Geniza Lab

Letter from Natan ha-Kohen b. Mevorakh, in Ashqelon, to a communal leader, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer requests urgent help for his family that is in danger of imprisonment for a debt of 10 dinars. The father had run away to Egypt. Dating: ca. 1130 CE. Information from Gil.

Letter by Shemuel b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Sefaradi to [Shemarya] b. Elḥanan. In Hebrew. Dating: Early 11th century, probably. Letter of recommendation for a proselyte of noble descent whom he met in Damascus and later in Jerusalem and who was in danger because of the powerful Christian scribes. Edited with extensive commentary (and speculative identifications) by Golb, “A Study of a Proselyte to Judaism Who Fled to Egypt at the Beginning of the Eleventh Century," Sefunot 8 (1964).

Court record, fragmentary, dated 1227; see Gotein Nachlass material

Bill of sale dated December 481/1088 (original document), in which Khulayf b. 'Ubayd b. 'Ali sells a house to Harun b. Khulayf b. Harun, the perfumer, a Jew. There are two addenda on verso written a century after the original. Above, Abu Sahl b. Ibrahim makes a gift of the house to his son Abu l-Ḥasan the physician; below, Musa b. Abu Sahl rents part of it from his brother Abu l-Ḥasan. (Goitein, Med Soc, III:479.) ASE.

Letter of greeting from Seʿadya b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Dayyan to Elazar Pe'er ha-Ḥakhamim. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Goitein's note card #3627 refers to a letter from the same sender; "Antonin 1152-3, I have a photocopy." Unclear if the 1152-3 refers to the shelfmark or to the date.

Draft of private account of Yosef b. Eli Kohen al-Fasi. Around 1057. Contains details about partnership between the writer and Barhun b. Salah regarding purchase of flax in Busir, and details about silk business. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #397) VMR

Eleven calligraphic pages from Hayya Gaon's Book of Formularies (not used in S. Assaf's edition, Jerusalem 1930). Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Elazar b. Shem[uel?], unknown location, to his 'brother' Abū l-Faraj ʿImrān b. Ḥasan, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Deals mainly with matters of correspondence—who received which letter when, someone who wrote a letter in Hebrew (characters?), whether the writer will write a letter to the Levant. The writer sends greetings (and a rebuke) to Abū l-Najm Hilāl and greetings to R. Yaʿīsh al-Kohen and his son and to all the parnasim (maybe the son is the parnas ʿEli b. Ḥayyim = ʿAllūn b. Yaʿīsh of the late 11th c?). Needs further examination

Recto: List of collections for the Jerusalemites (tafriqat al-maqādisa). Dated: Sivan 1553 Seleucid, which is 1242 CE. The holiday of Shavuʿot falls in the month of Sivan. "Only two contributors are listed. The writer obviously realized that the piece of paper was too small and took another sheet. On the same page, upside down, copy of a slightly annotated passage from the Babylonian Talmud (Yevamot 37a), dealing with a man wedding a widow or divorcee within three months after her bereavement or divorce." Verso: Business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Information from Goitein, Med Soc, II, p. 501 (Appendix C, #98).

Informal notes in Judaeo-Arabic. Recto: Possibly from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. The writer asks the addressee to write a note to R. Ḥananel regarding the writer's plan to come into Fustat today to see him as well as the writer's wife. He writes, "By the Covenant, I do not want to go to Gehennom, for most slaughterers are in Gehennom, as they (the rabbis) also said, 'The best of slaughterers go down to Gehennom.'" (This is a slight misquotation of BT Kiddushin 82a, exchanging the negative maxims about physicians and slaughterers). Goitein suggests that the writer is seeking a recommendation to be appointed as a slaughterer, although he hated the profession; Goitein may have succeeded in reading more of the text, but perhaps the writer is rather trying to avoid such an appointment. Verso: The response, instructing the addressee to wait a day before coming into Fustat, because the distinguished person (presumably R. Ḥananel) has agreed to meet with the writer today. So the addressee should await further instruction. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter fragment from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, in Jerusalem, to his father Judge Eliyyahu, in Fustat. Reporting on 'irregularities' of his brother Abu Zikri. See Goitein Nachlass material

Account. Computation of sums handled by a Parnas, ca. 1151. An anonymous parnas apparently farmed out the revenue of a certain section of the estates of the qodesh, for a period of 16 months. He had to pay the qodesh 16 dir. a month. He is credited with various sums which he has paid in the meantime and which are to be deducted from the sum owed by him. Mention is also made of his father, who also took part in the operations. Written in the hand of Judge Hiyya b. Yitzhak. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 267 #53)

Letter from Ibrāhīm b. Ṣadaqa the perfumer, in Ashqelon, to Abū Saʿīd Netan'el b. Ṣadaqa the perfumer, in Fustat. Dating: Ca. 1116 CE. Written in Hebrew, in a strange flowery script. The addressee is asked to hand over to Tiqva b. Aharon ha-Ashqeloni 5 [dinars?] of the money belonging to his wife Wuḥūsh which is deposited with the addressee. Same writer and addressee as T-S 13J13.3, which is dated Elul 1457 Seleucid (1116 CE). The content is also very similar, except that in T-S 13J13.3, the addressee is supposed to hand over 5 dinars to the writer's relative Abū l-Ḥasan Rajā. Information from Goitein's note card.

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Involves Barakāt al-Kohen, Mūsā known as al-Raṣṣāṣ, a widow, Abū l-ʿAlā', the Nagid, someone who insists that he is no relation of Barakāt al-Kohen, an inheritance, a tawqīʿ, and payments to 'the orphans.' The fragment is quite damaged and the story is difficult to piece together.

Letter of business to Judge Eliyyahu, mainly about small quantities of sugar candy-- see Goitein Nachlass material

Letter from Yosef b. Farah from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1045. The writer wrote the letter in the Hebrew month of Iyar, before the sailing season is about to start and the merchants starting to negotiate the prices for shipments. Yosef wants to travel to Tripoli, Libya, but he needs to travel to Palermo before that. The writer adds a recommendation for Avon b. Ṣedaqa, from his town, Gabès (Qābis). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #509) VMR

Letter from Akhlābū b. Aharon ha-Kohen, in Alexandria, to Yosef b. Eli Kohen Fasi, in Fustat. Around 1051. The writer charged 10 dinars and wrote their details. Wahb b. Sulaymān al-Mawṣilī returned to Upper Egypt, with sorrow, because of the riots (it is not clear what he means). The writer asks to know the prices of pepper and flax in the commercial center in Fustat (“Kaluz”). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #703) VMR

Letter addressed to Avraham b. Natan Av Beit Din. In Hebrew. The first 28 lines of the introduction are preserved. Written in an elegant style. Sharp-edged ('Talmudic') script. Large empty space at the top of the page. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter addressed to Aharon ha-Memunne b. Efrayim Ibn Ṭarsūn. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The first five lines of the letter are in a different hand than the body; perhaps a professional prepared a form letter addressed to the notable Aharon, and the writer filled in the rest with his specific requeest. The writer comes from a distant country (but writes in Arabic). He asks the addressee to attend his sermon on Shabbat in the synagogue, and to treat him in his capacity of scholar differently from other wayfarers. See tag for similar invitations to sermons. Information from Goitein's index card.

Legal: partnership agreement. Dated: Thursday, 10 Kislev 5319 AM (חושה), which is 1558/59 CE.The partners Yehuda Castro and Namir Viryuti (? וריוטי) enter into a partnership for selling (ostrich) feathers (נוצה) in Venice. Namir has obtained 140 raṭls of feathers, and Yehuda has shipped them to Venice for the price of 116 gold Venetian ducats and 24.5 medins, apart from the costs of shipping and customs. Yehuda is to receive 3/4 of the profits and Namir 1/4. Information from Avraham David's edition on FGP.