Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, in a cursive Maghrebi hand. Damaged. Deals with sums of money. Yosef is mentioned. There are also references to the Sicilian cities of Māzar and al-Madīna (Palermo). Also mentions the departure of the qāʾid Ibn al-Thumna (d. 1062) from Palermo (וקד רחל בן אלתמנה ען אלמדינה). AA. ASE.

Legal documents in Judaeo-Arabic related to real estate transactions that are dated 1784/85CE according to FGP. The list format of these documents suggests that the page may have once been bound as part of a broader court register. There is much damage to the fragment but on occasion the closing line of each document is clear enough that the Aramaic word "established / קיים" appears– which is a common term that seals a legal document. The first document on the verso is signed with a difficult calligraphic hand yet within the document's first line, the name Yehuda b. Mauza[?] is legible. In the following line the name Masʿūd "מסעוד" appears. MCD.

Late list of names, including many women.

Letter from Avraham Karyo, Hayyim Moshe Pianti, Rahamim Shelomo ha-Levi, and a second Pianti, in Hebrew, recommending a certain poor man for charity. There is one line in Judaeo-Arabic on verso.

Legal document dated 1728/9 CE (5489) involving the heirs and dependents of the deceased Eliezer Mayo. Shemuel ben Naʿim is mentioned in the first two lines, but his role is unclear. Eliezer left behind two sons, the elder named Yiṣḥaq Mayo, who lives at present in Livorno (? ליורני), the younger named Shelomo Mayo, who lives with his mother Judika (? גודיקא) bt. Moshe Mayo. Needs further examination.

Possibly a late letter in Hebrew. Rashid is named at the bottom. Needs examination.

Complete letter in Ladino.

Accounts in a late, neat hand.

Accounts for the week of Aharei Mot.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic on business matters.

Recto: Accounts, listing names of people and amounts of money. Verso: A sum of money is requested from Avraham Dayyan. (An Avraham Dayyan is named in JRL SERIES A 1203, dated July 1804.)

Judaeo-Arabic literary work, quoting Deuteronomy 28:13.

Fragment of a letter in Ladino.

Beginning of a betrothal document for Shelomo Khamīṣ (?) b. Raḥamim and the orphan Sarah bt. Aharon. The scribe abandoned the document after 6 lines.

Receipt issued by Yaʿaqov Raẓon to al-Senyor Merkado Karo for 82 reales.

This is a fragment of a letter asking for assistance, possibly on behalf of a man and his dependents. The author mentions that the subjects of the letter are 'naked,' a commonly used description of poverty; for the significations of 'nakedness and hunger' in petitions on behalf of the poor in the Geniza see Mark Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, pp. 156- 158. The verso is blank.

Fragments of late legal documents in Hebrew. The document on Page 2 is dated April 1818 (Nisan 5578).

Fragment of a legal document, probably a get.

Accounts for the months of Tishrei and Heshvan. Income is listed from individuals as well as from two synagogues: that of R. Hayyim [Capousi] and the Turkish Synagogue. Verso: Writing exercise.

Beginning of a letter of appeal by an individual named Makin who addresses his plea to an elder. The verso contains a much faded letter in a different hand.