Geniza Lab

End of a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from ʿOvadya to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal, asking for quick payment. (Information from CUDL)

Letter (Information from CUDL)

Late document regarding a house and piece of land. Names: Yosef Mushodo b. Ya'aqov, Yosef Sulti, Mas'ud. Signes by Moshe Ajiman. AA

Trousseau list. In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel. Dating: ca. 1140 CE. Includes a silver drinking vessel (qiḥf), a vessel with a lid (marfaʿ), and a mirror with a silver decoration (mirʾā bi-ḥilyat fiḍḍa). (Information from Goitein's index card and CUDL.)

Letter addressed to Abū l-Murajjā Sālim. Fragment (upper right corner of recto). Discussing in vague terms a situation in which the addressee needs to act beneficently: "...all doubt has now passed, and everything has become as clear as could be desired. Do not spare any effort in help and collaboration with all the other affairs of the ḥaver..." (Information in part from CUDL)

Possibly a letter or a sermon. (Information from CUDL)

Minute fragment from a beginning of a document from Cairo. AA

Verso: Fragment from the beginning of a letter/petition addressed to the Nagid. Dating: Likely 13th or 14th century. None of the substance is preserved. Reused on recto for popular literature in rhymed Judaeo-Arabic (-nī), mentioning purchasing a scrap, a shirt, possibly an undergarment (taḥtānī), being safe from the heat (min al-ḥarr fī l-amānī), being happy (wa-anā masrūr wa-farḥānī), sending something with Manṣūr al-Hānī, etc.

Probably a prayer. Spanish hand? The first four lines are in Hebrew, and the next three lines are in Judaeo-Arabic, including the word mutafaḍḍilan, which would be typical of a letter. AA. ASE.

Mercantile accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. The scribe often mixes up emphatic and non-emphatic consonants and omits the lamed of the definite article before sun letters. Dating: probably 11th or 12th century. The hand is likely known. Mentions Barsime(o) Robaldo al-Janawī (=the Genoese). Sal ammoniac (nushādir) is mentioned a few times.

Letter from Khaṣīb b. Musāfir to Abū Isḥāq [...] Ḥemdat ha-Yeshiva, the son of somebody who had the title Sheviʿi. Of the letter itself, only the ending is preserved (the upper margin of recto). The addressee is asked to open and shake out some goods. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter fragment, mercantile (lower right of recto, upper right of verso; about 50% of the document is here). Several names are mentioned including an Abu l-Fadl. The handwriting is probably known (some of the writer's alephs, for instance, look exactly like large hamzehs). Someone is asked to purchase 12 ratls (6 manns) of lapis lazuli (āzuward). ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Sender and addressee are unidentified. Full of expressions of deference. The sender was distressed at 'the calamity' (al-nūba) that befell the addressee 'and joins in the preoccupation of his heart' (musāhim fī shughl qalbih). Regards from Abū Isḥāq al-Ṣayrafī and Abū l-Ḥasan al-Khāzin. The addressee should pass on greetings to Abū ʿImrān al-Kohen and tell him that his son is well and that "all the friends" were pained to hear about his illness. Mentions Abū Saʿd b. Pinḥas. Someone should try to rein in Abū l-Khayr, who 'went out' somewhere and is now unemployed and 'playing' all day long. The addressee should find a trustworthy man (rajul maʾmūn) to assist. Then: "Yours is the noble opinion (wa-lak ʿuluww al-raʾy). [Please kiss for] me the hand of my master the father." (Information in part from CUDL.) Join: Alan Elbaum.

Memorial list for Nethanel ha-dayyan listing five generations. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter fragment (left half of recto) of appeal to "אלחבר המועלה." The writer appears to be requesting money as soon as possible and may have already asked for money from the cantor. ASE.

Faded and damaged. Almost nothing is readable,. It seems to be a document related to marriage, but too little remains. AA

Letter fragment (part of the right side of recto). The scribe has a distinctive notched ב. In the margin he mentions his many worries and sends regards to Baqā'. ASE.

Accounts. (Information from CUDL)