Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to a 'brother.' There are 4 lines of standard introductory material, then 3 lines of the sender's annoyance that the addressee hasn't been responding to his letters (innanī ʿatbān ʿalayk). Mentions "this difficult time." This is reminiscent of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu's letters; needs further examination for identification. but Verso is covered with jottings in Hebrew and Arabic script.

Letter from Daniel. b. ʿAzarya. Dating: ca. 1050 CE. 5 lines, wide space between the lines.

Business letter in Arabic script from Faraḥ b. Ismāʿīl in Alexandria to Menashshe b. David, Fustat, October 22, 1050. Farah is worried because of the absence in letters from his father. He writes to his father’s neighbor and business partner - Menashshe. Farah mentions details about sending dinars to Fustat for exchange, as well as information about the ships movement and shipments of goods. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #500) VMR

Legal document. Both sides—one in Arabic script, one in Judaeo-Arabic—are first-person declarations about the details of some financial case involving al-Shaykh al-ʿAfīf. The Arabic side includes the phrase "annanī mā aʿūd uṭālibuhu" (I will not sue him any more).

Letter in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The writer is quite erudite. ('as one of the poets said....'; also correctly truncates verbs that follow 'lam,' which is unusual in documentary sources). There is a long, deferential, rhymed introduction. Cites an Arabic poem (transcribed into Hebrew script) and then a "similar" poem "which I wrote in Hebrew," then gives the Hebrew poem.

Fragment of a letter from Yosef b. Berekhya from Qayrawan (Ifrīqiya) to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #147) VMR

Part of a letter (bottom of recto, top of verso) likely by the cantor Abu Sahl Levi. The remaining contents have to do with an apartment, money, and unseemly behavior. ASE.

Arabic: commercial letter referring to various commodities, including oil and soap, and their prices (recto)- - needs examination. On verso Judaeo-Arabic list of contributors (verso)

On recto Arabic: letter concerning a delivery of stones and wood, and wages to be paid to manufacturers - needs examination.

List of commodities and prices headed ' [Bara]kat b. Sayyid al-Ahl.

List of commodities (possibly spices and oil) (FGP)

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Perhaps 12th century, based on the hand. Mentions congratulating somebody upon his mother's marriage and mentions a ṣāḥib shurṭā. It will be difficult to figure out more of the context without a join.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Late. Mentions names such as Shemuel Khamīs, Ḥajjāj Tūnisī, Masʿūd, and Raḥamim.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Sephardi hand. Dating: The date appears once on recto and again on verso. Possibly Wednesday, 6 Kislev 5275 or 5475 AM, but this needs to be checked. Mentions names such as Sulaymān, Raḥamim, Yona, Yaʿaqov, and a gabbay named Reuven.

Legal document (or prescriptive text?) in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. "And one should drink from the bowl... and a ketubba does not need to be written..."

Bifolium. One page may be a literary text (refers to the bewilderment of intellects) or a copy of a letter. On verso, at ninety degrees, there are business accounts, mentioning somebody known as Ibn al-Sūsī and various sums of money received. The entire fragment is very faded.

Letter from Isḥāq b. Mubārak to (his brother?) Abū Naṣr [...] b. al-Mubārak al-jahbadh, in al-Maḥalla. A basmala and the opening four lines are preserved on recto; the address is preserved on verso. The sender swears by God and the Torah that the addressee should not refrain from burdening him with any errands. The sender also says he plans to send some items to someone. On verso there is a Hebrew prayer.

Possibly a letter or a literary text. Late. At least partially in Hebrew. Very faded/damaged.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Parts of ~20 lines are preserved. Mentions al-Maḥalla at least twice; someone who died; a stay in Alexandria; a request for help; and "let him not gloat over us more than [he already does]."

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.