Geniza Lab

A couple words in Latin script, probably. "Al S[...]."

Garshuni text. Only 2.5 lines are preserved. It is difficult to make out more than "...idhā... al-wuḥūsh taftaris..." Cf. Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Syriac writing exercises. On a bifolium. Written by a pupil. Mainly consists of alphabet practice, along with religious or liturgical phrases, an incomplete Lord's Prayer in the Peshitta version, a phrase in Garshuni (al-qiddīsīn al-mumajjadīn), etc.

Document in Ottoman Turkish in divani script. Four complete lines are preserved, with wide space between the lines. In line three there is mention of a legal deed issued by a qadi court (حجت شرعية). Information provided by MCD. Needs further examination.

Accounts in Ladino, Hebrew, and western Arabic numerals. Most of the entries begin with a number in the righthand column, followed by "le devo a X," giving the name of the person to whom money is owed. Some of the entries begin with a date (e.g., היום 29 שבט). Mentions Mikhaʾel ha-Kohen (l. 9) and the Neapolitan consul (l. 11) and Yaʿaqov b. Shem Ṭov Cuerca(?) (l. 16). CUL Or.1081 2.75.9–11 may be pieces of the same document.

Fragment of an account in western Arabic numerals; no words. May be part of CUL Or.1081 2.75.8.

Tables for divination, late, entitled Urim ve-Tumim, each headed with a different question (e.g. "boy or girl?" "is this man trustworthy or not?").

Letter from David Maimonides, in ʿAydhāb, to his brother Moses Maimonides, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1170 CE. This is the last letter David wrote before he died at sea en route to India. Maimonides had ordered him to travel as far as ʿAydhāb, the Sudanese port, and not to embark on the pasage to India. But David, who had just successfully completed a daring feat, namely, crossing the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea after being separated from his caravan, accompanied only by a fellow Jew, and who did not find in ʿAydhāb goods worthwhile buying, was bent on traveling to India in order to make his voyage profitable. Information from Goitein.

Letter from Ibrāhīm, in Sunbāṭ, addressed to a Nagid. In Judaeo-Arabic. Requesting assistance for his family in time of need. His family members are all sick, and he has no money even for a medicinal syrup.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The name Yosef b. Seʿadya appears on the other side (technically recto); perhaps this is the name of the sender. The sender is in terrible straits and urges the addressee to meet with him and help him. He reminds the addressee that "when [he] was healthy," he used to do whatever the addressee asked of him no matter how unpleasant. ASE

Accounts in Arabic script. The name Bū Ṭāhir b. Barakāt appears at the top.

Two orders of payment in Arabic script, and perhaps a remnant of a third. The first one: yadfaʿ al-shaykh al-ajall li-muwaṣṣilihā dīnārayn wa-nuṣr wa-thumn.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to 'rabbenu.' The sender seems to be without anywhere to spend the night and is asking for help. Mentions Abū l-Ṭāhir.

Letter sent from al-Mahalla by a man who is sought by the controller of revenue, asking a friend to obtain for him a letter from Shams al-Din (the director of revenue in the capital), saying that he is registered as absent. "Do not ask about my state of illness, weakness, want, and terrible fear of the supervisor's warrant." (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 382)

Letter from a man, in Minyat Zifta, to his paternal uncle, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender has sent 40 dirhams in cash (wariq) and he wants to know if it has arrived. The addressee is to purchase a quarter(?) of Alexandrian sūsiyya (apparently a textile originally manufactured in Sūsa) and send it, because it will be worth 50 dirhams in Minyat Zifta. Regards to the addressee's wife; Abū l-Surūr al-Kohen and his wife; and Mukhalliṣ and his wife. The addressee is also supposed to send a jubba that is muthallath ('triple-thread') and muḥtashim (modest?), for the addressee's brother asked for it. The sender hopes to visit Fustat, God willing. ASE

Letter in eloquent Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Requesting a Nagid to intervene with the government officers (ʿummāl) in Shaṭnūf during his forthcoming visit to the place. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from Moshe b. Yequtiʾel, Jerusalem, to someone from his circle in Fustat, approximately 1040.

Part of letter from Natan Ha-Kohen b. Mevorakh, Ashkelon, probably to Eli Ha-Kohen b. Hayyim, Fustat.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic to "my brother." The writer mainly communicates that he arrived at his destination safely, and that he rejoiced to learn of the safe delivery (childbirth) of Muʿazzazah and the wife of Hilāl. The addressee's cousin, Umm Maʿā[nī?] sends her regards.

Mercantile letter sent possibly from Aden to India. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower part of recto). The sender received a basket (zanbīl) of pepper which he did not want. He wanted betel nut (fawfal) or cardamom instead. He humorously complains that the pepper won't fetch any money for him to be able to eat or drink. He also did not want the 15 עיטוריה(?) dinars that the addressee sent with Mūsā b. Yūsuf. He wishes that the addressee had used the money to buy him betel nut or cardamom. In a postscript on verso he adds, "whatever you buy for me, please do not put it under my name but rather under your name." (Information in part from Goitein’s attached notes.)