that the scribe himself tore it up and obliterated part of the text. This is a letter begging for forgiveness for some offense. The sender describes how he was in the presence of the addressee, and when the latter's [face?] changed, the sender endured terrible distress. He mentions the law of Moshe b. ʿAmram. (Information in part from CUDL)