Geniza Lab

Legal document. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Cairo. Dated: 934, which seems that it should be read as a Hijri date, which would correspond to 1527/28 CE. But the document is catalogued as 1572 CE. Scribed by David ha-Ḥazzan. Involves [...] b. ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Abū l-Faraj and [...] bt. al-Nasi. Mentions the neighborhood of Zuwayla and the neighborhood of the Qaraites. Has to do with legal rights to different dwellings. Needs further examination.

Letter from Mordekhai ha-Levi b. Shemuel, Moshe Levi b. Shemuel, and the Qaraite community of Jerusalem to Shelomo Kohen, his son Yosef Kohen, Aharon Levi, Yosef Gabbai, and Yeshuʿa Ẓaʿir, in Fustat/Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Tuesday, 3 Iyyar 5550 AM (רחש לבי), which is 1790 CE. The writers report that the addressees departed without the letters of Muṣṭafā al-Ṣabbāgh regarding the "bolsa" of 247.5 of a certain currency that they have with them. They are to give this money to the partners of Muṣṭafā, Ḥannā Ṣāṣī and Mikha'īl al-Kuḥayl(?). Needs further examination.

Letter from Shemuel ha-Levi b. Avraham, in Jerusalem, to ʿUzziel Fayrūz, presumably in Fustat/Cairo. The writer's son Avraham Levi b. Shemuel added his own signature as well. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Catalogued as 18th century. The writer emphasizes his continual prayers for the addressee and abashedly makes a request of a financial nature. Needs further examination.

Letter to Aharon Rofe and Avraham Rofe. The address reads "to the teacher ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Yahūdī al-Ṭabīb in the Wikāla of K[...]." Unknown writer, unknown locations. Written in Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Apart from the greetings, the contents are cryptic. The writer reports that "The matter of Ibn Haman has resolved." Avraham Ṣaghīr sends his regards. Needs further examination.

Legal document, Qaraite. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Sunday, 15 Iyyar 5418 AM, which is 1658 CE. Involves Aharon Rofe Rosh Mishmeret b. Elʿazar . . . ha-Ḥazzan and Avraham Qudsī Rosh Mishmeret b. Yaʿaqov Levi Qayyim. They donate 1000 half-silver pieces for the benefit of Jerusalem. The document goes into depth on the functioning of the mysterious institution of 'mishmarot' ('watches') of which these two men are heads. It may have to do with burial arrangements. Periods of 6 years and 12 years are mentioned. Needs examination.

Letter from Yosef ha-Rofe b. Moshe ha-Rofe in Damascus to Avraham Fayrūz b. Moshe ha-Rofe, in Fustat/Cairo. The writer complains about the lack of letters and orders a number of foodstuffs to be sent back to him with the bearer of the letter, including sugar.

Letter drafts. See join for preliminary description. Needs further examination.

Letter from Gedalya Fayrūz, Fustat/Cairo, to Shelomo Berakha, Jerusalem. Dating: Unknown. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. Seems to consist mostly of greetings. Needs examination.

Letter from Yefet Fayrūz, in Damascus, to Eliyyahu Fayrūz, in Fustat/Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Catalogued as 18th century. Needs further examination.

Trousseau list. In Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Jerusalem. Dated: Goitein's notes and the NLI catalogue both give 1459 CE. The tens digit is very faded, but the date appears to read 23 Ṣafar 853 AH, which is April 1449 CE.

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Monday night, 13 Iyyar 1744 Seleucid, which is 1433 CE. Concerning repairs in a house that is a pious foundation for the poor (ṣaʿālīk) of the Qaraite community. On verso is an addendum. (Information in part from Goitein, Med Soc II, p. 435 (Appendix A, #174)) ASE

Accounts in Arabic script. There is also an addendum to the document on the recto. (Information in part from Goitein, Med Soc II, p. 435 (Appendix A, #174)) ASE

Karaite bill of ownership in Judeo Arabic dated Thursday 29th Shevat 5948 (1787)

Karaite bill of debt. Dated 5498 Era of creation (1737)

Legal queries regarding inheritance rendered in Hebrew verse.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic to two unknown addressees. Dated: Elul 1524 Seleucid = 1213 CE. The writer requests a rapid response "to that which was indicated." Goitein describes this document as an instruction by order of Avraham Maimonides to help a needy man. His handwritten edition includes the note 'in the handwriting of Avraham Maimonides,' l. 10. On verso a poem, probably by the hand of Moshe b. Levi Halevi (AA)

Letter from Avraham al-Tawrīzī to al-Shaykh al-Fakhr al-Skandarī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: No earlier than 15th century; mentions the currency ashrafī. Catalogued as 16th century. Mentions that Ibn al-Nābulsī arrived. Deals mainly with business matters. Mentions an amir and a duwaydar(?).

Letter to Eliyya Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ottoman-era. Recto consists of greetings. On verso the writer relates various types of bad news (violence, financial losses) inolving relations with the Rabbanites and with the local Ottoman rulers (al-Chelebi, Kaykhiya al-Basha/Kaykhiya al-Shāwīshīyya, Turjumān al-Bāsha). Needs examination

Letter from Dā'ūd b. Shuqayr, probably in the Levant, to his son Shemuel b. Dā'ūd b. Shuqayr, in Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Catalogued as 15th century. The letter mainly deals with business matters and greetings. The currency cited is the ashrafī. The addressee's mother has had some sort of pain in her breast (mawjūʿa bi-buzzihā. . . nazala lahā shay' fī buzzihā) for the last two months, ever since she gave birth, "and she is with the barber (muzayyin)," (for treatment?). Needs further examination.

Letter from Sulaymān al-Skandarī, in Damascus, to his brother-in-law Faraj Allāh Ibn Fāḍil and his wife (the writer's sister), in Cairo. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Unknown. He alludes to various business matters. He writes that he arrived safely in Damascus (and crosses out "Hama" which he originally wrote instead). Needs further examination.