Geniza Lab

Letter fragment, perhaps addressed to Maṣliaḥ Gaon ('rosh yeshivat Ga'on Yaʿaqov'). In Judaeo-Arabic. On verso is a text in Aramaic(?).

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dealing with business matters. Mentions goods such as quince (safarjal) and people such as al-Ḥazzān al-Gharbī.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Quite damaged. Mentions someone named Abū Isḥāq b. Maḥbūb.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer may be located in a Red Sea port like ʿAydhāb; he mentions Aden numerous times as well as the difficulties he would face in traveling to Fustat whether by land or water. Needs examination

Letter from a merchant. Around 1060. Regarding a disagreement, and both sides ask Labrat b. Moshe Ibn Sugmar from Mahadiya to decide between the parties. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #804) VMR

Letter fragment (bottom half) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. The entirety has to do with financial transactions and orders for materia medica. Moshe sent 24 dirhams with the bearer. Mahfuz is to get 10 dirhams and Moshe's maternal grandfather is to get 1 dirham ("and may he pray for me"). Then the addressee should pay off the price of the 2 3/4 ratls of rose water. With the remainder, he is to buy 10 sujrahs (? סגרה); mercury (זיבק); and green gallnuts (עפץ אכצר). He concludes by urging his family members to pray for him. ASE.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Calligraphic. The writer requests someone's urgent attendance in Cairo; mentions al-Shaykh Muwaffaq; mentions a tarsīm (fee for house arrest?).

Letter fragment in Hebrew. Little of the content remains. The entire remaining space of the fragment is filled with cryptic jottings in Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, and Arabic script. Needs examination.

Recto: Part of an Arabic letter very likely from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. He mentions Abu l-Surur and asks for something to be sent and says that al-Shaykh al-Ra’is thanks the addressee. From lines 5-10, he discusses the affair of Ibn al-Taffal (presumably identical with his nemesis Yefet b. Shelomo the physician known as ‘the son of the fuller’; cf. the other fragments tagged with ‘Ibn al-Taffal’). Moshe appears to be gloating over how Ibn al-Taffal had to leave Qalyub with his tail between his feet, but he is also anxious to hear the news of how Ibn al-Taffal has fared in Fustat, “as if I were present.” But the addressee is not to speak of the matter to other people. (Perhaps Moshe wrote this part of the letter in Arabic to make it harder for snoops to read?) Moshe had had a pair of shoes made for the addressee and sent them with the bearer; the price is 4 dirhams. He neglected some of his other work because he has had so many troubles recently. The remainder is obscure, and the transcription would benefit from further revisions. Verso The tail end of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, also by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, perhaps to the same addressee. It mostly consists of small commercial matters. He wants his garment to be given to his sister Fakhr. He asks about the wife of his paternal uncle. ASE.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Not a lot of content remains. On verso there are writing exercises of the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets.

Recto: Letter fragment in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Little of the content remains. Verso: Document in Arabic script; only a small, faded portion of the original document remains.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer reports on receiving authorization (al-ʿalāma) to collect the kharāj tax from the official in charge of estates (ʿāmil al-mawārīth). The number 15 (dinars) is mentioned, as are Abū l-Mufaḍḍal and the tax farmer (al-Ḍāmin) Ibn Ḥabīb. Information from FGP.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Abū l-Faraj b. al-Kallām (a man of the same name appears in the 1140s in T-S 10J17.22 and T-S NS J422), al-Shaykh al-Yesod (a man of the same title appears in many of Moshe b. Levi's letters ca.1190s), and Rabbenu Moshe. The writer seems to be impatient that the charity promised him by Rabbenu Moshe has not been forthcoming.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee is called 'my brother.' The content is not clear; mentions someone fearing death and mentions the capitation tax (jizya).

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions al-Ḥakīm Abū l-Barakāt and having received two letters containing matters of accursed magic (al-siḥr al-mayshūm). Regards to the writer's brother and mother and maternal aunt.

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The same scribe probably wrote ENA NS 69.20 and T-S AS 156.42, based on the handwriting similarity combined with the presence of the relatively uncommon blessing "min dār al-fanā' wa-l-shaqā' ilā dār al-naʿīm wa-l-baqā' (from the abode of perdition and woe to the abode of blessing and immortality)." In this letter he conveys his terrible distress ('the waters have reached the seat of breath') on account of imprisonment and lack and inability to buy food. He is evidently asking for money. Verso: Recipes in Arabic script. The first is for a laurel-based ophthalmic (ṣifat kuḥl al-sādhaj al-ḥāfiẓ) that strengthens the vision. The second is for a coolant (barūd) that the caliph al-Ma'mūn purportedly used to preserve health and strengthen eyesight. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, 1128. Sefaradi-influenced hand. See Hebrew description below.

Letter. Damaged fragment from a left part of a letter. Contains mostly regards to family members, but no names survived. Judeo Arabic. AA

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Rabbenu Elʿazar and "the matter of the children of Tamīm."

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Possibly 12th century. Rudimentary hand. Relates that there is violent domestic conflict between Hilāl and his wife. Mentions Ibn al-Labbān and [Abū?] Naṣr b. al-Sadīd.