Geniza Lab

Document in Arabic script. Perhaps a medical prescription or recipe.

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic, with a few jottings in Arabic script. The writer asks the addressee (al-Muʿallim) to go to Abū l-Ḥasan, because the writer needs him to do something for him.

Bifolio containing multiple documents. Dating: Unknown. Recto, right page: Acknowledgment of a debt of 400 dinars owed by the Jew Naṣr b. Abū Saʿd to Abū l-Qāsim b. ʿAbdallāh. In Arabic script. Recto, left page: Oriented at 90 degrees, there is a letter or draft of a letter to an amir with many noble titles. In Arabic script. Verso, left page: Draft of the opening of a Judaeo-Arabic letter in a crude hand. Verso, right page: Writing exercises in both Hebrew and Arabic script. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter fragment addressed to al-mawālī al-munʿimīn. In vocalized Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter of business in Judaeo-Arabic. Very faded. Mentions Abū l-Ḥajjāj Yūsuf and Tyre and the value of the Tyrian dinar. The address is on verso but too faded to read. ASE

Recipe in Arabic script for compounding hiera picra. ASE

Part of a letter, mentioning Abū l-ʿIzz and the sum of 10 dirhams. A note, in a different hand and ink follows and refers to the same Abū l-ʿIzz, as well as Mūsā b. Hilāl, Mūsā b. ʿAmmatī (‘of my aunt’?), Barakāt b. Abū ʿUmar and the sum of 20 dirhams. (Information from CUDL)

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer seem to explain why he had not paid anything to the addressee. He has also sent him some money to make purchases, including of olives(?), seeds, sumac(?), and salt.

Recto: Letter fragment in Hebrew addressed to Peraḥya ha-Dayyan ha-Maskil. Wide space between the lines. Verso: Hebrew text, possibly belonging to the formulaic opening of a letter.

Informal note. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer asks Abū Isḥāq to obtain for (?bi-rasm) Abū l-ʿAlā' a piece of fabric of high quality (jayyid rafīʿ) and close weave (ṣafīq) with the pattern (?ṭarḥ) of a grid, which he draws in the margin.

Part of a letter, addressing Shelomo, the wise and discerning. Verso contains just the name Abū l-Faraj al-Tinnīsī in a different hand and ink. (Information from CUDL)

Note from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Abū l-ʿAlā'. In Judaeo-Arabic. He asks Abū l-ʿAla' him to come together with Abū l-Barakāt in order to cut and tailor a piece of fabric for him.

Note from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Abū l-ʿIzz. In Judaeo-Arabic. He writes that he intends to come today with two witnesses to document how much the addressee still owes him. Specifically, he owed him 63 dirhams, paid 6, and now owes 57.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. On verso possibly poetry in Judaeo-Arabic.

Business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. The hand is probably known (Nahray b. Nissim?).

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Minute fragment. Refers to the sale of property, "the other half" of the property, and something deposited with someone's parent.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Only 2–3 lines are preserved on each side. Dating: Likely 13th century. The handwriting may be known. On one side, the sender is bemoaning his separation and says that he thinks about committing suicide by strangling every time he think about [...]. On the other side he refers to the pupil or scholar Ibrāhīm and "coming, together with the father." The addressee is asked to "kiss the feet" of a certain woman on the sender's behalf.

Piyyut, probably.

Note from the cantor Yedutun ha-Levi, Fustat, to his brother Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub. Yedutun requests an update on the circumcised boy and the little one. Yedutun writes cryptically "Abu Zikri never said anything." (Referring to the Gaon Abū Zikrī Sar Shalom ha-Levi?) There is conflict between their paternal uncle ‘Imrān and his wife, somehow because of Moshe. Their mother is going to pay a visit to Sitt 'Abid, Sitt Aqran, while their father is going to pay a visit to Abu ‘Ali and al-As‘ad (family members of ‘Imrān’s wife?), and they will hopefully reach a settlement. T-S 8J24.1 is a note from Abu Sahl Levi (their father) to Moshe and may be a sequel to these events, referring to a settlement: “I met with you-know-who and we have reached a settlement thank God.” Yedutun (in Moss. IV,27.2) and Abu Sahl (in T-S 8J24.1) both send regards to al-Shaykh al-Yesod in Qalyub. ASE.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to one of his brothers. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (thin strip from the right side of recto). Yefet refers to a woman in distress (maybe on account of separation). They are looking forward to the arrival of Baqāʾ. (Information in part from CUDL)