Geniza Lab

Legal document. Various draft legal documents on recto and verso (possibly from a court notebook), including one completely crossed out. People mentioned include Menaḥem Ṣarfati b. Moses and Ḥanuna wife of Shemuʾel [..], Jacob ha-Levi b. Rahamim and Isaac Reuben b. Jacob. A commodity is mentioned (14 raṭls of sikilianus (שכילייאנוס)). Dated Kislev 5455 (= 1695 CE) in Egypt. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Shemuʾel to his father, David Conforte, in Ladino, which was then reused for a draft of a halakhic treatise on divorce. (Information from CUDL.) "There is little doubt that the recipient is the famous chronicler/historian David Conforte author of the Qoreh ha-Dorot. He was in Cairo in 1664 as a student and in 1671 as Rabbi. In the letter the son refers to this brother Gabriel Conforte and it was long since surmised that David had a son by the name of Gabriel. The son refers to other letters and to remmitances of money. He complains at length about the state of his financial affairs: ,ke no keda koza sin enpenar. Hayom debo aki en la civdad sobre toda mi kaveza 98 grosos no tengo por donde valerme a sakar nada. El dio por sus piadades mos remedie." Eleazar Gutwirth, "The Family in Judeo-Spanish Genizah Letters," 213–14. ASE.

Legal document concerning houses that are part of the estate of the deceased Abraham Castro. At the time of writing, Mordechai רקאק is renting one property, and Shemuʾel Ibn Yaḥyā rents another. The document also mentions the following individuals, who have a family connection to the estate of Abraham Castro: Jacob Castro he-Ḥakham, Isaac Castro, Joseph Saʿadya, and Esther the sister of Isaac. This document refers to several previous documents that were brought to the judges for authorisation. The first of these was dated Thursday 3rd Nisan 5402 (= 1642 CE), signed by Habib דנון and Moses [...]. The second document was dated 1643 CE, signed Moses Reuben the scribe, Isaac Castro and Judah [...]. The following judges approved the previous documents: Judah (?) b. Hezekiah ha-Kohen, Menaḥem ha-Kohen, and [...] Barukh, dated Monday 8th [...] 5416 (= 1656 CE) in Cairo. The document is signed by Shelomo b. Shemuʾel, Somekh ha-Kohen (scribe), and Shelomo b. Ezra (?). (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.)

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.)

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)

Partnership agreement from Fustat/Cairo, dated 1668 CE (״חכתה״ = 5428) between Yaʿaqov ha-Levi and a certain Yosef and a certain Refa'el.

Letter from R. Azarya Zeevi of Jerusalem to R. Yizhaq Castro in Egypt, 1640. Should be read together with AIU VII.D.102—same writer and same addressee. This letter contains a lengthy and convoluted account of the exchanges and transfers of a certain sum of money and how Azarya bested their enemy who had other designs on the money. There is a great wealth of information here about market values of different curencies. People mentioned: הר"י אפמאדו (also mentioned in the other letter, identity unknown, appears to be the same "enemy" alluded to at the beginning); הר״מ זגאן; Yaʿaqov Yaʿish; the writer's father Yisrael Binyamin Zeevi (d. 1688 after an illustrious career in Alexandria and Jerusalem); Zerahya Gota (from Istanbul, a student of Yosef de Trani. In the 1630s he was known as one of the sages of Jerusalem and Hebron. Later he lived in Rashid and then Fustat/Cairo); Yizhaq Baso; Eliyya Ovadya; Shelomo Barukh; Yaʿaqov Levi; Mordekhai Kohen; Azarya b. Vilisad (? וילייסיד), also mentioned in the other letter by Zeevi to Castro, a sage who moved from Istanbul to Jerusalem in the first half of the 17th century. As for the writer and addressee: Azarya Zeevi died after 1652 CE. He is mentioned by David Conforte, who knew him personally, in Qore ha-Dorot. He was the son-in-law of Shemuel Ibn Sid (=Shemuel Sidi?). He was among those taken captive by the Bedouin Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Farukh in 1625/6 (see Horvot Yerushalayim, printed in Venice in 1636). ENA 1846.3–4 is a letter that Azarya Zeevi later received from Avraham Yachini (the Sabbatean?) from Istanbul. Evr. II A 1804, an anonymous letter sent to a certain Moshe, mentions a "R. Azarya." Yiṣḥaq Castro: The son of the better-known R. Yaʿaqov Castro. Conforte wrote about him too in Qore ha-Dorot. He is later mentioned in a legal document in the year 1650/1 CE in BL OR5561.b14. Denominations mentioned: sharifis (=ashrafis from the mid 15th century); arayot (=European coins used in the east, Löwenthaler in German); ibrahimis (=coins minted by Avraham Castro in the first half of the 16th century); gerushim (=sometimes identical with arayot, sometimes identical with reales, apparently); zecchinos (Venetian sequins); and reales (Iberian coins from the 14th century); muayyadis (Ottoman coin named after the Mamluk sultan al-Muayyad Shaykh, current in the 15th and 16th centuries). Information entirely from Avraham David's transcription and footnotes.

Legal document from Jerusalem dated 417 according to ‘Pereq the lesser’ (= 1657 CE) concerning a disputed inheritance. Jacob Espadil (אישפדיל) made a statement before the court detailing how Kelaiah (כילייא), the wife of Isaac ʿOvadya, kept back some of the inheritance from her late sister Oro (אורו), widow of Shelomo Pesante (פיזאנטי), which had been left to the orphan Judah (יאודה). Words have been deleted and additions made between the lines and in the left-hand margin. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: A very formal letter (resembling a legal document or legal query) to an authority in Fustat, regarding the daughter of [...] ha-Levi, known as Ghazāl, who is betrothed to Eliyya Marṭūb. A certain Moshe has been maligning the reputation of Eliyya's fiancee. The writers of the letter are very upset and wish the addressee to investigate the situation and to punish Moshe as necessary. Dated "vihi ka-zayiT hoDo" (Hosea 14:7), which likely means 1643/4 CE (5404). Verso: An account or donation list using western Arabic numerals. A Hayyim Vital appears, but the date excludes the famous one.

Late business/family letter in Hebrew from Shelomo Binyamin to his brother-in-law, also named Shelomo. He reports that ships from Messina and Ancona have arrived, but not yet the ship from Venice. He mentions several names: Avraham Palma, Yizhaq Fijo (? פיגֿו), Avraham Iskandarani, the writer's son Shem Tov, Yizhaq Castro (so this is probaby 17th century), the Hakham ha-Shalem and his son Shemuel, among others. This letter is mentioned several times in the publications of Abraham David. ASE.

Hebrew letter dated dated 1687/8 CE (5448), addressed to "the Judges," regarding business transactions. Contains several words in Ladino that are marked with two dots: vueltas, "perlas ʿim fojetas (?)," etc. Signed by Aharon b. Avraham ha-Kohen.