Geniza Lab

Letter from Abū l-Majd, in Qūṣ, to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal the judge, in Fustat. Mentions Egypt, Abū l-Riḍā, Ibn Ibrahim al-ʿArīf, Abū l-ʿAlā b. Ḥassūn, Abū l-Ḥasan and Abū l-Khayr. Dated: Wednesday, 23 Tammuz (1400+)145 = 1545 Seleucid, which is 21 June 1234 CE. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from an unknown parent to his or her son Manṣūr b. Faraj, in Fusṭāṭ. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer asks a female family member in the house, probably the writer’s wife, to cut short her visit and come back as soon as possible because the writer is all alone at home, and money is short, and "it is the season" (of diseases?). A wall has collapsed there and as a result the other inhabitants left and went to Minyat Zifta, Egypt. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late. Currencies: ashrafī. Mentioning various business matters and people including Judah and David Naḥmias and Ibn Hānī. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from an uncle to his niece containing a last warning to the woman to return to her husband. Letter in which the husband and the paternal uncle Abū l-Faraj try to persuade the addressee, a woman in the city, to join her husband in a small countryside town. The letter includes some threats—such as the wife being left as an abandoned woman if she disobeys—and instructions on how she should go about the move. Mentions Abū l-Ḥajjāj Ibn al-Ṭabīb (son of the doctor) and ‘the judge’ (possibly Elijah b. Zechariah, as handwriting looks similar to Solomon b. Elijah, who may have acted as a scribe). C. 13th century. (Information from CUDL.)

Recto: statement, dated 1466 of the Seleucid Era (= 1155 CE), concerning a debt which Saʿadya b. Judah owes to Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā the doctor al-Levi. Jottings in Arabic and Hebrew script in the margin. Verso: jottings and writing exercises in Arabic and Hebrew script. (Information from CUDL)

Copies of formularies for letters, by the head of the Babylonian academy (probably Saʿadya Gaʾon), who is residing in Baghdad. Contents include letters of greetings and thanks, a letter of condolence, a request for funds and instructions to send questions to the academy, and a detailed defence of the Rabbinic tradition against the Karaites. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Shemuel b. Khalīfa, in Damascus, to Yosef Abū l-[...], in Fustat/Cairo. In Hebrew. Dating: Perhaps ca. 17th century. Specifically Friday, Erev Rosh Ḥodesh Tammuz, but the year is not given. The sender complains about the lack of letters and asks for help retrieving a debt of 200 ducats from a Muslim—or rather it seems that they are trying to bribe an official (sar) with that money, who is supposed to intervene with the king about something. Mentions Moshe ha-Kohen. Moshe Ṣāyigh added a postscript in a different hand (right margin, upper text block), in which he greets the 'prince' (the same official from the main letter?) Moshe b. Aṭār (משה ן אטאר). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Two betrothal contracts. See individual records. The hand is very close to that of the clerk who wrote many of the letters of Yehoshua Maimonides (d. 1355); perhaps a coincidence, or perhaps he had a long life.

Recto: legal document in which Abraham Shami (שאמי) b. [...] Shelomo Abū l-Khayr b. Saʿadya affirms that the widow of Judah Abū l-Khayr owes money to Abraham. Dated 6th Sivan 5321 (= 1561 CE) in Egypt, and signed by Elijah b. David חברייה and Aaron b. Shelomo Yeshu[.]. Verso: brief horizontal and vertical notes. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a legal document dated Wednesday, 1st Adar II 5323 (= 1563 CE) in Rashid. Signed by Pinḥas b. Moses (descendent of) Janāḥ (גנאח) ha-Kohen, Yom Ṭov b. [...], [...]. (Information from CUDL)

Power of attorney (שטר הרשאה) from Rachel the widow of Eliezer Zussman to her son Moses Zussman. Dated Friday 2nd Eyar 5324 (= 1564 CE) in Jerusalem, and signed by Moses b. Jeremiah Shemuʾel and Abraham Levi b. Moses the scribe. (Information from CUDL)

Partnership agreement between Yom Ṭov אלאלוו and Ṣemaḥ b. David אלגג. Dated: Tuesday, 1 Shevaṭ 5329 AM, which is 1569 CE. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Written by the scribe Badusa (בדוסא) b. Asher. There are no signatures apart from that of the scribe. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. In Hebrew. Concerning a debt of 52 Venetian ducats (peraḥim) owed by Avraham Aripol (אריפול) to Yaʿaqov Castro (קשטרו). Dated: Monday, 20 Av 5348 AM, which is 1588 CE. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Written by Yosef b. Meʾir Somekh (סומך) ha-Kohen. At the foot of the page is a postscript in a different hand, signed Yom Ṭov Miṭrani (מטראני), confirming the document was approved by R. Beṣalel Ashkenazi (אשכנזי). (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Legal document in Hebrew. Unsigned. Mentioning the following individuals: Jacob Bonsenior (בונשיניור), Nissim Noah and his brother-in-law Raḥamim b. Avraham Noah. Nissim bought books for the other two men to sell to the Jewish community in Yemen. Jacob collected money for Ḥevron from the Jewish community in Yemen. Dated: First decade of Tammuz 5495 AM, which is 1735 CE. Verso: three legal drafts. The first is a list of names documenting marriages and dowries: Nissim b. Mordekhay Sevili (סבילי) betrothed Ḥabiba bt. Elʿazar ha-Kohen, dated 5496 AM (= 1736 CE). The second is part of a legal deed in which Avraham b. Moshe Levi דכאכני receives money from the woman Raḥma bt. Elʿazar תלגאס, to invest in his business. The third is a draft of a letter from the sage in Cairo to the sage in Jerusalem concerning Moshe ha-Kohen Ṣedaqa who is in conflict with his wife Miriam bt. Eliyya Shami. The Jerusalem sage is asked to ensure Moshe returns to Cairo and gives a geṭ to Miriam. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in which Shemuʾel Elyon receives money from Mercada (מרקאדה) bat Jacob Arubaṣ (ארובץ) to invest in his business. Dated Tammuz 5521 (= 1761 CE) in Cairo, and signed by Joseph Kondiote (קנדיוטי = the Cretian) and Meʾir b. Shelomo Qalaʿi (קלעי). (Information from CUDL)

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)

Legal document. Fragment (lower right corner). In Hebrew. involving Moshe, Mordechai, Reuven and Zikrī. Concerns something Abyssinian: בענין הביעה של הכרזה חבשייה ה[...]. Dated: 20 Iyyār 5320 AM, which is 1560 CE. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Witnessed by the scribe, Yosef b. Meʾir Somekh ha-Kohen, and signed by Aharon b. Re[uven]. (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal document concerning a partnership. Abraham Mosseri receives money from Nissim Shelomo Algazi, as previously agreed. Mentions the name Isaac Shunina. Witnessed by Ḥayyim ha-Levi, Joseph Yonah, Moses Mosseri, [...] b. Zechariah Mosseri (mentioned in the text as the brother of Abraham), and dated 1st Tevet 5508 of the Era of Creation (= 1747—8 CE) in Cairo. (Information from CUDL)

Records of three betrothal agreements. The first is a receipt dated Monday, first day of Pesaḥ, mentioning the groom Yaaqov Ḥanan b. Yosef Ḥanan and the bride Kaḥla bat David Jannāḥ. The second mentions the groom Efrayim Ḥakīm b. Elihu Ḥakīm and Suqar (?) bat Shemuʾel ha-Levi, dated Nisan 5577 of the Era of Creation (= 1817 CE) in Cairo. The third mentions the groom Menaḥem Wadish b. Shelomo, and the bride Miriam bat Elijah ʿAṭias. Efrayim Ḥakim acts as a representative of the bride. Dated: 5578 of the Era of Creation (= 1818 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Fragment from a legal document, probably from Fusṭāṭ, mentioning Shemuʾel b. Jacob. (Information from CUDL)