Geniza Lab

Letter/petition in Arabic script. Seems like a letter of appeal for charity. Reused for a Hebrew literary text by the same scribe with crude handwriting who reused many Arabic-script documents (see FGP join finder). Needs further examination.

Letter from Abū l-Majd, in Qūṣ, to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal the judge, in Fustat. Mentions Egypt, Abū l-Riḍā, Ibn Ibrahim al-ʿArīf, Abū l-ʿAlā b. Ḥassūn, Abū l-Ḥasan and Abū l-Khayr. Dated: Wednesday, 23 Tammuz (1400+)145 = 1545 Seleucid, which is 21 June 1234 CE. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from a craftsman to ʿAbd al-Laṭīf, second half of the 15th century.

Letter sent from Alexandria by Ibrahim b. Farah to Yehuda b. Musa b. Sighmar in Fustat, dealing with merchandise sent to Sicily, describing the itineraries of ships and mentioning some letters. (Information from Gil)

Letter from Yahya b. Eli Kohen Fasi, from Qayrawan, to his brother Yosef, in Alexandria. August 9, 1052. The writer defenses himself against his brother’s accusation and describes the difficult situation in the Maghreb, which prevents him from sending goods, especially because of the attacks in the sea (probably by the Byzantines). Also mentions that the goods are getting more expensive. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #404) VMR

Letter from the Nagid David I Maimonides (d. 1300) to the community of Ashmūm. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning someone named Yosef who was in a dispute with Abū [...].

Letter by Perahya b. Yosef asking the addressee to go over his comments on a section of the Talmud with his Rav, and then to send him the latter's remarks and corrections, and saying that if the addressee had no time, Rabbi Yosef Ashkenazi would do the copying. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Yehuda b. Aharon Ibn al-ʿAmmānī, in Alexandria, to Abū l-Majd Meir b. Yakhin ("the Glory of the Cantors and their strength"), in Fustat. Dated: 22 Shevat 1525 Seleucid, which is early 1214 CE. In the letter are found the repercussions of the arrival of French rabbis to Alexandria. The community seems to be in a serious crisis due to the lack of leadership. (Information from Frenkel.) Yehuda additionally congratulates Abū l-Majd on his recovery (r.7-12) and agrees that his illness is primarily caused by drinking too much wine and that he should moderate his drinking (r.22-24). He refers to a frail woman (r.14-15). He reports that Abū l-Majd's brother Abu l-Najm Hilal is ill: he never fully recovered since a nail entered his leg months ago, and he does not or cannot open his mouth (r.15-19). He only reports this because it is said that Hilāl may be on his deathbed. (Cf. INA D-55 f.4, also known as IOM D 55.4, summarized in Med Soc II, 220 and V, 155, in which Yehuda writes to Eliyyahu the Judge that “[Hilāl] went to rest in the evening and did not awake in the morning. It was the first day of the holiday, and he was buried on the same day; he left a fine boy of sixteen, who studies with me.” However, Hilāl's fatal illness was different than the one mentioned in this letter, as Hilāl was still alive in December 1214 when he wrote T-S 13J21.27, having recently traveled from Alexandria to Fustat and back.) Yehuda devotes much space to discussing piyyutim that these two cantors have sent or will send each other (r.25-v.9); rebukes Abū l-Majd for failing to date his letters (v.1-4); mentions the financial difficulties in his household (v.9-10); mentions Abū l-Faraj b. al-Rayyis (=Eliyyahu the Judge) and his fundraising for Jerusalem (v.10-13); and ends with a recommendation for R. Shemuel who approached him as he was writing this letter and seems to intend to travel to Fustat. R. Shemuel does not speak Arabic and is dependent on the community's aid (v.13-21). ASE

Letter sent to Mahfuz b. Allun informing him that the dinars he had sent helped the writer for ten months, but that now the addressee's sister's daughter and the writer's wife had to go begging. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in Ladino to Avraham from Shemuel b. [...]. Information from CUDL. See also Goitein's index card.

Letter of Efrayim b. Shemarya to the Gaon Shelomo b. Yehuda, containing a question about butchering animals and also discussing the status of the Maghribis in Fustat. (Information from E. Bareket, Yehudei misrayim, p. 74)

Letter from Eliyahu b. Nissim, in Alexandria, to Shela b. Isḥāq, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably early 13th century. The sender, a foreigner, asks why he has been neglected. He states that he is in Alexandria and cannot come to Cairo without an invitation. The sender is worried because he has not heard from anyone for four months and because a disease had spread in Fustat. The letter opens with a biblical quotation (Proverbs 13:12). (Information in part from CUDL, from Goitein, Med Soc III, 47, 437, and from Goitein's index cards.) Join: Oded Zinger. VMR. ASE.

Letter sent from Jerusalem concerning the communal property of the Palestinian community in Egypt. The letter is written in the handwriting of Eli ha-Kohen. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Spain to Egypt about a war in the Mediterranean (spring, 1137). Naval battle between Muslims and Christians. Written on late Nisan 1448 sel., which is mid-April 1137.

Letter from Salama b. Nissim b. Ishaq al-Barqi of Busir to Abu Ishaq (Barhun) b. Ismail al-Tahirti, dealing with the production of flax and linen. The writer complains about the difficulties he has obtaining flax and gives details about the processing of flax. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 105 and 418, and Gil)

Letter mentioning Damascus and possibly Ramla (though Goitein subsequently read this word differently). Very faded. (Information from Goitein's attached notes.)

Business-family letter showing the concern of the Jews of Egypt for those of Yemen. Dated Thursday, middle of the month Elul. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Abu Zikri b. Eliyyahu's brother, Shelomo, to Abu Zikri (ca. 1200) informing him that their father was well but upset about the hardships Abu Zikri had encountered. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 257, and from Goitein's index cards)

Recto: letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, probably in Qalyūb, to his father Abū Sahl Levi, in Fustat. He asks the addressee to a sell the coats (al-shuqaq) and with the proceeds to buy for him what he had specified in his preceding letter. He asks his brother Abū l-Ḥasan (Yedutun) to send him some sort of letter (כתאב אלמזאיד?) that the owner had requested. He asks the addressee to have the scissors belonging to Furayj repaired without delay and send them to him; he will pay however much it costs. He informs the addressee that his paternal uncle Ṭāhir had spent Shabbat with him. He sends regards to his other paternal uncles, ʿImrān and Bayān. He also sends regards to Bū l-Yusr. Verso: letter from Abū Sahl Levi to his son Moshe, with a detailed list of transactions he had conducted on behalf of the recipient. Notably he obtained for his son three dirhams of mastic (ʿilk), a pound of mercury (zaybaq), a pound of barberries, and a half-pound of alum (shabb). He needs the container (kūz) in which he had sent the mercury back without delay, because he gave collateral for it. The addressee still owes a dirham to Ṭāhir and 1 3/4 dirhams to Baqāʾ al-Kohen. The margin contains a plea not to cut off the expenses provided to the addressee's niece or cousin. It also mentions Ṣāfī, the ghulam who sometimes shuttled letters and commercial goods for the family members letters between Qalyub and Fustat (hence no need for addresses). (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) EMS, VMR, ASE.

Letter from Toviyya ha-Kohen b. Eli ha-Meulle, a traveling scholar, to his wife, asking her to take good care of their youngest son, Eli, especially concerning his food, clothing and study. Toviyya writes that Eli should spend nights at his uncle's home so that the latter may teach him more than he will learn from his elementary school teacher. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 183, 558)