Geniza Lab

Letter from a son to his father; same writer and addressee as T-S 10J7.3 and T-S 13J21.13 and T-S 13J21.14. He reports that Abū Isḥāq has recovered from an illness; that he has sent several garments; mentions Abū l-Ḥasan and Abū l-Faraj; mentions potash (ushnān) in the upper margin; and mentions Sitt Abū l-Ḥusayn in the closing greetings. ASE.

Legal document. Power of attorney given by Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Yeshuʿa known as Ibn Nissim to his nephew, to claim various ornaments and sums from three different people. Monday 4 Kislev 1125. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Probably 1063. Natan wrote the letter 10 days before Passover. The writer is upset because a deal (probably for spices and beads) did not go as expected. He blames Abu Zikri b. Menashshe. Also mentions a matter of inheritance in the Tahirti family. The writer’s son was sick and his sight was impaired. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #426) VMR

Legal document in Hebrew demanding a punishment of excommunication and three days of house arrest for Sabyan b. Saadya who libelled his kinsman Yosef b. Perahya as being a descendant of slaves. Fustat, 1043.

Letter from Eli Ha-Kohen b. Ezekiel to Eli Ha-Kohen b. Hayyim, Fustat, ca. 1060

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Avraham Ha-Kohen b. Hagay, Fustat.

Awaiting description

Court record, 1039. Banīna bt. Avraham in Alexandria, who had been deserted by her husband Yosef, appointed her brother Shelomo as her attorney. Accompanied by two witnesses to this arrangement, the brother appeared before Efrayim b. Shemarya’s court in Fustat, where the power of attorney was ratified. The brother appointed a cantor and clerk of the court as his sister’s permanent representative. Verso is blank. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below, Goitein, MedSoc, Vol. 3, p. 203.)

Copy of a court record from the Pumbedita Yeshiva under Sharira Gaon, October 997. The event was in Baghdad and the copy was made in Fustat with the signatures of two people from Fustat. Regarding a will and inheritance. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #29) VMR

Legal document. Location: Ṣahrajt. Dated: Monday, 11 Kislev 1372 Seleucid, which is 1060 CE. Ḥarīza b. Abraham appoints Mevorakh b. Abraham (most likely her brother) as her agent to receive a bill of divorce from her husband Ṣadaqa b. Ṭayyib. Written and signed by Yehuda b. Avraham, who also wrote T-S 13J13.2 and ENA 2465.8–9. Also signed by: Ḥalfon b. Shelomo; Ṣadaqa b. Furqān. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Business letter from the North African merchant Benāya b. Mūsā (Alexandria) to Shelomo b. Mevorakh (Fustat), containing inter alia information about the movement of ships and referring to several India traders. Benāya b. Mūsā asks his correspondent to intercede on his behalf with head of the Jews Mevorakh b. Saʿadya, seeking the latter’s assistance in arbitrating a dispute to which the merchant’s son was a party. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, pp. 238n96 and 250-251.)

Letter from Yaʿaqov the physician, possibly in Granada, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel, in Almeria. Dating: 1138–39 CE. Same sender as T-S 13J17.22. The sender says that he assuages his longing for Ḥalfon by singing his praises in private and in public. This letter is primarily a recommendation for the poet Abū Ayyūb b. Sahl. Apparently the three men—Ḥalfon, Yaʿaqov, and Abū Ayyūb—had all been traveling companions until they parted ways in Almeria. After Abū Ayyūb returned to his hometown, he composed a panegyric for Ḥalfon. It was originally attached to this letter but has not survived (or at least not been found). Greetings to Yosef Ibn ʿEzra and Avraham b. Muʿṭī of Tilimsān. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Letter from Avraham b. Abū l-Ḥayy, in Alexandria, to his brother Musa, probably in Fustat. Dating: Ca. 1075 CE. 10th of Elul, a few weeks after the death of the writer's father. Avraham writes that Abū l-Ḥayy died after his ~6-month illness. Avraham writes that his expenses amounted to 25 dinars. He had to give his turban as collateral; and he still owes 32 dirhams to various parties (r12–14). Avraham complains to Mūsā that ʿAllūn, who was in charge of the money of the family, refused to disburse any money without word from Mūsā, and then covered only a small part of the expenditure after Abū l-Najm Hilāl had intervened in the writer's favor. Avraham needs more money to pay the debts and expenses. Information from Gil, Kingdom, III, p. 574. ASE.

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Aharon ha-Kohen to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllān b. Yaʿīsh ha-Kohen, a parnas. It is a letter of recommendation for the conjuncturally poor bearer (min ahl al-satr) who is worthier than others to receive charity because of the depradations of time. The writer also sends regards to the addressee's son Abū Kathīr, also a parnas. ASE.

Legal document written by Shemuel b. Saadya ha-Levi, specifying the estate of the deceased Avraham b. Abu al-Karam, the perfumer. Dated Adar 1514/ March 1203. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 412, and from Goitein's index cards)

Extremely polite business letter dealing with a consignment caraway dispatched from Fustat. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 340, and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Abu Zikri the physician (in Jerusalem?) to his father Eliyyahu the judge in Fustat. Abu Zikri is terribly worried that he will die before seeing his father again, and he begs his father to forgive his offenses. He has sent many letters already with the same purpose. Apart from a hidden illness that he cannot divulge in a letter lest it fall into the hands of his enemies, he suffers from a weak liver, an enlarged spleen, indigestion, lack of appetite, and fatigue with the smallest exertion. He only goes to the market once or twice a week to obtain necessaries, and even that is with difficulty. ASE.

Details of estate for an orphan girl and her mother (possibly with other accounts?). Contains information about persons who owed debts to her father. The dirham:dinar exchange rate at this time was 42.9 (322 dirhams = 7.5 dinars). Many names are listed: Abū Isḥāq; Salāma; Ibn al-Sukkarī; Hiba; Abū Kathīr; Bū Zikrī: Ḥakīm and his brother-in-law; Abū Manṣūr Ibn al-Tūzī; Elḥanan; Yeḥezqel; Ibn Nuṣayr; Abū Manṣūr; Ibn Mujayn. The list is followed by notes in two different hands, both distinct from the main hand. The list is introduced by an Arabic-script note: jābī al-ishrāf(?) [...]. On verso there are several notes in Arabic script, including one headed "Dīwān al-Kharāj." (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Calligraphic letter sent by a young cantor to his brother. The sender was away from home successfully seeking an appointment in another town and expresses genuine love for his little girl he calls Sitt al-Bayt. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 229)

Letter from Fustat to Sadoq Ha-Levi b. Levi, head of the Palestinian yeshiva. Ca. 1030