Geniza Lab

Palimpsest. The earlier text is extremely faded; it is in Judaeo-Arabic and at least partially deals with recipes or prescriptions. The later text is also Judaeo-Arabic, in a late hand. It is an elaborate recipe/prescription followed by a magical invocation ("I bind you, O Maymūn. . . Ehyeh bar Ehyeh. . .") ASE.

Business letter. Dated: 12 Tamuz 5559 AM, which is 15 July 1799 CE. Dealing mainly with shipments of silk. Niether writer nor addressee are named.

Fragment of a late business letter in Judaeo-Arabic.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic mentioning Ḥafıẓ Aḥmad Pasha, Khiḍr Pasha, and māl al-sulṭān. There was probably once another page of the letter with its beginning. Needs further examination.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic ca.1800 CE from Nissim Masīs (?) to Karo y Frances & Co.

Two late letters in Judaeo-Arabic (original and response?). One is signed Yūsuf b. Qawwāl and the other Avraham Galianṣ (?). Needs further examination.

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, probably 18th or 19th century. Stating the amount of money to be paid to al-Khwāja Eliyyahu Lanyado.

Fragment (upper right corner) of a late letter in Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic to a certain Nissim and a certain Shalom Pinḥas. The writer is in some distress and perplexity and repeatedly mentions someone "who is a youth and his wife is a small girl." He also mentions arrangements for the orphans in general, and sums of money in Ashrafīs. Possibly connected to the legal document recto, possibly not. Needs further examination.

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, probably late. Possibly a join: ENA NS 39.21 + ENA NS 42.28.

Recto: Large fragment of a late (18th/19th c) business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Verso: A short note signed by Yisakhar Groso (?) and Yehuda b. (?) Nissim Masīs.

Fragment of a late letter in Judaeo-Arabic to a certain David M[...].

Eloquent late letter of appeal for charity with a Hebrew and Aramaic prologue and a Judaeo-Arabic body. The writer is Yiṣḥaq [. . .]

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, probably late. Possibly a join: ENA NS 39.21 + ENA NS 42.28.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic in a unique hand yet the paleography helps date the document to the 16th-19th centuries. Below the heading the unit of volume "ardab" or "irdab" appears and the first entry is entitled "אלמביע" indicating a sale of the accompanying items (whose quantity, weight, or prices are indicated in alphanumerical figures). For more information on this unit of volume, see Goitein's brief explanation (Goitein, Mediterranean Society I, 361) though it is crucial to note that this unit persisted beyond the medieval period and in Ottoman-era sources is often transliterated as "ardab" yet it indicates a significantly higher volume of liters per ardab (White, Climate of Rebellion, xv). The same accounting format appears on the document's verso. MCD.

Letter from Yaʿīsh b al-Kadīḥī(?) to Sālim b Yūsuf al-Jiyār(?). In Judaeo-Arabic with some Hebrew. Dating: 19th century. The writer asks the addressee to send him with the bearer of the letter the new issue of the jarīda (newspaper? magazine?) that has arrived from Jerusalem, and let him know how much it costs.

Letter from Avraham b. Shemuel ha-Levi, Jerusalem, to Nissim ha-Kohen Ṣefanya b. ʿOvadya ha-Kohen, Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 6 Kislev 5439 AM (בקשו ענוה), which is November 1678 CE. Both writer and addressee are Qaraites. This is a long letter; needs further examination.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 5575 AM, which is 1814/15 CE. There are various designs with circles on verso. Needs examination.

Letter from Shelomo [...], in Damietta (Kapotakia), to a certain Me'ir, in Fustat/Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Perhaps Tevet 5569(?) AM, which would be 1808/09 CE. Needs examination for content.

Business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Rabīʿ al-Awwal 981 AH = Av 5333 AM, which is 1573 CE.