Geniza Lab

Poetical opening of a letter to the Nagid Mevorakh (Mevorakh b. Saʿadya, 1079-1111 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Alchemical or medical recipe containing both organic and metal substances, followed by a short history of the Umayyad caliphate in Damascus written in Judaeo-Persian. Both texts are written in the same hand. On recto there are also 2 lines from the end of an Arabic legal document in large, calligraphic script. On parchment. (Information in part from CUDL)

A leaf folded once to create 2 pages. One contains a draft of a letter and a poem and the other a faded Arabic text. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: deed of partnership between Aaron b. Baqāʾ and a certain Saʿadya. Verso: jottings including the name Ezekiel b. Nathan. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Sason b. Shemuel to a notable named Elʿazar (or perhaps [...] b. Elʿazar). In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The sender alludes to his bad state and requests charity or help of some kind. There are a few lines in Arabic script on verso, perhaps part of the address. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Accounts, barely legible. Prices and commodities are mentioned. (Information from CUDL)

Letter, barely legible. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a group (קהלינו הכנסת) to a communal leader. No names are preserved, but the recipient is addressed in a very ebullient manner. The margin on verso contains Judaeo-Arabic text, possibly a sample opening or address of a letter in the same hand. Space is left for the name, so possibly it is a form of letter. (Information from CUDL)

Barely legible. Recto: fragment from a letter. Verso: possibly a list of contributors. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: commercial letter. Verso: letter from Abraham b. David b. Suḡmār, ca. 1055 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: letter, with rhymed opening, but no names preserved. The same hand continues on verso, though there are also small additional texts in Hebrew and Arabic script (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yūsuf b. Mūsā to a certain Abū Sulaymān. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 11th century. The addressee has a paternal cousin (ibn ʿamm) named Labrāṭ b. Daʾūd (maybe the Ibn Sughmār by the same name). There are several Geniza letters from Yūsuf b. Mūsā al-Tahertī, but the handwriting doesn't match, so the sender of this letter is probably a different person. In the opening greetings, the sender mentions his father Abū Yūsuf, Abū Zikrī, and Abū ʿUmar. He then reports on the price of wheat and the conditions of the country. The next section is about various business matters: mentions Yiṣḥaq Ibn Qayyūma, the cousin Labrāṭ, Almeria, yarn, and Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Regards to Abū Yaʿqūb Ibn Bazzāz, whose son is well and with his maternal uncle. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Fragment of a Maghribī business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th-century. The handwriting looks like that of Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tahertī. Mentions obtaining 'ḥashīsha' from the warehouse. Needs further examination. (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter from Nathan ha-Kohen b. Shemuʾel to Mubḥar b. Yefet. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a letter, mentioning debts. It probably addresses a community, since the plural address is used. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: fragment of a letter, mentioning a woman’s death, מתה וערסה על השלחן. Verso: letter of consolation, mentioning Safed. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: late letter prefaced by בס''ד and concluding with an elaborate (and illegible) signature. It politely addresses a friend, Jacob al-Tilimseni, (from Tlamcen, Algeria), asking him to come for Shavuʿot. It refers to ‘your brother, Abraham Cosalio (כושליו)’. Verso: address (upside-down in relation to recto) and a signed postscript, in which the recipient is exhorted to send money to Shemuʾel who is in Egypt. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower right corner). Asking a dignitary for help on behalf of a group of people, by loaning them money or sending them a small quantity of wheat or grain. Verso: Poetical Hebrew text, possibly intended for the beginning of a letter. At 180 degrees, a rhymed Arabic letter that consists entirely of flattery and good wishes ("may God guard your shoulders(?) and protect your middle and your flanks(?)"). Underneath there are some additional jottings in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script (al-raʾīs al-[...]). (Information in part from CUDL)

Halakhic treatise by Ḥananel b. Shemuʾel, concerning laws of divorce. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a merchant addressed at least in part to his mother ('wa-yā ummī'). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Perhaps 12th century. He complains about the wretched quality of his food and drink and sleep and how 'nobody suffers what I suffer from [long]ing.' He mentions the towns of Minya and Qūṣ and repeatedly mentions the price of wheat and bread. The mother should borrow the money she needs to purchase wheat, and he will pay it off when he can. (Information in part from CUDL)