Geniza Lab

Business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Abū l-Fakhr and Tripoli (Libya).

Marriage contract. Dating: Probably late. Groom: Aharon. Bride: Esther. Very faded, and only the upper right corner is preserved.

Letter of appeal for charity. Fragment. In Hebrew. At the bottom, in a different hand, "David ha-Nasi b. [...] Ga'on b. [???].

Marriage document. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: 1437 Seleucid, which is 1125 CE. The groom may be Peraḥya ha-Levi [b. Yefet ha-Zaqen?]. Early marriage payment: 10 dinars. Delayed marriage payment: 30 dinars.

Poem of praise addressed to Yefet ha-Kohen. In Hebrew. Perhaps the introduction to a letter.

Address of a letter to a judge.

Colophon. "I copied this, Yosef Rosh ha-Seder b. Yaʿaqov Rosh Bei Rabanan (ZL), from the copy of the author (ZL), for myself, and I did not add to it except the text ... light...."

Document in Judaeo-Arabic. Perhaps legal or having to do with a waqf, or having to do with the text that Yosef Rosh ha-Seder copied (see text block a). Mentions the house, the 'aforementioned' something, the orphans.

Letter addressed to a dignitary. In Judaeo-Arabic. Almost entirely an eloquent shawqiyya. Good wishes for Hannuka or Purim.

Informal note in Hebrew. The handwriting resembles that of Maimonides, but is almost definitely not him. Mentions a parnas. הגדול המעוז המגדול.ני אלא עם הפרנס ואם.סף ועשי[ת] כחכמתיך

Letter from Abū ʿAlī to Abū l-Fakhr. In Judaeo-Arabic. Only the first two lines are preserved.

Letter in Hebrew. Looks like the handwriting of Shelomo b. Yehuda. Needs examination.

Letter or petition in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Table in Arabic script. The Christian name Buṭrus may appear (upper left). Needs examination.

Legal document. Only a few lines from the introduction are preserved. The date is not preserved. The handwriting is very similar to that of the court scribe Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (c.1181–1209).

Business letter. Small fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 11th century.

List of communal contributions. Dated: 5580 AM, which is 1819/20 CE. Many names.

Prayer for Queen Victoria, Albert, and Edward Prince of Wales. Calligraphic, multicolored, in the shape of an orb, and written in both Hebrew and English. Almost certainly from Gaster's personal collection rather than the Cairo Geniza. There are four other blocks of text from various parts on the other quadrants (to be folded into a siddur?).

Recipes in Judaeo-Arabic. Alchemical: dhahab kāmil in shā' allāh.

Recto: Document in Arabic script. On verso there is literary text in Hebrew; the hand looks late.