Geniza Lab

State document, fragment, in Arabic script, probably a petition (or a draft?). There are also a few lines of Arabic interspersed between the wide spacings of the petition, probably from later reuse or annotations, however, both the hands look fairly similar. The petition is regarding a matter concerning agriculture "al-zirāʿ", also mentions a canal ''al-fatḥ". The last line indicates a course of action "dhālika wa-sharaʿ fī ʿamalihi wa-injāzihi". The first interspersed line bears a date - Thursday 19th Muḥarram 550. Needs examination.

Detailed but incomplete letter to an army doctor, possibly from his son-in-law, end of the 11th century. Contains many details about accounts, selling of books, the health of the family, misfortunes of acquaintances, and public affairs. The family had houses in Cairo and Fustat and also agriculture land where they kept sheep, certainly for the production of cheese. (Information from Goitein index card and notes linked below.)

Letter in Arabic script. Some kind of (state?) report on agricultural activities this year? وقد زرع في هذه السنة... وجميع الفلاحين فيها فلاحين السلطان... احد العسكرية هذا سوا ما يزرع فيها من الارز... باطلاق عمارة في الضياع ال... وانكشفت جميع الناس. On verso there is a Hebrew literary text (as well as between the lines on Bodl. MS heb. f 107/34).

Recto: Letter with petition-like language. In Arabic script. Fragment (the ends of 7 lines are preserved from the lower part of the document). Concerning farming and safeguarding of land (fī zirāʿatih wa-ḥifẓihā wa-ṣawnihā) for a particular amount of time the parties had asked for (al-mudda alladhī iltamasūhā). Then deferent petition-like language: [anhā maml]ūkuhā dhālika ilayhā wa-raʾyuhā al-muwaffaq. Then urging haste, followed by petition-like language: ...wuṣūluh surʿa surʿa fa-anā muḥtāj ilayhi... wa-raʾyuhā al-muwaffaq in shāʾ allāh.

Recto: Partnership record. Dating: 1096. Written in the hand of Hillel ben Eli. Describes a settlement between Yaḥyā and Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh. Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh loans 210 dinars to and places some agricultural commodities with Yaḥyā. Yaḥyā agrees to take upon himself the maintenance of the poor of Fusṭāṭ for a year in the event of nonrepayment. The repayments do not appear here because this would have been recorded only on the debtor’s copy of the loan agreement. Yaḥyā’s testimony that he paid his debt wouldn't be accepted without these records, but testimony by Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh (the creditor) is to be accepted without such condition. Verso: Court record. Dating: 1116. Part of a court record detailing a different partnership. Abū al-Surūr Simḥa ha-Kohen brings a power of attorney to pursue the claims of the brothers Abū al-Ma‘ālī and Abū al-Wafā Tamīm b. Yeshu‘a regarding a partnership held by their dead brother Mevorakh, with Yaḥyā (the same Yaḥyā from the recto) and Abū al-Ḥusayn the money-changer. The structure of the partnership is unclear, but it seems likely that Mevorakh was an investor and Abū al-Barakāt had always been the active partner. Upon Mevorakh’s death, Yaḥyā and Abū Ḥusayn claim 2/3 of the partnership assets, leaving Simḥa to collect the remaining 1/3 for Mevorakh’s heirs. The verso is written in a different hand from the recto, likely that of Nissim b. Naḥray. Signed by Barukh b. Yiṣḥaq, the chief judge of Aleppo. The connection between the two documents is Abū al-Barakāt and Yaḥyā. Per Goitein, this Abū al-Barakāt is not the Mevorakh mentioned on the recto but rather Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh b. Shelomo al-Ḥalabī, and Yaḥyā is Abū al-Ḥasan Yaḥyā ha-Kohen b. Shemuel ha-Kohen al-Baghdādī. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 56-60)

Fragment, 4 lines of a state document in a chancery hand regarding issues pertaining to agriculture "an qad zaraʿ fī l-kufr l-madhkūr thalatha meʾya". Needs further examination.

Donation of agricultural floodland from one sister to another – 30 December 1909CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 35) – in Arabic, and four lines in French. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 74). MCD.

Report of a provincial official, Ibn لفش(?) al-Shihābī. In Arabic script. It seems that he received an order to present himself, together with the qāḍī and the ʿāmil (and the kātib?) (ll.5–6). He reports that a well/cistern overflowed and posed a danger to all the land underneath and had to be fixed (ll.10–12). He complains about a Christian named Abū l-Fakhr who made a complaint; "do not ask about the trouble he caused me and the tax farmers (ḍummān)" (ll.14–16). Needs further examination.

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.