Geniza Lab

A list of people, probably list of debts or support for the poor. AA

Probably a letter, needs further attention. AA

Panegyric poem in Hebrew from Moshe b. Hizqiya to Shelomo ha-Sar.

Draft of a ketubba from Fusṭāṭ, dated 1301, written under the authority of the Nagid Abraham b. David b. Abraham Maimonides. (Information from CUDL)

Prototype of a legal document from Tyre, eleventh century, probably in the hand of Yosef Ha-Kohen b. Yaʿaqov.

Document in Arabic script. Reused for Hebrew jottings (names of cantillation marks). Needs examination.

Recto: letter in Ladino. Verso: accounts. (Information from CUDL)

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions: Abū l-Ḥasan; Ibn Ṣalḥūn; good buttons (azrār); walnut; an ointment (mirham). Regards to various people including Abū l-Ḥasan Ibn al-Shofeṭ and Hiba. There is a postscript on verso. Mentions Ibn Yeḥezqel; Abū l-Faḍl b. al-[...]; green walnut; two pillows and two dabīqī somethings; and ʿEzra b. Shuwayʿ. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Opening of a letter written by Daniel b. Azarya to Aviram ha-Kohen b. Yitzhak b. Furat. Daniel b. Azarya writes that he is sorry for their parting and is hoping to meet him again soon. (Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, 671-672, Doc. #359). VMR. NB: The current shelfmark is unknown.

Informal note. In Judaeo-Arabic. Recording the receipt of a sum from Abū Saʿd.

A letter from Daniel b. Azarya from Jerusalem, to Avraham Hakohen b. Furat. Judeo Arabic (Information from Gil, Palestine, no. 359). AA

Letter from a certain Yishmaʿel. Written on the 7th of Av. The writer says he will bring the mat or chessboard (naṭʿ) with him when he comes with his father and al-ʿAfīf. They were only delayed due to the wedding of a woman in the family (al-ṣaghīra, spelled אלצגיגה). They received the marriage payment from Abū l-Badr b. al-Ḥakīm (‘Son of the Doctor’) ʿImrān (alternatively, he could be Abū l-Badr the son of the doctor ʿImrān. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Zakarya b. Yaʿaqov al-Shama (Tripoli, Libya) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat), ca. 1050. The letter discusses the movement of goods from Tripoli to Fustat and vice versa, as well as the state of the market and prices in Tripoli and in the region of Ifriqiya. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 206.)

Fragment from a private letter to Ovadia. Referred to a certain Menahem that passed away. Still un-conserved. AA

Letter from a man to his wife. In Judaeo-Arabic. Oddly, the sender refers to himself in the third person most of the time. The address is made out to Simḥa al-[...] al-Tabarānī, at the Palestinian synagogue. Simḥa is presumably meant to read the letter to the wife. The sender provides a granular update on his business travels, mentioning people such as Abū Yūsuf al-Ruqūqī and several towns, probably all in the Nile Delta, including Minyat al-Qaʾid(?), Minyat al-S[...], and Sunbāṭ. He is hosted by a group of people from Beit Shean/Baysān (they are called Bayāsina) with whom he had previously traveled from ʿAkkā. He emphasizes his sadness at separation from his wife ("I cannot enjoy life and I am unsettled on account of distance in tears(?)... you know how much I love to eat warmed bread, but I have eaten only cold food since leaving you." He then goes on to Alexandria, where Natan says something to him. He carries on in the same vein on verso, describing his pain on account of absence, urging her to be patient and not to give enemies any cause to gloat, and mentioning further business affairs (including trade in riding animals, it seems). Mentions someone named Ibn al-Ḥamd(?). Regards to "your son," to the teacher Abū l-Wafaʾ, to the wife of the shaykh, and to Simḥa. NB: This fragment is not yet conserved and is only viewable at Cambridge as of 11/2021.

Letter fragment from Yefet b. ʿAmram b. Moshe ha-Mumḥe known as Ibn al-Jāzfīnī/Ghāzfīnī, in the Rīf, to the elder and cantor Yakhin b. Avraham, presumably in Fustat. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: second half of the 11th century. Same sender as T-S 20.28, and the addressee appears in T-S AS 204.163 and T-S 8J4.11. Most of the content is lost. (Information in part from CUDL.)

A commercial letter from Abu al-Hasan b. al-Iraqi to Abu Sai’d b. al-‘Afasi (עפצי). These figures are familiar from India Book II, so this fragment might belong to the book. AA

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Small fragment. Mentioning Ḥusayn or Ḥassūn. (Information in part from CUDL)