Geniza Lab

Letter from Daniel b. ʿAzarya (Damascus) to the court physician Avraham b. Iṣḥaq b. al-Furāt (Fustat). Daniel b. ʿAzarya congratulates the addressee on his transfer to Fustat from Ramla and reports that letters from the Ramla people sent together with a letter by the addressee were lost. The writer promises to act in favour of a cantor Yefet b. David from Fustat. Daniel b. ʿAzarya expresses gratitude for a robe of honour that Avraham b. Iṣḥaq obtained for him from the vizier. He mentions his troubles in the past year and his plans to travel to Jerusalem. Daniel b. ʿAzarya also asks the addressee to intervene for him with Qadi Abi Muhammad and more generally to act on his behalf in Fustat so that the authorities there exert influence on the people in Palestine. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Gil, Palestine, Vol. 2, pp. 662-663.)

On recto there is a letter draft addressed to a certain Shemuel ha-Sar. In Hebrew. Quite florid: "your letter wafted fragrant odors... I placed it on my heart like a seal... my hands dripped with myrrh...." On verso there are multiple formularies for letters of appeal. In the margins of recto there are three medical recipes. Everything on this fragment is in the hand of Berakhot b. Shemuel.

Letter from Madmun b. Ḥasan to Abu Zikri Kohen. Aden, 1130s.

Very long letter dated ca. 1100, issued by the two judges of the capital in the name of the Nagid Mevorakh, in which a circuit judge is strongly rebuked for having given judgment in a town in the absence of the local muqaddam and for having taken other actions without consulting him and the elders. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 74, 537)

Legal testimony concerning a partnership release from a commenda. Dating: 1098. Abū al-Ḥasan Yaḥyā ha-Kohen b. Shemuʾel ha-Kohen al-Baghdādī and ʿUlla ha-Levi b. Yosef ha-Levi al-Dimashqī release Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh al-Ḥalabī b. Shelomo from any further claims on their partnership — called shirka, mu‘āmala and muḍāraba (commenda) variously throughout the document, though some of those terms are used in the course of legal indemnification clauses, so don't necessarily reflect the exact structure of the partnership. Abū al-Ḥasan Yaḥyā ha-Kohen b. Shemuʾel ha-Kohen al-Baghdādī and ʿUlla ha-Levi b. Yosef ha-Levi al-Dimashqī testify that they gave Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh al-Ḥalabī b. Shelomo 100 dinars, which he took to Yemen as the active partner; on his return, he gave them back their capital and the profit he accrued. This is one of three documents in Lieberman's corpus involving Abū al-Ḥasan Yaḥyā ha-Kohen b. Shemuʾel ha-Kohen al-Baghdādī and ʿUlla ha-Levi b. Yosef ha-Levi al-Dimashqī; the others are T-S 8J4.11 and T-S Misc. 27.4.29. Lieberman additionally points to CUL Or. 1080 J73 as concerning the same business partners, as well as ENA 4020.2, also a partnership release. One source of the investment capital of Yaḥyā and ‘Ulla could be a money-changing stall (dukkān al-ṣarf), mentioned in TS Misc 27.4.29, and one of Yaḥyā’s partners in ENA 4020.2, verso, is a money-changer (l.16). Possibly in the hand of Hillel b. Eli, but not in Weiss's corpus. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 27–32)

Letter to the community of Jerusalem from Elhanan b. Shemarya, 1013 CE.

Letter addressed to Shelomo ha-Sar known Saniyy al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā. Consists solely of flattery and praises, perhaps a letter of gratitude for some benefaction.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Simha al-Naysaburi, in Alexandria, to Ulla ha-Levi b. Yosef, Fustat. Dating: around 1080. Concerns trade in saffron and other spices, and in silk, and lists prices. Mentions some details about ships. The writer mentions a third partner. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #739) VMR

Letter about the Mongol invasion. Mosul, December 1236.

Magical spells and prayers to angels in Hebrew.

Draft of a court record from the court in Fustat. 1042. In the handwriting of Yefet b. David Shekhanya. Regarding the claim by Ya’aqov b. Avraham b. Alan against Yahya b. Moshe al-majani. Two years after Yahya described his disagreement with Ya’aqov, his opponent’s claims come before the court. The complainant is in Fustat and the claimant is in Qayrawan, therefor the court needs to send its conclusion to Hananel b. Hushiel and the Nagid Ya’aqov b. Amram from the court in Qayrawan. The record contains details about the goods and their prices. Yahya’s father ordered these goods before he passed away around June 1039. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #632) VMR

Copy of a letter from Menaḥem b. Eliyyahu, in an unspecified location near Salonica and Constantinople. In Hebrew, with occasional phrases in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably composed during the period of the first crusade, as it refers to the arrival of German armies. Relates messianic events that occurred in Salonica (including the healing of a blind man and various apocalyptic visions and the reduction of taxes) and asks the addressees to share any messianic rumors that they have heard. Contains several noteworthy names of people (including a reference to Evyatar ha-Kohen, gaon in Jerusalem c.1083–1105, who had sent them a letter from Tripoli, Lebanon) and geographical areas (Romania, Thebes, the land of the Khazars). There is a full translation and detailed analysis in Sharf, "An Unknown Messiah of 1096 and the Emperor Alexius." ASE

Large letter from "the two congregations" of Alexandria to the Palestinian community of Fustat, and particularly to Efrayim b. Shemarya, regarding fundraising for the ransom of captives. They convey gratitude for 200.5 dinars that had already been sent. The tale is rather convoluted, but they are clearly in need of money again. In particular, "one of the Arabs" named Yubqī (or Yabqā?) b. Abī Razīn recently arrived with a new set of seven Jewish prisoners from Byzantium (מארץ אנטאליה), four Rabbanite and three Qaraite, demanding 33 1/3 dinars per captive. The head of the Alexandrian community, Netanel b. Elazar ha-Kohen redeemed one of them and suggested writing to all the communities of Egypt to raise the remaining total. Thus they have sent letters to both Rabbanite congregations and the Qaraite congregation of Fustat, to the elders in general, and to the Rabbanite and Qaraite congregations of Tinnīs and Damietta and Ṣahrajt. Some of the sermon included in the remainder of the letter seems intended for public reading in the synagogue (an insight from Frenkel, ha-Ohavim ve-ha-Nedivim, p. 190). There are ~17 signatures in addition to that of the scribe, Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen b. Yosef ha-Shofeṭ, and that of the head of the community, Netanel ha-Kohen b. Elazar. ASE

Detailed but incomplete letter to an army doctor, possibly from his son-in-law, end of the 11th century. Contains many details about accounts, selling of books, the health of the family, misfortunes of acquaintances, and public affairs. The family had houses in Cairo and Fustat and also agriculture land where they kept sheep, certainly for the production of cheese. (Information from Goitein index card and notes linked below.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya, approximately 1028.

Marriage contract written by Eliyyahu Gaon, Ramla, probably 1064.

See T-S 12.715.

Upper end of a large deed in Arabic letters in which a Christian sells 1 and 2/3 out of 24 shares of a house in the Rāya quarter of Fustat to a foreign Jew who already owned 4 shares in it. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below.)

Deposition in the Jewish Court of Tyre, ca. 1028. The rent of a compound in Aleppo has been dedicated by its owner, Hilla b. Joseph, to the Great Synagogue in that city; the sons of Hilla, Mevorakh and Mufarrij, now live in Tyre. They declare before the court that the allegations of a certain man from Aleppo, who claims that the house was sold to him by their father, are vain and unfounded. The brothers insist twice upon the fact that it is the rent that was dedicated. They also insist on the fact that the man cannot prove the purchase, since he holds no deeds of purchase. The intention of the brothers to sell that house is apparent enough, though the relevant passage in this matter has unfortunately been damaged. They seem to be insisting that the dedication of the rent was on condition that it lapses if the heirs decide to sell it. Had the house itself been dedicated, the heirs would not have had a word to say about deeds of purchase nor would the case have been discussed in court at all. As we have it, the story behing the document seems to be that the late Hilla actually received money from the purchaser, but died before the deed of sale had been concluded. The heirs now strive to prevent the man from collecting the rent of the house, in order not to create a legal precedent, and keep the right to sell it at a convenient opportunity. The community of Aleppo probably claimed that the house itself had been dedicated. As to the claimant, he seems to have taken some steps to gain possession of the house, perhaps with the aid of a Muslim court. We have the therefore three parties involved in the case, with conflicting interests. The deposition of the brothers, as recorded by the court in Tyre, is preceded by a lenghty verified introduction, in a very flowery style, which forms the first half of the letter. The first part of the introduction is a eulogy, alphabetically arranged, to the learned people of Aleppo and their leader, the head of the court, R. Yaʿaqov b. Joseph. The letter is written in the hand of Shemuel b. Moshe. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 127-128 #2)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 5 Shevaṭ 1378 Seleucid, which is 1067 CE. Written and signed by Hillel b. ʿEli. Groom: Wuḥaysh b. ʿAllūn. Bride: Rayyisa bt. ʿAmram, not a virgin. Marriage payments: 5 + 15 = 20 dinars. Witnesses include: the Spanish cantor Yaʿaqov b. Yosef; ʿAmram b. Peraḥya; Netanel b. Yefet. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)