Geniza Lab

Beginning of a letter sent by a certain Menashshe b. [...]. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Hebrew Bible (Psalms). Verso: letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in which a patient reports to his physician, describing his illness and asking for a prescription. Full translation by Goitein, Mediterranean Society, V, 105. "I[n Your name, O] M[erciful]. My lord, the chief physician Abu Rida. May your Excellency take notice that cold and heat have shaken me from Sunday until this hour. I cannot taste anything edible. Yesterday I rolled bread crumbs into two little balls, but after having eaten about a quarter ounce of bread, I hiccupped until midnight, and believed the hiccup would never stop. Then my soul desired a bit of fried cheese, but.... For three days more [the call of] nature has not come to me. Fever, headache, weakness, and shaking do not leave me all day long. Moreover, I cannot taste anything, not even lemon with sugar. I am also unable to give myself an enema. So, what do you prescribe for me? I drink very much water. May your well-being increase and never decrease. And Peace."

Letter requesting monetary assistance. Poetic Hebrew. 16th century (data from FGP).

Probably a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower left corner). Dating: looks ca. 13th–15th century. Mentions nuqra dirhams. With greetings at the end to a brother and uncle, Abū ʿImrān, al-Muwaffaq, and Munajjā. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 11th or 12th century. The sender conveys distress about the addressee's distance from his children and over someone's loss of prestige (kasr al-jāh). There are prayers that God shelter everyone. Mentions that "we have thrown ourselves upon...."

Letter in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (lower right corner). On behalf of a woman appealing for help of some kind. Mentions trustworthy neighbors and a testimony that should be made.

Fragment from the end of a letter, mentioning the currency dinar. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Berakha, the wife of Marwān b. Zikrī/Zekharya, to her brother Avraham b. Peraḥya Mahdawī (Ben Yiju). In Judaeo-Arabic. It is unclear if this was written before or after the family's migration from North African to Sicily. She mentions taking an oath in front of her husband (presumably one of the customary oaths of asceticism on behalf of a loved one on a dangerous voyage), but the next few words are damaged and need to be deciphered. It seems that her husband was not pleased; [lam] yarḍā lī baʿali bi-dhālika wa-jawwazahū lī wa-law ashhad fī dhālika l-ṣiyām.... She goes on to describe her loneliness and longing and weeping. The rest is missing. Not included in the India Book. (Information in part from CUDL, Amir Ashur, and Mordechai Akiva Friedman.) ASE

Letter from a man to his 'brother.' In Judaeo-Arabic, with rudimentary spellings. Discussing various small business transactions and travel. Mentions Ismāʿīl in a short postscript.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe Ibn al-Qaṭāʾif to one of his brothers. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper right corner of recto). The remaining text consists mostly of deferential greetings and statements of longing. (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment from the beginning of a short note or letter to a certain Shelomo. Quotes Psalms 41:2. (Information from CUDL)

Letters in Judaeo-Arabic. Recto is from a son to a father (in Fustat?), and verso seems to be from the father to the son (in Alexandria). Dating: Probably Mamluk-era. Recto mentions Yosef, Shūʿa and the currency dirham. (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment from the right part of a late letter. Only few words preserved in each line so the content is unclear.

Letter from a man to his brother. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Sunday, 13 Ḥeshvan 1529 Seleucid = 1217 CE. Might be in the handwriting of the cantor Meʾir b. Yakhin. Mentions: letters sent with Abū l-Majd b. Bū Manṣūr b. Dāʾūd; greetings to Bū l-Surūr the sender's cousin (ibn khāl), who should be informed that Munajjā al-ʿAṭṭār is doing terrible things (aʿmāl ʿaẓīma) with the money which he took for the sake of making him a turban; someone from Alexandria who said that he (Munajjā?) was in debt to Ibn Muʿammar al-Ghaniyy; and someone named Ṭāhir. At the bottom of verso there are jottings (pen trials?) in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script.

Fragment of a letter from Musa b. Abi al-Hayy, from Alexandria. Around 1060. Describes the situation in Alexandria that is not safe, and the influence on the ships movement, including the news about several ships that the “enemy” caught, the ship al-Tarajima is one of them. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #463) VMR

Letter sent to a Ḥaver in Minyat Ziftā by Shemuʾel b. Ḥananya. Also mentions [Abū] Zikrī b. Khalfa and Abū ʿAlī b. Barūkh. Letter starts with a quotation of Isaiah 12:2. (Information from CUDL)

Letter or letters in Ladino. The first is from Livorno, addressed to Shabbetay Palas (aka Alpalas) and Yosef Levi. Dated: 41st of the Omer, 5454 AM, which is 1694 CE. Mentions the surnames Aripol and de Curiel. Needs further examination.

Commercial letter, mentioning dinars and qirrāṭ. (Information from CUDL)