Geniza Lab

Recto: order of payment by Shelomo (b. Elijah the judge) either for wine or a medicinal syrup (שראב). Verso: letter in Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Small fragment of a letter, probably late (on paper lined with red ink), mentioning Nasi Galiyot Yehuda ve-Yisrael.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper margin of recto and part of the address on verso). The addressee should send the response with "the fleet" (al-uṣṭūl). Regards to various people, including "(the friend of?) my wife (ṣāḥibat baytnā) Sitt al-Shām the daughter of the son of Hiba." Mentions a woman who is all alone; the addressee should urge her family to come visit her. (Information in part from CUDL)

Judaeo-Arabic list of things, books, and merchandise, with the names of the people with whom they are deposited. Information from FGP.

Letter of ʿEli ha-Mumḥe (‘the Adept’) b. Abraham in Jerusalem, to Efrayim b. Shemarya in Fusṭāṭ (c. 1045 CE), with the continuation and, inverted, the address on verso. Also on verso, Arabic jottings, part of which are written transversely across the page. (Information from CUDL)

Personal letter in Hebrew. Fragment. Recto consists of blessings. Verso mentions ha-Sar ʿOvadya, "your relative," and that he should be told something to do with Aleppo (צובה). (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: Draft of a letter. "If your brother Abū Saʿīd does not have this amount, let him approach Abū Naṣr, and let the two of them return with this amount. . . . Tell him that as soon as it arrives, he should take it to Abū Zikrī." Verso: Lists of names (Bū Naṣr, Bū ʿUmar) and goods in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic.

Letter fragment. Probably addressed to Abū Ṭāhir Shemuel al-Ṣayrafī, in Fustat (sent to "al-murabbaʿa"). In Judaeo-Arabic. Only the upper right corner of recto and part of the address are preserved. (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter to 'my brother.' In Judaeo-Arabic. Mostly urgings to write back and expressions of longing. Mentions the shop of Abū l-Majīd. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic the recipient of which is unknown, but this individual is referred to with an honorific form of address (l.2-3). The letter is dated in late 1764 CE (Cheshvan 5525 AM) and in the first lines there is mention of wine "חמריו" (l.6r), possibly as an object being sold: "באלסוואל מעה באיעה בחמריו" (l.6r) and "אטבאעכום אלחמרה" (l.7r). Lines 14-17r feature a discussion of the language used in the sender's and recipient's correspondence. In the final lines we find the sender using the polite phrase of kissing the hands "תקבל איאדיכום" (l.24-25r). The signature is elaborately embellished to the extent of illegibility, yet some letters emerge in the surname that might suggest "Saragosi/[?]סאראגושי". MCD.

The middle part of a letter written by Shelomo b. Yehuda, around 1025. Announces the passing of the Gaon, his predecessor. From the letter it is clear that two Gaons died at the year, probably Yehoshiyahu and Shelomo ha-Kohen. (Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, 97, Doc. #56) VMR

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya, with address inverted on verso; fragment. (Information from CUDL)

Letter fragment (the end only) from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya. Refers to a debt.

Possibly a fragment of a writ of appointment in Hebrew (FGP).

A letter in the handwriting of Shelomo b. Judah announcing the deaths of the former geʾonim, Josiah, and Shelomo’s immediate predecessor, Shelomo ha-Kohen, who died ‘six days before Rosh ha-Shana’ (in 1025 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a responsum in the hand of Shelomo b. Yehuda, regarding bread baked by Gentiles (pat shel goyim). Information from Gil and CUDL.

An autograph letter by Abraham b. Maimonides to the community of Bilbays. (Information from CUDL)

Order of payment in the hand of Avraham b. David b. Sughmār, middle 11th century. The order is for 2 1/6 dinars. The name of the payer is not given. The money is backed by a ḥaver and a raʾīs, perhaps, ʿEli b. Amram and Daniel b. ʿAzariya. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 1.)

Legal document in Arabic script. Dated: 4[..] AH (so no later than 1106 CE). Needs examination.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Conveying instructions regarding business transactions in al-Mahdiyya.