Geniza Lab

Genealogical list at beginning of letter from Masliah Ha-Kohen Gaon ca. 1120.

Letter from Dalāl bt. Masʿūd/Seʿadya (a.k.a. Umm Ibrāhīm), in Bilbays, to the dignitary Abū l-Barakāt Yehuda b. Elʿazar ha-Kohen (titled "ha-Sar" and "Sofer ha-Malkhut"). The sender was a widow and had been held captive in 1168 CE. She was freed after paying for her own release, one dinar at a time. The addressee had previously helped the woman, but suggested she leave the dinar with him until she needed it; he did not send it back to her. Time has passed. The woman's cousin is now wanted by the police, and she asks Abū l-Barakāt Yehuda to do as he had promised. (Information from Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, 319–20) VMR.

Legal document dealing with an oath given by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu on Adar 1036 Seleucid Era (document's dating; should be 1536) /February-March 1225 (Goitein's dating, based on fact that the document is under the authority of the Nagid Avraham Maimonides, head of the Jews from 1205-1237). (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR 

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Avraham b. ʿAṭā' (=Natan), in Malīj, to Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Mūsā. The writer is not the same person as the Nagid of Qayrawān with the same name. The letter seems to be a response to Yehuda's request that the writer take good care of a certain Abū Isḥāq (al-qawām bihi). Avraham reports, "Our companions (aṣḥābunā) did not fall short with him even before your letter arrived. When it arrived, I took him into my own house. I will look after him (aqūm bi-ḥālihi) until he recovers. He is doing better than before. Whatever I [have to] spend, he is secure (muthbat) with me until he recovers. [I would do this] even if I did not owe you anything and you asked me to do it." ASE.

Draft of letter from Natan ha-Kohen ha-Mumhe b. Mevorakh, Ashkelon, to Eli ha-Kohen ha-Parnas b. Hayyim, Fustat.

Letter addressed to Abū ʿAlī Aharon ha-Kohen b. Avraham. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, and quite eloquent. The addressee and his father have long strings of titles. Recto is entirely introductory blessings. The writer continues on verso with a strong rebuke for the lack of letters, especially because he has suffered "illnesses like no one has ever suffered before." He justifies his rebuke with an (unattributed) quote from Kitāb al-Zahra, the treatise on love by the 10th-century Muslim jurist Muḥammad b. Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī: "Without rebuking lapses, one can't preserve a friendship." The writer sends regards to Abū ʿImrān, who he fears is mad at him and wants to cut off their correspondence, because he hasn't responded to the writer's letters. Regards to Abū Saʿīd as well, and a nice astronomical blessing: פלא זאלת אפלאך עלוהא דאירה ושמס עזהא נאירה וכואכב סעדהא סאירה. ASE

Letter from unknown writer, unknown location, to his 'brother,' in Fustat. The address is almost entirely gone, but one of them is named Bū Saʿd. Everyone who comes from Fustat has been telling the writer that the shop is closed. He is further worried because he doesn't know if al-Rayyis Barakāt actually delivered the garments (awsāṭ and an ʿarḍī), because Barakāt said that he found the addressee spending the evenings at Dār al-Bayḍ (or Bīḍ?), but the writer doesn't believe him. The writer wants an urgent letter with news of the awsāṭ and of his mother "because there is no terrible news (khabar muqārab) but that I have imagined it, and life and death are in the hands of God." The addressee should try to sell some of the garments, including a blue ʿarḍī, for 2 dinars (there is then a slightly cryptic line about an inheritance and what if something should happen to the old woman). The 2 dinars should be deposited with Abū ʿAlī or with the writer's cousin (ibn ʿamma) and the remainder should be sent to the writer. "Do not think that I am writing to you about this because I am going to travel anywhere. By the Law, my only travel is to al-Maḥalla and to Fustat, and it crossed my mind that I should come up to Fustat, and only this is holding me back." The letter ends surʿa surʿa surʿa (=hurry hurry hurry!!!). ASE

Letter from Avraham b. Abī l-Ḥayy, in Alexandria, to his brother Mūsā, presumably in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1075 CE, several months after the death of their father. Avraham describes his financial difficulties, as he depends on the wheat that Mūsā sends him. Evidently Mūsā has been instructing Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllūn to send Avraham wheat only once a month. Apart from that, he works hard as a teacher. Avraham's wife insults him because he is unable to support his family. His woes are such that "I fear that I will develop a serious illness, for I no longer have the wherewithal to bear the preoccupation of my heart" (r14–15). He expresses his willing to come to Fustat but he has no company for his travels and he is worried about the tax collectors in Fustat. Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #471. VMR. ASE.

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim to Ayyash b. Sadaqa in Busir. Probably ca. 1050.

Letter from Yaʿqūb b. Ismaʿīl al-Andalusī, in Tunisia or Sicily (Goitein) or Tyre (Gil), to Abū l-Walīd Yūnus b. Dāʾūd b. Zablān, probably in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1060 CE. The sender seems to be a business agent for the addressee. Deals with various shipments of commodities, some of which were sent together with merchandise for Nahray b. Nissim. (Information from Gil and from Goitein’s index card.)

Letter sent from Alexandria by Yiṣḥaq Nisaburi to Abu al-'Ala Sa'id b. Munajja in Fustat, asking him to send a Byzantine scribe to Alexandria to write a Torah scroll. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter addressed to Abū Sahl ha-Levi (the cantor of the Palestinian synagogue in Fustat, who died in 1211), with greetings also to his brothers Moshe and Abū ʿImrān. The identity of the writer is not clear. S. M. Stern identified this as an autograph of Maimonides, but it is not a perfect match The remainder of the writer's name might appear at the upper left of recto: possibly B[ū Zi]kr[ī]? The ductus and the overall appearance is similar to several letters of the physician Abū Zikrī b. Eliyyahu, but again, the handwriting is not a perfect match. The writer excuses his failure to write on account of an illness, and a little later, "As for your failure to write to me: I had an excuse, but you have no excuse!" There is not a great deal of content to this letter beyond the good wishes and urging a response. It is valuable, though, for the clear identification of Abū Sahl's brothers as Moshe and Abū ʿImrān. ASE

Court record about the settlement of various claims between Shela ha-Kohen b. ʿAyyāsh and Tiqva b. ʿAmram. Fustat, dated 1099. Describes a dispute over a debt. The defendant paid part of the debt at the time of becoming engaged to a sister of the complainant. An oath was to be given by one party declaring to have meddled with wine adjudicated to the other party by a previous decision of the court. Receipt of sums adjudicated. In the hand of Nissim b. Nahray (Goitein). In the hand of Iṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi (Ashur). Verso is blank. See also T-S NS 324.30 in relation to this document. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below, Goitein, Med Soc, Vol. 2, p. 513, Ashur, Engagement and Betrothal Documents from the Cairo Geniza (PhD, Tel-Aviv, 2006). p. 14.)

The engagement contract of Abu Mansur, Semah b. Yefet, to Sitt al-Khassa in Fustat, 1146. Sitt al-Khassa was the daughter of Abu Barakat, son of Yosef Lebdi, the India trader. The groom deposited the very large early marriage gift of 40 dinars with a third party and promised the delayed marriage gift of 100 dinars. The bride received five shares (out of twenty four) of the house that used to belong to her grandfather, and half of her father's house. Moreover, 'the rent from her real estate will be in her hands, not in his hands, and she may deal with it as she sees fit.' She also is promised the right to choose the domicile. Her very large dowry amounts to 500 dinars (actually it adds up to 496 dinars), and it is stated that this sum was not exaggerated. The document begins with Bodl. MS Heb d 66 48r then continues to Bodl. MS d 66 47r and then to the latter's verso. Previous description: Engagement of Sitt al-Khāṣa bt. Abū l-Barakāt al-Lebdī and Ṣemaḥ al-ʿAṭṭār. In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver. 11 November 1146. Information from Goitein's note card.

Formulary for a marriage contract, Qaraite/interdenominational. Dated: 1036 CE, at the time of Ṣemaḥ Nasi. One sheet is possibly missing in between, and with it the details about the tosefet and the nedunya. Information in part from Goitein's index card

Letter from Yehuda b. Moshe ibn Sighmār, in Alexandria, to ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Yaḥyā (aka Ḥayyim) the parnas, in Fustat. Yehuda explains the problems he has been having collecting monies owed him by a 'partner,' Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Faraj al-Raḥbī, having to do with the sale of a valuable piece of ambergris. He has heard that Abū Isḥāq is now in Fustat, but he cannot come in person due to an eye disease (recto, margin, ll. 1–2). He requests that ʿEli represent him in litigation against that person. He has enclosed a power of attorney with his letter. Ed. Cohen, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 56 (2013), pp. 218–63. Also published by Moshe Gil, Kingdom, IV, #622 (pp. 58–66). See also the power of attorney dated 1085 CE, Bodl. MS heb. c 28/11, published in both publications. See also Goitein's note card #27115. ASE.

See join for description, PGPID 577.

Letter from Efrayim b. ʿAzaryahu to an unnamed addressee. There are 13 lines of eloquent Hebrew blessings and flattery ("my soul is tied up with your soul"), calligraphically written and even vocalized. In the final three lines he gets to the point: "Please liberate my quarter-dinar and give me dirhams for it, and let half of them be small pieces, may I never be deprived of your life." This is the end. Somewhere in Mediterranean Society, Goitein discusses the scarcity of small change. On verso there is a talmudic or halakhic text with a Judaeo-Arabic discussion.

Business letter sent from Alexandria by Abu al-Ḥasan b. Khulaif to Abu Sa'id al-'Afsi in Cairo about business done for him in Spain. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 166, and from Goitein's index cards.) See also DK 232.2 (alt: VIII), a letter sent to the same addressee from the Binyām mentioned in r8–10.

Deposition in court by Abū al-Baqā ha-Kohen, son of Abū al-Ḥasan, that his step daughter owed him nothing with regard to the heritage of his wife, while he and his brother were in possession of certain ornaments belonging to the former. Dated 24 Sivan, 1541 Seleucid (1230). One of the witnesses if Shelomo, son of the judge Eliahu b. Zakhariya ha-dayyan. Verso is blank. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below.)