Geniza Lab

Recto: Brief letter in Arabic script, very polite, asking the addressee not to delay something. Verso: Apparently a commentary on Daniel 1:4f, in both Arabic and Hebrew (FGP).

Letter in Arabic script. Fragment. There is one name in Hebrew script (אלמהראני); the addressee is called "my son" (yā waladī); and the writer mentions "when I left the country" (kharajtu min al-balad). Needs examination.

Letter fragment from Avraham, son of the Gaon. In a mixture of Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, and Arabic in Arabic script.

Legal testimony in Arabic script, in which someone declares that he longer owes any money to someone. One of the parties is named Abū l-Munā. Underneath, presumably witness signatures, Mevorakh b. Sar Shalom and Moshe b. Maṣliaḥ are written in Hebrew characters. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter to Moshe b. Nissim (or Moshe b. Labrāṭ?). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th or early 12th century. Fragment (left side of recto). The addressee is told to send a letter to Tinnīs. Mentions the boats (al-qawārib) which went to Abū Muḥammad, and news about what happened to the boats. The sender curses the addressees' enemies. Ends with a bialphabetic blessing: ורחמת אללה וبركات (wa-raḥmat Allāh wa-barakātuh). (Information in part from CUDL)

Autograph order in the hand of Avraham Maimonides. Mainly in Arabic script with some Hebrew script. Abū l-Majd is to give someone some money. Might mention a sick man (al-marīḍ). There's a word that looks like ḥammām, which might be a cipher for 5 dirhams. Written on verso of a letter presumably sent to Avraham (in the hand of Yehuda b. Ṭoviyya ha-Kohen?). T-S K25.240 consists of small written orders, partly in Hebrew and partly in Arabic script, for monthly payments, made out of the rent-revenue from the pious foundation (waqf) 'Compound of the Poor' or from the pious foundation made by the physician al-Muhadhdhab. All dated orders are from spring and summer, 1218. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 420-421, App. A 48-92; pp. 449-450, App. B 39b [dated 1210-1225]; Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, pp. 218-220)

Autograph order in the hand of Avraham Maimonides. In both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Abū l-Majd is to give a certain sum of money to somebody. Written on verso of a fragment of a letter that was addressed to Avraham. T-S K25.240 consists of small written orders, partly in Hebrew and partly in Arabic script, for monthly payments, made out of the rent-revenue from the pious foundation (waqf) 'Compound of the Poor' or from the pious foundation made by the physician al-Muhadhdhab. All dated orders are from spring and summer, 1218. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 420-421, App. A 48-92; pp. 449-450, App. B 39b [dated 1210-1225]; Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, pp. 218-220)

Probably a communal account for wheat distribution. Mainly in Arabic script, with some interspersed Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 12th or 13th century. Several women are named. Needs examination.

Petition addressed to a Jewish dignitary. Dating unknown. The document is mainly in Arabic script but interspersed with biblical quotations and phrases in Hebrew. The petitioner seems to have maintained himself by selling goods 'in a corner,' but he was driven out, perhaps by 'the brokers.' The addressee previously tried to help him, but his rivals (especially Abū l-Alāʾ Binyamin(?) and Abū l-Majd) continued to prevent him from exercising his trade. The request is similar to the request in BL Or. 5566B.19. Needs further examination. ASE

Complete note written in both Arabic script and in Judaeo-Arabic. Crude hand. Quite faded. Mentions honey. Needs examination for content.

Recto: Possibly the top of an official letter in Arabic script. Reused for jottings all over the margins in Arabic and Hebrew script. Verso: Bottom of a letter written in a combination of Hebrew and Arabic (in Arabic script). The portion preserved consists entirely of good wishes for the holiday and expressions of longing.

Commercial accounts in a mixture of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script (also Greek/Coptic numerals).

Letter in Arabic script, with a few words in Hebrew script. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century. Mentions al-shaykh Bū Zikrī in l. 2. Seems to mainly be giving instructions about business transactions. The Hebrew script ("38 or 37") probably indicates the price of a commodity. Further down, "the door of the maṭbakh" and "the maṭbakh" are mentioned, referring to a sugar refinery (the sale of sugar is mentioned in l. 3). On recto there is another text in Arabic script, which seems to be technical instructions of some kind, but needs examination.

Letter addressed to a dignitary named Yefet. Opens with Hebrew praises and wishes for a speedy recovery, then switches into Arabic (in Arabic script) for the body of the letter, which opens with a quotation from the Qaraite sage Yūsuf al-Baṣīr (fl. early 11th century). The continuation of the letter is lost. The Yefet in question may well be Ḥasan/Yefet b. Abī Saʿd Ibrāhīm al-Tustarī, on whom see further T-S 16.50, given the Qaraite content, the grand titles of the addressee, and the fact that he's called ḥemdat ha-nesiʾut (his father-in-law was the Qaraite nasi Ḥizqiyahu). This presumably dates from some time between his marriage ca. 1040–47 and his conversion to Islam ca. 1064. (Alan Elbaum and Marina Rustow)