Geniza Lab

Accounts in Ladino, probably.

Literary text. Looks like Latin written in Hebrew script.

Literary text in Coptic. Probably biblical, but identification is not straightforward. ⲙⲏⲏϣⲉ ⲧⲏⲣⲟⲩ '(the) whole crowd'; ⲙⲛ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ 'and/with God'; ⲁϥⲥⲁϫⲓ ⲛϭⲓ ⲇⲁⲩⲉⲓⲇ 'David said'; ⲛⲉⲕϣⲡⲏⲣⲉ 'thy wonders'; ⲙⲙⲟⲥ ϫⲉ '[said] to her that'; ⲛⲁⲗⲱⲟⲩⲉ 'grape-bunches'; ⲙⲙⲟⲥ. ϫⲉⲁϥⲉⲓ [?] ⲉⲓ͞ⲗⲏ͞ⲙ '[told] her that he had come [..] to Jerusalem'; [ⲁ]ⲗⲏⲩ ϩⲓϫⲛ ⲟⲩ[? 'having climbed onto a...'; ⲁⲩϫⲓ ⲛ-ⲛⲉⲛ-ⲃ 'they took our ⲃ...s.' Information kindly provided by Matthew Boutilier, Matthew Scarborough, and Doug Henning.

Business letter in Spanish. Mentions Samuel. Perhaps 16th or 17th century.

Letter of appeal for charity. Dating: Possibly 16th century.

Business letter from David b. Abi Zimra. In Hebrew. Dating: 16th century. Needs furthe rexamination.

Autograph letter by Isaac Luria, sent either from Egypt or Safed (probably the latter), concerning various matters, but principally the payment of monies. Dated only according to the day of the week, Tuesday (יום ג׳), and the parasha (Genesis 35:11) (Information from CUDL)

Recto: business letter from Abraham Monsun to David, in Egypt (16th–17th century). Verso: calculations, probably accounts. (Information from CUDL)

Mysterious fragment. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, perhaps 17th–19th century. Needs examination.

No image available. A letter to Menahem and Elazar Hakohen, 17th century. (FGP)

no image available. According to Mosseri Catalogue this MS contains 25 pages, in a late hand. Including formulas of legal deed according to the custom of Istanbul. AA

Letter, possibly. In Hebrew. Narrating a story.

Letter, possibly. Or literary work. In Judaeo-Arabic. There are interlinear corrections. Mentions Ismāʿīl and [...] b. She'elti'el. Also mentions al-Shām and Damascus and Yemen and heretical people (yastabshiʿū/lā yatbaʿū).

Ketubba fragment, with a lovely decoration in the header. The groom's father is named Shelomo. On verso there are magical remedies/incantations, including one against polyuria.

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Ben[yamin] to a dignitary called "Nagid," [...] b. Yefet. In Hebrew and Aramaic(!). Only the first few lines on recto and the address on verso are preserved. (Information in part from CUDL, where it is suggested that the addressee is Mevorakh b. Seʿadya and Yefet might be a brother.)

Bill of divorce. Probably a draft: although it is signed, there are interlinear corrections for the date and for the husband's name, and there is no statement attesting that it was delivered. The description here is for the original text prior to the corrections. Location: Damascus. Dated: Wednesday, 7 Tammuz 5409 AM, which is 1649 CE. Husband: Shelomo aka Sulaymān b. Yaʿaqov Ḥabīb. Wife: Raḥel bt. Avraham/Ibrāhīm. Witnesses: Moshe b. Yosef(?); Ḥayyim b. Eliyya.

Letter from Yehuda ha-Melammed b. al-ʿAmmānī to Abū l-Ṭāhir b. al-Qaṣṣāʿī, dated 1535 of the Seleucid era (= 1224 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Salmān al-Ḥarīrī, in Alexandria, to his mother and father, in Qayrawān. Dating: ca. 1050 CE. The address bears the name of the writer's father Salmān b. Ibrāhīm, whom Yaʿaqov addresses at the end of the letter, but he addresses his mother for the bulk of the letter. The writer expresses his disappointment in the Maghrebis in Egypt, who did not assist him as he expected when he was newly arrived in Fustat and very ill for one month. He recovered and is now healthier than ever. When he returned to Abū l-Faraj Ibn ʿAllān who had previously promised to employ him, he found that Abū l-Faraj had lost his mother and his sister, "and was too preoccupied for me" (ishtaghala ʿannī). Yaʿaqov set out on his own and started to trade flaxes. He is planning to travel to the north, perhaps to al-Lādhiqiyya (a plan he carried out: see CUL Or.1080 J17, which he wrote from Tripoli, and T-S 8J19.27, which he wrote from Ramla). But he will wait in Alexandria until he learns what his family thinks of this plan, and he will follow their counsel. The end of the letter has the curious line, "Abū Yaḥyā is well, in complete health, and aṣḥābunā are in complete health, no one died except Abū l-Khayr b. Barukh in Tinnīs" (verso, lines 22–23)—which, along with the illness of Yaʿaqov and the deaths in Abū l-Faraj's family, suggests that there was then an epidemic. Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #661. See also ENA 2738.34, a very similar letter which Yaʿaqov wrote at the same time and addressed to his sister. VMR. ASE.

Legal fragment. In Hebrew. The substance is obscure. Mentions Ḥalfon and the son of the sister of Yefet.

Two legal records in a court register. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Thursday, 14 Kislev 143[9] Seleucid, which is 1127/28 CE, under the reshut of [Maṣliaḥ] ha-Kohen Rosh Yeshivat [Gaon Yaʿaqov]. Both records are each signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya and Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo; one of them is also signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. One record contains an interesting testimony from Nissim b. Shemuel (ZL) who went out to the countryside as part of a group in order to supervise the production of water buffalo cheese. He gives a fairly detailed description of the cheese-making process (rennets and all). A Copt apprehended them and confiscated the shipment in the name of the state until the 'Rayyis' pulled some strings (faḍḍala ʿalaynā) and sent Abū l-Majd the brother of Abū Yūsuf(?) to liberate it. The purpose of the testimony may be to account for the number of moulds of cheese (650) and their whereabouts; it seems that 1 is in Bīr [...] and 8 are in Minya. Every mould has a seal on it. The second legal record does not appear to be related, but it still needs examination. The man giving the testimony about the cheese, Nissim b. Shemuel, also signed T-S 12.561 (dated 143[.] Seleucid) together with Ḥalfon b. Menashshe; at that time, his father was still alive. ASE