Geniza Lab

Letter mentioning ‘his son the ḥaver’. (Information from CUDL)

Letter mentioning Abū Saʿīd, the writer’s nephew Abū l-Ḥasan and Abū l-Surūr. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Eli ha-Kohen b. Ezekiel, Jerusalem, to Eli ha-Kohen b.Hayyim, Fustat, ca. 1055.

Letter mentioning a ḥaver. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: probably a document. Verso: letter, mentioning Būṣīr. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212). Dealing with goods such as red antimony (rāsakht), perfumed cherry bark (qishr maḥlab), sour dough/yeast (khamīra), and rose water. Also mentions the name Ibn al-Mushanqiṣ. (Information in part from CUDL)

Minute fragment. On verso opening lined of a letter to Nahary (spelled נהריי). AA

Fragment of a letter of appeal for charity, from Jerusalem, complaining about the heavy taxation. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in the hand of Yefet b. Menashshe probably to one of his brothers. Fragment (lower left corner of recto). Mentions Armenian bole (ḥajar armanī) (cf. ENA NS 2.24) and mandrake root (luʿāb) (cf. ENA 2739.2). Also mentions: 3 dinars; Yemeni "sinn" (= aromatic wood? cf. ENA NS 21.7, r4 — interestingly, goods for Ibn al-Qatāʾif, probably Ḥalfon, are specifically mentioned in that letter). Regards to someone's wife and to Khiyār. (Information in part from CUDL)

Probably fragment from an opening of a letter.

Small fragment. Recto: Few words from opening of a vocalized letter to ‘our Nagid David’. Verso: letter, informing sayyidna about an halakhic issue. AA

Fragment (upper left corner) of a letter to Eliyyahu ha-Dayyan ha-Gadol.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, with a few words preserved from the Arabic-script address on verso. Mentions Menaḥem, someone whom the sender thinks is stingy (wa-qad raʾaytuh bakhīl) and a plan to pay or give something to R. Yaʿaqov the judge. "And if the other one says that he doesn't owe anything, we have no other choice except that which you see fit." The name of the sender may appear at the bottom, but it is damaged. At 90 degrees there are a few cryptic words in Arabic script (al-wayl ʿalayhim?). AA. ASE.

Few words from opening of a letter to our master and teacher ha-Haver.

Recto: Brief letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning small sums of money and transactions in materia medica. Verso: A few lines in Arabic script, undeciphered. Maybe commercial and related to the letter on recto.

Letter of recommendation for a needy widow with two children from Damascus who, on recommendation of a letter from the muqaddam of Ascalon, had received what the community of Bilbays was able to come up with. Now she and her two orphans are recommended to Yiṣḥaq b. Sasson, the Cairene member of Maimonides' court, for more help. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 503)

Recto: Small fragment from a Hebrew letter of appeal for assistance for a poor person. AA Verso: Small fragment of a letter in Hebrew, in a different hand (Yeḥiel b. Elyaqim?).

Small fragment from the bottom pf a letter asking for reply. AA

Letter mentioning names such as Abū Naṣr b. Hilāl, al-Dimashqī, Barakāt b. Sālim, Abū l-Faḍl b. Nath[an] and Musallam Ibn al-Naʿja. There seems to be an interlinear date, probably Tammuz 1465 of the Seleucid Era (= 1154 CE) (Information from CUDL)

Letter, only a few words remain.