Geniza Lab

Letter from a Byzantine woman named Irini and her sister Kali. In Hebrew. Written in a crude hand. "Come before... and if there is no intention to... come... and we will see... I adjure you by the Creator of All that you write with the [...].... From me, Irini, and my sister Kali." On verso: "...and your reward will be from heaven." Information in part from Outhwaite, "Byzantium and Byzantines in the Cairo Genizah." Dating: Perhaps early 11th century (AA).

Small and much damaged fragment, probably from the top of a letter. AA

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Very faded. Handwriting of Avraham Maimonides? About communal affairs, specifically a site of pilgrimage (ziyāra) that has fallen into disrepair (kharāb), in part because people have been building houses to live there. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe probably to one of his brothers. Fragment (lower left corner of recto). There are greetings for Ḥalfon's wife Sitt Naʿīm. Mentions business deals, including a sale of kohl. (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment from a letter with long introductory formulae in Hebrew. Mentions a certain Saʿd, son of the teacher. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter with introduction in Hebrew. Mentions commodities such as pepper. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment from a notebook with drafts (of a letter) and accounts. Mentions Ḥayyā [Yaḥyā] ha-Kohen ha-Melammed and Abū l-Ḥasan and measures such as qirrāṭ. (Information from CUDL)

Letter mentioning the elder Abū Sahl, Abū Zikrī, silk and linen. (Information from CUDL)

Letter to a certain Nathan. (Information from CUDL)

Letter sending greetings to a certain Isḥāq and to the wife and the mother of the addressee. (Information from CUDL)

Official or communal note. In Hebrew. Damaged and faded. "We further inform our master that... a man from the congregation of... the man... Yiṣḥaq b. Yosef, that he/it was sent... that his hand reach... to you... Amen." AA. ASE.

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Yehuda Ibn al-ʿAmmānī? The text is very faded. In the margin, there is an update on the health of the addressee's sister (she is doing well, presumably in the context of a recent illness). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: probably part of a letter in Arabic. Verso: letter dealing with payments, mentioning the elder Joseph al-Kohen. (Information from CUDL)

Minute fragment, probably from a top of a letter. AA

Blessings in Judaeo-Arabic, possibly from a letter.

Letter from ʿAmram ha-Mumḥe b. Ḥalfon ha-Ḥaver, who signs his name in the margin. In Hebrew. ʿAmram's son Moshe wrote T-S 16.252. Dating: probably 11th century. The word ʿAmram looks like it is followed by "ha-Kohen," but there is no "ha-Kohen" in his son's signature. Very little of the content of the letter is preserved beyond isolated words like וילך... האל... המאה... שמע.... AA. ASE.

Letter, beginning on verso, probably the end on recto. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Hebrew. Late. Small fragment. The sender heard that a certain woman 'went up' from somewhere to somewhere (שמעתי שעלתה הגברת...). The sender also departed from somewhere (מיום צאתי משער...). There are some poetical blessings. Not much else is preserved. AA. ASE.

Letter of appeal for charity. Fragment (upper part only). The op line is in Arabic script (the address?), and the rest in Judaeo-Arabic. The sender asks for two dirhams until after the Sabbath in order to buy bread and a medicinal syrup, for "nothing has entered his mouth."

Letter mentioning Abū Naṣr b. Isḥāq ha-Levi. (Information from CUDL)