Geniza Lab

Legal document. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions the courts of Cairo and Fustat; the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya; David al-Ṣabbāgh al-Rūmī b. Avraham; Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi; Abū l-Munā b. Abū l-Faraj; Abū Isḥāq.

Letter from Yeshuʿa al-Ḥāmī to Namir ויריוטי (?). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, perhaps 15th or 16th century. Deals with business matters. Mentions the currency "corona of gold."

Mysterious document. Late. In Judaeo-Arabic. There are two lines of Judaeo-Arabic poetry about "ahl al-hawā." There follows the Hebrew alphabet. There follow three lists of different types of textile (kamkhā, misḥ, and mukhmal) in different colors.

Letter from Daniel Cafsuto (aka Cassuto) and Shemuel Cafsuto (aka Cassuto) to a certain Saʿīd (or the son of Saʿīd), possibly Saʿīd Bardaʿ, in Fustat/Cairo. Daniel’s letter is in Ladino; Shemuel (Daniel’s brother or son?) used the space on the lower left for his own addendum in Hebrew. Dated: 15 Av 5473 AM, which is 1713 CE. The senders are relatively well-known: see BL OR 5544.13 and see Adonella Cedarmas, Per la cruna del mondo: Carlo Camucio e Moisé Vita Cafsuto, due pellegrini nella Terra Santa del Settecento, p. 294 (and references there). They may be writing from Safed (line 11), but this is not certain. Daniel offers congratulations on the birth of a son to a certain Moshe. He asks the addressee to be diligent in the matter of the 50 gurush. The addressee is to send the money to Damietta c/o Yosef Mugnani. The city of Damsīs is also mentioned. Other people involved are Yosef Pereṣ, Shelomo ʿAfīfī, Khalīfa, and a certain Felipe. Shemuel’s shorter letter opens with greetings to his dear sister (perhaps the addressee’s wife?), a rebuke for failing to write any letters ever since he had traveled and especially for failing to send any of the money owed (currency: reales). ASE

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer reports that he met with the judge regarding a certain purchase. Also mentions a thawb and gold.

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Large.

Unidentified state document in Arabic script. There is some fiscal accounting (mentioning wheat & barley) and a discrete block of text, 11 lines, perhaps a report submitted that relates to the accounting. Reused for Hebrew literary text. Needs examination.

State document or petition in a chancery hand and large Arabic script. Words that are readily legible include al-Qāhira, al-Ḥāfiẓiyya, al-majlis al-sāmī al-mālikī al-sayyidī al-ajallī al-Afḍalī, al-marsūm. Reused for jottings in Hebrew and Arabic script. On verso there are piyyutim. Needs examination.

Letter in Arabic script. Fragment (right side only). Asking the addressee for a favor concerning Abū l-Fakhr. The blank verso was reused for a list of piyyuṭim; verso (but not recto) is a join for T-S 16.103 (join: Alan Elbaum). Needs further examination.

Sums on lined paper and in purple ink. Dating: Probably 19th century.

Popular literature (nawādir) in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 19th century.

State document(s). In Arabic script. On the left, there is the remnant of a petition. The beginnings of the last 7 lines are preserved. On the right, possibly its rescript? Mentions Saʿd al-Mulk in l. 3. This fragment may have been turned into a book binding, based on the mottled splotches and brushstrokes on it. Needs further examination.

Two lines from an official letter, maybe a petition. In Arabic script. Wide space between the lines. Mentions al-aʿmāl al-gharbiyya (the districts of al-Gharbiyya) and likely flattery and blessings for the addressee. Reused on both sides for Hebrew text (in multiple hands).

Declaration of receipt of money. In Arabic script. Location: the Fayyūm. Dated: Monday, 4 Shaʿbān 438 AH, which is 3 February 1047 CE. Ghālib b. Ḥabāsa, son of the amīr Murād al-Dawla, acknowledges the receipt of the remainder (12 dinars) of the first installment of a due payment from Abū Ghālib ʿAbdallāh b. Manṣūr, the cashier in the land-tax office (al-jahbadh bi-dīwān al-kharāj). Recto and verso were reused for Hebrew poetry. (Information from Khan and CUDL.)

Probably a document, but could be a religious text such as a prayer. In Arabic script, in a very large (chancery?) hand. Full of fancy words and phrases like "al-kamāl al-mutaʾalliqa al-anwār." Someone cut it into horizontal strips and jumbled it and glued the strips on top of each other, some at 180 degrees to their original orientation. Reused on verso for Hebrew piyyuṭ.

Testimony concerning the death of a man and his son. In Arabic script. Dated: 5 Shawwāl 427 AH, which is 1 August 1036 CE. The witnesses attest that Ṣadaqa b. ʿAllūn Ibn al-Dabbāb has died in Maʿarrat al-Nuʿmān after the death of his son Bū Faraj in the town of al-Lādhiqiyya (Latakia) and that his sole heir is his daughter Yamānī, the wife of Mawhūb b. Bashshār. Witnesses: Salāma b. Isḥāq; ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn; Yūsuf b. Menashshe; Barakāt b. Menaḥem b. Mubārak. Three of the signatures have צח ("valid") in Hebrew script above them. As the witnesses are Jews, this would not have been regarded as a valid legal instrument in a Muslim court. (Information from Khan.)

Petition opening to a vizier of al-Ḥāfiẓ. Dating: 531–33 AH, which is 1137–39 CE. On verso there is a Hebrew liturgical text. (Information from Khan.)

Document in Arabic script. Unusual format, with text mostly in one column on the right side of the page. Moderately wide spice between the lines. Difficult hand. The word khizāna = treasure or storehouse may be mentioned. Reused for piyyuṭ on verso. Needs examination.

State document, probably a report or decree. Portions of three lines are preserved, wide space between the lines. Mentions a sum of 100 dinars in the first line and the number 50 in the next.

Witness statement(s) in Arabic script, originally at the bottom of a deed of acknowledgment made by a woman. Dated: Shawwāl 427 AH = July/August 1036 CE. Reused on verso for Hebrew piyyuṭ.