Geniza Lab

Ledger of expenses and incomes of the Mustaʿrib congregation of Cairo, 1588–1607 CE, discovered and analyzed by Dotan Arad. Some excerpts that were noted in previous PGP records: "On several occasions the notebook mentions that that Mustaʿrib heqdesh treasurer in Cairo relayed money to finance weddings in the qahal. For example, in the month of Elul 1593, the treasurer wrote the following in his notebook: “Furthermore, paid by [the beadle] Samuel Tājir to Mordechai Jamīla, the tawwāb (returnee to the faith) to help pay for his wedding 20 fiḍḍa, Tuesday, 10 Elul [5353]." "This interpretation of the term tawwāb is supported by another entry in the notebook written in 1600, noting 15 fiḍḍa that were given to support “a tawwāb converso (anūs)”. The arrival of Sephardi conversos in Egypt and their return to Judaism within a Muslim environment is documented as far back as 1459, a process which increased following the expulsion from Spain." Bibliography: Arad (2017) Welfare and Charity in a Sixteenth-Century Jewish Community in Egypt: A Study of Genizah Documents, Al-Masāq, 29:3, 258–72, no. 19.

List of names and books that mentions Rabbi Yiṣḥaq Berab (החכם יצחק בירב), Avraham Ashkenazi, Avraham b. Alashqar. The paleography of this source helps to estimate its dating as 16th/17th-century but it may be calculated more directly by tracing the lifetimes of the individuals mentioned. MCD.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew alphanumerical figures. At least one currency is listed as "בנדוק / bunduq", which is the Venetian gold ducat, and based on the paleography this fragment may date to the 16th-17th centuries or later. MCD.

Exemplars of epistolary style, headed א and ב (probably 16th or 17th century). (Information from CUDL)

Letter (16th–17th century). (Information from CUDL)

Part of the address from a letter to Shemuʾel b. Sid (probably 16th or 17th century). (Information from CUDL)

Recto: business letter from Abraham Monsun to David, in Egypt (16th–17th century). Verso: calculations, probably accounts. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in written in two different hands, with a postscript by ‘your brother’ Joseph Ṣarūr. Address on verso, possibly in the second hand, reads ‘to my brother ... Saʿadya ha-Levi known as Furaykh from me, David Beḥor’. Mentions people including Menaḥem and Abraham Zraḥiyya. C. 16th-17th century. (Information from CUDL)

Letter to Moshe b. Hini ‘the lesser’, mentioning business affairs and people including Abraham Leon (c. 17th century). (Information from CUDL)

Recto: fundraising letter from the leaders of the Jewish community in Hebron to the leaders of the Jewish community in Egypt (16th-17th century). Verso: jottings and the imprint of a seal in ink, bearing the name ‘Jacob [...]’. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document that is a late (16th-17th century) agreement between two businessmen, with a sigla preceding the legal text. It concerns the lending of a sum of money (60,600 medins) and arrangements for repaying the loan (העיסקא) in monthly installments. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a late legal document, c. 16th-17th century, from Egypt, concerning a property (אלקצר, ‘hall, ground-floor building’) in the quarter סוליימאן כ[א.]שה. The principal parties are Moses Abulafia (אבו אל[ע]אפיא), Jacob מטראטיל and Aaron Berav (בירב). The date is not preserved. (Information from CUDL)