Geniza Lab

Unidentified small hand on recto and verso. On verso also a larger hand, which is probably part of a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: unidentified. Verso: opening of a short letter in Hebrew.

Probably from a letter mentions 'our Nagid'. AA

Much damaged small fragment from a top of a letter. AA

End of a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: beginning of a letter mentioning Abū ʿAlā. Verso: address in Arabic, mentioning Abū Saʿd. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: beginning of a letter. Verso: address in Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Letter. (Information from CUDL)

Minute fragment from a letter. The name Ishaq is mentioned. No more data is preserved. AA

Letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter to a doctor with his reply (CUDL). "Medical enquiry to a doctor with his reply. This document type is a responsa type dealing with a few questions sent by a man to his physician; the verso is the practitioner’s answer. The patient does not describe his medical problem, but asks about food (the amount of bread he can eat), drink and if he can go bathing. Most probably the doctor knew the patient and his medical problem, since he gave precise answers without asking for the symptoms. The doctor ends his reply with the phrase ‘ve-rofe holim yerape’kha’ (‘May He who heals the sick heal you!’) This short letter is informal, lacking honorary titles and names of both the sender and the recipient, as opposed to the previous document. Therefore this document can be considered a medical responsum between patient and physician. The drink that was recommended by the physician is, in fact, a recipe for medicine." Information from Amir Ashur and Efraim Lev. The handwriting of the physician looks like that of Yedutun ha-Levi (cf. L-G Misc. 99, T-S NS 305.115, and CUL Or.1080 J117v for evidence that Yedutun was a physician). ASE

Letter mentioning Abū Saʿd. Crossed out lines in a different hand contain names such as Abū l-Ḥasan. Probably some sort of list or accounts. (Information from CUDL)

Beginning of a letter sent by Daniel b. Yaʿīsh (?). (Information from CUDL)

Written in a mix of Arabic and Hebrew script. Possibly a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Small fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Almost none of the substance is preserved. The addressee is called 'my brother.' (Information in part from CUDL)

Small fragment from an Hebrew letter written in a beautiful square hand in ruled lines.AA

Recto: Letter in Hebrew. Dating: early 13th century, based on the mention of the Judge Anaṭoli in the penultimate line. The sender is apparently a Byzantine Jewish man. He married either a Christian woman or a Jewish woman who converted to Christianity (along with him? והלכ[ה] אחרי אלי נכר). Then he tried to persuade her to return to Judaism. She said, How can I leave here (Byzantium) and eat and live? He arranges to support her with four pounds (ליטרין) of bread and one pound (רטל) of meat each week. With this, she was supposed "to sit and to make Rūmī garments" (on such garments see Goitein, Med Soc IV, 191–92). The letter becomes more fragmentary around here; mentions a Jewish woman; a Christian man; someone quarreling a lot with the sender (probably his wife); Muslims; giving some people a bribe; and perhaps accusing a man of sleeping with his wife (וחטאת עמה). Then he went to the Judge Anaṭoli and confessed. (Information in part from Goitein's index card, Goitein, Med Soc IV, 236, note 82, and de Lange, Byzantium in the Cairo Genizah, 40.) This document has also been edited by Ze'ev Falk in Sinai 85 (1979), 147–48.

Fragment of a letter from an unknown person named Menashshe. The letter contains descriptions of adventures in the sea because of the stormy weather. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #834) VMR

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Little content preserved. (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment from the end of a letter. Writer instructs the addressee to write to Abū l-Maʿā[nī]. Also mentions a daughter of the addressee and young man who is like a son to the writer, who the addressee is supposed to take care of and set him up for work. (Information from CUDL)