Geniza Lab

Unidentified text, possibly a letter, quoting Job 1:21. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from the office of one of the later Maimonidean Nagids. There is an 'emet' header and the letter addresses itself to "the community" (al-jamāʿa). The subject matter is unclear. This is a small fragment from the upper right corner. (Information in part from CUDL)

Short letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in the handwriting of Abū Sahl Levi (d. 1211), in Fustat, to his son Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212), in Qalyūb. In Judaeo-Arabic. Abū Sahl has sent with 'the Rayyis' 3 pounds of Sinnārī cheese and 5 (pounds?) of white (cheese?) from Abū l-Majd al-Parnas. He asks for the price of something - a mantle (burda)? - because the garment mender (al-raffāʾ) has been demanding the money. Moshe's brother Abū Isḥāq is well. Abū Sahl plans to send the qandīl and marāwiḥ with Ṣāfī or with one of Moshe's brothers. On verso there is the completion of the letter and jottings of Greek/Coptic numerals. ASE

Probably a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: probably a letter; Arabic jottings in the margin. Verso: unidentified Arabic document and the name Ḥalfon b. Joseph in Hebrew letters. (Information from CUDL)

Probably a letter, mentioning the sale of wine. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Sadīd to an unidentified addressee. In Judaeo-Arabic, with a basmala in Arabic script. In a crude hand. Dating: Likely ca. 13th century. The sender has purchased flour. Also mentions sugar and sending things back and forth.(Information from CUDL)

Probably a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Unidentified text, probably a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter, possibly a responsum, mentioning David ha-Rav ha-Gadol. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic with one phrase in Arabic script (a formulaic blessing/prayer). Little of the substance of the letter is preserved. The sender expresses longing for a mother (al-wālida al-shafīqa). The sender left the addressee(s) in Rashīd and the following day entered somewhere and found [...]. On the other side, reused for a catena of biblical verses with the catchword Efrayim (Hosea 5:3; 12:1; 10:11; 11:9; 13:12; 4:17; 7:11; Jeremiah 31:8; 7:15; Isaiah 11:13). (Information in part from CUDL) Join: Marina Rustow, 9/29/22

Blessings in Hebrew, with a note on verso in Judaeo-Arabic, mentioning ‘eight days’. (Information from CUDL)

Letter. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: commercial letter with Arabic marginalia. Verso: Arabic commercial letter. (Information from CUDL)

Probably a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a letter referring to books (dafātir), mentioning Rabbenu Hai z”l, presumably Hai Gaʾon. (Information from CUDL)

This text is preserved in one very fragmentary folio, T-S AS 160.96. What survives indicates that it is about the midday calendar limit, whereby the New Year is postponed if the molad of Tishri occurs after midday. Babylonians and Palestinians are not explicitly mentioned, but the text contrasts the Babylonian limit of midday with the Palestinian limit of midday and 641 parts. An original feature of this text is the distinction it makes between an ‘astronomical’ month, which begins on the astronomical conjunction (presumably, the true conjunction), and a ‘numerical’ month (lines 9-10, 15-16). The latter probably means that its dates are calculated, and refers to the (Rabbanite) calendar month.The text is too fragmentary to be understood with certainty.

Part of a letter, with marginal text, mentioning Shemuʾel the Nasi (?) and one and a quarter dinars. (Information from CUDL)