Geniza Lab

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Reporting on Abū ʿImrān b. Abū l-[...] who stole six good orange trees (uṣūl nāranj min khiyār al-uṣūl) from a ruined small compound (duwyara kharāb) and replanted them in his own garden. The addressee's brother-in-law Ibrāhīm confronted him, and Abū ʿImrān and his cronies beat Ibrāhīm up nearly to death. Then one of them was dragged to the police station (al-shurṭa) and jailed and unspeakable things happened. The Jewish court or judge (bet din) then got involved. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards and Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 63, 77.) EMS. ASE.

Informal note from ʿAbd al-Karīm to R. Yosef . He asks the addressee to urgently send his grandmother ("the mother of Sutayta") for Shabbat, because the boy himself is sick (mā kān ṭayyib) and so is his father. The father had been carried home (maḥmūl) on a bed (?) on Wednesday. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) ASE.

Fragment (middle part) of a Judaeo-Arabic letter. The writer describes his woe and distress, and how he and his wife and children are perishing, but few specifics remain. He has some requests from the recipient (not money) and tells him not to tell anyone else about the writer's plight. ASE.

Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic letter, probably early 13th century. Topics include: the arrival of Hilāl and his maternal uncle; a dispute over 900 dirhams, leading to a legal testimony in which the writer and Abu l-'Ala and al-Mawla al-Najib and Rabbi Anatoli Shemuel and al-Shaykh al-Akram all signed; the arrival of Abu l-[...] who delivered something important; the 15th of Tammuz when Hilel/Hilāl arrived; [...] al-Hasid; "the matter of the sāqiyah"; the prices are stable, except the armies [...]; and "the Franks have no building" (?). ASE.

Upper part of a late letter in very colloquial Judaeo-Arabic. Dated "16 Shevat" with Arabic numerals. The addressee seems to be Yizhaq al-M[...] and the writer חומן דובשו (??). Mordekhai Kohen is also named in the opening section. The text mentions al-fallāḥīn, laylat al-ʿīd. Needs further examination. ASE.

Two unrelated fragments. Fol. 1: Fragment (upper right corner) of a mercantile letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: likely 12th century, and the hand is reminiscent of some of the India traders. Mentions a period of time, a boat, and pressing something for someone. Fol. 2: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic (list of expenses). AA

Letter fragment, possibly the address of a letter that is now lost. From [...] Nissim [...] to Abū l-Khayr Ḥananya (or Shaʿya?) b. Mevorakh. There are also sundry jottings in Hebrew script and Arabic script (one mentioning Hippocrates).

Letter fragment. In Arabic script. Mentions a waraqa that is to be sent.

Letter fragment. In Arabic script. Addressed to a 'son.' The names Ibrāhīm and Ismāʿīl appear in the address.

Letter or petition in Arabic script.

Letter in Arabic script from Abū ʿAlī(?) Yefet(?) b. Avraham Ibn al-Amshāṭī. Mentions going to Abū ʿAlī b. al-Dimyāṭī (=Yeḥezqel b. Netanel ha-Levi) and borrowing money. Only the beginning is preserved. ASE

Note in Arabic script. The addressee al-Muʿallim [...] is to give to the bearer a specified sum of silver. Dated, but the year is difficult to read. The name Isḥāq al-M[...] appears at the bottom. Needs examination.

Upper part of a letter addressed to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Ḥasan al-ʿAsqalānī, in Fustat. In Arabic script. Dating: Probably 11th or early 12th century. Probably a business letter. The upper margin of recto mentions that "there is a man from Damascus with Abū Saʿīd" and again mentions "to Damascus" in the final line. Needs further examination.

Verso: Note in Judaeo-Arabic. Asking the addressee to urgently deliver the שתייה, perhaps the equivalent of sharāb or medicinal syrup. There are also two lines of undeciphered Arabic script at 90 degrees.

Letter in Arabic script. Small fragment (upper right corner). Mentions al-rayyis Abū Saʿīd. Reused on recto for Hebrew poetry.

Recto: Letter of appeal. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the name of a woman who is 'cut off and my husband is absent.' Also mentions her son, 2 dirhams a month, and a ḥukm (a court case?). The scribe has a very distinctive אל; probably the same scribe who wrote Halper 466; see Penn catalog (https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0002/html/h466.html) and further references there. On verso there may be the remnants of a chancery document (just one or two enormous letters).

Letter fragment, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions ḍamān, "al-taqqaṣī wa-l-ijtihād" (finding something out diligently), a turban, and Abū Naṣr. On verso mentions half a dinar minus half a qirat.

Scribal exercises and copious jottings in Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. In the margin of verso there is the draft of an informal note in a hand reminiscent of Avraham Maimonides. It may even be signed אלממלוך ר אברהם but is very messy, so it is hard to say. A request from Fakhr al-Dawla Abū (Ibn?) al-Fakhr to help Abū Naṣr al-Kātib with the price of Nāṣiriyya silver and of gold.

Informal note addressed to Abū l-ʿAlāʾ. In Judaeo-Arabic. Andalusi hand. Asking him to "give the bearer everything that is mentioned in this letter." The sender is owed money by Abū l-M[...]. This letter is crossed out. In the same hand, on verso, there is a story about 10 (people?) who encountered a Bedouin in the streets who had a cow worth 100 dirhams and who may have tried to sell it for 8 dinars. This story is also crossed out.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Extremely faded. גהת אל . . . תכון תמנהם...