Geniza Lab

Legal document from Fusṭāṭ, apparently concerning the sale of meat (and its ritual purity); mentioning ‘our lord’ Nathaniel ha-Levi. Signed by various people including Moses b. Shelomo and Yaʿir b. Shemuʾel. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a legal document, dated the month of Shevat. Witnessed by Menashshe ha-Levi b. Abraham b. Aaron b. Shuʿayb, Manṣūr b. Shelomo b. Azhar, Elʿazar b. Yefet, Shemuʾel b. Isaac, Ṣedaqa b. Naḥman, Abraham b. [...], and Muḥsin b. Ḥusayn. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment from the beginning of a letter to a dignitary. In Hebrew for the introduction, Judaeo-Arabic for the body, and Arabic for the address on verso: from Yūsuf b. Khalaf to mawlāy al-ḥaver(?) al-jalīl. The upper margin of recto was reused for a Hebrew scribal exercise. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Fragment of a letter in Arabic script, probably a petition. The sender says that he (or less likely someone else) is unable to provide for himself (a trope of petitions) and presumably asks for assistance. In the margin is a draft of Bible commentary in Judaeo-Arabic, with biblical citations including Deuteronomy 33:2 and 18:18. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Ladino from the merchant Avraham Mayo to his father, probably from Alexandria to Fustat/Cairo, dealing with numerous business transactions and the arrival of a Venetian ship. Avraham reports that he received his father's letter stating that he had selected the saffron and sold two out of three fardos (sacks) of גֿידארי (possibly an Indian textile known as "gudari"; possibly the Turkish headgear "çidari"; the diacritical mark over the ג indicates that it is not simply a hard "g"). Avraham and his partner Sulaymān will purchase as much גֿידארי as they can find and send it. "Here, he and I are like brothers. Just so, you and Khuḍayyir should be like brothers. Always help him." Avraham then mentions five sacks of raisins. He then lists the goods he has sent to his father: (1) fifteen panes of lead marked "Mayo Kavakado"; (2) five espuertas (baskets) of lead oxide (מרדסינך, probably from the Persian "murda-sang"; thanks to Professor Daniel Sheffield for this identification), which bear the seal of Sulaymān; (3) and 107 "kedives" (?) of fine Istanbul iron, which he has sent in the company of Khuḍayyir. The lead cost 3 ducats, amounting to 32 Venetian ducats and 33 muayyadis. The lead oxide cost 100 ducats, amounting to 845 [. . .], and the iron cost 182 ducats, amounting to [...]. Avraham paid 37 muayyadis for the גֿירמה (from context: the warehouse? See verso, l. 21). He then reports how much it cost him to transport each good to Rashid, whence they were presumably transported to Fustat/Cairo. Avraham paid 29.5 Venetian ducats for the five sacks of raisins—it seems this is equivalent to 60 muayyadis per qintal—and he is pleased to have gotten the best raisins from the ship at such a good price. He paid 100 Venetian ducats and 100 coronas for the "mersa" (? מירסה) and asks his father to write quickly [if he wants any], because mersa is in high demand. He also purchased some more raisins, and five qintals of cheese (? קיסה) for 1 corona per qintal. Avraham asks his father to send him some of the capital, because he needs to put it to use "between now and Sukkot" during the mercantile season, otherwise "large groups like those that come from Venice" [will outcompete us? the sentence seems incomplete], and it is better for his father to live on his earnings rather than on the business capital ("el cavdal"). Avraham further reports that the [...] of the city died yesterday after two days of suffering from the plague. 'The young son of the teacher (al-muʿallim) is wounded. The Muslims ("moros") are fighting once again ("de nuevo se hieren").' Avraham then gives instructions for what Bunyal should buy on his behalf ("not lentils, but rather a piece of רוודי מתלוק"). Avraham asks his father to inform Yaʿaqov b. Ḥabīb that Moshe b. Hīnī arrived and told Avraham that he had abandoned the gum (la goma) in Rashid, because he could not find cameldrivers and because it was too heavy to transport any other way. He left the gum there in trust ("encomendado"), with enough money for cameldrivers and other expenses for it to be transported onward. "When it arrives, we will be diligent to sell it, do not have any preoccupation." Avraham must have taken a break, because the next thing he writes is, "The gum has arrived." He concludes the letter with kisses for his mother and for Yizhaq and for Nissim. In a first postscript, he asks his father to go and examine Khuḍayyir's sacks of raisins and see if any bear the sign of the anchor and [...], and to write to Avraham with this information. In the second postscript, he asks his father to send good, big, "Qaitbey" [...]s (coins minted under Qaitbey?) with either Ibn Ḥabīb or with Bunyal, whoever comes, and that he is to leave them for Avraham in the גֿירמאס. But if neither of them plan to come, then the goods should be sent with Shemuel Kohen, "and write to him that they belong to Raḥamim." The last line of the letter mentions a cryptic good (linen? firewood? לינו די סאפאר) and says "do not write his response" (?), perhaps because it is a sensitive matter. Date: Plausibly written in 1513/14 CE, based on (1) a reference to Yaʿaqov b. Ḥabīb, who may be identical with the famous author of the ʿAyn Yaʿaqov who died in 1516 CE, and (2) a reference to a plague victim, and (3) a known recurrence of the bubonic plague in Egypt in 1513/14. On the other hand, there is at least one other Yaʿaqov b. Ḥabīb in Geniza documents from the early 18th century (see AIU VII.D.104 and AIU VII.E.30). Then again, Moss. VII,16.2 is a fragment of a Hebrew document from 1544/5 CE centered on an Avraham, a Raḥamim, and the raisin trade. Information largely from Grace Masback's edition and translation in her Junior Paper, "Avraham Mayo’s Egypt in the Age of Exploration." ASE.

Fragment from the end of a contract, followed by a whole contract, both of which are between Avraham and Shalom and witnessed by the scribe Natan b. Avraham and Ḥayyim Ṭārīqa(?). The first contract, written during the Feast of Tabernacles 5304 (= 1544 CE) in Egypt, mentions the sum of 59.5 עתמאני (i.e. the Ottoman unit of currency). In the second contract, Shalom agrees to pay Abraham the same amount using gold peraḥim (ducat equivalents) from the coinage of Sultan Sulaymān. An exchange rate is given: every peraḥ is worth 59.5 ʿuthmānīs. (Information in part 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)

Fragment of a 16th-century letter from David Badūssī in Būlāq, who was a teacher in Jerusalem, to Abraham סורג, philanthropist in Egypt, seeking financial assistance. (Information from CUDL)

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

Letter from Moses גליפאפה, in Venice, to his teacher Shemuʾel ben Sīd, in Egypt. In Hebrew. Dating: Late 17th century (per CUDL) or early 17th century (per Avraham David, based on a potential reference to the same events in a pinqas entry from the community of Mantua dated 31 January 1616 CE). The letter concerns the ransoming of ten Jewish captives, some of whom were taken in Rome, who are being held in Palermo. Mentions Seʿadya Dārūqīs of Venice, Avraham of Egypt, and Refaʾel of Rome. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Collection of Geonic responsa, in the same hand as T-S 16.99, T-S G2.29, T-S 12.169, and T-S 16.310. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: part of a ketubba for [...] bat Yeshuʿa and [...] b. Shelomo. Date not preserved. Mentions Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen b. ʿA[…]. Witnesses are [Ḥal]fon ha-Levi b. Shelomo (who surround his signature with a motto), [...] b. Shelomo, Mevass[er], Abraham b. Meʾir ha-[...]. Verso: list of Arabic names and amounts (of money?). (Information from CUDL)

Report to the Fatimid chancery. In Arabic script. Dating: beginning of the 12th century, during the reign of al-Afḍal. Describing a battle against the Crusaders. This fragment reports on the strategies used by the army. On verso of T-S 16.114 and T-S 24.57 there is a Hebrew poetic eulogy; on verso of T-S AS 11.383 and T-S AS 146.195 there is the beginning of a letter draft in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from Khan and CUDL.)

Legal document. Record of release. Dated: August 9, 1077. Location: Alexandra. This release document, written in the Alexandria rabbinical court, concerns a partnership between Yosef b. Yoshiyya Ibn al-Dhahabī and Khalaf b. ʿIzrūn, which seems to have been canonized in an "Arabic document" in the hand of the latter. The document seems to have been the product of an Islamic court, as it "bear[s] testimony of non-Jews". The partners release each other from a number of possible partnership forms: the khulṭa, the shirka, and the muʿāmala. The partners also release each other from any qirāḍ later in the release clauses; this is certainly because of the linguistic relationship between qirāḍ and qarḍa (though qarḍa refers to a loan, not a partnership agreement). The partners also absolve each other from all oaths, including the ḥerem setam or "anonymous ban" (imposed by the Geonim as the "oath of partners" to prevent malfeasance). These partners likely worked together as partners for a number of years. In T-S 13J1.16, dated to 1066, Yosef appoints Khalaf his agent. It's possible that T-S 16.138 is a release from that agency relationship, but lines 18-19 suggest that the two parties later restructured their relationship and contracted as partners, from which the present document grants release. The signatories, Mawhūb the Ḥazzan b. Aharon the Ḥazzan and Shela b. Mevasser, are well-known members of the rabbinical court of Alexandria at the end of the eleventh century. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 131.) Join: Oded Zinger.

Recto: poetic letter in square script. Each line ends in the rhyme -let and is followed by a dot. Letters are extended to give a (mostly) neat left-hand margin. The final word of the last line is put in the middle of the page. No names preserved, but does address אדוני. Worman states that it was ‘sent by a son of Yehoshuaʿ the Ḥaver to Yehoshuaʿ’s brother’, but there is no trace of this in the fragment now. Verso: collection of halakhic rulings regarding marriage, which continues in the blank space under the letter on recto, overwriting the final word. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: part of a deed of sale in which Michal (מיכל) bat Yeshuʿa the dyer sells her female slave (Bidʿa ‘Innovation’, also called ‘Gazelle’) to Yaʿaqov b. Abraham b. ʿAllān (עלאן), an old and needy man to whom the Bet Din have given permission to keep a female slave, for 13 dinars. Also mentions the sons of Sahl b. Abraham b. Ezekiel and Abraham the orphan b. Naḥman (נחמאן). The date is not preserved. A faded note on verso mentions Yehoshuaʿ ha-Kohen, and does not appear to be related to the text on recto. (Information from CUDL)

Late letter in Ladino written to Shemuʾel b. Soshan, dated 1st of Ḥeshvan. (Information from CUDL)

Geʾonic responsa, including discussion of the laws of inheritance. (Information from CUDL)

Geʾonic responsa. (Information from CUDL)