Geniza Lab

Recto: letter of recommendation from Jerusalem to all cities on behalf of Shabbetay Karira b. Raphael (שבתי כרירא בן רפאל), dated Adar 5596 (= ca. 1836 CE). Signed at the foot of the page with 6 elaborate signatures. Verso: an addition to the letter, with one elaborate signature, dated 1837 CE. Information from CUDL.

Letter to a certain Shemuʾel, in a Spanish hand. (Information from CUDL)

Letter, dated at bottom: Iyyar 293 (= 1293 Sel. = 982 CE). Although the leaf is quite large, it is so badly mutilated and rubbed that only the closing blessings (thus indicating it is a letter) are preserved. (Information from CUDL)

Letter written by [Joseph b.] Elʿazar in Palestine, mentioning various individuals including Abū l-Faraji, Elʿazar the doctor, Joseph the doctor, ʿAbd al-Karam, Sulayman b. ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, and David the Spaniard. The letter also refers to the house of Shemuʾel the prophet. Dated using the phrase ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם, of which the last word is dotted. This equates to 140, i.e. 5140 (= 1380 CE). Assaf (1944:190), however, suggests לי should also be dotted, giving a date 1420 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document: deed of release given by Rina bt. Yosef, widow of Maymūn b. Yaʿaqov al-Ghallāq (the locksmith), to her deceased husband’s brother, Yosef b. Yaʿaqov, to his sisters Malika (מלכה) and Fulfula (פלפלה/"Peppercorn"), and to Sahlān b. Avraham b. Sunbāt. Dated: Monday, 26 Nisan 1298 Seleucid (= 987 CE). Location: Fusṭāṭ. Witnessed by Fashshāt b. Shemuʾel, Baqāʾ b. Mevasser, Efrayim b. Ṣadoq, Efrayim b. ʿEli, Elʿazar ha-Levi b. Menaḥem, Efrayim b. Ḥabib, Abraham b. Saʿīd Kohen, Ibrahīm b. Zakariyyā; Hillel b. Ṣedaqa, Yaḥyā ha-Levi b. Abraham, Moses b. Ṣemaḥ ha-Kohen, and Aaron ha-Kohen b. Sar Shalom (?) (שר שאלם). On verso there are pen trials in various hands, including signatures and biblical phrases. The date Tevet 1397 (= 1085 CE) is written along with the names Mevorakh b. Mufarrij ha-Kohen (vocalised) and Ṣedaqa b. ʿAmram. (Information from CUDL)

Court record with several signatures, dated 1622, mentioning an appeal by several poor men who are imprisoned in iron chains. Signatures include those of Shemuʾel di Medina and Raphael b. [...] ha-Kohen. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a ketubba for Ratab (רתב) bat [...] b. Isaac ha-Kohen ha-Sar and Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen [b. ...]. Dated Marḥeshvan 1604 (= 1292 CE) in Fusṭāṭ. The names of witnesses are not preserved. Written under the jurisdiction of David b. Abraham Maimonides. There is a decorative heading in larger letters in which many of the letters are decorated with crude fleurs de lis. (Information from CUDL)

Bill of release written by Hillel b. ʿEli (1066–1108 CE). Location: Damascus. Names mentioned include: Avraham b. Yeshuʿa, Yehuda b. Moshe the Damascene cantor, Menashshe b. Yefet ha-Kohen, Shelomo b. Moshe, ʿUlla b. Yosef ha-Levi, Ḥalfon b. Yiṣḥaq, the scholar Levi b. Netanel the cantor, the Nasi David b. Daniel b. ʿAzarya, Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen, Yeshaʿya b. Menashshe, Yehuda b. Moshe the cantor, Shelomo b. Mevorakh he-Ḥaver, Mevorakh b. Natan ha-Kohen, Avraham b. Shemaʿya he-Ḥaver, Menashshe b. Sibāʿ ha-Levi, Wahb b. Yeshuʿa, Aharon b. Moshe, and Meshullam b. ʿEli ha-Kohen. At the bottom of the document Shelomo b. Yosef ha-Kohen signs ‘Shelomo ha-Kohen son of a Gaʾon … grandson of Shelomo Gaʾon, descendant of Aharon’, although his usual signature - Shelomo b. Yosef Av - was apparently meant to placate the son of his father’s rival to the gaonate, David b. Daniel, in whose court he participated. In this instance, however, Shelomo decided against his customary diplomatic signature and emphasized his father’s credentials. (Information from CUDL.)

Palimpsest, the upper script consisting of a collection of qerovot by Yannai from a 10th-century (?) maḥzor of his work. The under script is the New Testament (John 14:25-15:16) in Christian Palestinian Aramaic. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in which Mordechai ben Naʿim and David ben Naʿim settle the estate (particularly the terms of the ketubba) of the woman Ashkenaz, wife of David ben Naʿim, following her death. Signed by David ben Naʿim, and witnessed by Abraham Noah and Nissim Shelomo. Dated 1st Tammuz 5509 (= June 1749) in Egypt (Cairo). (Information from CUDL)

Recto: fundraising letter from the leaders of the Jewish community in Hebron to the leaders of the Jewish community in Egypt (16th-17th century). Verso: jottings and the imprint of a seal in ink, bearing the name ‘Jacob [...]’. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Ladino from Sidon from Joseph b. Joyya and Masʿūd Bunan to Abraham Monson and Judah Aseo in Cairo concerning community financial matters. Dated Nisan 5518 of the Era of Creation (= 1758 CE). Mentions Abraham del Bedere and Abraham Sagri. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: letter from Abraham Masʿūd, dealing with trade in silk and linen, and mentioning Elijah Saloniko (אליא שלונקו). Verso: accounts. (Information from CUDL)

Letter to the (male) writer’s paternal aunt, mentioning other relatives including Abū Manṣūr and Sitt al-Yumn, and cities such as Alexandria and Damascus. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document, probably some kind of testimony, signed by [...] b. Yefet, ʿOvadya b. Ṭahor and [...] b. Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen, followed by another legal document, probably related to the one above. (Information from CUDL)

Letter to Yaḥyā ha-Sar. In Judaeo-Arabic, with an elaborate opening in Hebrew. In the hand of one of the 13th-century Mosul Nasis? (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: part of a letter, c. 1039 CE, written by Abraham b. David b. Siḡmār, on behalf of the Jerusalemite congregation in Fusṭāṭ, to the Nagid Yaʿaqov b. ʿAmram, in Qayrawān, concerning the conflict between the Gaʾon Shelomo b. Judah, and his rival Nathan b. Abraham, and asking the Nagid, who had previously petitioned the Muslim official Abū l-Qāsim Ibn al-Ukhuwwa on Nathan’s behalf, to show his renewed support for the legitimate Gaʾon, Shelomo. The writer also mentions the arrival in Fusṭāṭ of the Nasi Daniel b. ʿAzariah, grandson of the Exilarch Shelomo, and his efforts to reform the conduct of the Egyptian Jewish communities in respect of owning female slaves and enjoying secular music. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Shelomo b. Ḥayyim b. Shelomo to Avraham ha-Sar b. Natan ‘the Seventh’. Dating: Ca. 1100 CE. Information from CUDL. There is a rhymed Hebrew introduction (~10 lines) and a Judaeo-Arabic body (~6 lines plus margins). The bulk of the letter is taken up with good wishes for the addressee's recovery from an illness. It briefly touches on financial dealings, e.g., the writer has obtained nearly 4 dinars of the money owed to the addressee by Ibn Shuwayʿ. The writer twice sends regards to the Nagid Mevorakh, urging Avraham to tell him of Shelomo's "iftiqād" (preoccupation/solicitude, especially during illness) for him. ASE.

Letter (draft) from Elḥanan b. Shemarya, in Fusṭāṭ, to the Babylonian congregation in Damascus, sending greetings as part of his efforts to raise funds for his school in Fusṭāṭ, adding that a new law forbids them from approaching the Caliph for assistance. The writer also mentions that his son-in-law drowned while away on a commercial voyage and his widowed daughter remains in Qayrawān, pregnant and impoverished. Verso: Letter, from Elḥanan b. Shemarya, in Fusṭāṭ, to three notables in the Jewish community in Damascus, Avraham, Shemuʾel ha-Kohen, and Efrayim, sending greetings, apparently as part of fundraising for his school in Fusṭāṭ. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a poorly preserved letter, written with widely-spaced lines in an elegant square hand and ornate language, probably the work of a Palestinian gaʾon. Perhaps a letter of recommendation for an emissary. (Information from CUDL)