Geniza Lab

A long letter from the communities of Poland and Lithuania to Shlumiel b. Shmuel.

A letter to the Karaite community of Istanbul from Shmuel.

A letter to Biמyamin Yerushalmi from the Karaites of Qal'a

Copies of letters to the community of Troki from the community of Lithuania.

A letter to Yosef Shlomo b. Moshe from Yosef Avraham b. Shmuel

A letter from the community of Luzki to Ishaq b. Shlomo

There are numerous items sharing this shelfmark. All appear to be piyyutim, except for an ethical will in the name of a certain Shelomo to his son (188/30).

Non-Geniza. Recto: Letter in Latin dated 1777 CE regarding the funeral of Elisabeth Slulcowa. Surrounded with text in Hebrew script and in a Slavic language. Verso: Agreement between the cities of שאדווב(?) and "new city"(?). In Hebrew, with three lines in a Slavic language in the margins. Dated 5541 AM = 1780/81 CE.

Liturgical. List of verses for prayer. Dating: Catalogued as 18th century.

Formulary for a marriage document. Dating: Catalogued as 17th or 18th century.

Letter from an unknown writer, in Alexandria, to the judge Yiṣḥaq Aripol, in Fustat/Cairo. The writer's name and signature appear, but are very faded. Written in Hebrew. Dated: 5457 AM (שנת תבנה), which is 1696/97 CE. The purpose of the letter is to forward a legal query that the writer received from Livorno, which is presumably identical with the Hebrew text in a different hand written on the inner side of the fold.

Letter draft from one Jewish community (A) to another Jewish community (B) in a different land. In Hebrew. Locations unknown. Dating: Late. Catalogued as 18th century, which seems a good guess. The letter is a justification of why community A acted a certain way when a man arrived and presented a letter of recommendation from community B. The letter of recommendation bore the signatures of many of the notable men of community B (which are listed again in this letter). For some reason, community A suspected that he was a fraud and his letter was forged, perhaps in part because he presented them with a legal query that any ignoramus would have been able to answer. So they refused to honor his letter of recommendation. It seems the purpose of the present letter is to explain what has happened so that the leaders of community B do not think that they are not respected in community A. If they do not believe this story, community A is sending this letter with Mordekhai ha-Ḥakham who can answer all their questions to their satisfaction.

Literary work in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Contains a colophon: "This 'scroll' was written in Elul 5013 (=1253 CE). . . by me, R. Yosef ha-Bavli."

Poems (each called 'qaṣīd') in honor of a certain R. Yaʿaqov b. Abī l-Ḥaḍram (recto). In Hebrew. The poem on each side is for a Yaʿaqov, but conceivably they could be two different Yaʿaqovs. Dating: Unknown. Catalogued as 14th or 15th century, unclear on what ba

Memorial list. In Hebrew. Dating: catalogued as 19th century.

There are four items under this shelfmark, all relating to the dīwān of Yehuda ha-Levi, including a calligraphic index to his poems (207/1).

Letter copy. In Hebrew. Attributed to Yehuda ha-Levi on the final page. Mostly consists of extremely poetic praises for the addressee ("whose like has not been seen in Spain") and self abasement. The writer explains why he is unable to fulfill a certain request that was made of him. Unclear if the original writer is identical with the famous Yehuda ha-Levi; evidence in favor of the identification is that he does not seem to have his father's name or other names listed (which would be necessary for a less famous Yehuda ha-Levi), the reference to Spain, and the caliber of the Hebrew prose. But needs examination.

Literary. Prayerbook for Yom Kippur. Dating: Catalogued as 13th or 14th century. Information from NLI.

Book. Qaraite. May have some contents of documentary significance, including the genealogy (p. 51) of the well-known Shelomo b. David b. Ḥisday (d. 1203/04 CE), the head of the Qaraite community of Cairo.

Legal formulary. In Hebrew and Aramaic. Dating: Unknown. Catalogued as 12th or 13th century, but unclear on what basis.