Geniza Lab

List of donations (?) collected for the first four months of probably 5583 = 1822/23 CE. all the entries refer to "the little girl of X," X being Yaʿaqov Kohen, Binyamin Qodesh, Yaʿīsh Ḥaddād, David Naʿīm, and others.

From a book containing records of donations collected on the Shabbats of the first years of the 19th century.

List of donations collected on the week of Hayei Sarah (recto) and Toldot (verso), November 1803 CE (Heshvan 5564). Legible surnames of donors include Frances and Yuʿbaṣ. Needs further examination.

Document in Yiddish. Dated: 5637 AM, which is 1876/77 CE. Recto: This fragment is a page of the accounts book of the Bikur Holim [Visiting the Sick] Society of Cairo for the year 1876–77. The Yiddish text lists the expenses of the Society for the year, but the fragment does not include the actual amount for each item. These expenses include those for staffing (for the Jewess of the hospital, the sexton, Doctor Hess), for laundry and cleaning, for repairs and upkeep, for ink and paper, and for postal fees. It lists costs for sending patients to the hospital as well as expenses incurred for handling the deceased, including costs for candles placed beside the corpse, cost of guarding the corpse and of cleaning the hospital after a death. A few specific family names are listed, including Shpiglman, Herman, Hess and Perets. Place names listed include Warsaw and Keshenof [probably Kishinev] The ledger page is signed by Yosef Berkovitsh who held the accounts of the Society. The page is stamped with the official stamp of the Ashkenazi Bikur Holim Society, which reads (in Italian): Società Soc{c}orsale de{gl}i Am{m}alati {della Communità} Israelitica Tedesca in Cairo 1867. Verso: This Yiddish fragment is a list of accounts receivable from people who have paid or are owing payment. Amounts are listed in 4 columns but the column headings are missing so it is unclear what each figure represents. Only a few family names are listed, including Stoler, Eynbinder, Zoger, Kats, Shmikler, Avtsi. Most entries are only by personal name. The amounts listed seem to refer to dues [uncertain - using the abbreviation Kh”d], pledges, circumcisions, guarding [the infant prior to circumcision], weddings and being called to the Torah on Passover. Information kindly provided by Agnes Romer Segal, January 2021.

16 pages of calendrical writing with molad calculations for years in the 19th century.

12 pages of calendrical writing, with molad calculations and Islamic calendar conversions, for the first decade of the 19th century.

Half of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Meir b. Naʿim to David b. Naʿim, appears to be dated August 1823 (Elul 5583).

Writing exercises in Hebrew dated on verso 23 Iyyar [5]623 or 12 May 1863CE. The paper itself includes an internal line system which is reflective of production from the mid-nineteenth century. A portion of the phrase practiced includes "אם ילך כנימוס למחר". MCD.

4 pages. 3 of them are brief notes, along with accounts, signed and sealed by Anṭūn al-Wakīl aka Anṭūn ʿAbd al-Laṭīf to a certain muʿallim Yūsuf [Isḥāq? ʿAqqāq?]. The note on Page 3 seems to have been written by someone else. Dated 8 and 9 October 1821 (11 and 12 Muharram 1237). The format is the same as AIU XII.118, from 6 months earlier, and involving different people.

Recto: A brief note in Arabic addressed to David ben Naʿim and signed by [...] ʿUmar [...] Nāẓir al-Amwāl. There are also accounts/sums at the top of the page, naming Ḥasan al-Rashīdī as the party in some transaction, perhaps a rent (ujra) payment. The note is dated 7 April 1821 (4 Rajab 1236). The format is the same as AIU XII.106, from 6 months later, and involving different people. Verso: In Hebrew letters, presumably in the hand of David ben Naʿim or an assistant: "Ḥasan al-Rashidi" and "Rajab."

Leaf from the diwan of ʿAbd al-Ghaffār al-Akhras (1804–73), a Mosul-born poet who lived most of his life in Baghdad.

Legal document, ishhād, in Arabic, dated 1831 CE (18 Jumāda l-Awwal 1247 Hijri). Ibrāhim al-Yahūdī owes 700 Rūmī Kuruş and has to pay the Dīwān al-Maṣlaḥa at the end of the due date. The coin referenced in this document - قرش رومي, is likely a reference to an Ottoman Kuruş minted in the core imperial provinces such as Rumelia or Anadolu. "Rūmī" is a somewhat tricky term in the Ottoman period because– although it meant Roman or Byzantine throughout Antiquity-->Middle Ages –the Ottomans began to use it on a self-referential basis. This was to reference the mantle of the Roman Empire that they took on with the conquest of Istanbul and much of the Roman/Byzantine former territory. Needs further examination.

Writing exercises in Arabic, helpfully giving the date: September 1821 CE (Dhu l-Hijja 1237H)

Probably a receipt for a rent payment by Yashūʿ (?) al-Yahūdī for his store (? ḥānūt) in ḥārat al-yahūd, mentioning the date Dec 1832/Jan 1833 CE (Sha'ban 1248 Hijri).

Legal document in Arabic signed by three Muslim witnesses and dated 1823/4 CE (1239 Hijri). Merits further examination.

Legal document, late, running transaction sheet with (related?) sequential transactions, probably a bill or a receipt of goods and services. Mentions a wage - "ujra", probably the rent of transportation of the goods in rīyāl and the price of soap (ṣābūn). The document is dated. 23rd Dhu l-Qaʿda 1222 H. The name of the beneficiary is al-Khawāja Ibrāhīm ʿAdda al-Marājīnī (the coral merchant). See AIU XII.86 for another Arabic letter to the same recipient, from five years earlier. Merits further examination.

Letter in Arabic script, mentions a cloth (thawb) and the names of a few people. Needs further examination.

Letter in Arabic addressed to Ibrahim ʿAdda al-Marajini in Fustat/Cairo, from a certain Yusuf [...]. Dated 14 December 1802 (18 Sha'ban 1217). See AIU XII.82, another letter to the same recipient, from five years later. Needs further examination.

Letter in Arabic addressed to Muhammad Ḥasan al-ʿAttar in Fustat/Cairo, from a certain Hajj Muhammad ʿAthari (?) al-Attar. Appears to be dated 5 April 1809 (19 Safar 1224). The subject matter is business transactions the pair are conducting with Shimʿon Frances (well known from numerous Judaeo-Arabic letters, many involving his business partnership with Merkado Karo).

Marriage contract. Dated: Ḥeshvan 5570 AM, which is 1809 CE. Elegantly decorated capitals, calligraphic script. Groom: Yosef b. Yehuda b. Shemuel. Bride: [...] bt. Yaʿaqov b. David ארביט. Currency: gurush. Merits further examination.