Geniza Lab

"This kurrāsa should be delivered to Moshe (ha-baḥur ha-ṭov) b. Ṭoviya (ha-zaqen ha-nikhbad)."

Recto: Beginning of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic to Yefet ha-Nadiv Zaqen ha-Qahal and R. Yosef ha-Kohen Rosh ha-Qahal (both are also mentioned in T-S 13J6.21, ca. 1100). Verso: Piyyutim

Letter in rhymed Hebrew.

Formulary for a letter to an important person, probably late.

Five unrelated fragments. F1: List of names: [...] b. ʿAmram ha-Kohen; Tāj al-Dawla; Elʿazar ha-Kohen. Written in both Hebrew and Arabic script. F2: Letter fragment in Arabic script: "... wa-anā usayyir lakum kitāb al-majlis..." F3: Letter fragment in Arabic script, wide space between the lines: "...adāma Allāh ʿizzahum wa-mundhu sārū..." Jottings on verso in both Arabic and Hebrew script. F4: Letter in Arabic script. Fragment (upper right corner). In the margin mentions "his two parents, Bū Saʿīd and Sitt [...]... Khiyār and Sitt Suʿūd..." F5: Unidentified document in Arabic script.

Letter fragment mentioning someone's arrival from Jerusalem, "kitāb al-jamāʿa," and someone who departed when some people were sick.

Recto: Letter fragment, faded, mentioning Nissim. Verso: Piyyut.

Letter in Ladino, nearly complete but with numerous lacunae, from a mother to her daughter, addressed to her son-in-law Yaʿaqov Reshit (?) in Saida. The writer was expecting deliveries of several items, mostly fabrics (e.g. a cortina and a mandīl; she has also sent a vela to the addressee) but some obscure commodities as well (e.g. טובאזֿא/טובאכֿא and פאניין). However, it seems most of the expected items have not arrived. The writer repeatedly rebukes the addressee for this failure. "I will not send you anything until your sister. . . ." She is also disgruntled about learning about her new grandson through a third party: "You did not write me to tell me that you gave birth to a boy. I already found out, barukh hashem, no thanks to you. And peace. Kisses to the boys from me. And peace." Her signature seems disgruntled as well: "That which you wish to see, that I, your mother, write to you." In a postscript she sends regards to her son-in-law. Verso contains the address in Hebrew, along with various other jottings. ASE.

Recto: Literary text in rhymed Hebrew lines. Verso: Draft of the beginning of a letter in unusual Arabic script with balls at the tops of alifs and lams. Also, in Judaeo-Arabic, drafts of the phrase: "[this is to] inform Peraḥya."

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Recto preserves only the beginning, mentioning "the khaṭṭ of my master for 22 dinars." Verso preserves the left half of the address in Arabic script (min [...] b. [...] al-[...], al-Fusṭāṭ, yaṣil [...]).

Letter (opening only) from Shemuel b. Eli gaʾon in the hand of his disciple Yosef b. Yaʿaqov rosh ha-seder. Mentions one of houses of the exilarch, but it is not clear if this is the addressee. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #82) VMR

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, preserving ~12 lines, likely in the hand of Moses Maimonides. See Shailat's edition of the letters of Maimonides, ה2. איגרת המלצה לבן תורה.

The opening of a letter in rudimentary Judaeo-Arabic (e.g. ממלוכה אלאצרג), from one Barukh, to Shelomo (?) Nasi Galuyot Kol Yisra'el.

Letter, small fragment.

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The main part deals with business transactions, including shipments of Marāzībī tutty and walnuts. Abū l-Faḍl b. Maʿlā is mentioned, probably identical with the Abū l-Faḍl Yūsuf b. Maʿlā of T-S 13J14.12 and T-S 13J15.3. The margin contains part of a recommendation for a poor man (the bearer of the letter?), naked and lost, "yatīm al-aḥyā'." ASE

Small fragment of a letter. On verso there is a booklist including entries such as Kitāb al-Khalīqa, Kitāb Juʿrāfiyya (געראפיה = Geograph), Divrei ha-Yamim, Kunnāsh Bū Yaʿaqov, Kitāb al-Rasā'il.

Fragment of a letter, probably 14th century or later. Needs further examination.

Letter in Arabic script. The writer is Barakāt b. al-Dayyān (presumably Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, cf. ENA 3927.1 and CUL Or. 1080 J155 for other specimens of his Arabic-script handwriting). The recipient is an older, respected relative: the writer addresses him as both 'father' and 'brother' in the protocol, where he also includes blessings for the [addressee's?] father Abū l-Thanā'. That Abū l-Thanā' is distinct from the recipient is evident four lines from the bottom, where it seems that the recipient had sent a request to Abū l-Thanā' (or to his wife?), and the writer fulfilled the request in his absence. The bulk of the letter is taken up with praises and congratulations, most likely for the birth of a child to the addressee (unless Sayyidnā al-Nāsī is a different person) after the death of a previous child. Line 15f: "By the Law, I rejoiced for his sake when [a newborn boy] took the place of the boy of our master the Nasi on Saturday and consoled his heart" (wa-ḥaqq al-sharīʿa laqad faraḥtu lahu lammā khalafa yawma l-sabt ʿalā ghulāmi Sayyidinā al-Nāsī wa-jabara qalbahu). Following the good wishes, he explains that he carried out what was requested in the letter and purchased two (ithnān) of something (or ushnān? meaning potash), but could not find anybody with whom to send them (last three lines of recto). ASE.

Letter opening, preserving only the shawqiyya, from Seʿayda b. Isḥāq to a certain respected Elʿazar.

Letter fragment mentioning a Shemuel and a Yiṣḥaq ha-Dayyan. .