Geniza Lab

Recto: Excerpts from Ecclesiastes. Verso: A list of books that the writer was asked to prepare (or obtain?) for somebody. The Talmud, printed in Salonica "with Venice." The Rif and the Rambam. . . ʿAyn Yaʿaqov. . . Sefer ha-Tapuaḥ. . . Mashal ha-Qadmoni. . . Tiqqunei ha-Zohar with Shaʿarei Orah. . . Yalquṭ with the commentary of Gedalyah. And others.

Prayer in Hebrew.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic from a certain Yehudah [...] to Karo y Frances & Company, dated 1807 CE (17 Heshvan 5568).

Narrative literary text in Judaeo-Arabic. Or less likely a long letter written in the format of a literary text. Dating: Probably 17th–19th century. Conveying a dialogue between two men. Mentions things such as Christians, a family with a daughter and a son, going to the bath, marriage. Needs further examination. AA. ASE.

Writing exercises. Mainly in Hebrew, but with at least two lines in Italian, mentioning a sig[nore] Manor(?).

Accounts in Judeo-Arabic that list a wide array of individuals and quantities which may indicate payments given the recto's heading "עלם אל מדכול מן טיבית" or "Notice of the intake from Tevet". The verso is dated in the upper right corner of the bifolium as 5517 which is 1756/1757CE. The verso perhaps lists the ק׳׳ק of the Maghrebi Jewish community "מערבים" so this fragment may be a page from what once was a broader communal ledger. On the recto some of the names that appear include: Yaʿacov Naḥmias and Moshe Masʿūd. On the verso, many more names appear: Moshe Angel, Shelomo Moznino, Avraham Zin[?], Mordechai al-Sheikh, Menaḥem Kohen, Na'im Heykel, David Na'im, and Moshe Kohen. MCD.

Fragment of a letter in Ladino. The name of the addressee is preserved, something like: דוד וילייז לובושון.

Accounts related to commerce in silk on a bifolium that is undated yet can be estimated as late-18th to early-19th-century given the presence of Meʾīr ben Naʾīm's name and the general paleography of the document. The monetary sums are expressed in silver "פצה" coinage. Many partners in trade are listed such as: Avraham Yaʿabeṣ, Ḥajj Ḥasan Miʾmar[?], Yaʿacov Portos, and Moshe Hakīm. On the left page of the bifolium the financial instrument "polisa / פוליסה" common in moneylending is mentioned. Date: 18th c or 19th c. MCD.

One side: A prayer in Hebrew (each phrase begins תתברך) in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. The other side: Judaeo-Arabic poetry, also in Nāṣir's hand. This is followed by a recipe of some sort, possibly (but not necessarily) medical. It involves linseed oil, drying something in the sun for 4 days, the seeds of a green watermelon, something being washed, then placing something in the sun for 7 days.

Partnership/investment agreement (עסקא). Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dated: First third of Shevaṭ 5577 AM = January 1817 CE. Khalīfa ʿAfīf acknowledges that David ʿAfīf has invested 17,000 medins with him. Signed by Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen and Binyamin de Curiel. On verso there are accounts/sums in Judaeo-Arabic and eastern Arabic numerals. AA. ASE.

Investment agreement (ʿisqa). Dated: Adar I 5562 AM, which is 1802 CE. In which Joya bt. Yehuda Ashio invests 100 riyāls with Meir ben Naʿim for a period of 6 months. Signed by: Gedalya [...], Meir ben Naʿim, and Yiṣḥaq Zamiro. AA. ASE.

Damaged late letter or draft of legal document. Ishaq Toledano is mentioned. AA

Fragment from the end of a letter by Abu Ali. On verso (should be recto) what seems to be the poetic opening verses of the letter. AA

Small fragment from a letter. The hand looks like Hillel b. Eli. AA.

A list of an unidentified nature. few letter in Arabic. AA

Small fragment from a list of items, might be a dowry list. Name: Sayyid al-Ahl b. Abū l-Munā. Dated: Monday, 16 Tammuz 1438 Seleucid, which is 1127 CE. Might be written by Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen.

Small fragment of a letter from Yosef b. Avraham, a merchant of Aden, to a certain Abū Saʿīd (likely Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi). Only the poetic opening (in Hebrew) and the address (in Arabic) are preserved. The wording of the address is similar to those of other letters sent from Yemen to India, so plausibly this letter could have been sent to Ḥalfon during his time there. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Top portion of a court record from the court of the Nagid Avraham Maimonides (r. 1204-1237), witnessed on Tuesday the 16th of the month of Adar in Fustat. On Avraham Maimonides, see S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2: 39-40 and 5:476-77; on cases brought before his court see Mediterranean Society, 1:88, 255, 366, 491; 2:397; 3:72.

List of names and the weekly Parasha, probably the people who will read it in the synagogue. Year תקנד= 1793. AA