Geniza Lab

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. Handwriting of Avraham Maimonides. Addressed to al-Shaykh al-Melammed Tamīm(?). Telling him to ask (yataqaḍḍā ilā) Maḥāsin al-Ṭabīb to attend the court case (muḥākama) of Abū l-Majd al-Ḥazzan (probably Meir b. Yakhin). ASE.

Recto: Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. "Tell Faḍā'il that if he wants to live with his cousins (awlād khālatihi) he should move with them." There have been raqqāṣīn (errand boys) milling about the house all day. Verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning Abū l-Ḥasan al-Malījī.

Bottom of an official letter (petition?) in Arabic script. The last line is a ḥamdala and ṣalwala. Unclear how much of the text above this is still legible. Reused for Hebrew piyyuṭ on both recto and verso.

Letter fragment addressed to [...] al-Maghribī, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. The writer sends good wishes for Shavuʿot; mentions Abū l-Surūr; says that "the sleep flew from my eyes," meaning that he was preoccupied on account of the addressee or somebody else.

Business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Listing several names and goods.

Liturgical. In Hebrew. Probably not a letter, as it is listed on FGP.

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to al-Ḥedvat. Handwriting of Avraham Maimonides. Letter of recommendation for the poor man al-Shaykh al-Kohen al-Talmid Abū l-Riḍā.

Business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Extensive, listing many names.

Letter addressed to the home of ʿArūs b. Yosef. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably late 11th century. Needs examination.

Letter fragment. Late. Only the address is preserved. Addressed to Yaʿaqov Sofer. The word Damascus appears. There may be one or two words in Ladino, but this needs further examination. On verso there are pen trials.

Recto: Two lines from an official letter. In Arabic script. Verso: Medical prescription in Arabic script.

Letter from a brother (probably) to a sister. in Judaeo-Arabic. Meditating on suffering and isolation and distance and "the fear due to this matter is present at all times." The writer urges the addressee not to cut off her letters, "by the ukhuwwa (the fact that we are siblings) and by the breast that we nursed at." He has sent her two mandīls with the bearer of this letter. The handwriting is extremely familiar; the writer has the habit of putting two dots over some תs and הs.

Fragment in Hebrew. Looks like a prayer, but conceivably could be an extremely deferential letter.

Legal testimony. In Hebrew, with one signature in both Hebrew and Latin script. Location: Alexandria. Dating: 5624 AM in the month of Shvat which is 1864CE. The witnesses attest that Yaʿaqov Menaḥem b. Yosef David has given a bill of divorce (get) to his wife Veneziana(?) Yeta(?) bt. Avraham Mann. She has received her ketubba payment in full. Witnesses: Seʿadya b. Aharon and Natan ʿAmram. The latter's full name was Natan b. Ḥayyim ʿAmram and he lived from 1791CE or 1805CE to 1870CE. Natan ʿAmram published widely and served both as an emissary to Livorno and communal rabbi in Alexandria. MCD.

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The story is interesting but very fragmented. Refers to a girl (ṣabiyya), probably the sender's sister-in-law, who behaves erratically (kānat takhruj min ḥāl ilā ḥāl) and to a female slave (jāriya). "She has completed [...] and whoring and [...]...., for the neighbors said to my brother, "Get up! ... you have killed yourself, since when something happens to your household.... with them in this madness (khabṭ). Even if you stole right now.... everyone in the city in selling her, because if she remains with the girl (al-ṣaghīra), [she will continue to behave?] erratically." For my mother (? sittī), God have mercy on her, did not [get stricken with a fatal illness?] except because of her. My brother swore by the Torah that if there should remain in... [possession] this female slave, until she comes (or you come), and he will see what should be done with her... Efrayim.... and she is dreadful (fazʿāna)... the eyes of the female slave.... and Sitt al-[...]."

Legal document. In Hebrew. If the two fragments belong to the same document, it is dated: Kislev 52[..] AM, which is 1440–1539 CE. No details preserved about the case.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Full of glimpses of interesting subjects. The writer complains about the heavy rain this winter; he mentions the customs tax (maks); the great "ḥamas"; there is a section on the "shaḥn(?) of the courtyard of the house of the Sayyid Eliyyahu (the Prophet?)"—it seems some sort of construction work requiring measurements to be taken; mentions the shrine at Dammūh; and finally mentions copies of manuscripts and drugs that either have been sent or are to be sent.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions al-Lebdī.

Recto: Legal fragment in Arabic script. Only a portion of the last two lines and what appear to be witness signatures are preserved. Verso: Document in Judaeo-Arabic. Appears to be an inventory of various legal deeds, including a ketubba and a fatwā and two wills and a promissory note (ḥujja) and a deed of "my paternal aunt" against her husband Abū M[...]. Many names are mentioned. Needs further examination. ASE.