Geniza Lab

Letter from Salāma Ḥāmī, Jerusalem, to Yeshuʿa Ḥāmī, Fustat. Late. In Judaeo-Arabic. Needs examination.

Late family/business letter in Judaeo-Arabic in rudimentary handwriting addressed to 'my father.' Mentions Sulaymān Abū Asʿad in the opening line.

Letter fragment from Seʿadya Abū Saʿd to Shelomo (Sulaymān) אבוסטרה(?). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, probably no earlier than 15th century. Most of the content of the letter is torn off and missing, but at least one other name (Aharon רשורה?) is preserved. The writer's name is given both in the letter itself and in the seal imprint at the top.

Two fragments of a late letter in Judaeo-Arabic to Sulaymān Palias (?).

Two fragments of a late letter in Judaeo-Arabic to Sulaymān Palias (?).

Accounts with Arabic numerals. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Avraham Haman and Gavriel Hefez to Karo y Frances concerning business matters. Dated 168 (5568 of the Era of Creation = 1807 CE), and mentioning people including Nissim Minyani (מנייני). (Information from CUDL)

Letter of business from Avraham Haman and Gavriel Ḥefez (חפז) to Merkado Karo and Shim'on Frances, dated 1797 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Business letter to Karo y Frances from Nissim M[...], c. 1800 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Letter, late, in Judaeo-Arabic from Avraham [...] to Hayyim [...]. Needs further examination.

Letter from the Egyptian physician ʿAfīf b. Ezra, in Gaza (detained there en route from Cairo to Safed), to Shemuel b. Yequtiel al-Amshāṭī, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with a Hebrew opening. Dating: The beginning of the 16th century. The letter is a plea for help. ʿAfīf reports that Shemuel's letter arrived and was read aloud to the congregation of Gaza, which prayed for him (r19–22). He continues with an account of the illnesses afflicting his family members (r23–v1), all of which he has described in previous letters but has not received any response. "The family had been in the Mediterranean port for two months at the time of the writing of the letter, kept there by illness. The son was gravely ill {with bārida (chills) and sukūna (stupor?) and a nearly unstoppable nosebleed (ruʿāf mufraṭ)}. ʿAfīf says that he had sold everything, including his clothing, for the boy's treatment. The wife was confined to bed (marmiyya), unable to see, hear, or speak {"like a stone thrown on the ground"}. Seven times ʿAfīf cries out "Oh my lord Samuel," imploring him to answer this letter, which was preceded by others that had gone unanswered. Now he promises that this would be the last one, asking the addressee at the same time not to force him to send still another one, for writing such a letter was an ordeal, and finding a carrier for it almost impossible. {"Send me a response before I no longer have a response or need a further letter. O God, o God, o God, I have melted like a candle. 'My heart is become like wax; it is melted in mine inmost parts' (Psalms 22:15). . . . I cannot write a letter and send it but that my heart melts. . . . Every letter that I write is with great distress. I can barely find with whom to send it but that my heart gives out (yanqaṭīʿ) from walking."} ʿAfīf rejects with indignation the charge that he had brought this disaster upon himself (ʿamila bi-rūḥihi) by his own fault (probably by disregarding the warning that the family would be unable to make the journey). Practicing as a physician in Safed (which at that time began to assume its role as a major holy city) was done "for Heaven's sake." No doubt his inability to gain a livelihood in Cairo was another reason." (Goitein, Med Soc, V, p. 86, notes 196–203.) ʿAfīf additionally reports that the righteous R. Pereẓ died on the same journey. Apart from the implied request for direct financial aid, ʿAfīf asks Shemuel to stand security for his sister in Fustat, who is to sell off ʿAfīf's share in a family property that brings in two half-dirhems (muayyadis) per month. ʿAfīf wishes to return to Cairo, but does not have money for hiring a donkey. ʿAfīf b. Ezra (also known as Yosef the Egyptian), along with his traveling companion R. Pereẓ, also appears in F 1908.44XX, lines 70–94. Information from Goitein (note card and Med Soc V). ASE.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic using the currency corona, late.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Late. For each day of the week, lists the boats (qārib) belonging to different people (Muḥammad, Shihāb al-Dīn, Naṣr al-Dīn. . .) and commercial goods and numbers associated with them. Needs further examination.

Letters in Judaeo-Arabic. Late. Concerning family and business matters. One letter is probably the response to the other. Needs examination. Information from Baker/Polliack catalog.

Late letter addressed to Merkado Karo and Shim'on Frances. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 1807 CE. Information from Wagner, Linguistic Variety of Judaeo-Arabic, 24.

Recto: late note concerning financial matters. Verso: accounts.

Account in Judaeo-Arabic listing headings with days of the week and months that may date from the 15th-17th centuries (based on the paleography and number system). Coptic numerals are in use for designating weight-related figures which are referred to repeatedly with "וזן". The same accounting format contines on the verso. MCD.

Letter sent from Damietta to Khalīfa [...], in Fustat/Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic. Late.

Mercantile letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Moshe Bibas to Karo y Frances & Company, dated Av 1807 CE ([5]567). Mentioning Yiṣḥaq Carraso, Girgis the dyer, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān the money-changer, Ḥasan Āghā, and the writer's son Avraham. Mentioned in Wagner, Linguistic Variety of Judaeo-Arabic, p. 24.

Damaged list, probably contribution to the poor. Late.