Geniza Lab

Lined piece of paper filled with Judaeo-Arabic letters or language from letters or formularies for letters (one contains "fulan" instead of names). The honorific khawaja is used. Needs further examination.

Late accounts in Arabic, probably Ottoman-era. The list starts with 'thaman' (price) or 'qabaḍ' (collected).

Ottoman-era accounts.

Ottoman-era accounts, might be Arabic but some words have Ottoman Turkish suffixes. Needs examination.

Letter in Ottoman Turkish addressed to Maʿallim Salmūn in Alexandria from Sulaymān Bostancı[?] dating from the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries. There is some damage to the sender's signature but if this reading of his title is correct, this may be a letter sent from Istanbul by a member of the Imperial Guard / Bostancı corps. This seems plausible given that the letter mentions at least four other members of the Ottoman military– Sinān Ağa, Qāsim Ağa, ʿİssa Ağa, and Meḥmed Aǧa. These state functionaries, are occasionally referenced as such i.e. "Sinān Ağa ṣaḥib-i devlet / protector of the state" (l. 8). One other business partner is mentioned in line four, a certain Maʿallam İsḥāk. Much of the letter's contents are related to payments and other correspondence between those referenced. The verso bears two ink stamps and an address on the upper fold, which suggests that this letter was likely sent and received by the recipient Muʿallim Salmūn. MCD.

Letter in Ottoman Turkish addressed to Salmūn who the sender Hafız Server Ağa addresses in the incipit as: "benim rūhum, mu’allam Salmūn" (my spirit, [the] learned Salmūn). The sender hopes that that the letter carrier, Murād, will be received favorably by Salmūn and confirms that he is a trustworthy in his services. Hafız Server Ağa also sends best wishes to Salmūn for the new year: "ve yeni sene mübarek olsun" (and may the new year be a blessing to you). The sender's title Server Ağa is a military title and "server" denotes a higher rank of "Chief Ağa" though it is unclear in which unit he served of the seven regiments of Ottoman Egypt. Given the terse tone of the letter it's possible it was bundled with other correspondence in an effort to introduce Salmūn to a new letter carrier than Hafız Server Ağa had used previously. MCD with information provided kindly by Dr. Özgen Felek.

Series of accounts, consisting mostly of numerical sums including two notes stating the accounts are for al-mu`alim ya`qub shalom al-yahudi. (FGP)

Fragment of a responsum dealing with a quarrel between 4 congregations in one town in Morea, Patras: the Romaniotes, two Sicilian, and the Castilian. The congregations mentioned here is the Castilian. A Greek rabbi from Patras excommunicated some of his rivals. In the middle of the 16th century the Romaniotes separated themselves from the other three and his leader ignored the decisions made by them. When R. Yosef Formon elected as the rabbi in Petras (between 1560-1570) he demanded that the Romaniotes will accept his ruling. It seems that the responsum was written by one of his supporters. For more information see Glick, Responsa of the Sages of the Ottoman Empire, III, 1153-1157 (info from FGP)