Geniza Lab

Recto: calligraphic text in Hebrew, with blessings to a group of people. Letter? Verso: short note in Arabic. Accounts? The word "dinar" and the number "four" appear several times.

Letter in Ladino from Reʾuven Miris or Mires and addressed to Avraham Krispin (Crespin) who on the address section is listed as being in "Mitzraim" (Cairo). In the heading this letter is dated 1787 CE (Iyyar [5]547). A wide array of numerical figures are expressed in silver medin coinage, which appears here though the abbreviation " מאיי ". The author also mentions having received a letter from Shmuel Hanan ("חנן" l. 14r) via Izmir. The Mediterranean sea itself is also mentioned in the phrase "אי סוברי לה מאר" (l. 12r). The verso appears to have been reused for numerical calculations. MCD.

Recto: Bottom half of a legal document in Arabic, probably late. Verso: Two columns of Arabic text with signatures underneath, probably legal documents as well. Needs further examination.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (lower right corner). Location: New Cairo. No details of the case preserved; might have to do with a house or construction ("...idhā ʿumirat...")? The phrase "mā yujtabā" is also preserved, but unclear what this means.

Biblical verses. Conceivably from the opening of a letter.

Court record about a debt. April 12, 1076. A person from the Ibn Awkal, declares that he owes 14 dinars to Yefet ha-Kohen b. Yeshua b. Kasasa, and commit to pay his debt one dinar a month. It seems like he commits not to use a different deed that was approved in a Muslim court. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #844) VMR

Trousseau list for the marriage of Sitt al-ʿIzz and Yeter ha-Levi. On parchment. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan b. Shemuel. The value of the trousseau amounts to 530 dinars, plus 50 for the delayed marriage payment (meʾuḥar). Verso contains undeciphered Arabic script. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Legal document. Written and signed by Hillel b. ʿEli Location: Fustat. Dated: Tammuz 1395 Seleucid, which is 1084 CE. Declaration by Abū Naṣr Avraham b. Yeshaʿya b. David b. Yeshaʿya that he has no claims against his father-in-law the pharmacist (ṣaydalānī) Abū l-ʿAlā Elʿazar b. Yosef nor against the latter's wife Ḥasana after having received from them seventy and odd dinars, out of the estate of his wife Dalāl bt. Elʿazar. Also signed by Shelomo b. Yosef ha-Kohen. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Written in a rudimentary hand (Goitein calls it a "most miserable script"). Location: New Cairo. Dated: Av 1[3]82 Seleucid, which is 1071 CE. Groom: Yaʿaqov b. Yeshuʿa. Bride: Dawra (? דורה) bt. Yiṣḥaq. Marriage payments: 1 + 2 = 3. No dowry. The payment 12.5 is also mentioned, indicating that this is not her first marriage. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Recto: fragment of a recommendation letter from Daniel b. Azarya to Eli ha-Ḥaver b. Amram, Fustat. The name of the person who is recommended is unknown but it seems he belonged to one of the Israeli Gaon families. (Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, 688-689, Doc. #372) . VMR

Amulet for Abū Saʿd b. Baldīn (?) to annul the evil wishes of his enemies and make everyone love him. In Hebrew, Aramaic, and nomina barbara.

Letter from Ṭayyib Ibn al-Majjānī to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEzra b. Ismāʿīl (or ʿAwda b. Ismāʿīl according to Sabih Aodeh), in Fustat. In Arabic script. Same cluster: CUL Or.1080 5.5, T-S NS 327.11, and T-S Ar.38.91 (the latter two were published by Aodeh, who did not know about CUL Or.1080 5.5.) On verso there is also literary text in Hebrew. Needs further examination.

Letter in Hebrew (peppered with Arabic, Turkish, and Italian), addressed to two unnamed merchants (one the uncle of the writer), written almost certainly in Alexandria in the mid-16th-century. The writer reports on the violent reception of European ships in the port of Alexandria, acts taken in retaliation for the commandeering of an Egyptian merchant ship in Messina (Sicily). "This very morning the Cavus Bashi arrived and boarded the Venetian galleon that arrived from Crete ("Candia"). He took the sailors prisoner with their captain, and is now bringing them to Fustat/Cairo with 30 janissaries from the tower [their barracks in Alexandria?]. If Andrea di Orio had come with his ships, or Cicala the privateer (ha-sholel) with his ship, they would not have treated them thus." The Alexandrian authorities apparently cut the anchors of multiple other European ships and damaged the docks (? האסקאלה = escala, from Italian), causing frenzy and terror among the capains (patrones) to be separated from their ships which are now loose at sea. The writer insists that a Venetian ship coming from Crete and carrying the flag ("banderia") of San Marcos (called עון מארקו = Sin Marcos, to avoid using the word San) does not engage in acts of piracy and should not be treated thus. The reason is that ʿAlī Numayr al-Rashīdī arrived last week with a letter for the governor (sanjak), informing him that his ship had been commandeered in Messina, even after he had received a promise of safe passage (al-amān). The writer strongly suggests that the recipients approach the consul, who should write immediately to Messina and command ʿAli Numayr's ship to be restored, otherwise the Basha will know how to treat these Venetian prisoners, and the situation will be terrible for all further ships arriving from Messina. There are two or three Florentine captains who are now desperate to get out of Alexandria since their business is in Messina. However, the recipients should not repeat exactly what ʿAli Numayr said to the consul or to the other merchants, because he was lying. There was no promise of safe passage at all. Rather, the Muslims accidentally docked somewhere in the territory of Syracuse in the dead of night, thinking they were in al-Mahdiyya (Tunisia). When the bells (ha-campanacci) started ringing in the morning, they realized they were in a Christian port and scrambled to escape. Their ship foundered on some rocks, and they were taken captive by a few small boats from the tower of Syracuse. All this is known because a ship arrived in Alexandria with 20 Messinan prisoners, who recounted that the ship was taken in Syracuse, not Messina. The writer appeals to the recipients to act quickly to solve this problem and to send him word. He has detained two ships that were about to depart from Abu Qir for Crete, until he hears word, because he does not want word of these events to reach Europe and deter the usual trading ships from coming to Alexandria this year. The writer then transitions into business matters, mentioning intelligence he has received in a letter from Messer Giacomo and in a letter to someone named Aran. The addressees are to buy as much pepper as they can, for the ships coming from Livorno and Messina are not expected to have much. Likewise with ginger: the fresh ginger has all been sold in Europe, so the arriving ships are going to want more, but they will only want it fresh—it must not be rotten at all. The writer also mentions spices, flax, and skins. No ships from France are expected this year, but the ships from Livorno and Messina will purchase goods to send them on to France. "I have told you many times that Cassia fistula (khiyār shanbar) is in high demand in all of Europe, but you have not listened." The writer then mentions the addressee's partnership with Moshe b. Shoshan. Walnuts are in high demand in Venice. The writer has been dealing with a merchant from Ragusa (Dubrovnik) who tells him that after these events in Alexandria, even if he were to receive the weight of all his merchandise in gold, he would not come back to Alexandria, and no European merchant will want to come again after this; all those in Alexandria at present are intending to leave. This Ragusan intended to come and live there for 3 years, but he now plans to get out. The writer concludes by urging the addressees to act quickly, and to remember to buy up lots of fresh ginger and flax. Information mostly from Avraham David's edition and notes. ASE.

Bifolium from a rabbinic literary work in Judaeo-Arabic.

Four lines in a mysterious script, perhaps a shorthand or numerical notation.

One side contains a Judaeo-Arabic poem in the name of Abū Naṣr b. Faḍlūn.

Letter from Yosef b. Kulayb, Ramla, to the gaonic pretender (here titled ra's al-mathība) Natan b. Avraham, probably in Tyre, May 1041. He reports the struggle between Natan b. Avraham's adherents and those of Shelomo b. Yehuda and the question of whether Yehuda the ḥazzān or Ibn ʿAlī or both should have taqdima. Information from Goitein's note card (#12248).

Arabic booklet on astrological prognostications.

Business letter in Persian.

Ketubba, illuminated, from 1840/41 CE ([5]601), left half only.