Geniza Lab

Letter from a man to his brother. In Judaeo-Arabic, in a lovely hand. Dating: 11th or 12th century. Refers to the addressee's pilgrimage the preceding year; Qayrawān; how the sender's wife died in giving birth to a son, while he himself was away in Byzantium; how her mother and family sent to recover her dowry (raḥl), valued at 200 quarter-dinars; how he subsequently married a minor girl (ṣabiyya saghīra) who is now pregnant (wa-hiya minnī [fī ḥāl]). (The phrase "...qām al-ḍawʾ" also appears here—the full first word and the meaning are unclear.) The sender has set up a shop in the square of the perfumers, and he is in good health. He refers to a woman (probably their mother) who is in good health and yearns to see the addressee's face. There are a couple lines of business matters at the end (mentions 1000 mithqāls of something and a ship). ASE

Letter of recommendation from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides, to be read in the synagogue, on behalf of a pregnant woman who has no money to support her sick son. ASE. Mentioned in Goitein, "The Twilight of the House of Maimonides," Tarbiz 54 (1984), 67–104.

Recto: list of the first lines of piyyuṭim. Verso: draft of the beginning of a letter with blessings and wishes for good luck and prosperity. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Letter addressed to Eliyyahu the Judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. This is a letter of recommendation for the bearer, a Persian man (ʿajamī), who is suffering for various reasons (ḥamas/oppression and cold weather are mentioned) and who needs a riding animal to travel to Syria (al-Shām).

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably concerning the book trade. The sender asks for a certain maqāma to be sent to him (for copying?); mentions the books of Yeshaʿya ha-Levi ("al-Shaykh al-Sadīd"), which the sender apparently sent to R. Yehuda ("al-ḥaver al-jalīl"). Dating: 12th or 13th century. The scribe writes מתל as מתתל. (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: list of books, including works by Saʿadya and Shemuʾel Gaʾon. The works are described as ‘small booklets’. Verso: part of an Arabic letter. (Information from CUDL)

Page from a children’s Hebrew textbook consisting of the consonants alef to tet with the various different Tiberian vowels. (Information from CUDL) Leaf with letters in various colors, each repeated 7-8 times with a different vowel sign. Information from Goitein's note card.

Part of a children’s Hebrew textbook with different combinations of consonants and occasional vocalisation. (Information from CUDL) Beautiful letters, written by the teacher in contours and filled in by a child in red, brown, green, and other colors. Information from Goitein's note card.

A letter (probably 11th century) in Judaeo-Arabic has been reused for writing exercises. Only the end of the exordium and the transition to the main subject matter of the letter has been preserved. It addresses a dignitary and refers to the honouring of his name at the festival of Purim, but goes on to talk about Passover. Verso consists of alphabetical writing exercises in a cruder hand, the alphabet forwards, backwards and in atbash. Some of the writing exercises spill over on to recto. (Information from CUDL)

P1-P4: children’s Hebrew textbook with alphabetical exercises and some vocalised words. P5: part of a letter in Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

A copy of a petition or some sort of patronage-related letter (khidma) from Abū Manṣūr b. Abī Naṣr. Written on a bifolium. Mentions verses that the sender has composed for the addressee. Contains a number of explanatory marginal glosses, one of which quotes al-Rayyis al-Qāsim. One folio carries one line of a different text in Judaeo-Arabic, mentioning Aḥmad and ʿAbd al-Hādī and some numbers. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter addressed to Eliyyahu the Judge (c/o the shop of the sons of al-ʿŪdī). In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper right corner). Mentions the month of Ramaḍān and the Muslim holiday (presumably ʿīd al-fiṭr). It is difficult to gather much more from this fragment without a join.

Letter from Munajjā Muqaddasī, who has left Egypt (or Fustat), to a certain al-Shaykh al-Mukarram/Mukrim. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Perhaps 13th or 14th century, but this is a guess. Much of it is formulaic, conveying profuse expressions of his longing for the addressee and a promise to spare no effort in fulfilling any of the addressee’s requests. The sender left Fustat without having any errands to fulfill on behalf of the addressee, so he asks to be honored with one. He is preoccupied on account of the female slave (? al-waṣīfa) and perhaps how much money she sold for. Regards to the addressee’s brother and to Hibat Allāh (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. There are two lines from the end of a letter, it seems asking for instructions. This is followed by three lines in the same hand but with a different pen/ink, mentioning Ḥalfon ha-Kohen, Sayyidnā ha-Nagid, a certain Tamīm, and the blessed holiday. This fragment also contains Leviticus 7:37–8:2 on recto and verso, written perpendicularly to the letter. (Information in part from GRU catalogue via FGP.)

Letter from Avraham b. Seʿadya he-Ḥaver to Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya b. Binyām. In Judaeo-Arabic, with one line in Arabic script on verso. Asking for news from Cairo regarding the capitation tax (here called kharāj). Greetings to various people. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter(s). Dating: late 18th or early 19th century. Most of the fragment contains literary-seeming Hebrew text, but this is followed by a note with regards to various family members signed by David ha-Levi ʿAjamī and another note signed by the well-known merchant Meir ben Naʿim, whose wife has just had a baby boy.

Letter from Yehuda b. Yosef Ibn al-Haniyy al-Andalusī, in an unknown location, to Abū l-Faḍl Ḥesed b. Sahl al-Tustarī, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dating: ca. 1040 CE. The purpose of the letter is to make progress in settling business accounts.

P2 f.1 followed by P1 f. 1 and P3 f. 2: Birkat ha-Mazon. P3 f. 1, P1 f. 2 and P2 f. 2: qaddiš. P4: Judaeo-Arabic letter sent by Ismaʿīl to al-Šayḵ al-Ḥaver David ha-Kohen, mentioning the elder Abraham and Damascus. Also mentioned: עלי בן פתוח, אלשיך סבאע The letter starts on the current verso. A line of address in Arabic script is found on recto. P5: The cover page and beginning of birkat ha-mazon, copied by Mešullam b. Yefet. (cudl and AA)

Beginning of a report to a Fatimid caliph. Dating: 11th or 12th century. Involving a woman. (Or perhaps this is a petition from a woman to an unidentified addressee, opening with blessings for the caliph.) On verso there are five lines of Judaeo-Arabic poetry (refers to love and then "if there is a poet among you, let him prophesy") and Coptic numerals. (Information in part from CUDL)

Verso: Letter of condolence in partially rhymed Hebrew. Mentions a Shelomo. Full of interesting phrases ("he lay for many days, and on that day he rode a cloud..."). Someone has tweaked the terms of relationship and pronouns, e.g., writing "my son" above "my father" or replacing "groom" with "elder"—probably tailoring the template for different contexts of bereavement. On recto there is an Arabic document (see separate record).