Geniza Lab

Short letter to Abū Naṣr, asking for money. Mentions the capitation tax. (Information from CUDL)

Letter, discussing matter concerning a shop and sends greetings to the addressee’s father. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment from a letter, mentioning the Nagid. The writer is asking not to be thrown to jail, but the letter is too damaged to contextualize. AA

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe Ibn al-Qaṭāʾif, to his brother Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (upper right corner of recto). Yefet's handwriting in this letter is better than usual. Refers to some seliḥot (cf. AIU VII.E.12). (Information in part from CUDL)

Official letter. In Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. The hand may be known. Wide space between the lines. Addressed to a community, and containing a recommendation (or appointment?) for the bearer ("no one is to oppose him... representing us... honor him and respect him... he is deserving of all good deeds..."). (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe Ibn al-Qaṭāʾif to one of his brothers. Fragment (upper right corner of recto). Very faded. Mentions sending something with 'al-zaqen.' Mentions 10 dirhams and 4 dirhams. (Information in part from CUDL)

Informal note from David to a certain Nasi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely early 13th century. The sender reports that he has met with one of the brothers of Abū l-Majd (likely Meʾir b. Yakhin, the secretary of Avraham Maimonides), who will send "it" to him. The sender emphasizes that he is diligently trying to accomplish "the thing he mentioned to our master (Sayyidnā)." (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from a certain Yisrael, in Jerusalem, to Avraham Castro (d. 1560), in Cairo. In Hebrew. Asking for charity and for his family of 8 individuals. (Information from A. David's edition via FGP.)

Recto: beginning of an Arabic letter. Verso: unidentified Hebrew script (possibly the address, the sender may be [...] b. Elishaʿ). (Information from CUDL)

Autograph letter from Maimonides to a judge. The addressee is asked to mediate between the bearer Abū l-Fakhr and his legal opponent Abū l-Maḥāsin. If he is unable to do that, he should at least make one of them take an oath that he has no property 'neither here nor anywhere else.' (Information from CUDL and Friedman, Dictionary, 75, 116–17, 141, 165.)

Tiny fragment. Only a few words are preserved. Wide space between the lines. Probably a letter recommending someone for charity.

Recto: Document in Arabic script. Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Only the upper right corner is preserved, containing a few words from the opening and a sizeable text block from the right margin. Mentions 2 months... al-rayyis... a house. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter mentioning names, such as Abū Zikrī and Sulaymān, towns, such as ʿAydāb, and commodities, such as musk. In the address on verso Judah ha-Kohen and Maḥrūz b. Jacob are mentioned. (Information from CUDL)

Letter mentioning the servants (ghilmān) of the amīr, going to Caesarea, and a Ḥaver. Also mentions "I sent him back to the Morning Breeze Inn" (funduq rīḥ al-ṣabāḥ). (Information in part from CUDL)

Drafts of the beginning of a letter addressed to Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi. Dating: Probably Ottoman-era. Includes the greeting "nawāfij al-misk bi-l-khitām" based on Quran 83:26 (cf. Yevr.-Arab. II 2362). (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: Letter addressed to Yefet b. Ḥayy the Judge (bet din ha-qavuaʿ). In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. 5 lines and part of the marginal text are preserved. This horizontal slip was subsequently cut up and re-glued to form a vertical slip for the sake of the document on verso. Verso: Letter from Yefet b. Ḥayy Saʿīd the judge. In Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. It is unclear if the addressee's name or any of the substance of the message is preserved. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from Ṣedaqa b. Shelomo to Shelomo b. Yosef ha-Kohen ha-Zariz (known from other documents ca. 1130s). In Judaeo-Arabic. Seems to be a letter certifying that a person is a legitimate agent for collecting a debt. (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: Hebrew letter. Verso: unidentified Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter fragment. Late. From Avraham b. Bunyām(?).