Geniza Lab

Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic letter, quite damaged.

Images 1 and 4: Parshat Naso. Image 2: Small fragment of a letter in Arabic script. Image 3: Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic business letter mentioning flax, turbans, two dinars, other garments, and something the writer has in the house of Rabbi Binyamin.

The beginning of a Judaeo-Arabic letter to an important woman addressed in hyperbolic terms: she who confounds minds and blinds gazes, al-mutafaḍḍila, al-ʿazīza, al-rashīda, al-mufīda, al-sadīda, Sitt al-Umanāʾ Umm al-Kull (?) wa-l-Ḥusnā' . . . There are also jottings in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic on recto and verso.

Fragment (left side of recto, left side of verso) of a letter in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. Not enough remains to make sense of it, but there are interesting phrases: "I had pity on the two of them. . . the two of them were fit for it and they pawned/deposited. . . because her poverty. . . I traveled. . . the witnesses, the Jewish neighbors. . . inform them about the sale. . . my dhimma (?) and the rahniyya (?) of the house. . . the qumāsh that is in their keeping. . . [something] for 9 dinars. . . four dinars. . . what is fitting for my cousin [=my wife]. . . the price of the house of Mūsā. . ." ASE.

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, mostly asking for news and wishing the recipient well.

Very faded bifolium in Hebrew script, probably literary.

Late account in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic.

Late list of foodstuffs and amounts in Judaeo-Arabic, it seems with some Hebrew too. Items named include oil, honey, taḥina (? spelled with a tav), garlic, coriander, pepper, saffron, differnt kinds of sugar, sesame ("shumshum"), anise, cinnamon, and clove.

Image 4: Probably an account, using Arabic script for people's names and Hebrew script for the numbers. Image 5: A few words in Arabic including "Allah."

Late account of sorts, using western Arabic numerals: "What was collected from the mother: first, ashrafiyya coins: 3; second. . . . "

Late account for a certain Tuesday, listing names and numbers. Names include "the slave; Abū [...]; Barakāt; his father; [...]; Abū Bakr; Anwār."

Late fragment with scattered recipes in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, mostly medical, but one is also titled "for banishing mice."

Fragment of a letter in Hebrew apparently addressed to the brother-in-law of the writer. The addressee is asked to purchase a servant girl for the writer's sister, and reminded to safeguard a certain document, possibly connected with the writer's business partner, Shemuel (?). Verso is blank. No date.

Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic literary work.

Recto: Draft of a formal letter in Judaeo-Arabic to a superior by ha-Qaṭan Shemuel. After a long string of honorifics, "sabab iṣdār hadhihi l-khidma. . . ." Verso: Judaeo-Arabic literary work.

Fragment of a legal testimony involving [...] Peraḥya b. Kathīr al-Ḥalabī. Someone's father, Yaʿqūb, is mentioned, as is Abū l-Surūr.

Damaged fragment in Hebrew in a late hand, probably literary.

Late account in Judaeo-Arabic, dated 17 July 1724 (25 Shawwal 1136).

Late account in Judaeo-Arabic.

Fragment of a very faded family letter in Judaeo-Arabic.