Geniza Lab

State document, fragment, in Arabic script written in enormous letters, probably a decree. Mentions "fourteen heads" (li-arbaʿa ʿashara raʾs) (of cattle?). Reused for several different pieces of writing in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. In calligraphic Hebrew on verso is Zechariah 6:11, and underneath are some Judaeo-Arabic phrases that sound as if they are taken from a letter. There is also writing in Hebrew script on recto that is much more difficult to read.

Recto: remnants of two lines of an Arabic-script chancery document. In between, at ninety degrees, is an Arabic list (of names?), most of which are crossed out. Verso: Hebrew poetry.

State decree. Three fragmentary lines from the end of a chancery decree, probably addressed to a provincial official, mentions majlis al-naẓar (refer al-Qalqashandī, Ṣubḥ al-Āʿshā VIII, 331). The text that remains is from the beginning of the closing section, containing the admonitions and the dating clause (which, as usual, hasn't been preserved). Reused for the commentary of Rabbenu Ḥannanel on Bava Kamma 98, 101.

Chancery or fiscal document, presumably Mamluk period. There are two lines preserved, consisting of a date (the month Rajab is visible) and the ḥamdala. The text was folded down the middle to form a bifolio and reused for notes on the Jewish calendar, a roster for the years starting with 1275/6 until the mid-fourteenth century. But the roster contains errors, such as parts of the sequence that are repeated. There are also jottings, including a biblical quotation. (Marina Rustow, with information on the calendar roster from Sacha Stern)

Nearly complete letter in Judaeo-Arabic to Abū l-Ḥusayn Ṣedaqah b. Nissim al-Mukallifī (?) in Alexandria. The letter is written on a fragment torn from a massive chancery document; only the beginnings of two Arabic lines remain. Most of the letter is devoted to commiseration about the "fire" that the writer has heard is afflicting Abū l-Ḥusayn. Perhaps a great grief of some kind? It is possible that Abū l-Ḥusayn was stranded around Tyre (בגובת צור), but this sentence is fragmentary. Apart from urging the addressee to respond and reassure him, the writer also informs him that ״אערצת אלסרר״ (?) but it didn't come to anything (or gain any money?).

Decree fragment, Fatimid, 11th century. Reused by Efrayim b. Shemarya (see PGPID 1649).

Letter or possibly a decree to a lower official in a chancery hand. Upper part only. Someone has attempted to wash out the text of the basmala, perhaps intending to reuse the fragment; a second scribe has inserted a line of text between lines 2 and 3 in an attempt to imitate a chancery hand. Reused by Abū Sahl Levi (see PGPID 7687).

Recto: Document in Arabic script, probably a state document. The ends of three lines remain, including the word al-taqsīṭ. On verso is a Judaeo-Arabic commentary on Genesis.

Report or petition. In Arabic script. In a chancery hand, wide space between the lines. Two lines are preserved, it seems praising the grace and mightiness of the addressee, a vizier. On verso there is Arabic poetry (about injustice?).

Recto: Hebrew biblical verses. Verso: State document, Fatimid period. Mentioned in S. M. Stern, "Cairo as a Centre of the Ismaili Movement."

Report from a Fatimid official, probably sent from Tyre. Dating: 1108 or 1109 CE, as it concerns the events in Tripoli following the flight of Fakhr al-Mulk Ibn ʿAmmār (cf. T-S AS 153.176 + T-S AS 153.177) and around the time of the fall of Tripoli to the Crusaders. The document resembles another report to al-Malik al-Afḍal also preserved in the Geniza, T-S 16.114 + T-S 24.57 + T-S AS 11.383 + T-S AS 146.195, edited by Geoffrey Khan (ALAD doc. 111). Among many other matters, it discusses: a request for a Fatimid fleet to come to the aid of Tripoli; how Ibn ʿAmmār was an enemy of the people and of the notables (muqaddamīn) of Tripoli and of the Fatimid state; how the traitorous al-Sharīf al-ʿArīḍī had been sending Ibn ʿAmmār state secrets (akhbār al-dawla) until Sayf al-Mulk b. ʿAllūn ordered the former to be detained; how a boat containing twenty-two men and women arrived from Crusader-ruled ʿAkkā (Acre) after letting themselves into the city over its walls by rope; how those newcomers report that Muhannad b. Ghawth had returned to Jabal ʿĀmil(a) and Kafr Birʿim, where he now serves the Franks and lived among them; a blood feud between Banū Ḥaddāthā (حداثا in present-day Lebanon) and the neighboring Banū Shabakhtān, a disruption that the authorities in the sender’s location had to manage; and something to do with army regiments (al-muwallada and al-sūd, "the blacks"), taxes, and Franks. Needs further examination. On verso there is a Hebrew prayer (the second baqqasha of Seʿadya Gaon). T-S NS 125.135 is a join for the prayer on verso but not for the report on recto. There are still several fragments missing. Joins: Alan Elbaum. ASE. Description from PGPID 20866: Recto: Hebrew prayer Verso: Arabic document or letter - needs examination.

State document or petition in a chancery hand and large Arabic script. Words that are readily legible include al-Qāhira, al-Ḥāfiẓiyya, al-majlis al-sāmī al-mālikī al-sayyidī al-ajallī al-Afḍalī, al-marsūm. Reused for jottings in Hebrew and Arabic script. On verso there are piyyutim. Needs examination.