Geniza Lab

Letter in Arabic script. Fragment. Calligraphic and loopy script.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to a certain Yiṣḥaq, who is asked to convey the note (ruqʿa) to the judge, "for the shaykh has killed me." Requires further examination to determine how the shaykh killed the writer: something to do with yesterday evening and money.

Business letter from Maʿālī to his father Abū l-Khayr b. Maʿālī al-Dimashqī. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic. Fragment. Maʿālī received the letter his father sent with Barukh and rejoiced at his health. He mentions business dealings with Ibrahīm and Surūr and Dā'ūd involving alum (shabb) and indigo (nīl). There is high demand for the former among the people of Almeria. ASE.

Verso: fragment of a letter in Arabic script. Similar content as recto. Ordering pepper, a raṭl of marjoram (bardaqūsh), a qadaḥ of anise (anīsūn), a qadaḥ of caraway (karāwiyyā), and 'the remainder' white sugar, "so that I can do business in them, working near to the ḍarrābīn, and hopefully on Sunday I'll be with you. And if you have..."

Recto: Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic asking Bū l-Ḥasan to purchase 2.5 raṭls of pepper, 1 raṭl of almonds, and 1 raṭl of "bustaj lubbān ṣāliḥ" = good-quality olibanum incense(?). Ṣāfī will do something with the almond oil and the myrtle (marsīn). Dating: Probably late 12th or early 13th century. Might be related to the family of Abū l-Ḥasan Yedutun ha-Levi (who often dealt in small quantities of materia medica and had a factotum named Ṣāfī), but the handwriting still needs to be identified.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic, mentioning [...] b. Kuḥla, a ghulām, and Muslim courts. There are jottings in the margin and on verso, including of the name Yosef b. Avraham.

Small and damaged fragment from a letter informing on the arrival of Yefet Halevi. AA

A letter explaining what happened in the synagogue
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the writer and Munaja b. Tahir and Barakat b. al-'Attar. He also sending regards to David ha-Nagid. Other names mentions: b. Bashash and Bunayn. AA

Verso: Might be a draft or formulary of a petition in Arabic script. At 180 degrees there is unidentified text in Judaeo-Arabic. Recto: Poetry in Arabic script (above), transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic (below) with additional verses of poetry in Judaeo-Arabic.

On recto a Hebrew letter dealing with the buying of oil. On verso Arabic document - needs examination

Letter written, signed, and dated by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi in 1517 (1206 CE). It opens with a Hebrew poem congratulating the recipient on his son, and continues by imploring the distinguished recipient to send a letter acknowledging Moshe, who has already sent him seven letters before this one. ASE.

bottom part of a family letter

Letter from al-Shaykh Manṣūr(?) to his son. In Arabic script. Fragment (upper half only). Contains expressions of longing and various pieces of advice (in the margin). On verso there are Hebrew verses.

Printed. Arabic invitation to a wedding in 1881 CE. See Nick Posegay's Fragment of the Month, June 2020.

Wedding Invitation in French. Dated February 9, 1888 CE. The fathers of the bride (Bienvenue Eliakim) and groom (Raphaël) invite an unnamed guest to the "nuptial ceremony" on February 16 at the home of the groom's father Haïm Lagnado on Hamsani Street in Cairo ("dans la maison de M. Haïm Lagnado, sise Rue Hamsani, propriéte de M. Hassan Madkhour"). Notably, the invitation lists the owner of the property "Hassan Madkhour" in addition to the groom's father, who must have been renting the residence at that time. MCD.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning Būṣīr and Alexandria. Needs examination.

Very damaged. A letter? -

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Relatively large and complete, but faded, and there is no address on verso. The sender has sent 8 dinars and 15 nutmegs (jawza) with Abū l-Faraj. Mentions Abū l-Munā. Encourages the sender to work on "emptying the shop" (takhliyat al-dukkān, a common phrase in Geniza documents whose meaning is not entirely clear). The sender may say that he does not wish to live in ʿAkkā any more (three lines from the bottom of recto). He has sent a mat (naṭʿ) for Saʿīd. Greetings to the elder 'al-Mumḥe.' Reused for Hebrew piyyuṭ on verso.

Informal note in Arabic script. Begins, "The slave reports (=I report) that the aforementioned shipment/bale (ḥaml) is still with me, and if you order me to send it, I will send it. . . ." Reused for liturgy on verso, though it's also possible that the Hebrew is the earlier text and that the note was written on a torn scrap.