Geniza Lab

Accounts of a woman named Umm Abū l-Riḍā. For the month of Nisan "143." This probably means 4800 + 143 = 4943 AM, which is 1183 CE. (The other possibility is 5143 AM = 1383 CE.) Her associates include many Muslim and at least one Christian woman, who evidently work for a Jew: Sitt ʿIzz; Fakhriyya; Qaḍīb; the wife of al-Asʿad; ʿĀʾisha; Umm Jashm; Zaynab; Khātūn; Mīra; the Christian woman (al-Naṣrāniyya); Nasab; al-ʿAsāliyya(?); Fāṭima; Hinda. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards and CUDL.) ASE

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic (recto) and Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals (verso). Dating: Likely 13th century. On recto, mentions Abū Naṣr al-Ṣayrafī, [al-Shaykh] al-Rashīd Abū l-Ḥasan, and Yehuda al-Tājir. On verso, mentions Abū l-Bahāʾ, Abū Manṣūr, Bū ʿAlī, Ibrāhīm, Muḥammad, Sulaymān, Surūr, and Abū l-Riḍā. (Information in parrt from CUDL)

Long list of names, with various sums of money (dirhams), mentioning Abū l-Faraj, Khalaf, ʿImrān, Ibn ʿUmayr, Ibn Yaḥyā, Abū l-Munāwir, Ibn al-Lebdī, Abū l-Surūr, Ibn al-Qarawī, Abū l-Karam, Abū l-Ḥasan, Abū l-Munā the doctor and Ibn Yaḥyā. (Information from CUDL)

Record of the birth of a male child. Dated: 1476 Seleucid, which is 1165/66 CE. The boy is given the name Moshe; the names Abū Saʿd and Maḥfūẓ are also mentioned. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Accounts. (Information from CUDL)

Business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 11th century. Mentions pepper, coral, and garments. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Official letter from the office of one of the later Maimonidean Nagids, with a motto (ʿalāma) at the top. The cantor Faraj is instructed to look after the bearer, Yom Ṭov, who is blind and poor, by arranging a collection for him and his family in the synagogue. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Business letter or copy of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely ca. 14th century or later. Describing several business transactions and shipments. Mentions the month of Ramaḍān, Fusṭāṭ and Yaʿaqov ben Zamiro. Cut into a curious shape, like handcuffs or a figure 8. (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal formulary.

Accounts with names and numerals. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Listing Abū l-Faraj b. Ṣedaqa, Maʿālī Ibn al-Ḥallāl (300+ of silver and two dinars), Abū l-Ḥasan al-Aʿraj (23 dirhams), Khalaf Ibn al-Fuqqāʿī (5 1/2), and Naṣr Ibn al-Maghāzilī (2 dirhams). (Information in part from CUDL)

Verso: note from an invalid begging for oil for the sabbath to be sent with the carrier of the note. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Legal document. In the hand of Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi. Fragment (upper left corner). Location: Fustat. Dating: 1160–65 or 1160–69 CE, as it was drawn up under the authority of the Nagid Netanel b. Moshe ha-Levi. A man named [...] b. Elʿazar makes an acknowledgment in favor of Abū Naṣr al-ʿAṭṭār. No other details are preserved.

Letter. With a long Hebrew introduction (quoting Psalms 19:6 and 92:3) and the body mostly in Judaeo-Arabic. The body of the letter begins with congratulations for a happy event (a wedding?). The rest of the text is very faded. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Beginning of a letter from Bū l-Majd to al-Shaykh al-Makīn Bū l-Maḥāsin b. Bū l-Majd, in al-Maḥalla. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender is likely the cantor Bū l-Majd Meʾir b. Yakhin (early 13th century). He has sent a copy of "the maqāmāt." (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: State document. One line from a petition in Arabic script addressed to an amīr. (Information from CUDL)

Verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, mentioning names such as Abū Naṣr. (Information from CUDL)

Late business letter in Hebrew from Shemuel Bahlul in Manzala (near Damietta). Information from Avraham David's transcription and notes.

Recto: probably part of a letter. Verso: Arabic document. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Ladino. Long and well preserved. Needs examination.

Accounts, with names, such as Abū Saʿīd, [...] Muʿāfā and Abū Saʿd; Hebrew numerals. (Information from CUDL)