Geniza Lab

Letter from Shemaryahu ha-Kohen b. Aharon. In Hebrew with the address (to Fustat, to mawlāy al-jalīl) in Arabic script. The letter proper ends with a signature and with the motto Brit Shalom. (Information in part from CUDL)

Qaraite deed of betrothal. Fiance: Jābir b. Azhar. Fiancee: Ḥusn bt. Ḥayyim b. Sahlawaya. The witnesses to the appointing of the bride’s agent - probably her father - were Elʿazar b. Menashshe and Natan b. […]. The groom is mistakenly referred to as Azhar b. Jābir at one point in the text. The date is lost but the bride’s father and grandfather are known from other documents from the early-to-mid 11th century, suggesting a date of ca. 1030s–1040s CE for this betrothal. The groom may be the same individual referred to in T-S 13J26.2, where he is described as a merchants’ representative in Tinnis. On verso there is a commentary on the creation of Adam and the notion of shame (possibly on Genesis 2:25), followed by a didactic teaching on ḥiddushim (innovative interpretations) and yediʿa (knowledge). (Information mainly from CUDL.)

Letter fragment (middle of recto, missing top and bottom), commerical. The writer spells הדה as האדי. Mentions Abu l-Munajja in the margin. ASE.

Letter fragment. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning the merchants who traverse the provinces (al-tujjār al-mujtāzīn bi-l-rīf). (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter fragment (bottom of recto, top of verso) in distinctive handwriting. Legible phrases: "on the day I enter the city"; "the bearer of this [letter]"; "speak well of them [takun lahum melitz yosher] to his excellency the Gaon may he live forever"; "tell me the news of the son of his maternal aunt"; "give my regards to my sister"; "I only wrote these lines while..." ASE.

Letter to Abū Saʿīd Nissim b. Nahray, probably sent by Nissim b. Ḥalfon. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document mentioning a ketubba and Abū l-Alā. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document dated Monday 14th Iyyar, about the gift of half a house that Umm Abū l-Bayān, wife of Abū l-Bakr b. Joseph, gave to her son Abū l-Baqā. Mentions the name [...] bint Abū l-Ḥasan. (Information from CUDL)

Letter mentioning the currency ashrafī. (Information from CUDL)

Accounts; list of names. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Official Arabic document. (Information from CUDL)

Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Narrating a series of distressing events (qalaq ʿaẓīm) involving Abū l-Barakāt and Abū l-ʿAlā', a khaṭṭ (signature?) and a sum of 3,000 dinars. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, mentioning the elder Avraham and 92 dinars. Verso: legal document in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli, mentioning a power of attorney and a certain Yehuda. (Information in part from CUDL.) See Wagner, E. "T-S AS 145.333: Keeping it in the family: the handwriting of Hillel and Ḥalfon." [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, September 2008]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.48226.

Recto: Legal document mentioning guardianship, R. Berakhot, and a deceased man. Verso: Legal document in a different hand mentioning capital and people such as Moshe, Abū l-Khayr, and Bū Isḥāq. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter fragment (bottom right corner of recto). Little of the substance remains. The sender is distressed about something, perhaps that the addressee has exerted himself for the sender's concerns. He wishes a happy ending and blessings on the addressee's son ("ha-beraḥ ha-naʿim" for "ha-peraḥ.")

Letter mentioning olive oil. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Shela b. Mevasser to Mevorakh b. Saʿadya. (Information from CUDL)

Letter addressed to ‘the dear brother’ Saʿīd, concerning various transactions. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: letter. Verso: Hebrew text with citations from several rabbinic sources, such as the Talmud. (Information from CUDL)