Geniza Lab

A letter about a shipment of four maṭars of salted fish. The writer asks not to be charged 2-3 dirhams per maṭar. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from the beginning of the 12th century to Abū Saʿīd Netanel b. Sedāqā, the perfumer, from a scholar and muqaddam. The scholars writes to inform him that he is resigning from his position, as he didn't find it profitable. He asks to be put up in Fustat for two months, until he finds a permanent domicile. The writer switches frequently between Arabic and Hebrew script. (Information from Goitein’s index card) This document has been edited by Diem, and a transcription is available on the Arabic Papyrology Database under “P.Heid.Arab. III 49.”

Letter from around 1100 written by Mūsā b. Daʾūd Levi to Mevorakh b. Avraham b. Sabra about consignments of silver bars and silver ornaments. The letter is written in Arabic characters and the address in Hebrew characters. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Two statements in Arabic characters about small sums owed by Jaʿfar b. Rajāʾ al-Jawdarī to Mubārak b. Avraham (also the addressee of the letter at p. Heid. Hebr. 915). The statements are dated February and April 1086 CE, respectively. They are followed by eight entries in Hebrew characters about other sums owed by Jaʿfar, mostly for clothes he purchased, and some sums due to him.

A letter from a merchant to a group of Jewish merchants which outlines his own services. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

A list of accounts with many names, mostly Muslim, including the qādī and the jahbadh (money-changer, tax-cashier, or, in older scholarship following Fischel, government banker) and some Jewish, such as Yeshu'a and Barhūm. The lists also mention Busīrī linen and money to be exchanged in the Fayyūm. It appears to be from the office of Nahray b. Nissim in his handwriting or one of his circle. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letters. Among the small handful of Judaeo-Arabic papyri. Labeled "papyrus XI" (for recto) and "papyrus XII" (for verso) in the classification of Blau and Hopkins. Dating: Probably 9th century or earlier. Unlikely to have come from the Cairo Geniza; it is possible that most or all of these documents derive from a commercial circle in Ushmūn. Recto: Very damaged business letter, which mentions Bint Shuqayr, four dinars, oil, and an Abū Yaʿqūb. Verso: Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham to Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan b. ʿUbayd. Concerning the fleeing of villagers from an unspecified threat. (Information from Blau and Hopkins.) NB: The document does not appear to be digitized on the University of Michigan papyrological information system, but, "A description and the picture of the papyrus is in C. Sirat, Les papyrus en caracteres hebraiques trouves en Egypte, Editions du centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1985, p. 105 and planche 30 and 31." Also, there may be Goitein notes on this fragment which have not yet been attached to this record.

Letter in Arabic on paper mentioning 150 dinars, a substantial sum of money. Possibly late 10th or 11th century. Letter is on recto, address at top of verso (with a secondary use below it; see PGPID 35237). Image: https://findit.library.yale.edu/catalog/digcoll:2759172. Note: non-geniza; sold to Yale by Abraham Shalom Yahuda in 1951 (see provenance notes at https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/research-teaching/doing-research-beinecke/introduction-yale-papyrus-collection/guide-yale-papyrus).

Letter on paper in Arabic script. Appears to be secondary use, on the verso of another letter (PGPID 35236), under the address. Ink is faded. Image: https://findit.library.yale.edu/catalog/digcoll:2759172. Note: non-geniza; sold to Yale by Abraham Shalom Yahuda in 1951 (see provenance notes at https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/research-teaching/doing-research-beinecke/introduction-yale-papyrus-collection/guide-yale-papyrus).

A Fatimid decree fragment reused for the canon of Andreas of Crete, a ninth-century text, here in later copy. (Information from Naïm Vanthieghem and Marina Rustow)

A couple pages of medical and philosophical texts and a couple pages of Abbasid history text. Several anecdotes on the deaths of various kings and amirs are included, including Hārūn al-Rashīd, one al-Amīr Muḥammad, and al-Maʾmūn. The writer mentions arriving in Constantinople. (Information partially from Goitein’s index card)

Letter by Yehoshua Maimonides to a physician known as al-Muhadhdhab, dated Heshvan 1646 (=1334 CE), from Cairo to another city. The letter has to do with the son of the addressee, a cantor in Cairo, who subsequently added his own postscript.

Letter from Avraham b. Farrāḥ/Peraḥya, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, 1 May 1052. Contains details about the sailing of ships from Alexandria. The letter contains an order of payment for 40 dinars to be paid by Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥman al-Ṣāʾigh (Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ) to Nahray b. Nissim. Also mentions a vizier. (Information from Goitein's index card and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 813.)

Letter from Avraham b. Farrāḥ, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dated 27 Iyyar, which Gil renders 1 May 1052. Contains details about the sailing of ships from the Alexandria port. The letter contains an order of payment for 40 dinars to be paid by Abū ʿAlī Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥman al-Ṣāʾigh (Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ) to Nahray b. Nissim. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 813.)

Letter from Abū Sahl Levi, in Fustat, to his son Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyūb. In Judaeo-Arabic. "As for the news of your paternal uncle, your brother Abū l-Ḥasan (Yedutun) is looking after him, and thank God, he has turned the corner and is recovering, and there is no longer cause for fear. As for traveling, the bible codex was consulted and it came out good/auspicious for you, and I too saw for you that it would be good. But as you know, no one knows the unknown except God the almighty and exalted. My son, you know that if you stay in Qalyūb, you would earn money ("a dinar") in the same time that you would be traveling, and I would lead a good life, hearing your news every hour. But if you travel, you know that the traveler has no control over his own fate, and we fear that the winter will come, and you will be delayed longer than you intended. May God guide you to the best choice. Your siblings and mother and I send our greetings." On verso he offers an excuse for why Moshe's brother (presumably Yedutun) has not come to visit (Abū Khalaf told him not to travel ṭarīq al-khawḍ(??)). Then, "As for news of Abū Zikrī (=possibly the Gaʾon Sar Shalom ha-Levi), he met with me but did not tell me anything. If you have need of anything when your brother comes out, let me know." ASE

Debate poem between hashish and wine. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. The narrator is a partisan of wine: "Hashish has a way / Of flipping the brain around. / If you want to go to Qalyub / You end up in Banhā! / Check out that stoned dude (masṭūl) .../ He looks like a ghoul (ghūl)." At the end, the narrator goes to a monk and pays him a dower to betroth 'the daughter of the vine.' This is one of the fragments that Nāṣir signs (anā al-ʿibrī...). ASE

Draft of a letter in Hebrew, ca. 1043, from Efrayim b. Shemarya to Shelomo b. Yehuda, the Gaon of Jerusalem. Efrayim requests Shelomo to thank “the dear and righteous elder Hesed [al-Tustari], the respected dignitary” for the powerful aid he affords him, and then details the strife occurring in his community. Efrayim directs the Gaon to strongly reprove the disputants and impress upon them the need for unity, furthermore asking Shelomo to write a letter to Hesed thanking him for his part in bringing peace. (Marina Rustow, Heresy and the Politics of Community (Ithaca, 2008), 321; and Jacob Mann, The Jews in Egypt and Palestine under the Fatimids (New York, 1920-22; reprint 1970), 1:108-9) EMS

Letter from Ibrahīm b. Yosef al-Ṣabbāgh (Fustat) to Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī (Alexandria), ca. 1050. Avraham b. Yosef al-Ṣabbāgh, one of Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. ʿAwkal’s business partners, describes the strenuous relationships between Maghrebi merchants and Jabbāra, the amir of Barqa, Libya. Avraham b. Yosef al-Ṣabbāgh expects a consignment of Sicilian lead. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 611.) Contains interesting details about the methods of piracy of Jabbāra. The writer asks the addressee to ransom his goods (especially lead) should they arrive in the pirate’s ship. (Information from Goitein index cards and notes linked below.)

Awaiting description

Court record in the hand of Ghalib ha-Kohen b. Moshe, August 1, 1038. In the court of the Jerusalem community in Fustat. Community members spread rumors about Elazar ha-Melamed b. Shemuʾel b. al-Maghribi, that he cursed Shelomo b. Yehuda ha-Gaon. But these members did not say it in public, in front of the court. Elazar ha-Melamed delayed the Torah reading in the synagogue to dispel the rumor. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 p. 607-610, #331). VMR