Geniza Lab

Letter to the teacher Ibn Yosef, informing the writer's mother about an agreement with his future wife and listing several persons on the verso, among them two Jewish men called Qarqashandi, one of them being a school teacher and the other a Levi. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 359, and from Goitein's index cards)

List (late) of names with Coptic numerals on back of unrelated letter. (Information from Goitein index cards)

Recto: Letter from the teacher Abū Yaʿqūb to an unknown recipient. Written in a good hand and pleasant style. This letter implores the addressee to help the writer buy medicine (?) and 2 ounces of sugar for his ill infant child, assuring him that he and his wife didn't have enough money even for a pound of bread. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 188; Goitein index cards.) Specifically, the writer requests the price of a qirṭās (probably meaning a bag) of nuqūʿ (which can mean infusion, as of a medicine, but also dried apricots, which would more easily go in a bag). The writer's son has a terrible cold (nazla ʿaẓīma). Verso: The beginnings of seven lines of a letter or petition in Arabic script, with wide space between the lines. In between the lines and at 180 degrees, there are a few more lines in small Arabic script, possibly the address of the letter on recto. The name Abū l-Ṭāhir can be read. ASE.

Letter from Abū l-Barakāt b. Abū l-Ḥasan, in Alexandria, to Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. The letter informs Shelomo about the passing away of the local judge, R. Shemuel. Shelomo's father, Eliyyahu the judge, is asked to come and serve as judge in Alexandria. Gives many names of important community members in Alexandria. (Information from Frenkel.)

Recto: Statute for tenants of the Qodesh. Dating: ca. 1215 (according to Gil, but his handwriting comparison may not be sound, and this document could be as late as ca. 1300). The document preserves a number of conditions imposed upon the lessees of the qodesh. It proclaims 1) a ban (herem) against anyone who defaults on the monthly payment, for any reason whatsoever. Therefore, exactly as one would beg money for food, one should do so, if necessary, in order to pay rent. 2) The ban will also operate also on anyone who does not accept the amount of the rent as established by three Jews, the muqawwimin. 3) The lessee is obliged to present his deeds of lease whenever asked to do so in the name of the waqf. 4) The ban will also be applied to anybody making use of a Muslim's intervention in order to obtain a lodging in the houses of the qodesh or a reduction of rent imposed on him. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 411 #112.) On verso there is a Hebrew poem in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī (d. after 1298).

Verso: Piyyut, (probably a qina) Hebrew poetry. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter sent to Moshe Qassas from Jerusalem, saying there was no point in remaining any longer in the Holy City since it was impossible to earn a living there, in particular because the addressee had two sons who should be married off. Possibly from the 14th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 474)

Letter mentioning goods like saffron and rhubarb and complaining about the taxes and the tarsim (house detention for delinquent debtors or capitation tax payers). (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Recto: fragment of a recommendation letter from Daniel b. Azarya to Eli ha-Ḥaver b. Amram, Fustat. The name of the person who is recommended is unknown but it seems he belonged to one of the Palestinian Gaon families. (Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, 688-689, Doc. #372) . VMR

Letter sent by Abu al-Barakat to Abu Nasr, asking him for 3 dirhams to hire a riding beast and asking another 3 dirhams from the recipient's friends for provisions, so he could try his luck in one of the congregations of the Rif. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 265, 448)

Letter from a Jerusalem pilgrim writing from Alexandria, admonishing his relatives, who were staying in his house in Fustat, to exercise utmost consideration towards “the lady of the house” (his wife). She had always been an excellent companion to them. Ca. 1160. (Information from Goitein’s index cards) EMS

Poetic letter addressed to Abu Ishaq Ibrahim. (Information from Goitein index cards)

Letter from Avraham b. Rav Shelomo the Yemeni, in Jerusalem, to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. Written not long after T-S 8J16.3 (same sender, same addressee). Dating: ca. 1214 CE (Goitein's estimate). Avraham mentions a "brother-like" relationship with Abū Bishr that he entered into at Eliyyahu's recommendation, however Abū Bishr has died and the authorities have confiscated all his property. Avraham also mentions divorcing a woman in Jerusalem "after much suffering and paying her more than was due her." Abū Zikrī, Eliyyahu's son and Avraham's former roommate, can tell Eliyyahu more about what happened. Avraham requests that Eliyyahu convey the news of the divorce to Avraham's son and to the son's mother. He also requests charity for a man who recently arrived in Jerusalem after a harrowing journey. (Information in part from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:47, 262, 437, 485.) EMS. ASE.

Letter from [...] b. Yaʿqūb to Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yosef. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Mentions commodities such as: silk (ḥarīr, khazz); coral; oil; soap; dustarī garments;. Mentions people such as: Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā al-Fāsī; Ibn Rajā; Abū l-Khayr Ṣedaqa al-Kohen; and Abū Yaʿqūb Yosef b. Efrayim who is to bring something to the sender in Yemen. (Information from Goitein's attached transcription.)

Details of an oath to be taken by Abu al-Ḥasan Qasim as demanded by the haver Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham with regard to a consignment of cinnabar which had to be delivered by his servant to Ḥasan b. Ḥasan in al-Mahdiyya. This document was written in Denia, Spain, in 1083. (Information from Goitein index cards)

Fragments of letters of the Nasi Shelomo b. Yishay. The recto is a fragment of a letter sent to the Nasi Shelomo b. Yishay (originally from Mosul, but then living in Egypt). The sender describes how he saved the property of the orphaned children of a certain Farah. The verso is a letter from the Nasi Shelomo b. Yishay, offering his services to the people of Fustat and especially to the Nagid David, grandson of Maimonides. Dated to ca. 1237. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II,19; also Gil)

Recto: Fragment of a letter to a notable, ending with the motto "yeshuʿa qarov." Verso: liturgy in the hand of a prolific scribe (see Joins Suggestions on FGP for T-S Ar.52.237). (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter addressed to Ismail Allaui al-Andalusi. VMR

Long letter to the judge Avraham b. Natan of Ramla, Palestine, from the late 11th century; probably sent from Tyre. The writer wishes to go to Egypt to David b. Daniel. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.