Geniza Lab

Perhaps three letters of recommendation for Yaʿaqov b. Yehuda. The first was written in Istanbul and signed by Nissim Yaʿaqov [...]. The second is difficult to read; the writer's name may be Gavriel. The third was written by Hayyim David Hazzan, the Hakham Bashi of Jerusalem, 1861–69. His large blue seal in Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin characters is preserved next to his signature. Underneath one of the other two entries (it seems the second one) is a different Hakham Bashi seal in Arabic and Hebrew characters. The date is 1864 according to the Worman catalog. ASE.

Legal document in which Moshe Ḥakim (חכים) receives money from Jacob, to invest in his business. Dated 15 Ḥeshvan 5579 (= 1818 CE). Unsigned. (Information from CUDL)

Business letter in Ladino from Yehudah Fariente to Yehudah Gatenio, dated Kislev 167 (= 5567) of the Era of Creation (= 1807 CE). Mentions people including Shelomo Barukh, Abraham Crispin, Isaac de Quriel, Musṭafa and the writer’s wife Palonba. (Information from CUDL)

Business letter dating to around 1800 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a woman named Raḥla Naʿmīṣ, dated Shevaṭ 162 (= 5562) of the Era of Creation (= 1802 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Recto: letter of recommendation from Jerusalem to all cities on behalf of Shabbetay Karira b. Raphael (שבתי כרירא בן רפאל), dated Adar 5596 (= ca. 1836 CE). Signed at the foot of the page with 6 elaborate signatures. Verso: an addition to the letter, with one elaborate signature, dated 1837 CE. Information from CUDL.

Recto: note from Khalīfa Ḥasan. Verso: letter by Meʿir Naʿīm (cf. CUL Or.1080.4.40) to Khalīfa Ḥasan concerning business matters. 18th-19th century. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document from Egypt, dated 5562 (= 1802 CE), concerning Isaac Mizraḥi. (Information from CUDL)

Document in Arabic script. Appears to be dated 28 Rajab 123[.] = 1814–24 CE. Needs examination.

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.

Letter addressed to Yaʿaqov Cassuto. In Ladino. Dated: 14 Kislev 5651, which is 26 November 1890 CE. On verso is a fragment of a printed form in German.

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.

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.

Letters of recommendation for an unnamed man, drawn up by the Sephardic community of Vienna in 1861. This man was from Mosul (Nineveh) and brought with him his own letters of recommendation, for which this is a replacement. He suffers from poverty and illness, and he was robbed in his lodging when he entered the borders of Hungary. There are three different notes sharing the page; the first two urge all who meet him to extend charity to him. (The third note is somewhat obscure and needs further examination.) The first note is signed by Aharon b. Eliyyahu, Yehuda b. Yaʿaqov, and [...] b. Shimʿon. The second note was written by the Sephardic rabbi, Reuven Barukh (served 1846–74). He signed in Hebrew and Latin script, and stamped the document with his seal. ASE.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic, dated 1811/12 CE (5572), from Sayyid Aḥmad Abū l-ʿAṭā' to Avraham Ḥakīm & Co. It is followed by accounts and another note, signed, "from me, Yisrael Maṣliaḥ"—who li scribed the original letter as well. Verso contains more accounts and the address.

Accounts in Arabic dated June/July 1824 (Dhū l-Qaʿda 1239).

Judaeo-Arabic fragment in very rudimentary handwriting, naming sums of money held by various people (Dawud has 5.5 dinars, al-Shaykh Abū [...] has 1.75 dinars. . .). Likely 19th-century, since the first line says, "al-qiṭāra alladhī (!) dakhalat ilā l-Minya," and what would this mean if not a train?

Popular literature (nawādir) in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 19th century.

Sums on lined paper and in purple ink. Dating: Probably 19th century.

"Although the majority of the material preserved in the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection comes from the periods of Fatimid and Ayyubid rule in Egypt, it is not unusual to come across much earlier or much later material. The fragment T-S Misc.22.310, that was brought to my attention by my collegue Dr Amir Ashur, belongs clearly to the latter group: at the bottom of f. 2v it bears the date August 10th 1865 together with the signature of the petitioner, an Italian subject, Jacub Dayyan. The fragment is a large paper bifolium and each of its leaves was folded in two on its width, thus dividing the writable surface into eight columns. Four columns are filled with the Italian text of the petition in a large, elegant and very slanted handwriting, which is easily legible; one and a half columns contain Arabic text, written in a seemingly clear – yet actually quite impenetrable – script, which appears to be an abridged version of the Italian document. The petition is addressed to the Illustrissimo Signor Cavaliere Licurgo Macciò Regio Console d’Italia in Cairo, the Royal Italian consul in Cairo, and it deals with a private matter, the subtraction, detention and exploitation of a pair of cows belonging to the petitioner, Jacub Dayyan, by an administrator of His Excellence Ibrahim Bey." Gabriele Ferrario, Fragment of the Month, March 2011.