Geniza Lab

Bill of exchange in the amount of 120 qirsh paid to Kẖawaja Mūsa Abū Hārūn – 25 October 1915CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 15) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 71). Another document connected to Kẖawaja Mūsa Abū Hārūn is listed with the same date (MIAC 211). It may be a duplicate of the same bill of exchange or a repeat entry in the MIAC catalogue. MCD.

Commercial letter from the owners of a commercial company in lumber to the Bar Būḥay Institute in the Jewish quarter – November 30 1945CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 150) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 69). MCD.

Bill to a company dealing in salt and sodium carbonate – 1932CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 152) – in French. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 70). MCD.

Receipt from the Yeshiva Ahava VeAhva – dated – July 10 1948CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 156) – in Arabic, French, and Hebrew. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 76). MCD.

Receipt from a synagogue of the Ashkenazi Jews in Cairo – 1943CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 158) – in Hebrew and French. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 69). MCD.

Letter reassuring the correspondent about the affairs of the family – 1935CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 159) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 58). MCD.

Receipt for a half-year subscription to the "The Weekly Sun" by the Ibn Yoḥay Institute – 24 March 1949CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 161) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 69). MCD.

Bill from midrashī Rabbi Shimʿon ben Yoḥay for receiving the funds toward books and such from a person named Albert Benyāmīn – 5 September 1948CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 162) – in Arabic and Hebrew. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 70). MCD.

Receipt from the association "H̱ayrāt Māzūn" specializing in the distribution of bread, for receiving two loaves – March 1956 – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 165) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 72). MCD.

Letter in Hebrew between brothers discussing the travel of the sender's son to Mandatory Palestine and request for sixty pounds (ששים פונט). Based on the mention of currency the letter was written pre-1949 under the British Mandate. There is also discussion of the sender's son-in-law who lacks professional training and is out of work, the letter sender hopes his daughter and son-in-law get a divorce. This letter is catalogued incorrectly in the MIAC catalogue as being in Judaeo-Arabic, which is not the case based on the scan offered in Ḥasan and Sarrāj, Al-Janiza wa-l-maʿābid al-Yahūdiyya fī Miṣr, 184-185. Date: 20th c. MCD.

Announcement on an important meeting of the Jewish communities of Egypt at the site of the Ismaʿīli Synagogue in Cairo, on the finances of the communities – May 19 1947CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 167) – in French. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 51). MCD.

Invitation from the union of Jewish religious institutions to the general public for the foundation of a cooperative enterprise for kosher meats – 25 April 1947CE – (number 17) – in Arabic and French translation. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 44). MCD.

Plenary meeting of the Jewish community in the Ismaʿilī Synagogue in Cairo on the opportunity for founding a company and kosher restaurant – April 25 1947CE – Hebrew- and French-language – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 17). (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 36). MCD.

Letter covering family matters – [dated June 29 1923] – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 170) – in Hebrew. (information translated from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 51). An original scan of the letter and Arabic translation of it appear in Al-Janiza wa-l-maʿābid al-Yahūdiyya fī Miṣr (pp. 190-194). The letter covers the inheritance of two brothers' shares in a piece of real estate (they are Sālim and Yaḥyā al-Sharfī. It refers frequently to a legal document (שטר) connected to the property that the two letter signers, David Barim[?] and Sālim b. Yosef Binyamin, are each confirming to have seen or currently maintain in their possession. Their statements at the end of the letter have a probative legal tone, for example: "אני הצעיר שכותב מכתב זה ראיתי השטר שהוא מאושר ומקויים שהקרקע כל[?] שני האכים". MCD.

Receipt from the committee of Jewish pious endowments in Egypt for the value of rent on a residence in the qodesh of the Jewish quarter whose total is 260 qirsh – 1 August 1924CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 175) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 68). MCD.

Letter reporting a donation to the Jews of Palestine, and the aforementioned currency is in the "Palestinian pound" – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 178) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 75). The mention of the Palestinian pound in this source helps to date this letter to post-1927 after the currency system was first established. MCD.

Appeal from a charitable organization for the marriage of poor women to the people of the community – 21 January 1943CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 18) – in Arabic and translated in Latin script. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 44). MCD.

Letter from a person in Jerusalem – 28 March 1920CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 183) – in Hebrew. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 61). MCD.

Personal letter of correspondence on the arrival of beer, zaʿatar, and the like – 27 Elul 1928CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 190) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 67). MCD.

Announcement from the Jewish association of charity and brotherhood to participating members in the funds of al-Kūrātšīyūt[?] paid in their contributions from the previous year – June 6 1939CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 191) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 66). MCD.