Geniza Lab

Literary text. Written in a mixture of Arabic script and Hebrew (for biblical quotations).

Magical text. Written in a mixture of Arabic script and Judaeo-Arabic.

One piece of paper stuck on to another piece of paper, containing a message in Hebrew referring to 'this Jew who brings my letter all (sic) the holy congregations....'

Unidentified text in Hebrew. Extremely faded.

Literary text, rabbinic.

Verso: Contains a few words in Arabic script. Recto: The main text on this fragment is a prayer in Judaeo-Arabic. VMR. ASE

Piyyut and/or secular poetry. There are at least three poems on these two folios. One is attributed to Avraham Ibn ʿEzra (in a different hand) and another to Efrayim. One is about Moses and the angels weeping and screaming, perhaps at the time of the giving of the Torah.

Accounts in the hand of ʿArūs b. Yosef. ENA 2875.35 belongs before ENA 2875.34. See Goitein's index card for more information.

Accounts in the hand of ʿArūs b. Yosef. ENA 2875.35 belongs before ENA 2875.34. See Goitein's index card for more information.

Letters in Judaeo-Arabic, probably copies of letters sent in the name of Avraham Maimonides. There are at least two letters sharing the same folio. Only the ending of the first one is preserved, and it helpfully ends with the date (Adar II 1535 Seleucid, which is 1224 CE), and "Avraham wrote this." The next one begins with the motto "hineh el yeshuʿati" (also used elsewhere by Avraham Maimonides). The letter is addressed to the congregation of Ashmūm and at their head, R. Moshe ha-L[evi]. It addresses the problem that there is no muqaddam in Ashmūm to oversee marriages and divorces, and as such, the people have been going to the Muslim courts. They are informed that this is wrong and that they should stop doing it. R. Moshe b. Peraḥya ha-Dayyan is mentioned. The text on verso seems to be a continuation, because it continues to discuss Ashmūm and brings in a certain R. Yehuda and Minyat Zifta. Needs examination.

Letter fragment from Ṭāhir b. Bū l-Ḥasan known as Ibn [...]. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer asks the recipient to send greetings to somebody and a reprimand to somebody else who had promised him something.

Literary. List of positive and negative commandments.

Fiscal register (compare BL OR 5566B.3 and the other shelfmarks cited there). Cut up into (at least) seven pieces and reused to form a booklet containing Hebrew poetry (the payyetan whom Tova Beeri studied) and Judaeo-Arabic halakhic discussions in a different hand, citing things that Sayyidnā al-Nagid said; the hand may be known). Different sections are headed by the day of the week and date within the month, but the actual months and years are not specified. For example, ENA 2886.2 has three entries are preserved: "Payment (dafʿa): 1 dinar. Payment: 1 dinar. Payment: [...] and 1/8 dinar (wa-thumn dīnār)."

Letter from Avraham, son of the Gaon and people from Fustat to Shelomo b. Yehuda

Letter from Avraham, son of the Gaon and people from Fustat to Shelomo b. Yehuda

Letter concerning business partnership

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to Mordechai Masis (? משיש) that has been reused for pen trials in square Hebrew letters and possibly a literary text on the verso. Overall, the fragment likely dates to the early modern centuries (16th-19th) although it is unclear how much time passed between its various points of reusage. The year is possibly mentioned with gematria on the recto where "מבי" is repeated after the phrase "יום ג במ" which could translate to the "third day of M[enaḥem]" or the month of Av. The letter fragment follows the conventions of epistolary etiquette in Judaeo-Arabic, for example, in line 9r of the document the author mentions hearing of good news about the recipient "נסמעו ענכום אכבאר אל כייר". The text on the verso appears to be that of a different hand (see esp. variation in aleph) and the tone shifts significantly from an epistolary one to a poetic descriptions with phrases such as "אן ייקול אל ן אדם לקלבו" or "that the son of Adam says to his heart" (l. 1v). It should be noted that "[be]n adam" can also be translated more generally as any human individual depending on the context. MCD.

Hebrew poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Late.

List of Judeo-Arabic accounts dated in the month of Ramaḍān with an abbreviated year "מו/46". Based on the script and paper preservation this fragment is perhaps eighteenth- or nineteenth-century so as a Hijri year this document may be [11]46AH (early 1734CE) or [12]46AH (early 1831CE). The accounts are listed under the first names Muḥammed, Mustafa, Hajj Utman (חג׳ עוטמאן), and Maḥmūd where both alphanumerical and word-based numbers are mentioned. The same format of listed accounts continues on the verso. Date: 18th c or 19th c. MCD.