Geniza Lab

Letter from Moshe b. Yiṣḥaq, the Karaite, Jerusalem, to one of the Karaite notables in Fustat, around 1040. He reports having received one dinar that Abu Sa'id Ya'qub b. Ibrahim had sent with Abu Sa'id b. al-Sha''ab (another Ibn al-Sha''ab is mentioned in T-S 16.134, v23-24). Information from Goitein's note card (attached to PGPID 6204) and Gil.

See T-S 12.715.

Karaite ketubba (marriage contract), Ramla. Ca. 1030.

Letter from Moshe b. Yiṣḥaq the Qaraite, in Jerusalem, to Shemuel b. ʿAzarya b. Mevasser, one of the leaders of the Qaraites in Fustat, Dating: ca. 1044 CE. Reporting on the state of the barley crop (for calendrical purposes) among other matters.

Letter from a Karaite to his community, asking for the proclamation of a ban against certain people who suspect him of stealing.

Formulary for a marriage contract, Qaraite/interdenominational. Dated: 1036 CE, at the time of Ṣemaḥ Nasi. One sheet is possibly missing in between, and with it the details about the tosefet and the nedunya. Information in part from Goitein's index card

Record of a deposition regarding donation of parts of a compound, ca. 1160. Sitt al-Riyad, al-Na'iha, who owns seven qirats of a compound, donates a third of her part to the Karaites and a little less than that (7.5 qirats) to the Rabbanites. This is recorded on the left part of a leaf detached from a notebook, apparently belonging to a 'adl, a "righteous witness," or notary. Three witnesses, inclusive of the writer, are mentioned at the beginning, but their signatures are not preserved. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 294 #63.) See also Goitein, Med Soc II, Appendix A, #164.

Karaite ketubba (marriage contract) from Jerusalem, January 1028.

Karaite marriage contract of the groom Hezekiah and the bride Sarwa written in Shevat 1339/ February 1028 in Jerusalem. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 50, 376)

Qaraite exegesis - mentions of the rivers of Egypt and Babylon

Business letter from 1094, addressed by Avraham b. Natan Av (former judge in Ramla and later Cairo) to Nahray b. Nissim, when the latter was already the “eminent member” of the Jerusalem yeshiva. Avraham b. Natan expresses regret for the mistakes he committed during communal strife in Tyre, and additionally notes that there were only three Qaraites still left in that city. The writer complains about his fate with the remark, “I am in immediate danger and my future is in jeopardy. I have not acquired a portion in the World to Come, or a good reputation here, or material gains... Had God guided me, when I first arrived among them, my religion and my honor would have remained untainted.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:204, 327, 564, 596; Marina Rustow, Heresy and the Politics of Community, 330, note 20) EMS See also Goitein's index card.

Letter, fragmentary, sent by Avraham b. Natan Av to Nahray b. Nissim, in which the writer apologizes for his behavior. Dated ca. 1090. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 418, 624 and from Goitein's index cards)

Marriage agreement between a Rabbanite husband and a Qaraite wife, with a 30 dinar fine to the poor if one transgresses the religious practices of the other. The groom is called al-Rayyis Abu Ali Yefet ha-Kohen, and the bride is called [Sitt?] Yaman, known as Najiya. On the other side is a legal record in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe involving a marriage or inheritance dispute. Another entry is a list of names and titles of the prominent Bundar family ca. 1120: Bundar prince of the congregations b. yefet, his uncle Avraham prince of the congregations, his broth Yishaq the generous [of the congregations?] and his son Khalaf the precious of the congregations. This list is published in India Book IIb.

Letter in Arabic script, in a beautiful hand. Dating: 11th century, based on the reference to the Tustaris. The sender is a professional scribe, probably Jewish (refers to Yom Kippur in v2) and probably a high-placed Qaraite—if the addressee fulfills his request, he will praise him before “the judges, and our elders the government officials (kuttāb), and the Tustarīs” (v9). The addressee might not be Jewish, as a Jew would not have to be told that Yom Kippur is the 10th of Tishrei. The letter contains a detailed update on a court case or some conflict revolving around book copying and book dealing. Mentions an agreement with Abū Isḥāq; liberating some money or goods from "that which they have taken this time," especially two volumes from the owner (or author?) of Dār al-Gharb(?). But the sender has been unsuccessful. Mentions a book called Taṭrīz al-Khiṭāb wa-Sharḥ al-Ṭalab, and refers to a copy in the sender's own hand that occupies five volumes (wa-dhālika awwalan al-nusakh al-mansūkha khams ajzāʾ); the material is parchment, and the value is 15 dinars. Needs further examination. ASE

Letter of congratulations to the Hizqiyahu the Qaraite Nasi and his 3 sons on the birth of a boy from a certain Shemuel.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Qaraite. Groom: Ṣedaqa. Location: Fustat(?). Dating: 1020–30s(?). Witnesses: Avraham b. Khalaf ha-Kohen; Netanʾel b. Revaḥ/Rawḥ ha-Levi; Barakāt b. Mubārak; Hiba b. Yosef; Avraham b. Musallam (possibly the scribe of the document); Levi b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi. On verso there are writing exercises in Arabic script (the beginnings of drafts of letters).

Qaraite ketubba formulary (FGP)

Qaraite ketubba formulary (FGP)

Letter from Toviyya b. Moshe the Qaraite, to Avraham b. Sahl ha-Tustari, in Fustat. In Hebrew. Dating: ca. 1045 CE. The writer asks Avraham for a letter regarding his capitation tax, so that he will not be imprisoned on his way to his home land, like what already happened to him in Tinnīs. He does not ask for any financial help. Information from Gil.

Karaite liturgical (?) fragment, referring to עדת בני צדוק, ‘the community of the sadoqites'. (Information from GRU catalog via FGP)