Geniza Lab

Detailed astrological table in Judaeo-Arabic. Gives the auspicious days for such activities as "demanding rights," "imḍā' al-dīwān" (?), and going to the bathhouse. ASE

Legal document in Arabic script, possibly giving a detailed description of Ḥammām al-Dīk (the dihlīz. . . the four marble columns. . . the mirḥāḍ. . .). Merits further examination.

11th century letter from Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq near Tripoli to his son Mevorakh b. Avraham Ibn Sabra. See Oded Zinger’s dissertation, which mentions this letter several times and gives a partial translation on p. 305. “Avrahamʼs daughter had been divorced from her husband and her son returned her home to her fatherʼs place in Fustat. It seems that at least two children remained with the husband. The daughter was deeply depressed and longed to return to her abusive husband.” She had been in bed for three months, abstaining from baths and festivities, and saying that she will be grief-stricken until she dies and that she will never marry again so that her ex-husband will be punished for her sins. Remarkably, Avraham returns to this story in the last phrase of the letter: "It is a problem with the mind, to ask after someone who does not ask after you." He also conveys family news, including his delight that Mevorakh's wife has given him a daughter in his "old age." Abu Sa'd, whose "life is renewed" after surviving a serious illness, is on his way to Mevorakh's location from Tripoli. Oded Zinger, “Women, Gender, and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents from the Cairo Genizah,” Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 2014, p. 305.

Letter with a long Hebrew prologue, followed by Judaeo-Arabic. Written in an elegant square book hand, and indeed this sender seems to be a professional scribe. He reports that before the holiday, he borrowed a quarter dirham to go to the bathhouse (ḥammām). He may be implying that he is sick. When the letter resumes in the margin, he is making excuses, "...I was unable to do it... this work, and please help me in accordance [with your beneficence] and send me a dinar for this work, and I will do it right away. (Verso) And send me paper for the diverting epistles that I told you about, for they are among the delights of the world." He emphasizes that he will do the work quickly, and that the addressee doesn't strictly speaking owe him anything, but the dinar would really help.

Halakhic text in Judaeo-Arabic. See FGP for joins and further information. Enumerating the factors that disqualify a person for testifying. The fourth group is "those who lack muruwwa (roughly: virtue, manliness)." 4a: He who plays backgammon or chess or fasāfis ("fleas") or nawā ("fruit pits") or dice, or the like, if he gains money or benefit from it. 4b: He who plays in the bathhouse or with rams or with dogs or other such animals, if he gains money or benefit from it. 4c: He who eats in the marketplace."

Court notebook, probably. Bifolium. Entries in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably pertaining to the Qaraite court that convened in the Dar Simḥa synagogue (here called Dār Ibn Sameaḥ). Dated: Tishrei through Kislev 1751 Seleucid, which corresponds to the last months of 1439 CE. Includes entries on divorces, marriages, deaths. Also an curious entry documenting that there were rumors about the daughter of ʿAbd al-Laṭīf b. Bashīr(?), somehow connected to the bathhouse of Ibn al-Ashqar, and indeed the rumors were proven true by her pregnancy. "They did to him what was necessary upon the טפטיס (? = taftīsh?). Then, when the קצין told her "go to your father," she said, "No! I don't want to [go to] the religion of the Muslims." The entry is cryptic and these readings are tentative. Another entry mentions the ḥakīm ʿAbd al-Karīm, the head of the court (Av Beit Din). Needs further examination.