Geniza Lab

Accounts in Hebrew and Ladino on dated alphanumerically on 1v and 7v as 5600AM (התר) which is 1839/1840CE. There is a large title on 1r possibly indicating that all 14 folios of this fragment, or at least this page, served as a "פנקס הכנסה והוצאה" (a register of income and expenses). In certain places the lists are organized by the weekly parsha readings of the liturgical calendar and then in other contexts the full calendar months are noted instead. On 1v there is a note in Judaeo-Spanish mentioning payment to a communal gabbay "me debe mi senyor padre 155 grushes a el anyo ke me izo de akhnasa [collection?] a el gabbay." The parsha reading system of recordkeeping is common across communal registers from earlier in the nineteenth century and in the eighteenth century. The register fragment is a rich source for tracing surnames, such as Beniste (1r), Cesana (1r, 2r), Franko (2r), Kaballero (2v), and others. A list of calculations on 7v has a peculiar entry "baqshīsh del kalsado de Kandia" ("a payment from the drunkard from Candia"). See Kohen and Kohen-Gordon's dictionary entry of Ladino for "kalsado". In the later folios, the content shifts away from entries about people's payments to inventory lists of goods such as: "asucar/sugar", "limon/lemon," portuqal/orange," "miliḥ/salt" (10v).Taken together, this register fragment represents one of the largest from the nineteenth century and holds a vast array data for further examination. MCD.

Accounts in Hebrew and Ladino.

Accounts. Two folios. In Hebrew and western Arabic numerals. At least two lines appear to contain Ladino as well (the line ending "672" on fol. 1v and the line ending "3248" on fol. 2v). There is also the stylized signature of Yehuda [...]. Dating: Late. Possibly (if the aforementioned line on fol. 1v is giving the date) Heshvan 5512 AM, which would be 1751 CE. But this is uncertain.

Letter in Ladino, reused for halakhic text.

Recto: geomantic designs consisting of series of horizontal dashes organised in groups of 4 lines each and laid out in two columns. At the end of the second column there are four lines in Ladino mentioning a Sabbatical year. Verso: jottings, including the name Abram. Information from CUDL.

The frontispiece and the first daf of the Sabbioneta Kiddushin (printed Elul 5313 = 1543 CE), under the rule of Vespesiano Gonzaga and in the Hebrew press by then owned by Tobias b. Eliezer Foa. Apart from intrinsic interest, there are several annotations on the frontispiece. At the top is a signature. Below is a short book list, naming twice a work by the מהרימ"ט = Joseph Trani (ca. 1569–1639), the book עדות ביהוסף, and תשובות הרא״ם = the responsa of Eliyyahu Mizrahi (ca. 1455–1526). Below the lovely illuminated capitals is an ownership note: הצעיר יצחק סורבונה (?). At the bottom adjacent to the printing information appears to be the name Thomas spelled according to its French pronunciation and given a typically Jewish honorific: כה״ר טומה. On verso, there is rudimentary alphabetical practice and a line in cursive Hebrew script, perhaps Ladino (לאש . . . אינטרא. . . .).

Letter from Daniel Cafsuto (aka Cassuto) and Shemuel Cafsuto (aka Cassuto) to a certain Saʿīd (or the son of Saʿīd), possibly Saʿīd Bardaʿ, in Fustat/Cairo. Daniel’s letter is in Ladino; Shemuel (Daniel’s brother or son?) used the space on the lower left for his own addendum in Hebrew. Dated: 15 Av 5473 AM, which is 1713 CE. The senders are relatively well-known: see BL OR 5544.13 and see Adonella Cedarmas, Per la cruna del mondo: Carlo Camucio e Moisé Vita Cafsuto, due pellegrini nella Terra Santa del Settecento, p. 294 (and references there). They may be writing from Safed (line 11), but this is not certain. Daniel offers congratulations on the birth of a son to a certain Moshe. He asks the addressee to be diligent in the matter of the 50 gurush. The addressee is to send the money to Damietta c/o Yosef Mugnani. The city of Damsīs is also mentioned. Other people involved are Yosef Pereṣ, Shelomo ʿAfīfī, Khalīfa, and a certain Felipe. Shemuel’s shorter letter opens with greetings to his dear sister (perhaps the addressee’s wife?), a rebuke for failing to write any letters ever since he had traveled and especially for failing to send any of the money owed (currency: reales). ASE

Letter in Ladino with interspersed Hebrew phrases. Dating: ca. 18th century? This is a letter of appeal for charity. There may not be any information to identify the sender or the addressee ("my noble and virtuous master"). The sender complains that he has no money to clothe his wife or children ("tengo mi mujer desnuda..."). (Information in part from http://www.investigacion.cchs.csic.es/judeo-arabe/sites/investigacion.cchs.csic.es.judeo-arabe/files/Genizah-Al-Andalus.pdf.)

Letter in Ladino regarding payment issues. Information from CUDL.

Letter from a certain Yiṣḥaq, in איל שובֿיש(?), to his 'brother' Eliyya b. Ḥayyim, in Egypt. In Ladino. The writer complains about having to be there and not being able to earn enough money to eat. Needs further examination.

Ladino letter reclaiming a debt signed Ḥayyim Abraham Boṭon s[iman] ṭ[ov]; Boṭon had lent the money in Argel; he owes money which he borrowed in Jerusalem. Information from http://www.investigacion.cchs.csic.es/judeo-arabe/sites/investigacion.cchs.csic.es.judeo-arabe/files/Genizah-Al-Andalus.pdf. The document is dated 1706 CE (8 Elul 5466).

Ladino letter.

Small fragment in Hebrew characters. Appears to be Ladino.

Trilingual dictionary of Hebrew, with Biblical examples and glosses in Ladino and Judaeo-Greek. Printed. An unicum, i.e., the only known copy of this book. Dating: 16th century, perhaps ca. 1557 CE. See detailed analysis in Julia Krivoruchko, "A Sixteenth-Century Trilingual Dictionary of Hebrew," Genizah Research Unit Fragment of the Month, January 2021 (https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/taylor-schechter-genizah-research-unit/fragment-month/fotm-2021/fragment).

Letter in Ladino from a family member to Avraham Shalom: "... Know as it pleases you that Esther married. May you marry your sons with greater advantage. May they never be orphans ... And more tears flowed from my eyes than from a fountain, for I found myself with no other relative or support then the Lord, blessed be He, and your brother-in-law, who did come. And you did not send me even two lines with him. Even if he did not call on you, you could have sent him two lines (for us) with those who come and go. You could have done so, not for me but for your sister who, saying 'Oh, to receive two lines from my brother!' is tearing out her heart and does nothing but cry from your lack of affection. Were it not for your aunt, who sent me what she sent me, I would not even have had enough for the dowry. May the blessed Lord repay her during the life of her son and her daughters what she did with this orphan of the Lord, may she have her repayment, may her sons have many sons and much good. Amen. Thus may it be willed before our Father who is in heaven. And I know that you are angry on account of the china (el sini)... greetings from myself, Khalifia Ajiman... and from your mother Doña Jamila, widow of the perfect scholar Rabbi Yom Tov Shalom, may his soul rest in Eden...." Address on reverse of the letter: To be delivered to the wise, exalted, honored and renowned Rabbi Avraham Shalom - may his light shine. Amen. So be His will. From Safed to Egypt (Cairo) and from there, the wise, exalted, honored and renowned Rabbi Yehuda Kastilas is to send it on to Alexandria." (Information in part from http://www.investigacion.cchs.csic.es/judeo-arabe/sites/investigacion.cchs.csic.es.judeo-arabe/files/Genizah-Al-Andalus.pdf.)

Fragment of a Ladino letter (left half).

Accounts in Ladino. Resembles T-S AS 153.80.

Bottom of a letter in Ladino from Damascus to Fustat, addressed to Yosef Pisho (?) the student of Yiṣḥaq Ashkenazi (very possibly Isaac Luria). The writer describes how he has wept day and night since their separation and "you know that the foreigner (el forastero), no matter how rich he may be undergoes hardships (por muncho rico que sea pasa fatigas)" He sends regards to several people: his sister, his brother Yosef, Moshe Rozal, el Hakham R. Hayyim Lavita and his wife, and to Doña Dona ("she of munyon" = the stump?) and to tell her that he was unable to pass on her message to R. Meir Cohen, because he is now in Sefat. He also mentions Masʿud Kohen and the brother of Yiṣḥaq.

Letter from Shelomo Ashkenazi. In Ladino. Probably 16th or 17th century. There is further description in the Columbia catalog: https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/11562509.

Accounts in Ladino.