Geniza Lab

Letter from Meʾir ben Naʿim, in Fustat/Cairo, to his mother, in Damietta. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 12 Adar I 5562 AM, which is 1802 CE. He is distressed about contradictory messages in her previous correspondence: a letter of 28 Shevaṭ in the handwriting of Sh. Levi reached Yaʿaqov Abzaradel with the news that she was planning her return to Fustat/Cairo, "and we did not understand why." And then the messenger delivered a letter from her, in which she asked for the shroud, "and we did not know what to do." She should send word with Yehuda Mamon and/or Ḥayyim Barukh and his son Shelomo Barukh; and if she can find a good shroud in Damietta, she should buy it there and they will send her the cost. There is a column of itemized expenses on verso, adding up to 81, including items such as firewood, lemon, oven, yogurt, ful, and eggs.

Draft of a letter addressed to Moshe Yoʾav. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 18th or 19th century. The letter was abandoned halfway through the tenth line. The sender is responding to a rebuke in business matters, and he takes a hostile tone himself. He refers to "money of kefirut," which could either mean heresy or simply ingratitude.

Letter from Shelomo [...], in Damietta, to Shemuel ha-Levi, in Fustat/Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Friday, 29 Adar II 5559 AM, which is 5 April 1799 CE. Mentions other traders with the surname Burgos. Needs examination for content.

Letter from Moshe Yehoshuaʿ Ashkenazi, in Alexandria, to Alalas y Sahlon, in Cairo (spelled Cairro). Dated: Sunday, 21 Adar II 5480 AM, which is 1720 CE. In Ladino. There is a great deal about business transactions and trouble with the customs office, specifically with a certain accursed Jirjis. Commodities include linen or flax, coral, and kermes (a red dye). Moshe reports on the arrival of a ship from Marseilles bearing wool, raisins, paper, tin, and kermes, among other things. Moshe seems aggravated: "as there are other things to be doing, I will be brief" (ll. 29–30), and "I have carried out a thousand contrabands but have never had so much trouble as with this one" (in standardized Spanish spelling: mil contra bandos hice nunca me tomé tanto ṣaʿar como esto") (l. 33). See "Alpalas y Sahalon" tag for other documents from the same group. (Information from Grace Masback's Princeton senior thesis, April 2021.)

Late letter in Hebrew from [...] ben Naʿim to Yaʿaqov Molcho. A Yiṣḥaq ben Naʿim is mentioned in the letter. Needs further examination.

Short note in Judaeo-Arabic from Yaʿaqov Yuʿbaṣ (like AIU VII.F.68).

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Avraham Haman and Gavriel Hefez to Karo y Frances & Company (see tags). Dated 1796/7 CE (5557).

Late note from Yaʿaqov Yuʿbaṣ (like AIU VII.F.17).

A Hebrew note from a bookseller to a potential buyer, listing several books and giving final prices for them (in qurūsh). The books include "Zutah" (?) in two parts, Bereshit and Shemot, one printed in Amsterdam and the other in Livorno; Hemdat Yamim; Hoq le-Yisra'el; Yemin Moshe on the laws of shehitah (first edition was Mantua 1624, giving an earliest possible date for this fragment); the small Ayn Ya'aqov; Sha'arei Tzion; two chumashim and tehillim. The list concludes, "This is the final offer with nothing beneath it. If you wish, send the money and keep the books. If this is good in your eyes, how good, and if not, send the books and keep the money, because they [the books] belong to the orphans and widows."

Letter (fragment) of which only the bottom section of the body and marginal portion of the text remains. In l. 15r one S[eñor] Curiel is mentioned and on several occasions there is reference to Istanbul, for example: "the ships travel every day from Istanbul / אל מראכיב כול יום בסאפרו מין קוסטה" (l. 21-22r). Perhaps collectively indicating "Egypt" or, alternatively, "Cairo" the locational term "מציר" (l. 10r, 12r) is also in use, which although it does not reflect common Judeo-Arabic orthography may demonstrate influence of the Ottoman Turkish term "Misir." There is much discussion of prices rendered in eastern Arabic numerals and, for example, in "רייל דהבי" (l. 10r). In the margin's final line there is also mention of one S[eñor] Yisrael Silmon [?] "ס יסראל שילמון". The fragment's verso is blank. MCD.

Letter from Yehuda b. Salama, probably in Ṣahrajt, to a certain Abū Saʿīd, in Fustat. Dated: Elul 4808 AM, which is August 1048 CE. In Judaeo-Arabic. Gil identifies the writer based on his handwriting (and mentions that he had previously identified the scribe as Zekharya b. Gedalya b. ʿAyyāsh). The writer excuses himself for his late response on account of his illness (ll. 3–4), and he conveys sympathy for the addressee's illness (ll. 12–13). He expresses his worries because of the events in Qayrawān, as no information has arrived from there for seven and a half months. The addressee is about to travel to Ṣahrajt and the writer asks him to buy and bring an Ashkelonian cotton cloth. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #718.) VMR. ASE. NB: The text of the transcription below is backwards (left-to-right) and belongs to a different, unidentified fragment.

Fragment of a late letter in Judaeo-Arabic, probably ca.1800. Mentions Se. Yehiel and Se. Eliyyahu.

Probably an Arabic letter reused for jottings in Hebrew and Arabic.

Recto: At least two different drafts of late Arabic letters. Bottom of recto and verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic--lists of money received from various individua

Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic to Abu l-Ḥasan, sending money with the messenger and asking Abu l-Ḥasan to purchase hashish for the writer.

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. Calligraphic (chancery?) hand, but no wide space between the lines. 6 lines from the middle of the letter are preserved. The sender urges the addressee to look after his friend/colleague Sulaymān the khawlī (variously translated as intendant, gardener, overseer, irrigation expert). If Sulaymān wishes to go down to al-Kawm al-Aḥmar ("the red mound," a pharaonic site in Upper Egypt), then the addressee should assist him and make sure that he is honored. Whatever crops (ghulla) he asks for should be given to him.

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

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic headed by two Bible verses. The first ~10 lines are blessings for the addressee, evidently a communal official close to the head of the Jews ('Sayyidnā al-Rayyis'). The text is very faded and damaged; this fragment might have been used in a book binding. The sender says that he sent two prior letters with Mūsā al-Rakkāḍ (the itinerant merchant?). Mentions Baghdād, R. Yiṣḥaq, and "two hafṭaras (ifṭāratayn)" There are ~4 different text blocks on verso written in seemingly random directions, all of which seem to be continuations of the main letter on recto. One of them shows that the addressee is a Levi (blessings for all his children, ha-leviim).

Recto: Two lines of a Judaeo-Arabic letter perhaps to a community (al-jamāʿa al-sārra) with wide space between the lines. Verso: Literary work citing biblical verses.

Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic letter mentioning packages of paper and the writer's distress and confusion (al-inziʿāj. . . baqīt dhāhilan mutaḥayyiran. . .). Verso contains both Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic sections (in different hand than recto).