Geniza Lab

Letter fragment addressed to [Abū] Zikrī (?) b. Ḥananel. The location of the addressee is named in the Arabic script portion of the address, but is tricky to read. Needs examination.

Small fragment of an unidentified letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions a serious illness (marḍa shadīda).

Letter of Madmun b. David, Aden, to Yiṣḥaq b. Sassun, Cairo, about the coercion of Aden jews to convert to Islam. Aden 1198.

Letter on the forced conversion of Yemenite Jews, but business as usual. Aden, August 1199.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions saffron.

Recto: Informal note in Arabic script. Needs examination. Verso: Informal note from Shelomo (probably Shelomo b. Eliyyahu) ordering several medicinal syrups from Abū Isḥāq to be given to the bearer: sharāb aṣīl, sharāb laymūn, sharāb ward (one ounce each) and also one ounce of water of borage (lisān thawr, 'oxtongue').

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. "The slave did what the master ordered, and my delay pains me."

Recto: Fragment of a letter from a group of people ("his slaves") to an unidentified dignitary. in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Verso: Accounts, probably, in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Yosef ha-Kohen, in Alexandria, to the well-known merchant Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: early to mid-12th century. Most of the substance of the letter is missing, but it opens (after the eloquent greetings) with a reference to the "inflation and famine" that occurred the previous year. Writing exercises have been added on verso. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: Document in Arabic script, probably a letter. Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment. Mentions business dealings, Qalyūb, and someone called al-Dimashqī.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment. Very faded. Mentions a certain Shemuel, an Arabic letter, and the jamāʿa.

Informal note from somebody to his mother. Probably a draft abandoned partway through. In Judaeo-Arabic.

Recto: rhymed letter in Hebrew. Verso: unidentified Judaeo-Arabic text (possibly a letter). (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment. Refers to the addressee as "adonenu" and mentions bibles (maṣāḥif).

Recto: Remnants of an Arabic-script document. Verso: Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic asking the addressee to do something because the writer cannot.

Informal notes in Judaeo-Arabic, one on each side. Neither note seems complete. Recto: inviting al-Shaykh al-Nafīs to "come out (perhaps from Fustat to the Rif) and enjoy yourself." Verso: Asking the writer's father to kindly obtain for him an ounce and a half of raw quince syrup.

no image available. According to Mosseri Catalogue this MS contains small notes in Arabic regarding ordering of drinks. AA

Letter from Barhun b. Yishaq al-Taharti, from Mahdiyya, to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1045. Nahray is probably in Alexandria. Nahray is sending goods to the Maghreb and selling goods that he receives from Barhun and vice versa, Barhun sells goods in the Maghreb and sends goods to Egypt. They both also buy goods. The writer mentions a business collaboration with Abu Nasr Hesed ha-Tustari and a partnership with Abu l-Qasim Abd al-Rahman in trading gems. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #377) VMR

Note to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. In Judaeo-Arabic with some Hebrew. Concerning the items that have gone missing from a female orphan’s inheritance (or possibly trousseau, qumāsh). The Nagid is urged to 'act in solidarity with her for the sake of Heaven.' (Information in part from CUDL)