Geniza Lab

Letter from the people of Jerusalem, probably to Efrayim b. Shemarya, ca. 1030.

Letter in flowery Hebrew from Yiṣḥaq Beveniste of Narbonne, France, who visited Fustat around 1105, writing to Yehoshuaʿ b. Dosa in Fustat, reporting that at nighttime he was robbed and needed 8 dinars to replace his good clothing (Information from Mediterranean Society vol. II, 131)

Letter from ʿAmram b. Yosef to Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy, Alexandria. Dating: 1094–97 CE. "The addressee Moses, mostly referred to as Mūsā, was active in communal affairs and was honored, because of his generosity, with the title Segullat (ha-'Yeshiva), 'Treasure' (of the Academy).l He was a native of Tunisia, who had settled in Alexandria and was temporarily in Fustat. Lines 1-32, and margin. Expressions of friendship, complaints about the bad times, personal misfortune, and an eye disease, which made it impossible for Amram to come to Fustat in person.2 Verso, lines 1-7. Letters from Yosef b. Abū Kathīr Ibn Yahboy,3 sent, it seems, from 'Aydhab,4 contained, according to hearsay, news about Abū l-Faraj Nissim and the camphor. The addressee is advised to question the Jewish merchants arriving from there. Lines 7-20. In his dire circumstances ʿAmram had given some of his books to the schoolteacher Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī (also a Maghrebi) to sell, but this man had moved to Fustat and nothing was heard from him. Mūsā is asked to remind him of his duties as a pious person and gentleman.5 {See the introduction to II, 3, for the dating.}" Description from India Book, English edition

Letter from Bu al-Muna ibn 'Imran to Ali Abu al-Ḥasan b. Sa'id in which the former discusses business matters. Mentions a youth 'Ben Nusayr' from Sanhur (Egypt) as an agent. From around 1100. (Information from Halper Catalogue)

Letter from an unidentified person connected to Ibn ʿAwkal, ca. 1030. The letter is illegible in many places. Discusses the will of one of the partners. The people involved may have been from Syracuse. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 601.)

Letter from ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Yeḥezqel, Jerusalem, to ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Ḥayyim, Fustat. Dating: ca. 1060. The address says the letter should be delivered to a man called Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlūn in Fusṭāt. The addressee is known elsewhere by his Hebrew name, ʿEli ha-Kohen ben Hayyim. The names of the three mail agents are also written. The same agents are also found on a different letter from ʿEli to ʿAlūn, T-S 12.54 (Gil, Palestine, doc. 444). The writer praises Abu Zikri as a great benefactor to foreigners coming to Egypt from Iraq, the Sham, the Maghrib and Byzantium, particularly Shelomo ha-kohen the grandson of Shelomo b. Yehuda. Abu Zikri is most likely Yehuda ben Sighmar, who emigrated to Fustat around 1050, or possibly Yehuda ben Se'adya, who served as head of the Jews ca. 1064-1075. The yeshiva of Jerusalem will reward him by praying on his behalf at the gates of the Temple Mount and on the Mount of Olives. In the postscript on the verso, ʿEli sends regards to Abu Nasr of Siracusa (Sicily).

Letter from Abū Manṣūr, unknown location, to Abū Zikrī al-Rayyis b. Eliyyahu, in Fustat or in Qalyūb ('wherever he may be'). In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. Rudimentary and distinctive hand. The writer is certainly a relative of the addressee, perhaps a brother-in-law or paternal cousin (or both), as he asks about the welfare of Abū Zikrī's wife. The letter mentions debts to the tax collectors (ḥushshār, l. 17). The writer complains that the addressee has been absent too long from his wife and mother. The date, added to the last line, is the 30th of the Omer (15 Iyar), but no year is provided.

Letter from Nissim b. Benāyā (Alexandria) to Avraham (ʿArūs) b. Yosef (Fustat), ca. 1085 (Gil). Nissim b. Benāyā brought a sum of money for ʿArūs b. Yosef from the Maghreb and had to send it to Fustat in cash. He would have preferred to exchange the money in Alexandria for a bill of exchange from Fustat but this was not possible. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 1009.) The letter was composed shortly after Nissim b. Benāyā’s return from the Maghreb around 1100 (Goitein) and is full of gratitude for the receiver. (Information from Goitein index cards linked below.)

Letter sent from the mother of Abū l-ʿIzz (Alexandria) to her son Abū l-ʿIzz b. Bishr in the shop of Abū l-Riḍā ibn al-Lebdi (Fustat). She asks Abū l-ʿIzz to send silk and to obtain a fatwa from the Rayyis to assist in an ongoing court case. She asks whether she ought to sell the mirwad (a pencil for applying kohl to the eyes) and, if so, for how much.

Letter from David b. Shekhanya to David b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi, an elder of the Qaraites in Fustat and a protector of the Jews in the court of the Caliph. The letter is in Hebrew rhymed prose or poetry. It sings the praises of the addressee but does not seem to ask for any immediate favor. The writer served as the court scribe and clerk under Efrayim ben Shemarya, in the Palestinian Synagogue fo Fustat and appears on court documents dated 1020–24 (see E. Bareqet, Shafrir Mitsraim, 1995, p. 122–23; Fustat on the Nile, Leiden, 1999, pp. 161–62). Biographical notes on David ha-Levi, the addressee, were collected by Samuel Miklos Stern, Revue des études juives, v. 128 (1969), p. 209–10. Information from FGP.

A list of clothes and household utensils returned by a divorced woman to her ex-husband, Naḥman, after she had taken them to the house of her brother, Abu al-Faraj, also known as Yeshua. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter addressed to Yosef ha-Sar. In Judaeo-Arabic with an Arabic address. The writer requests that the addressee give the five dirhams nuqra that al-Rayyis Abū l-Ḥasan b. al-Rayyis Abū l-Najm had deposited with him to to the bearer of the letter. Abū l-Ḥasan had already sent to the writer all the dinars owed him and in the accompanying letter mentioned that he had given five dirhams nuqra to the addressee of the present letter. There is then an instruction regarding what to do with the remaining money from the pesiqa. There are a few surviving words in Arabic script, probably the address; the first two appear to read 'bayt al-qāḍī.' Information in part from FGP.

Letter fragment addressed to the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya. In Hebrew.

Awaiting description

Fragment of a business letter from Iṣḥaq b. Aharon Sijilmāssī (Fustat) to Avraham (ʿArūs) b. Yosef (Alexandria), ca. 1080. Iṣḥaq b. Aharon reports about money he sent, asks to buy laque and provides information about silk prices. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 403.)

Letter from (perhaps) Shelomo b. Moshe Lanyado to Shemuel Lanyado. Dated Shevat 5485 AM, which is 1725 CE. The letter is in Judaeo-Arabic but uses the Ladino "senyor" and "senyora" and איל שי״ת (=el shem yitbarakh; the definite article is probably Ladino because this writer consistently writes אל for the Judaeo-Arabic definite article). The writer reports on a difficult illness that befell him and his financial need and hunger and debts. A certain Yiṣḥaq Shalom helped him in his distress. He is still in great need and asks the addressee to send him money lest he die of hunger. It is possible to see how the letter was folded and what was written on each fold. On the middle fold, the name Shelomo b. Moshe Lanyado appears; this is in a different hand from the letter. It may be (but is not necessarily) the name of the writer. The address to Shemuel Lanyado appears on the outermost fold. On verso there is an ex-libris signature of the addressee (citing a barayta: "the rabbis taught (tanu rabbanan) that one ought to put his name on his books/letters. . . .). Information in part from FGP.

Letter from [Yose]f ha-Kohen in Jerusalem to an unknown addressee. In Hebrew. Late. The writer denies a claim against him. He advises the addressee to hurry to "this holy place." Information from FGP.

Letter from Yehuda Rozanes(?), unknown location, to Yosef Amarillio, in Salonica. In Hebrew (first two lines) and Ladino (remainder). Dating: Probably prior to 1485 CE. The content deals with business matters. NB: Not from the Geniza. Judge Mayer Sulzberger found this letter in the binding of the first edition of the Mahzor Roma (1485). Information from FGP.

Letter from an unknown writer, in Safed, to Yosef Mataron (מאטארון), in Fustat/Cairo. In Ladino. Mentions the Ottoman coin para. The writer reports that the addressee's son Eliezer is in Tripoli, which he knows because he received a letter from Eliezer the same day the caravan from Egypt arrived. The letter deals with business matters and shipments received, some of which were unsatisfactory: "y como me mandastes aquella ropa tan desbaratada"; in fact the writer seems quite annoyed at the merchandise he is receiving and says he does not understand what he is supposed to do with it. Needs further examination.

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to an unidentified benefactor. Shelomo asks him to help him out with the payment of the capitation tax, as he had been ill and had to spend all the money he could save from school fees paid to him on medicine and chicken. (Information from Halper Catalogue and from Goitein's notes in margin)