Geniza Lab

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Avraham Haman and Gavriel Hefez to Merkado Karo and Shimʿon Frances, of Karo y Frances & Company (see tags).

Late accounts of some kind, perhaps funds collected from different individuals and congregations. The trader Merkado Karo is mentioned, placing the date ca. 1800 CE (one of the lists is also headed "in the year 55[..]"). In the same list on verso, many of the synagogues of Cairo/Fustat are mentioned, including the Portuguese Synagogue (קק פורתוגיזס), the Turkish Synagogue (תורקייה), the Synagogue of the Egyptian Jews (מצריים), the Synagogue of [Yaʿaqov] Abū Shaʿrah (אבו שערה), the Capousi Synagogue (קאפוסי), and the Zamiro Synagogue (קק זמירו), presumably identical with the Radbaz = David ibn Abi Zimra Synagogue. For the location and other information on several of these synagogues, see R. J. H. Gottheil, "A Cairo Synagogue Eleventh Century Document", JQR XIX (1907), 467–539. There are several more mentioned here that are not named in the Gottheil article.

Fragment of a late letter in Judaeo-Arabic, probably ca.1800. Mentions Se. Yehiel and Se. Eliyyahu.

Recto: A faded letter (of three lines only) addressed to Ibrahim al-Yahudi al-Ḥawāyirī (?) from [...] al-ʿAṭṭār, either addressed to or written in Wikālat al-[...]. Verso, with the address on recto: Ibrahīm al-Yahūdī reused the original letter to send a letter to al-Ḥajj ʿAbd Rajw (?) regarding a business transaction. The addressee's location is given but tricky to read.

Arabic letter, with the format closely resembling the Judaeo-Arabic letters ca.1800 CE.

Arabic business letter sent from Istanbul (or written by someone named Constantine??), with the format closely resembling the Judaeo-Arabic letters ca.1800 CE. Needs further examination.

Image 1: The end of an account in Arabic, along with what might be a fragment of a legal document discussing buildings in ḥārat al-yahūd. Image 2: Blank except for some sums. Image 3: A column of nearly 40 names in Judaeo-Arabic (several from the Yuʿbaṣ family) along with a column of Arabic names, most or all of which are the equivalents of the names on right. Image 4: More of a legal-looking Arabic document discussing buildings.

Accounts in Ladino and Judaeo-Arabic that express figures in western Arabic numerals. Dated 19 Kislev [54]97 or less likely 55[97]– so 1736CE or 1836CE. Some of the entries begin with the Judeo-Arabic word "wuṣūl / ווצול" within the phrase "wuṣūl de" which could indicate incoming payments for example "wuṣūl de Abd Raḥman" (l. 18r). The entry furthest down along the lower border of the fragment also mentions Yosef Haggai ("יוספ חגאי"). MCD.

A curious late fragment in an uneven scribal hand and imperfect Hebrew. "I heard from the Rav Yeḥiel Adhan, from the inhabitants of Sale, that he went to Tetouan and found there a letter that had fallen into the hand (or was written in the hand?) of the Rav the divine kabbalist Yehuda ha-Levi ZHLH, and this is what is written exactly, letter by letter and word by word, just as I found it." The year 1784/5 CE (5545) is mentioned - perhaps this is the year Rav Yeḥiel found the letter - and then, "upon it is written in the following language, in the Holy Tongue, in letters of gold." The oracle reads "In the year 1820/1 (5581) there will be wars between the gentiles and the Roman Caesar. In the year 1829/30 (5590) there will be wars between three nations, Africa, A[na?]tolia, France. In the year 1830/31 (5591), the Afifo the Roman Rav, i.e., the Pope...." The fragment abruptly ends here. ASE.

Letter, late, in Judaeo-Arabic from Yosef Yaʿveṣ to Ya'aqov Yaʿveṣ (or Yuʿbaṣ?). Information from Wagner, Linguistic Variety of Judaeo-Arabic, 24.

Ketubba, illuminated, from Rashid, no earlier than 1740 CE (55[..]).

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic, from a certain Merkado [Karo?] to Yosef (?) Najjār in Fustat/Cairo. Needs examination.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic (dated, but confusingly) to Ḥayyim ha-Kohen and Ḥayyim Ṭaliṭ (?).

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Possibly recorded by a bookseller and, based on one type of coinage in use, the yüzlük ("יוזליס" l.3r), the document dates probably to the late-18th or 19th century (the Ottoman yüzlük was not minted until 1789CE). This dating is feasible as well because on the verso there is a letter cluster that may be alphanumerical indicating the year [5]558AM or roughly 1797-1798CE (l.14v). The heading on the recto relies on the term "teslim/תסלים" or "payment" in a manner that resonates with the general language of Ottoman-era monetary transactions (l.1-2). There are many other Ottoman imperial and international coinage types listed on the recto such as "funduqli" (l.11-12) and "riyalat taqa franji" (l.14), the latter may indicate Austrian thalers or Spanish reales (Raymond, Artisans et Commerçants au Caire au XVIIIe Siècle, 23). The verso offers another heading depicting a transaciton, but many names are listed throughout the remainder of the folio. Some names may be authors of printed books and/or bound manuscripts, among them: Moshe Altaras (l.6-7v) and Reʾuven b. David Bavli (l.21v). MCD.

Letterbook in Judaeo-Arabic (fragment) likely eighteenth- or nineteenth-century that contains drafts and possibly copies of business-related correspondence. The letters frequently use the phrase "יא אכי/ O my brother" which implies the possibility that this was business correspondence between brothers (l. 1v, 6v, 14v, 7-8r, 12r). On the recto, the same letter is practiced five times and discusses maritime trade in Beiruti silk where the coinage is silver reales. The spelling shifts between the instances of "אל רייס מחמד" and "אל ריס מחמד" (l. 5-6r, 11r, etc.) yet it seems possible that this could be referencing "the captain Muḥammed" of the maritime vessel "מרכב" mentioned in each draft (l. 2r, 8r, etc.). In the closing of each draft the phrase "נרסלהם לכם צוחבתו ושלום" appears which is drawing on the Ottoman Turkish "ṣohbet" or "friendly conversation" (l. 6r, 11r, etc.). On the verso, there is more evidence of drafting with the repeated phrase "בית אל קונסול וטאלבהם" (l. 3v, 8v, etc.) but the epistolary passages vary in length and content ("בית אל קונסול" is likely a reference to European consuls in the Ottoman empire). Date: 18th c or 19th c. MCD.

Letterbook in Judaeo-Arabic (fragment) likely eighteenth- or ninteenth-century that contains drafts and possibly copies of business-related correspondence. The letters frequently use the phrase "יא אכי/ O my brother" which implies the that this was business correspondence between brothers (l. 2r, 17r, 19r). In the first section, lines 9-10r echo the structure of the drafts in the join ENA 2716.10r and also the third section of the same page (l.26-31r) in ENA 2716.11. The latter section is repeated five times on the join ENA 2716.10r. Section two of ENA 2716.11 lists the coinage type "ריאל פראנסא" suggesting a silver coin of French origin (l.21r) and the unit of weight "אוקה" is in also use (l.24). On the verso a wide variety of quantities in various Ottoman coinage denominations are listed often with respective numerical quantities, for example: gold "maḥbūb Istanbuli" (l.11v) and silver kuruş (l.13). There is also reference to the "friendly conversation/ṣohbet" that will accompany the arrival of the letter carrier, Aḥmed al-Sharqawi "אחמד אל שרקווי" (l.17-18, 20-21). Date: 18th c or 19th c. MCD.

List of Judeo-Arabic accounts dated in the month of Ramaḍān with an abbreviated year "מו/46". Based on the script and paper preservation this fragment is perhaps eighteenth- or nineteenth-century so as a Hijri year this document may be [11]46AH (early 1734CE) or [12]46AH (early 1831CE). The accounts are listed under the first names Muḥammed, Mustafa, Hajj Utman (חג׳ עוטמאן), and Maḥmūd where both alphanumerical and word-based numbers are mentioned. The same format of listed accounts continues on the verso. Date: 18th c or 19th c. MCD.

List of alphanumerical "expenses / מצרופ" where the Ottoman silver "guruş / גרוש" may be in use. Unless "גרוש" is a shorthand for a European silver coin, the likelihood that it indicates Ottoman "guruş / גרוש" could help estimate this fragment as eighteenth- or nineteenth-century. The "guruş/kuruş" was not minted in the Ottoman empire until 1690CE or 1703CE (Pamuk, A Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire, 160). MCD.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic ca.1800 CE from Nissim Masīs (?) to Karo y Frances & Co.

Recto: Large fragment of a late (18th/19th c) business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Verso: A short note signed by Yisakhar Groso (?) and Yehuda b. (?) Nissim Masīs.