Geniza Lab

Business letter in Hebrew. Dated Friday 13th [...]. Dating: second half of the 16th century, according to Avraham David. Mentions Shemuʾel, Yaʿaqov and Yiṣḥaq. Reports that a ship arrived from שיטיליש (possibly Sitia, Crete) bearing sakhtiyān (a kind of leather) and carpets. Likewise a ship arrived from מודון (Methoni, Greece). Jottings include the names Yiṣḥaq and Yosef. (Information from CUDL and FGP.)

Accounts concerning sugar and honey, with Coptic numerals. Mentions al-qāḍī Shihāb al-Dīn b. Shirīn, Jonah from Damietta and Abū l-Barakāt. Dated 934 Hijra (= 1528 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Shelomo to Shemuʾel, c. 18th century. (Information from CUDL)

Letter of business from Avraham Haman and Gavriel Ḥefez (חפז) to Merkado Karo and Shim'on Frances, dated 1797 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from the widow of the cantor Ben Nahman to a Gaon concerning the difficulties she is having with the son of her late husband and his sister over her right to domicile in the house to which she has a claim. Cf. T-S 13J13.6 (subsequent plea, two months later, from the same woman), also T-S Ar.18(1).107.

Letter of complaint from the administrator of the Quppa (the bread basket of the community) in Alexandria to R. Avraham the Nagid. Alexandria had a charity collection out of which it was customary to distribute loaves of bread to the needy. The writer of this letter was the 'Mufarriq al-Quppa,' the official in charged of distributing the bread. The addressee was R. Avraham the Nagid and the letter includes a complaint against an Alexandrian Ḥaver who took it upon himself to distribute the loaves of bread against the instructions of the Nagid and the local judge. Apparently, the letter was composed during a period of food shortage and the Nagid decreed that bread will be distributed in small portions in order to stock up for an emergency. The Ḥaver's decision to distribute all the bread of the collection must certainly have been popular among the needy. The manager of the quppa decided not to bring charges against the Ḥaver but to wait for explicit instructions from the Nagid or for the return of Shemuel, the Judge, who was at the time absent from the city. (Information from Frenkel; see also Goitein Med. Soc. 2:492). Verso: Note conveying festival greetings, citing Isaiah 56:7. (Information from CUDL)

Verso: Letter in which the sender thanks a patron for his assistance and gently asks him to resolve a matter that concerns him. (Information from Goitein's index cards).

Recto: Official letter in Arabic script. Four lines preserved. The sender reports that something either fell (waqaʿat) or was signed (wuqqiʿat), probably the latter. Someone is away from Fustat but as soon as he returns, the sender will obtain something from him and deliver it to "al-majlis al-sāmī" (حرس الله عز سلطانه).

Letter, apparently written by ʿEli he-Ḥaver b. ʿAmram, introduced with two poems in honour of Elḥanan b. Shemarya, and mentioning Joseph b. Abraham. (Information from CUDL) Four pages of a letter (a, b, c, d) beginning with verses in Hebrew and expressing admiration and congratulations. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from the judge Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo (in office ca. 1125-1150) to Abu al-Husayn Efrayim ha-Kohen b. Yosef the silk-merchant of Damietta. The writer wishes the sender a happy Jewish New Year and orders cloth from him. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter to Abū l-Faḍl in the Fayyum, reports very low prices of wheat in Cairo and a story of unsold bread. Thirteenth century. VMR (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 238, 436-437) There are also jottings on verso. (Information from CUDL)

Note to Umm Bū Zikrī. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer tells her to pack her belongings and to come immediately with the bearer of the letter to the house of Mūsā. She should also bring the book (muṣḥaf) from the house of Sitt al-Jamāl and a specified bunch of papers. Whatever she needs (of money?) she should take from R. Yosef or the bearer of the letter. She should bring Umm Ḥayyūn the wife of the ʿAjamī with her, "because her children have left." (Information in part from Goitein's index card and CUDL.) VMR, ASE.

Verso: Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Mentions amounts 'with' (or owed by) various people such as Furayj the boy of al-Muhadhdhab b. Saʿīd and a certain fuqqāʿī.

Recto: Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. Partial translation from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:271: "I am sending you with the bearer of this letter 15 dirhems. Please buy for me 1¼ pounds of emblic (amlaj) [“Indian gooseberry,” see above], approximately for 4¼ dirhems or less; 2½ pounds of deep-red rose water (mā' ward), approximately ¾ d.; A fuqqā‘a (bottle of potions), approximately ½ d. or less; 1 pound eye powder, well made, on special order, approximately 2 d. or less; 1 miswāk (tooth-cleaning twig), approximately 2 d.; 1 pound antimony, approximately 3¼ or 3½ d. or less; 2½ pounds cosmetic cream (mathāth), approximately 2¼ d.or less. The writer also sends three drafts of dirges (qinnot) and asks his brother Abū l-Ḥasan (Yedutun ha-Levi) to correct them. Verso: Petition draft in Arabic script to the Amir Sharaf al-Dawla (?). The handwriting is that of Moshe b. Levi (compare ENA NS 68.11). Lines 8-15 are the substance of the petition (وينهي انه قد اشتهى...), which requires further examination. The writer (perhaps Moshe) seems to repeat several times his desire to come to the great city. ASE.

Recto: Poem. Long Hebrew poem, congratulating Shelomo on being elevated, like a second Yosef, from prison to the rank of the "Deputy of the king" and "scribe" (משנה וסופר). He used his position to feed the poor and to do other works of mercy. Verso: Bible translation of Proverbs 1:4-7. (Information from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:353, 604, and CUDL) VMR

Rhymed opening of letter to "the honorable Gaon, our teacher and leader." Excellent script, large space between the lines. JP

Letter fragment probably from ʿEli b. Hillel to his brother-in-law Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (identification is tentative, based on comparison with T-S 13J19.5). In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions an item of iron and two rings. The writer is preoccupied on account of the illness of the addressee's wife and has taken a vow to fast. If the identifications are correct, the sick woman is probably his sister (Ḥalfon's wife) Sitt al-Fakhr. VMR. ASE.

Letter to the Gaon Sar Shalom ha-Levi, head of the Palestinian yeshiva (in office ca. 1170–71 and 1173–95), in which the muqaddam of Qalyub (the handwriting is that of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi) excuses himself from appearing in person on account of his illness. He certifies that there was no civil or religious impediment to the marriage of the girl called Ama'im, daughter of Abu 'l-Ḥasan. The Gaon ordered an inquiry because the family had moved from one place to another, the girl's sister was married to a freedman, and her brother had moved from Qalyub to the Manufiyya district, where he embraced Islam. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 301, 591; III, p. 81; V, pp. 108, 110) VMR

Letter with a special request from the addressee to report about his illness. [An assumption that he was ill after not having heard from him for longer than usual]. VMR (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 103, 109-110, 535, 536)

Letter from a woman, in al-Mahdiyya, to her mother (Av)Dukia al-Rumiyya and to her sister Rini, in Alexandria. Scribed by Kalev al-Sofer. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer had a married daughter as well as a son who had been away for eight years. "I am working as a maid in every house, and my strength has weakened." She also mentions her sons Ibrāhīm and Moshe. VMR. Information in part from CUDL