Geniza Lab

Legal fragment. Dating: 12th-13th century. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions many people: Abū l-Raḍiyy; Abū l-ʿAlā' Ṣāʿīd b. Najā al-Ne'eman (namely Ulla ha-Levi ha-Parnas b. Yosef); and Abū l-Surūr Faraḥ. The word "maẓālim" also appears.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Too damaged to extract much of the content.

Medical treatise in Judaeo-Arabic. Containing many prescriptions, including one "for the womb and hemorrhoids" and another attributed to the book of Isḥāq b. ʿImrān. There are also intriguing designs in red ink in the margins.

A leaf from a book of segulot in Ladino and Hebrew.

Medical recipes and remedies in Ladino. The first recipe on the recto is for "tremor of the hands/ el temlor delas manos" (l. 1r) and the final section of the page is dedicated to an issue related to the mouth aches of infants "para una kiriyatura qe___[?] mal de boka" (l.18-19r). This latter phrase could be a reference to the pain associated with teething. One ingredient in use for the tremor of the hands is "olive oil/אזייטי די אוליבה" (l. 5r) and usage of a "magnet / קאלאמיטה" is also mentioned (l.2r). For the mouth aches of infants, the recipe mentions "leche/ ליג׳י". Among the other ingredients listed for the recipes on the recto are "white pepper/pimyenta bilanca" (l.9-10r) and "cinnamon/kanela" (l.10r). On the verso, olive oil is mentioned again as recipe ingredient (l.3v). MCD. For a full transcription of this fragment see Idan Perez's in FGP.

Section four, chapter nine from Ḥovot HaLevavot (“Duties of the Heart”). Written in calligraphic script and arranged emphasizing the rhymed phrose. This together with the small format (for putting into one’s sleeve) in order to facilitate memorization. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

List. Fragment (in the same script and arrangement as T-S 24.76, T-S 20.112), containing the names of 51 households, at least 15 of which are identical with T-S 24.76. Legible items: 17 receive 10 (dirham=dirhams), total 85; 17 receive 10 (dirh), total 170; 9 receive 15 (dirh), total 135; 4 receive 20 (dirh), total 80; 1 receive 25 (dirh), total 25, 1 receive 30 (dirh), total 30; a total of 49 receive a total of 525 dirh. The basic unit allotted to one person clearly was 5 dirhams, as evident from such items as 'the man from Malij and his mother-10,' 'the daughter of Nissim and his mother-10,' 'the two women from Ramla-10' (see T-S K15.97; T-S J1.34). In several lists the number 1 or 2 is written after the amounts of 10, 15, 20. The number could hardly mean a simple additional payment (since then the writer would have changed the number 15 to 16 or 17, respectively); it must have had some other meaning. Had the sheet been preserved to the length of the contemporary T-S 24.76 (also only a fragment) and the sums distributed on the lost part of approximately the same size, the communal expenditure on this charity (presumably doles for a holiday) would have approximated 1,500 dirhams. Even assuming the lowest value of the dirham at this period (Mediterranean Society, I, p. 371, sec. 8) this sum would correspond to about 37 dinars, twice as much as the distribution of bread in T-S Misc.8.25 during one month. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 439, App. B 2b, dated 1020-1040)

Letter fragment in Arabic script. Mentions "his pure intention with me, in the document/petition" (من نيته الخالصة لي في الرقعة) and then "... the document/petition to your noble presence..." (الرقعة الى جلال حضرته) and then "if God makes our meeting successful..." (وان وفق الله اجتماعنا). Reused on recto for literary/liturgical text in Hebrew. Needs further examination.

Love spell in Judaeo-Arabic. For Esther bt. Nazlī to fall in love with Ḥayyim b. Barda. The hand looks late and possibly Iraqi—but that is speculative.

Recto: Letter of appeal for charity. In Hebrew. Dating: late, probably 18th or 19th century. Addressed to the judge Moshe Anhori (or Ankori?) and a person whose name is too faded to read and ʿEzra. The writer explains that he has no work except for the Torah, and he would be eager to read the Torah or teach children or serve as shammash in the addressees' yeshiva. R. Moshe ha-Kohen will vouch for the writer. On verso there are pen trials.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Possibly recorded by a bookseller and, based on one type of coinage in use, the yüzlük ("יוזליס" l.3r), the document dates probably to the late-18th or 19th century (the Ottoman yüzlük was not minted until 1789CE). This dating is feasible as well because on the verso there is a letter cluster that may be alphanumerical indicating the year [5]558AM or roughly 1797-1798CE (l.14v). The heading on the recto relies on the term "teslim/תסלים" or "payment" in a manner that resonates with the general language of Ottoman-era monetary transactions (l.1-2). There are many other Ottoman imperial and international coinage types listed on the recto such as "funduqli" (l.11-12) and "riyalat taqa franji" (l.14), the latter may indicate Austrian thalers or Spanish reales (Raymond, Artisans et Commerçants au Caire au XVIIIe Siècle, 23). The verso offers another heading depicting a transaciton, but many names are listed throughout the remainder of the folio. Some names may be authors of printed books and/or bound manuscripts, among them: Moshe Altaras (l.6-7v) and Reʾuven b. David Bavli (l.21v). MCD.

Accounts in Ladino and Hebrew. Western Arabic numerals are in use with one entry on the recto dated 26 Sivan [5]632 or July 2 1872CE. This dated entry also mentions S[eñor] Yiṣḥaq Menashshe and lists a variety of coinage types such as "old one ducats / דוקאדו ישן אונו" and "new ducats / דוקאדוס מואיבוס". Given the dating of the fragment, the latter coinage designation is likely not a reference to Venetian gold ducats, however, the "old one ducats" may refer to pre-1797 currency from Venice. Another coinage label takes form in "Mahmudi / מאחמודי" which is reference to money minted under the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II. The list format continues on the fragment's verso with a wide variety of goods referenced, such as "black and white silk string / קורדילה די סידה לבן ושחור" which appears ten lines up from the bottom of the right column. MCD.

Accounts in Ladino and Hebrew that can be dated through a join's (ENA 2715.19) entry dated 26 Sivan [5]632 or July 2 1872CE. MCD.

Accounts in Ladino and Hebrew that can be dated through a join's (ENA 2715.19) entry dated 26 Sivan [5]632 or July 2 1872CE. The term "lustro / varnish" is repeated among a list of many other goods whose quantities and/or prices are being added together. MCD.

Bill of sale (FGP). Dated: Adar I 1445 Seleucid, which is 1134 CE.

Responsum or commentary on Shemot Rabba 31. Join with ENA 1069.45

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Commercial.

Letterbook in Judaeo-Arabic (fragment) likely eighteenth- or nineteenth-century that contains drafts and possibly copies of business-related correspondence. The letters frequently use the phrase "יא אכי/ O my brother" which implies the possibility that this was business correspondence between brothers (l. 1v, 6v, 14v, 7-8r, 12r). On the recto, the same letter is practiced five times and discusses maritime trade in Beiruti silk where the coinage is silver reales. The spelling shifts between the instances of "אל רייס מחמד" and "אל ריס מחמד" (l. 5-6r, 11r, etc.) yet it seems possible that this could be referencing "the captain Muḥammed" of the maritime vessel "מרכב" mentioned in each draft (l. 2r, 8r, etc.). In the closing of each draft the phrase "נרסלהם לכם צוחבתו ושלום" appears which is drawing on the Ottoman Turkish "ṣohbet" or "friendly conversation" (l. 6r, 11r, etc.). On the verso, there is more evidence of drafting with the repeated phrase "בית אל קונסול וטאלבהם" (l. 3v, 8v, etc.) but the epistolary passages vary in length and content ("בית אל קונסול" is likely a reference to European consuls in the Ottoman empire). Date: 18th c or 19th c. MCD.

Letterbook in Judaeo-Arabic (fragment) likely eighteenth- or ninteenth-century that contains drafts and possibly copies of business-related correspondence. The letters frequently use the phrase "יא אכי/ O my brother" which implies the that this was business correspondence between brothers (l. 2r, 17r, 19r). In the first section, lines 9-10r echo the structure of the drafts in the join ENA 2716.10r and also the third section of the same page (l.26-31r) in ENA 2716.11. The latter section is repeated five times on the join ENA 2716.10r. Section two of ENA 2716.11 lists the coinage type "ריאל פראנסא" suggesting a silver coin of French origin (l.21r) and the unit of weight "אוקה" is in also use (l.24). On the verso a wide variety of quantities in various Ottoman coinage denominations are listed often with respective numerical quantities, for example: gold "maḥbūb Istanbuli" (l.11v) and silver kuruş (l.13). There is also reference to the "friendly conversation/ṣohbet" that will accompany the arrival of the letter carrier, Aḥmed al-Sharqawi "אחמד אל שרקווי" (l.17-18, 20-21). Date: 18th c or 19th c. MCD.

Judaeo-Arabic poetry (zajal), with the refrain "Qūmū qiyāma..." Crude hand and spellings.