Geniza Lab

Court deposition testifying that Naḥum b. Yeshuaʿ Ibn al-Shāmiyya showed a caliphal rescript (ruqʿa mutarjama ... wa-fihā tawqīʿ) to Yehuda b. Yosef al-Rumi to the effect that the followers of Yosef have permission to hold their prayers wherever they wish. Other names mentioned in the document: (part of name preserved) b. Mevorakh; and signatories Wahb b. Mevorakh, Ezra b. Menahem; Shemarya ha-Levi b. Aharon. Dated Av 1052. (Marina Rustow)

Rescript of the judges of the court appointed by the Nagid Mevorakh to the community of al-Mahalla, advising the community in strongest terms to take back their judge who had left. Dated ca. 1105. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 193, 561; V, 49, 519, 542 and from Cohen)

Petition. In Arabic script. Dating: Perhaps Mamluk-era based on handwriting and format, but that is a guess. The addressee is Shams al-Dīn [...] b. Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Nāṣir al-Dīn [...]. The petitioner is a physician or surgeon, expert in blood-letting, enema-giving, fresh wounds (al-jurḥ al-ṭarīʾ), and yellow-bilious boils (al-damāmil al-ṣafrāʾ). He is asking for a license to practice his trade. He concludes, "Let the [response] be recorded in the noble registers (al-ṣaḥāʾif al-karīma)." There is a rescript in the right margin: "I have granted his request" (adhantu lahū fī dhālika). (Information in part from Baker/Polliack catalogue.) ASE

Bottom of a petition. In Arabic script. Dating: Perhaps Ayyubid-era, based on the titles. The addressee (the caliph or vizier?) is asked to issue (or have issued) "the noble rescript" (al-tawqīʿ al-karīm) to al-Qāḍī al-Muwaffaq al-Sadīd Sayf al-Dīn(?). Might mention "the doctors" (الطب). Reused for Hebrew jottings. Needs further examination.