Geniza Lab

Letter fragment. In Ladino. Mentions R. Nissim. Very faded.

Accounts. In Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script.

Mysterious document. In Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Probably some kind of account. Dating: Probably no earlier than 13th century. Mentions days and time periods and people such as Sulaymān; Abū l-Faraj b. al-Sadīd b. al-Faqīh(?) Ibn Makkārī; ʿĪsā b. [...] al-Mutaṭabbib.

Legal testimony. In Hebrew. Location: Egypt. Possibly a release, based on the one line of content (nishtalamti kol ma. . .).

Letter to Yiṣḥaq Ḥevroni on financial matters. Dated: 1559 CE. (Information from FGP.)

Account. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Adar I 5364 AM, which is 1604 CE. Currency: Sharīfī.

Legal query addressed to Abū ʿImrān, perhaps Maimonides. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary handwriting. The question regards a certain Tamīm in Qalyūb. It seems that he refuses to take the vow that the addressee had previously ordered him to make, because he is worried about making a vow and not being able to fulfill it. But needs further examination.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to a family member, instructing the addressee to make sure that the boy continues to practice his Arabic and Hebrew writing, and dealing with a wayba of wheat.

Letter fragment, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic. Some of the lines rhyme.

Letter from Yosef Binyamin, in Rashīd, to Shemuel Samḥūn(?), in Fustat/Cairo. A certain Yiṣḥaq adds a postscript with his greetings. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 18th or 19th century. The writer reports that he arrived in Rashīd. Mentions various business matters. Regards to Moshe; Eliyya; Moshe Ḥefeẓ; and Yiṣḥaq Shami.

Legal deed. In Hebrew. Dated: Shevat 5562 AM, which is 1802 CE. Settlement of a partnership dispute. Currency: medin (מאיידיס). Witnesses; Aharon Ṭawīl; Yehuda Pinto; Ḥayyim Ḥefeẓ; Nissim Ṭawīl. Verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter addressed to ʿAmram. In Hebrew. Dating: Probably no earlier than 16th century. Shemuel b. Sīd(?) is mentioned in the first line. Very faded.

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dated: End of Sivan, 5578 AM, which is 1818 CE. Apprentice contract for Avraham Puerte(?), the student, and Yehuda Bonan, the teacher. Avraham will study the trade of sarraflik (money changing) from Yehuda for a period of 24 months. He will learn "how to count money as is customary here, every 1000 medins in one paper." For the first year, the weekly wage will be 40 medins. For the second year, the weekly wage will be 60 medins. The fine for violating the contract is 100 esedi gurush to be paid to the other party. Witnesses: There is a single elaborate signature, difficult to read. It looks very much like the signature in ENA NS 29.20 from ~20 years earlier.

Recto: Letter. In Arabic script. Needs examination. Verso: Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Extremely faded.

Marriage contract. Dated: Sunday, 14 Tishrei 5557, which is 1796 CE. Location: Cairo. Groom: David Gabbay b. Seʿadya. Bride: ביתו (or does this just mean daughter?) of Khalīfa Pinto. Currencies: real, medin. Witnesses: The same signature appears twice, and it may be identical with the signature in ENA NS 29.19, ~20 years later.

Letter from Akhlābū Kohen b. Aharon, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1045. In the handwriting of Ibrāhīm b. Faraḥ. Regarding one dinar and a quarter that Abu Zikrī needs to get from Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb, after he sent it to him by Abu Naṣr, who passed away meanwhile. Mentions many people and sends his greetings to them. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #764) VMR

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 1 Tammuz 5439 AM, which is 1739 CE. Mentions several people, including Yaʿaqov b. Ḥabīb. Needs examination.

Public letter urging every person to pay the collector what he had promised (for freeing a captive?).

Recto: Letter or legal query addressed to Avraham Maimonides (published by MAF). In Judaeo-Arabic. Conveys a lengthy story involving Franks in Akka and Haifa and someone who received a letter from al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam (r. 1218-1227). The draft petition on verso starts with a taqbīl clause and mentions Irāqiyīn and Shāmiyīn.

Letter from a woman, in Rashīd, to Yom Ṭov al-Buḥayrī (it seems her son-in-law) and his wife Esther (it seems her daughter), in Fustat/Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably no earlier than 16th century. The specific relationships are not entirely clear. She seems to use masculine verb endings when addressing each one of the two; she opens with "salām allāh taʿālā ʿalā a[l]-ṣihr(?) al-ʿazīz wa-ʿalā al-bint al-ʿazīza Esther min ummik" and there is no clear alternative to eading ṣihr, which can mean son-in-law as well as brother-in-law; but she also writes "greet your mother-in-law" (with masculine verb ending), a statement that has to be addressed to her own child. In any event, she congratulates them on acquiring a female slave (if אכצתי is indeed to be read as אכדתי) and urges one of them (presumably the daughter, but the verbs are masculine) to "take it with a gracious word" (khudhu bi-kalima ḥilwā). The remainder of the content is obscure. Greetings to Doña Sh[..]; to the aforementioned mother-in-law; and to Khuḍayr and Manṣūr. ASE.