Geniza Lab

Letter concerning business matters, with extensive greetings to family members such as to ‘my brother’ Abū Isḥāq and Abū Saʿīd. Mentioning quantities of flax. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Hason b. Yitzhak al-Khavlani, probably from Alexandria, to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. Around 1015. The writer informs Ibn Awkal about several shipments that are on their way from the Maghreb, mainly leather and silk. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #218) VMR

Letter from Yusuf ha-Kohen b. Shelomo Gaon, writing from Jerusalem or Ramla, informing the Jewish chief justice of Aleppo that it had taken seven months to find the husband whose wife in the Syrian city had demanded a divorce. The bill of divorce had now been made out and entrusted to a man who would deliver it to the woman, ca. 1035. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:262, 485) EMS

Letter from the year 1103 (established according to Shela's biography, see Frenkel, Compassionate, p. 76). The letter is written in the hand of Shela b. Mevasser to Mevorakh, the Nagid. Shela asks the Nagid to intervene in a legal dispute because he was unable to resolve it with his authority. (Information from Frenkel; Cohen adds: Shela reported about someone from Barqa who has caused much trouble. He induced an orphan boy to allow him to act as his representative against his mother, who then complained about this. The troublemaker was brought before the community and the wrong was redressed, but afterwards this maker of mischief continued his plotting against the widow. Eventually a relative of hers took her case before the Muslim authorities, a move which caused difficulties for the community. The elders of the community have now sent a report (mahdar) to 'our lord' via someone traveling (to the capital), and the addressee will learn all about what the evildoers have done. The Barqi Jews refuse to have anything to do with the person because of his stupidity (jahl)).

Letter from Yisrael b. Natan, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat ,

Letter from Judge Eliyyahu to his colleague David ha-Kohen in Bilbays addressing a query; asks whether one Bushr, daughter of Asad, had formally dissolved a previous engagement and is free to remarry.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe, the muqaddam of Sunbāṭ (see T-S 24.25v, dated 1149 CE), to the Nagid. Yiṣḥaq reports that the chief cantor died after four months of lying in bed with terrible pains. He complains that the widow ("the wicked Zeresh") is threatening, as soon as her son arrives, to accuse him before the local chief of police (wālī) of being the cause of her husband's illness and death. She says, "The muqaddam excommunicated him and killed him before the entire congregation." Defending himself, Yiṣḥaq writes, "You know the ḥamas of the Rīf. A person may die from less than this." Goitein understands "ḥamas" to be the Hebrew word variously meaning violence, anger, injustice, or false witness (but usually referring to governmental persecution in Geniza documents). The writer is thus referring to his own sufferings, countering the claim that he killed the cantor with the claim that the distress caused by such a false accusation puts his own life in danger. The writer admits that popular opinion is against him (anā taḥta safeq fī l-amr). In the bottom, fragmentary portion, he seems to complain that he is not being paid; he also mentions a blanket and "three sick people, and I am the fourth." He is prepared to come to Fustat if the Nagid wishes. Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 74, 537. ASE.

Letter from Yisrael b. Natan, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11 January 1052 CE. Apart from business matters, this letter contains information about the struggle over the position of Rosh ha-Yeshiva upon the death of Shelomo b. Yehuda. It appears that the Maghribīs are very involved in this struggle. Yisrael mentions in passing that the remnants of his illness are still with him (r7). Information from Gil. ASE

Letter sent by Eli b. Natan the physician to the Nasi in Cairo, probably Shelomo b. Yishai, complaining that the Hazzan returned only two of the three dinars Eli had deposited with him. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 41, 530, 607, and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter sent by Abu al-Ma'ali to Avraham Abu Ishaq b. Natan 'the Seventh' saying that he has not heard from him for a while, though he understands that a disaster has befallen him, and sending him good wishes for Passover. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Marduk b. Musa in Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. (c. July 1048 CE). Marduk expresses outrage as he reports on the opening of a bundle of commodities passing through Alexandria on its way to Fustat; the goods included a qintar and forty ‘jarawi ratls’ of wax and a bundle of silk (khazz). The letter also mentions an order for earthenware goblets (‘saghar’) with gold luster in Fustat. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:337, 487; 4:149, 394; Jessica Goldberg, Trade and Institutions in the Medieval Mediterranean, 173) EMS

Letter to Abu 'Ali, probably from his brother, inquiring about the lack of correspondence. The sender asks for an explanation, citing Leviticus 19:17. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 294-295)

Letter from Khalluf b. Zakariyya, Alexandria, to Yosef b. 'Awkal.

Letter to the cantor Hillel b. Eli about the bad behavior of his son Abu al-Ḥasan. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Marriage contract containing details of a dowry and written at the time of the Nagid ʿAmram (1378-1383). The name Avraham is preserved. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) The hand is very close to that of the clerk of Yehoshua Maimonides (d. 1355); see T-S 13J4.15 for another document from the time of the Nagid ʿAmram possibly written by the same scribe.

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes and index card linked below.

Business letter from Avraham b. Farah in Alexandria to Yosef b. Moshe b. Barhun al-Tahirti in Fustat. The letter mentions a shipment of cosmetic oils, lead, silk and pearls. Avraham takes care of the storage house rented by Yosef in Alexandria. He asks Yosef to buy him ink and pens in Fustat. (Information from Gil)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda, probably to Avraham b. Sahlan, approximately 1026.

Letter from Moshe b. Yaʿaqov, Jerusalem, to his wife's brother Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dating: 28 July 1053 CE. Additional echoes of what we found in the previous letter (T-S 13J6.22), after having received a letter from Nahray in the interim. Moshe heard that Nahray had sent money, clothing, and myrobalan with Abū l-Ṭayyib al-Baradānī, but these have not yet arrived. Moshe recently recovered from an illness (iltiyāth) and is still weak. Avraham ha-Ḥaver has also been sick. Information in part from Gil. ASE

Letter of congratulations from Musalah to Shelomo and his son upon the marriage of the son. (Information from Goitein's index cards). Verso contains part of a long text in Judaeo-Arabic.