Geniza Lab

Fragmentary record of sale; the script suggests that this was written in the Ottoman period.

Small fragment in Judaeo-Arabic, probably from a medieval letter.

Probably a fragment of a medieval Judaeo-Arabic letter, but little is still readable. A virgin is mentioned.

Probably medical prescriptions in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic, listing materia medica and quantities and containing phrases like "min kull wāḥid."

Short note by the gabbai Avraham Yuʿbaṣ affirming that Kasīm (?) Meyuḥas will rent a house in "darb al-midrash" (reading ḍarb as darb) somehow reated to the synagogue of the Mustaʿribim from the 7th of Elul II until the end of Elul of the year 1779 (5539) for 300 a month, yielding a total of 2100. The number 1050 is also given, perhaps a down payment?

Upper left corner of a letter in Ladino. A Gatenio is mentioned.

Order to a pastry chef: "To the elder Abī Saʿd, may God preserve him: please take two copper coins as a deposit, and give the bearer a raṭl of well-done ringlets [ḥulayqāt, probably a type of doughnut]. If you make cakes tomorrow, prepare for me two raṭls of small cakes (kuʿaykāt) of the utmost smallness for me." Proof that cake-pops were invented in medieval Cairo? Goitein: "Cakes, called kaʿk in Arabic (a word that seems, however, not to be connected with its English equivalent), also were normally bought in the bazaar, and the name or designation ka'ki, or cake master, is rather frequent. Here is an order to a cake master, carefully written on a tiny piece of paper: The pastrycook, khamīrī, was another familiar figure." Goitein, Med. Soc. I, 114.

Fragment of a letter in Hebrew and Ladino. Not much is legible. "Ha-Ish ha-Hafetz Hayyim. . . Avraham. . . Y agora. . ." and some pors and paras.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Avraham Haman and Gavriel Hefez to Karo y Frances & Company, dated 1807 CE (19 Tishrei 5568).

Betrothal document for Yiṣḥaq Goren (?) b. Shelomo and Sitt al-Bayt bt. Avraham Dayyan, dated July 1804 (middle third of Av 5564).

Fragment of a letter in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. There is a note at the top of recto (part of the address?) indicating that when someone arrived (or arrives?) in Alexandria, something something "to our master Shemuel ha-Nagid."

Fragment of a legal formulary.

An extremely faded document in Judaeo-Arabic.

A list of names in Judaeo-Arabic, possibly part of a letter. Mentions the cantor Abū l-Majd, al-Shaykh Abū Naṣr, [Saʿ?]īd and his sons, Abū l-Baqā', Abū l-Fakhr.

Recto: On the right is list of surnames known from the late Genizah period along with numbers: Bibas (spelled Pipas here), Alarcon, Hapis (?), Pinto, Qarun, Yuʿbaṣ, Agi. On the left is a list of materia medica with numbers, then a small illustration. Verso: Numbers and sums.

16 small fragments, most appear to be in Judaeo-Arabic, difficult to discern significance of any of them.

16 small fragments. Fol. 1 (1–2) + Fol. 4 (7–8): Letter in Judaeo-Arabic mentioning [...] al-Amshāṭī. Also mentions, "I have asked the bearer..."; and "until the arrival of Abū [...]." Fol. 2 (3–4) + Fol. 6 (11–12) + Fol. 7 (13–14) + Fol. 8 (15–16): Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. Elegant, square handwriting. Mentions India twice, a Kohen, and partial names such as [May]mūn b. [...]. Fol. 2 and Fol. 6 join directly; it is not clear how the other two fragments are connected. Fol. 3 (5–6): Letter in Arabic script. Part of the address is preserved on verso. Likely a join with Fol. 5 (9–10).

Fragment of a late legal document.

Recto: Accounts, mentioning Moshe Kohen and listing amounts of money for the weeks of Shemot through Tetzaveh. One of the currencies used is the fonducli. Verso has jottings and the curious stamp: IACOBVS KVHNEN SPANISNADEL.

Late legal document in Hebrew regarding a partnership (one of the partners is named Faraj). It refers to the quppah of the synagogue of the Musta'ribim (קק מוסתערב).