Geniza Lab

Autograph letter by Avraham Maimonides to Moshe b. Peraḥya. It is a recommendation for the bearer, the French rabbi R. Yeḥiel [b. Yiṣḥaq Ẓarfatī], to the community of rabbis (ʿulamā' al-sharīʿa) in Palestine and Jerusalem. Moshe b. Peraḥya served as a judge in the Rīf, including in Minyat Zifta and Minyat Ghamr; he was the brother of Yosef b. Peraḥya. On verso is a donation list with many names, conceivably for a fundraiser on behalf of the bearer of the letter. Information entirely from Mordechai Akiva Friedman's edition and discussion.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic (16th century per FGP) from Yosef b. Adīda (?) to Yefet b. Farḥān regarding flax shipments. People named include ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Maḥlāwī and ʿAbd al-Qadīr. The writer asks the addressee that when he comes from Fusṭāṭ he should bring letters from the children of Yiṣḥaq b. Adīda. He then may give his address: Rubʿ al-Ḥamzāwī, the alley of the Karaites.

Small fragment from the beginning of a Judaeo-Arabic letter mentioning Bū l-Majd, probably the recipient.

Small fragment from the end of a Judaeo-Arabic letter, sending regards to the boy al-Shaykh al-Mufaḍḍal and Abū l-Faraj b. Wafā' and Abū ʿImrān.

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Long letter in Hebrew, very faded. Byzantine script? Needs further examination.

Fragment of a 13th-century letter, probably from the family of the judge Eliyyahu, mentioning Abū l-Barakāt, Sitt Rayḥān and Sitt Jawhar. There is a request to purchase oil for the synagogue at Dammūh. (Information in part from CUDL)

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Fragment of a 16th-century business letter. Faded and damaged, so the contents are difficult to determine. Appears to be a letter from an agent to his employer reporting on his business activities. Mentions Fusṭāṭ and Alexandria (line 7) and Sariel the Judge who owes the writer 84 peraḥim (line 8). Information from Avraham David's edition.

Letter (16th–17th century). (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yoel to Efrayim. Fragment (upper left corner). The sender is likely identical with Yoel ha-Melammed (see e.g. T-S 20.148), since it is a rare name and their handwriting appears to match. Little of the content is preserved; the sender mentions the bearer of the letter, Yosef, and offers an excuse about why he has not traveled. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Fragment from a legal document or letter. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe? Mentions (Abū l-)Faraj and Dāʾūd, the court of 'our master' (Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon?), and [...] b. Hillel Rosh ha-Qahal. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Probably part of a letter, mentioning ראש הנדיבים סט and ‘the cantor’ and Ibn al-Amʿaṭ. (Information in part from CUDL)

A fragment of a letter. Only a few words are preserved on each side. (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter from Mardūk b. Musa from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. March 8, 1048. Regarding a large shipment of letters from the Maghreb. Marduk sends a large amount of letters to Fustat and asks Nahray to distribute them to the addressees. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #536) VMR

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Letter in the hand of Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (left side of recto). Discusses business affairs, one of them involving a fur garment (farw). Mentions Abū l-Surur (their brother Peraḥya?). (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter in the hand of Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (left side of recto). Yefet previously sent the receipt for the purse of needles (or lead? אבר, cf. DK 232.2) with Muḥammad. Mentions: Abū ʿImrān b. [...]; the cutting (? qaṣāra) of cushions (mikhādd) — cf. Moss. VII,168; the sun(?); Abū l-Ḥasan. (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment of a business letter, probably sent from Qūṣ (between lines 1 and 2). Mentions "the 8th of Shuwwāl, which is Shevat"; the writer's preoccupation on behalf of the recipient's illness; al-Shaykh ʿAllān; a rubāʿī (quarter-dinar?).

Fragment of a letter in the hand of Natan ha-Kohen b. Mevorakh concerning the disagreement about the Jewish community's leadership in Ashkelon. Describes how a group of community members appointed a new cantor (hazzan) without the approval of David b. Daniel, the Jews' leader. Avraham b. Ḥalfon b. Nahum, the official hazzan, tried to get to a compromise between both sides but failed. The writer describes that Avraham b. Ḥalfon (Ibrāhīm b. Khalaf) is not accepted by the community, nor even by the leadership in Fustat. The hazzan is not from Ashkelon, but Gaza, and they ask the head of the Jews in Egypt to appoint a new hazzan and leader in Ashkelon. (Information from M. Cohen, Shalem, 3, pp.103-105) VMR