Geniza Lab

Tiny fragment from a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Recto mentions the name Abraham b. Mevorak, maybe a letter?. Verso: Vocabulary list tp Halakhot Gedolot

Letter from Yeḥiel b. Elyaqim to Moshe ha-Dayyan (Av) Bet Din. In Hebrew. He states that he has been brought to a 'a town on the edge of your territory' (Numbers 20:16) by a ship, against his will. He is in great distress. (Information from Ben Outhwaite, “Byzantines in the Cairo Genizah,” in Jewish Reception of Greek Bible Versions, ed. Nicholas de Lange, Julia Krivoruchko, and Cameron Boyd-Taylor.)

Letter in Arabic script. Approximately 9 lines are preserved. The tone is urgent (...جواب الكتاب سرعة فيالله عليك...). Needs examination for content. In the right margin is the Arabic alphabet. On verso there is a calendrical work in Hebrew, and in the the bottom left corner are remnants of 5 vertical lines in Arabic script, unidentified. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter fragment. In Arabic script. Mentions testimonies and a "father" (ḥaḍrat al-ab al-muḥtaram). Dated: 26 April 1791 CE (٢٦ شهر ابريلس ١٧٩١). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Coptic church document. The priest Yūsuf petitions the priest and apostolic representative Mattā for an exemption from the ruling against wearing a woolen hat (ṭāqiyya) during Mass, as his head and his eyes are susceptible to chills. There are two additional columns of text, which are at least somewhat related to the main petition (both refer to an ijāza/exemption; the first is signed by Mattā and dated 19 Hātūr 1509; the second is signed by [...] al-Nā'ib al-Rasūlī and dated 1510). The petition itself appears to be dated 1509, which might correspond to 1792/93 CE. These readings are somewhat tentative.

ff. 1r-2.r: unidentified document in Judaeo-Arabic mentioning the Harem of Muḥammad ʿĀli in the Citadel of Cairo, and a certain Jamīla. Some of the phrases on f. 1v are repeated on f. 2r. On f. 1r there are Judaeo-Arabic pen trials in the hand of the writer of the letter found on f. 2v. Fol. 2v is a letter in Hebrew written in a different hand, mentioning a certain Zuntanai and Joseph Pinto. (Information from CUDL)

Probably a fragment from a letter, but the leaf is mostly torn. AA

Letter fragment. "... the coming, at all, because she arrived in our absence ... and the people of Fustat (al-Misriin) treated her well, may God reward them... even the Rayyis and his wife and al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab...I was surprised that I did not receive a letter from you informing me of..." ASE.

Letter from Yitzhak ben Avraham (data from FGP by Abraham David)

Letter from Shemaʿya ha-Ḥaver, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1053. The writer informs that he is in Jerusalem and is praying for Nahray at the Temple Mount and the Olives Mountain. He asks to pass a letter to the banker Mevorah b.David. Also mentions Avraham ha-Ḥaver b. Amram. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 3, pp. 306-308, #519). VMR

Letter from Shelomo Mizraḥi or a female family member, in Alexandria, to Ibrāhīm/Brahim Aghion, in Cairo (Miṣr). In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in slightly broken French ("Monsier Brahim Aghion: si vous plez de le remettre tout de suite"). Dated: 20 Luglio 1885 CE. The letter is signed by Shelomo Mizraḥi, but the narrator of the letter seems to be a woman, as she uses feminine adjectives—perhaps she is Shelomo's sister. The relationship with the addressee is also confusing, because the sender refers to her "wālida" (mother) and "umm" (mother) as if they are different people. It seems that the "wālida," who is named סרינא, is actually the sender's paternal grandmother, and the addressee is her brother, which would explain why he is addressed as ʿamm (paternal uncle). In any case, everyone in the sender's household is sick (ʿayyān, ʿayyānīn). "The son of your sister" is swollen (wārim, manfūkh). "Your sister" is sick (ʿayyāna). The sender's mother (ummī) has swollen legs (rijlayhā wārimīn). The sender has a stomach ailment (ʿayyāna bi-miʿdatī). One man in the household was especially sick. The physician came to visit him twice every day. He remained bedbound for 22 days, but is now doing better. (There may be a rebuke here for the addressee, who failed to write and inquire about his health.) There may also be a couple lines of poetry (the part with long hyphens), but this needs examination. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Fragment from a letter or note. (Information from CUDL)

Letter to a notable. In Hebrew. Fragment (lower right corner). Written on the 39th of the ʿomer. Very little information preserved. On verso there is the Hebrew vidduy in the same hand as verso of T-S AS 116.164. AA. ASE.

Probably part of an address, mentioning the sender Shelomo, son of the judge Elijah. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: letter to Benjamin b. Qalyūsa (?) al-Ḡazwī with address on verso, mentioning Abū Saʿīd. Verso: reply to the first letter, sent to Simeon b. Ḥunayn by the aforementioned Benjamin (reply to the letter on recto); with address on recto. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter or drafts of letters and documents, mentioning the elder Abū Ṭāhir b. Abraham. (Information from CUDL)

Late letter, apparently written by a certain Ḏārā (?). (Information from CUDL)

Letter to the Nasi. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: document with a probable mention of al-Malīj. Verso: letter referring to ʿAmmār al-Sharābī. (Information from CUDL)