Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, in a cursive Maghrebi hand. Damaged. Deals with sums of money. Yosef is mentioned. There are also references to the Sicilian cities of Māzar and al-Madīna (Palermo). Also mentions the departure of the qāʾid Ibn al-Thumna (d. 1062) from Palermo (וקד רחל בן אלתמנה ען אלמדינה). AA. ASE.

Letter from Avraham Karyo, Hayyim Moshe Pianti, Rahamim Shelomo ha-Levi, and a second Pianti, in Hebrew, recommending a certain poor man for charity. There is one line in Judaeo-Arabic on verso.

Complete letter in Ladino.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic on business matters.

Fragment of a letter in Ladino.

This is a fragment of a letter asking for assistance, possibly on behalf of a man and his dependents. The author mentions that the subjects of the letter are 'naked,' a commonly used description of poverty; for the significations of 'nakedness and hunger' in petitions on behalf of the poor in the Geniza see Mark Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, pp. 156- 158. The verso is blank.

Beginning of a letter of appeal by an individual named Makin who addresses his plea to an elder. The verso contains a much faded letter in a different hand.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic from a certain Yehudah [...] to Karo y Frances & Company, dated 1807 CE (17 Heshvan 5568).

Fragment of a letter in Ladino. The name of the addressee is preserved, something like: דוד וילייז לובושון.

Damaged late letter or draft of legal document. Ishaq Toledano is mentioned. AA

Fragment from the end of a letter by Abu Ali. On verso (should be recto) what seems to be the poetic opening verses of the letter. AA

Small fragment from a letter. The hand looks like Hillel b. Eli. AA.

Small fragment of a letter from Yosef b. Avraham, a merchant of Aden, to a certain Abū Saʿīd (likely Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi). Only the poetic opening (in Hebrew) and the address (in Arabic) are preserved. The wording of the address is similar to those of other letters sent from Yemen to India, so plausibly this letter could have been sent to Ḥalfon during his time there. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Draft of the beginning of a letter addressed to Eliyya de Suares. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 18 Av 5592 AM = 14 August 1832 CE. At the bottom of the page there are sums in eastern Arabic numerals. On verso there are jottings. AA. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (Iower left piece of recto). The content is unclear. Excerpts: "...his brothers, and he took one of the cloaks (milḥafa/malaḥif)... a deed from Muslim courts (? ḥijja ʾumot), and the matter is up to God the exalted... the animal driver (mukārī) and the sale of the lead (bayʿ al-raṣāṣ)... soon with an explanation of all this... to the knowledge of Rabbenu Yosef... al-Daryānī(?), I hope that... preoccupation... the sister of the judge sent... Yaḥyā(?) and did not give me anything, and there's nothing I can do... Yaʿaqov...." AA. ASE.

Letter addressed on the verso to a certain Abu Ibrahim Ishaq, dated in the month of Marheshvan (the rest of the date is missing), and mentioning equipment of a weaver's shop, including components of a loom. The author also conveys personal regards from Yeshu'a and Musa.

Address on the verso of JRL SeriesA 659-1, a letter to Abu Ibrahim Ishaq regarding weaving equipment and conveying greetings.

Letter expressing regret and perhaps dissatisfaction for failing to meet with the addressee, with whom the author intended to spend 'night and day', while they were both in Fustat. On the verso, JRL SeriesA 668-1, the addressee conveys greetings to a number of acquaintances, including an Abu Sulayman Dawwud and an Abu Ishaq b. al-Tuzi; the latter may be the same person who appears in a legal document dated in the middle of the 12th century, see T-S8J5, f. 15

Document containing blessings for the caliph al-Hafiz li-din Allah (1131-1149 CE). See also see T-S NS 110.26. (“Prayers from the Geniza for Fatimid Caliphs, the Head of Jerusalem Yeshiva, the Jewish community and the Local Congregation,'' in Studies in Judaica, Karaitica and Islamica, Presented to Leon Nemoy...Bar-Ilan University, 1982, 49-58) EMS. NB: This description corresponds to some other shelfmark.

Letter in which the author, who calls himself 'Mansur,' expresses his feelings of longing for the addressee and conveys greetings to him from a certain Mujawwid b. Siqillī and possibly others. The verso is blank.