Geniza Lab

Mainly a literary text with other jottings in Judaeo-Arabic (including references to mutakallimīn, kalām philosophers). There is also marginal text in Arabic script, including a few words from a draft of a letter to Abū l-ʿAlāʾ Ibn al-Dayyān.

Letter fragment, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions R. Eliʿ[ezer]

Letter fragment. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Three lines of verses/blessings, then "I inform sayyidnā. . ."

Letter from Thabit b. Ibrāhīm = Yakhin b. Avraham to Faraḥ b. Yūsuf al-Qābisī. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in both Hebrew and Arabic script. Very little of the content survives.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script.

Letter fragment, probably. In Hebrew and possibly some Judaeo-Arabic. Includes the phrase common in letters of appeal, 'his reward will be from heaven.'

Letter fragment, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter addressed to Yaʿaqov Cassuto. In Ladino. Dated: 14 Kislev 5651, which is 26 November 1890 CE. On verso is a fragment of a printed form in German.

Letter, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic. Extremely faded.

Letter in Ladino on grid paper. From 1886/87 CE if the '647' is the date. Needs further examination. Join by Oded Zinger.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi, in Jerusalem, to an unknown addressee, probably in Fustat/Cairo. In Hebrew. Dating: No earlier than 1525 CE. Concerning a debt and a lawsuit and Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq Sholal. See description and transcription on FGP for further information.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. From the opening section conveying concern and wishing good health.

Possibly the beginning of a letter to a notable (שרנו ונרנו...)

Letter fragment from Yosef. In Ladino.

Letter fragment. One of the addressees is Yosef. In Judaeo-Arabic, with part of the address or a postscript in Arabic script.(it looks like it says "I will send al-Muʿallim Mūsā after it/him"). Dating: Likely 17th–19th century. The portion preserved here (likely from the margin, since the text is diagonal) is about whether anybody is going to come, the sender's preoccupation, and some goods (al-ḥawāʾij).

Letter from an unknown man to Rachel Zussman. In Yiddish. "The letter is short and touches upon a relative’s illness and minor business matters. Verso contains a note, perhaps in the hand of Moshe, Rachel’s son, whose job it was to forward her letters on to Venice. It is likely, therefore, that this is a reply to Rachel from her correspondent, the Venetian rabbi Jacob Katz. The fact that this letter, Rachel’s note for Rabbi Katz and a letter from Moshe himself were all found in the Genizah, indicates that they probably never reached their destinations. We can only speculate about the reasons for that. But perhaps it is the son’s negligence in these matters that causes Rachel to scold him in another letter: הקב’’ה זול דיר עז מוחל זיין דז דו מיך האשט אוזו מצער גיוועזן (‘may God forgive you that you made me so sad’), before adding a somewhat more enraged איך וויל דיך שטראפן אי איך שטירב (‘I want to punish you before I die’)." Information from Esther-Miriam Wagner, "Vis, liber zun, ikh hob dir vil brif geshribn: Yiddish letters in the Genizah." [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, October 2009]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.55277

Small and damaged fragment from the opening lines of a letter, only few words are preserved. Syyidna is mentioned.

See T-S AS 205.53.

Letter fragment in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212). In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning business mainly in materia medica and/or metals. Mentions antimony (rāṣakht) and arsenic (zarnīkh) and various sums of dirhams. The text is too damaged to draw a more complete picture. AA. ASE.

A draft of a letter to the community of Alexandria headed by Avraham b. Zur, first half of 16th century. Regarding Shim'on b. Malah who left and live his wife chained with no support. (Data from FGP by Avraham David)