Geniza Lab

Recto: Stylized letter in Hebrew to David b. Hezekia the Nasi. Verso: The address and several different blocks of writing in Arabic script.

Petition to Shelomo ha-Nasi from a man whose name is missing, reporting that a pesiqa (pledge drive) in his favor had brought a substantial sum, but more than a month had passed without his getting the money. Dating: Probably ca. 1230s, if this is the Shelomo ha-Nasi known to have been in Egypt at that time. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 106, 544, n. 13 and from Goitein's index cards) On verso, part of a book list mentioning responsa, as well as a couple lines of accounts in Arabic script.

20 small fragments. Image 4 and Image 14 and Image 17 are fragments of legal documents in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Images 5 and 15 are from a printed work on the laws of Shabbat in Ladino. Images 6 and 16 are a Judaeo-Arabic letter (right side of recto, left side of verso) regarding business in foods/drugs (pepper, wormwood) and mentinoing Abū l-Surūr, from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother (Abū Saʿīd?). Image 7 lists the names of various Nasis, Hizqiyah ha-Nasi and Shelomo ha-Nasi ben David ha-Nasi Rosh ha-Golah. Image 9 is another literary printed fragment in Ladino. Image 13 + Image 19 is a list of materia medica on one side, mentioning Abū Saʿd on the other, and preserving the remnants of an Arabic document.

Recto: Upper part of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic written in a scribal hand to ha-Nasi ha-Gadol, reporting on the writer's troubles while traveling with Rabbi Avraham. "I hadn't known that his only care is making money. He cares nothing for peace in the community. He has killed me with his [cowardly deeds?]. When I was the muqaddam of al-Maḥalla and slaughtered and circumcised, whenever. . ." Verso: The address of the letter on recto, to Sayyidnā al-Nasi ha-Gadol Yarum Hodo. And, in a different ink and different hand, a formulary of a Hebrew letter of appeal ("I am so-and-so the lowly and despised."). The same person wrote on recto "crown of peace and truth" several times. ASE.

Reuse: Letter sent to Shelomo ha-Nasi. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender asks him for help on account of his illness, poverty, and "hot bedbugs. May God never afflict our master with distress, and may he afflict my state on all those who hate you." On verso there is a postscript mentioning Alexandria and family members being left in prison. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Polemical composition narrating the story of the exilarch Bustanay. For a parallel text and fuller description, see PGPID 6078.

Letter from Daniel Bavli b. Saadia, regarding a stranded Nasi, perhaps Yoshiyyahu b. Yishai, 1211 CE. Greetings are sent to various people, including Ḥananel, his brother Shelomo (i.e. the sons of Shemuel) and their sons, Avraham, Yosef and his son Yitzkhak, Shemarya, David, Yechezkel, Yeḥiʾel and his son. Mentions Meir (perhaps the son of Baruk from France), Yefet, Eliyahu, Kalev ha-Kohen, Saʿadya and his sons, Eliyahu, who is from Alexandria, and Elʿazar. A marginal note mentions a certain Yehuda. Verso: An ethical piece, a Midrashic passage. (Information from CUDL)

Letter fragment describing the visit of the Nasi in the Babylonian synagogue. (Information from E. Bareket, Shafrir misrayim, 25)

Letter addressed to a judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1221–52 CE, as it mentions Crusaders ("Franks") fighting at al-Manṣūra 2 years prior. At that time, Sayyidnā al-Nasi intended to borrow from the sender a beautiful copy of the book of Īlāqī (probably al-Īlāqī's epitome of the first book of Avicenna's Canon) in order to copy it for the addressee. The Crusaders were attacking al-Manṣūra, and the sender was in the army camp together with a gentile (presumably Muslim). He had three books with him, including a commentary and some of the 'kalām' of Maimonides (=Guide for the Perplexed?) as well as the Īlāqī. The Muslim companion had no eyes for anything but the Īlāqī, and he offered money to borrow it, copy it, and return it. As everyone was penniless at the time, the sender agreed, but he never saw the book again. Sayyidnā al-Nasi already forgave the sender for this, but is making him write this letter to explain the situation to the addressee. The addressee must not think that he is being negligent in finding another ('regular') copy to use for his purposes. Everyone he asks either says they don't have it, or they're worried he'll make off with it and give it to the Nasi. ASE