Geniza Lab

Letter or official correspondence. In Arabic script. Chancery hand? There may be a name in the top line. The next 1.5 lines are formulaic blessings. Needs further examination. On verso there is a philosophical text in Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter fragment in Arabic script. Reused for Hebrew liturgical text. Needs examination

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (bottom half only). The sender is planning to travel to al-Shām the next day and he asks for money to cover the expenses of travel. It pains him to have to ask, because he has expended 200 dinars since coming to Egypt, and he has never asked for money from the addressee before this.

Letter 2, of which only one folio is preserved, is a pro-Babylonian response to a Palestinian polemic on the calendar of 921/2 and on the Four Gates. The folio begins with the end of the refutation of the Palestinians’ second argument. The Palestinians were arguing against the Four Gates, with a rather spurious claim that the Four Gates are incomplete because they only account for four days of the week (the days on which the New Year is allowed to fall). This letter responds that in the Four Gates, every period of time ends where the next one begins, so that the full week is covered from end to end; moreover, some days of the week are mentioned more than once in the Four Gates (fol.4r:1-5). The third argument concerns the rule of 641-642 parts. Our author misinterprets the rule as applying equally to Nisan and to Tishri, which enables him to refute it easily (fol.4r:5-14). After this begins a misplaced text, which belongs before the beginning of this folio. Here the author finishes his refutation of the first argument, and refers to the distortion to the Four Gates through the addition of 641 parts to all the limits (fol.4r:14-16). After begins the second argument (fol.4r:16 – 4v:19). After the end of the misplaced text, the text resumes with the third argument (fol.4v:19-21).

Calendrical calculations, mentioning dates of the creation of the world, and of the creation of Adam. The beginning of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic is found in the margins of the verso, copied in a different hand and written inverted in relation to the main text. The letter mentions Abū l-Faraj b. Abū ʿImrān(?) Sulaymān b. Abū Manṣūr. Verso also contains pen trials in Hebrew and Arabic characters. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: calendrical work in Judaeo-Arabic explaining the rules of calendar reckoning. Verso: letter in Judaeo-Arabic with introductory rhymed praises in Hebrew. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Abū l-Faḍā'il the cantor begs for money from Sitt Futūn, who also helped fund the construction of the synagogue (!), since he owes four years' worth, and she must have helped him 4+ years earlier. He writes: "You bestow charity on inanimate objects, and I am animate," and, "This is the equivalent of redemption of captives, for I am a captive." Verso: Possibly lines of poetry in Judaeo-Arabic about unrequited love. Probably not connected to recto.

Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic letter mentioning a letter that the writer had sent to Alexandria and someone or something that arrived in al-Mahdiyya. Also mentioning the writer's preoccupation on womeone's behalf and a baby.

Letter from Natan b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Sefaradi who lives in Jerusalem to a patron, describing the hardships of the year and presumably asking for money

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to one of his brothers. in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower left corner of recto). Mentions: brazilwood (baqqam); other business deals; regards to Sitt Naʿīm (Ḥalfon's wife); good wishes for a holiday, perhaps Purim.

Fragment of a letter written by Daniel b. Azarya, probably in 1051. A complaint about harassment by the brothers Yosef and Eliyyahu ha-Kohanim, sons of Shelomo Gaon, and especially about the older. Daniel b. Azarya complains that they did the same to Natan b. Avraham several years ago. It seems like it was written after the death of Shelomo b. Yehuda. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 p. 675-677, #363) . VMR

Fragment of a letter written by Daniel b. Azarya, probably in 1051. A complaint about harassment by the brothers Yosef and Eliyyahu ha-Kohanim, sons of Shelomo Gaon, and especially about the older. Daniel b. Azarya complains that they did the same to Natan b. Avraham several years ago. It seems like it was written after the death of Shelomo b. Yehuda. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 p. 675-677, #363) . VMR

Letter from the brothers Shelomo Cesana, Ḥayyim Cesana, and Avraham Cesana to Merkado Hayyim Avraham ha-Levi (although this looks like a single name, it may actually be 2 or 3 people). Dated: 18 Ḥeshvan 5565 AM, which is 23 October 1804 CE. Information from Wagner, Linguistic Variety of Judaeo-Arabic, 24.

Short note in tricky handwriting in which the writer asks a certain "noble woman" to honor the servant with something.

Last three lines of a note in Judaeo-Arabic, in which regards are sent to the recipient's children.

Fragment (bottom of recto and verso) of a Judaeo-Arabic letter to a more important person, begging him to do some sort of favor ("wa-yubayyiḍ al-mawlā wajh al-shafāʿa fī dhālik") and not to make the writer come in person. The handwriting seems quite familiar, likely ca.1200.

Hebrew letter dated dated 1687/8 CE (5448), addressed to "the Judges," regarding business transactions. Contains several words in Ladino that are marked with two dots: vueltas, "perlas ʿim fojetas (?)," etc. Signed by Aharon b. Avraham ha-Kohen.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic (1809 CE?) to Karo y Frances from Avraham Haman and Gavriel Ḥefez. Information from Wagner, Linguistic Variety of Judaeo-Arabic, 24.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from a certain Ḥalfon to his cousin Menashshe ha-Ḥazzan b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Ḥazzan. Not a great deal of the content remains. Ḥalfon wishes Menashshe a speedy recovery.

Fragment of an 11th-century mercantile letter mentioning Ifriqiyyah, Markab al-Amīr, and Abu Avraham Ismail.