Geniza Lab

Letter to Shemuʾel, mentioning Jacob Sonso (שנשו) (c. 15th-16th century). (Information from CUDL)

Autographed Responsum by Avraham Maimonides regarding the estate of a freed female slave. Written by MOshe b. Perahya, who was the muqaddam of MInyat Ghmar. AA

Jewish mystical (Sufi) text, similar in vocabulary to that of Abraham he-Ḥasid. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Letter addressed to Abu al-Faraj, son of Daniel the teacher, in the “habs Bunan” neighborhood. The writer describes that the wife of his son is asking for a divorce, framed as the result of her husband’s mistreatment; also mentions Abu ‘Ali. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender, and Law, 140) EMS

Letter addressed to Abu Sahl b. Moshe, the cantor, in which the writer requests aid in a mixture of Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic. In a post-scripted note, the petitioner also requests some food should the addressee have a Jewish celebration. (Mark Cohen, Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages, Princeton University Press: 2005, 57-8). "By constant fasting and hunger my eyesight has become faint and my heart blotted out, so that I do not know what I am writing" (Goitein, Med Soc V:87). EMS.

Letter, mentions consignments from the Aleppians to Fustat (the writer had written to Damascus). Verso: Letter in Arabic script, in which the writer talks about stolen items and the dishonesty of a third party. (Information from the Cambridge Genizah Research Unit via FGP).

Part of the body of a letter, probably 11th century. Only a few lines are legible, which complain about a threat to the community, ולא דיינו עוצם צערנו וכובד טרחנו עד אשר קם עלנו סטן להסטיננו, and refer to giving false testimony, שנעמוד לו עדות שקר. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a contact in Fustat. He heard that al-Shaykh al-Yesod would like to spend Shabbat in Fustat, and the addressee is to look after him. There is an air of secrecy, however. "Tell him that I am a member of the family (min dhurriyatikum), and if he asks you about the family (al-dhurriya), tell him there are no news." (Perhaps referring to a waqf dhurriya i.e. family trust? or simply to a regular inheritance?). The specifics of the matter are obscure. Moshe also writes that the Shaykh Sajjāʿ al-Dīn (‘the poet’) apprehended him and said, 'What is that feeble old man doing to you? Let me put him in order (?)." Sajjāʿ al-Din apparently refers to the writer's brother, Abū Isḥāq. Moshe reiterates what the party line should be if either al-Yesod or Sajjāʿ al-Din bring up the matter of an inheritance with the recipient. EMS. ASE.

Letter fragment addressed to a communal leader, a ḥaver. In Hebrew. Regarding a matter of inheritance (‘they are orphans and a widow’) and the writing of a document for Hillel. Hillel’s late brother, Menaḥem, is also mentioned. Greetings are sent to ‘his community, his friends and the elders of his court’ (זקני בית דין). (Information from CUDL)

Letter from an unknown writer, probably in Hebron, to his wife (addressed as al-Sitt al-Jalīla), probably in Fustat. Addressed to al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab al-Khayyāṭ (the tailor), possibly the wife's father. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer reports that he developed a serious illness (ḍuʿf ṣaʿb) in Hebron. He is sustained only by her prayers and his knowledge of her righteousness. He departed on this journey because business had ground to a halt and he needed to gain a living. (Information in part from Goitein’s note cards.) EMS. ASE.

Stern letter from the office of Yehoshuaʿ Maimonides, requesting the addressee’s quick appearance together with money he owes. An Arabic basmala (or perhaps authentication mark, see Yehoshua's other letters to the community) is written over Yehoshuaʿ’s motto. (Information from CUDL.) Bibliography: Goitein, "The Twilight of the House of Maimonides," Tarbiz 54 (1984), 92.

Letter, possibly from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides, in which the nagid asks the community in Fustat to take up a charity collection for a scholar, David, on his way to Jerusalem and in a hurry to catch a caravan. A note in the margin indicates this request to expedite the collection. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:136, 548; and Mark Cohen, The Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages, 198) EMS. Bibliography: Mentioned in Goitein, "The Twilight of the House of Maimonides," Tarbiz 54 (1984), 67–104.

Letter to Avraham (judging by the formulae, most likely Avraham Maimonides). (Information from the Cambridge Genizah Research Unit via FGP).

Letter from ʿAllān b. Ḥassūn, in 'Aydhab, to his sons, before embarking again for the east. He reports that he had dismissed his traveling companion and chosen a different one, and that no one, not even in the Kārim flotilla, had arrived in 'Aydhab. He expresses regret at having undertaken the voyage at all, and advises his sons not to be on the road constantly as he is; he advises them that a family partnership would enable them to share the effort of travel. Goitein identified ʿAllān as the author of the letter based on his handwriting. (Information from Goitein, "Portrait of a Medieval India Trader: Three Letters from the Cairo Geniza," BSOAS 50 (1987): 449–64, published posthumously; see also the attached notes, used as a basis for the article and stored in Goitein's files.)

Letter from Alexandria sent around 1120 C.E. from a Maghribi merchant, Makhlūf b. Musa al-Nafusi (Ibn) al-Yatim, who proclaims that a friend carried for him a purse with 101 “fresh” (‘tari’) dinars weighing 100 and one/fourth. He asks the addressee to “sell” them, meaning to convert the Sicilian currency he was dispatching into local Egyptian money. Makhlūf devotes eleven lines of the short letter to an apology for not buying his friend a Sicilian turban that was ordered. Confirming the reason by two oaths with God’s great name, the writer acknowledges the omission was due to his own forgetfulness. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:237, 459; 5:248, 575 ) EMS

Letter. Strongly-worded admonition to a Muqaddam to deal with the estate of a widow and her daughter, in accordance with instructions by the Nagid. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS Verso: Biblical citations from Leviticus 8:26-27 and 30-31. (Information from CUDL)

Document (bifolium) giving details of a collection (pesiqa) for the ransom of prisoners, conducted by Abū l-Surūr b. Ṭarīf and Abū l-Maʿālī in the provincial towns (al-Rīf) by order of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya (1142–59).

Literary. F. 1r: halakhic discussion, touching on animals, idol worship and divorce. Ff. 2r-v: halakhic work on the laws of šeḥiṭa in a different hand than f. 1. Information from CUDL.

Letter to Abu […], the teacher (melammed), from Yaʿaqov b. [...] Nafusi. Mentions Yaʿaqov al-Andalusi, the recipient's brother Avraham, and Abu Mansur and his father. EMS

Letter from Perahya b. Yosef Yiju to his brother Shemuel in Fustat, complaining of his failure to procure a responsum. Perahya also includes brief remarks on their mother’s illness and his apology for being unable to visit, a request for Shemuel’s assistance in collecting a debt and in paying the capitation tax, and a one-line inquiry about whether his brother has made a bible amulet or ankle for his son, to protect him. Probably sent from Mahalla, late twelfth century. (S. D. Goitein and Mordechai Friedman, India Book, 790-1)