Geniza Lab

Fragment of a letter referring to someone designated as 'the elevated presence.' Verso (B-4205-2) appears to contain the letter's conclusion and includes references to an official designated as commander of the troops (Amir al-Juyush), possibly the Armenian general and actual ruler of Egypt 1074-1094 (see Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, pp. 61-65).

Letter fragment, addressed to Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Thin strip from the middle. Mentions a ḥaver, and perhaps a wedding on a shabbat.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Very neat hand. The writer complains about something (having to wander abroad?) because he writes that he counts whatever it is as an atonement for his sins.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions an illness (maraḍ) and aṣḥābunā.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Narrating some letter exchange involving the writer's cousin (ibn ʿamm) and paternal uncle (ʿamm).

Recto: Letter from Yiṣḥaq de Curiel. In Ladino. Verso: sums.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Apparently describing a certain man's marital issue, but this is opaque. Needs examination.

Probably from a letter in late Hebrew. AA

Left part from a Hebrew letter dealing with people who desecrated Shabbat. Hebrew. AA

Begging letter in Hebrew addressed to the 'community of foreigners (loʿazim) from a widow with five children. Already a recipient of communal charity, the writer requests that the \'almoner\' (gabbae= gabbaʾei sedaqa) be given instructions to increase her allotment (tamid) owing to her children's needs. She complains that the children are hungry and cold, and requests that the addressees also give consideration to their clothing. Verso is blank. No date. (Information from Arnold Franklin and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, II, 102, 105, 543 note 27.)

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Abū l-Khayr; Faraj; ʿIwāḍ; some quarter-dinars (? rubāʿiyya); and perhaps a Taherti (last legible word of right margin). If the last is correct, the dating is 11th century.

Letter fragment addressed to some dignitary (rabbenu ha-rav). In Judaeo-Arabic. Only the flattering introduction is preserved.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Difficult to discern anything of substance. Mentions Abū l-Ḥasan; Mūsā b. [...]; children; someone who did or should clothe the writer; someone who concerns themselves with ashghāl al-yahūd. Possibly a letter of appeal for charity. Verso: There is also unidentified Arabic script.

Petition addressed to four brothers (?), the elders Abu al-Baqa, Abu al-Baha, Abu al-Faraj and Abu al-Karam, requesting charity. The supplicant, Harun, writes that he has not tasted bread in days and is emboldened to make his appeal because of the upcoming Jewish holiday. The name of one of the addressees, the shaykh Abu al-Karam, is written on the verso. The cipher at the top, in the small letters, probably is the abbreviation \'b-m\' for bism allah al-rahman al-rahim, found in other Geniza documents and in the Arabic fragments from Quseir al-Qadim published by Li Guo, Commerce, Culture and Community in a Red Sea Port in the Thirteenth Century: The Arabic Documents from Quseir; cf. M. Cohen, 'On the interplay of Arabic and Hebrew in Cairo Geniza Letters, in the R. P. Scheindlin Festschrift, note 19. Undated.

Strip from the right side of a letter, probably regarding business. Signed by Menashshe. AA

Promissory note ordering the delivery of fruit (including lemons, apples, and pomegranates) by the elder Abu al-Ḥasan to the bearer of the document. The verso contains seemingly unrelated jottings in Arabic script.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Mentioning somebody's property and whether certain items pertain to the qodesh.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning business matters. Surrounded by later writing in Arabic script, some of which may be magical: min nār al-[...] bi-l-Ḥayy al-Qayyūm . . . But needs further examination.

Note addressed to al-Talmid al-Jalīl. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer reports that exactly what a certain ḥaḍra knew would happen with Abū Saʿd and his divorcee has happened. Namely, Abū Saʿd had committed to paying his divorcee a certain sum of dirhams every week as maintenance payments. But now two weeks have passed, and he has not paid a penny. The addressee is to obtain the amount that Abū Saʿd owes for the last two weeks and to bring it with him. ASE.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Very faded.