Geniza Lab

Segment of a letter from Jerusalem to Ascalon, approximately 1070 (?).

Business letter sent from Alexandria by Yiṣḥaq b. Simḥa ha-Levi, a wholesale silk-dealer, to Abu al-Sarur Peraḥya b. Nissim ha-Levi in Fustat, dealing with goods and their prices and mentioning the government's prerogative to take possession of commodities against the wish of the merchants carrying them. Dated ca. 1120. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 267, 268, 387)

Letter from Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya, Fustat, to Daniel b. Azarya, approximately 1053. The tear between the two sides is indicated here by the following sign /. (Gil, Palestine, Pt. 2).

Letter from Ali ha-Mumhe b. Avraham to Efrayim b. Shemarya

Business letter in Arabic script from Nahray b. Nissim (per Aodeh), perhaps from Fustat, to ʿArūs b. Yosef, probably in Alexandria, since he is asked about prices in Alexandria in line 21. It seems wishful thinking to read the signature as "Nahray." In any case, the writer conveys his sorrow ever since ʿArūs departed, a sorrow particularly keen whenever he visits ʿArūs's home. He writes that Abū Khiḍr Shardāna (a name of Persian origin that also appears in T-S 13J20.18) will soon be in ʿArūs's location. He sends a message for Zayn al-Tujjār regarding the sale of "the quarter [dinar?]" (al-rubʿ), and he asks ʿArūs to sell for him the garments (fūṭ) and to fetch the writer's gold from the home of the Rosh Kalla. He sends a message for [Mūsā] b. Abī l-Ḥayy to sell on his behalf licorice (ʿaraq sūs) and coriander (? kuzbara but prefixed with a dāl). He asks for the price of Alexandria hellebore (kharbaq) and other prices. He reports that he has a dinar and a third and a quarter with Barakāt b. Saʿāda, and ʿArūs is to convey it to the writer's nephew. Verso is much more faded. People mentioned include a certain Abū Naṣr al-Baghdādī; the writer's brother-in-law Abū Isḥaq, who seems to have done something that requires forgiveness (al-bārī yarḥamahu): Khalaf b. ʿAzrūn; Abū ʿImrān (=Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy?) who will be traveling with the writer; he sends regards to all the Tripolitans (in Libya); and he asks ʿArūs to forward a note to acertain Ibrāhīm. Information largely from Aodeh's edition. ASE.

Introductory phrases of a letter and jottings written in a childish script. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter sent from Alexandria by Zikri b. Hananel to Arus b. Yosef in Fustat. It is a copy of a previous letter informing the recipient that the writer had already 'ascended' to al-Mahdiyya and was expecting to receive instructions as to whether or not he should carry the merchandise with him. Dated ca. 1080. (Information from Gil, and from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 313, 314)

Letter written by Efrayim b. Ishaq b. al-Zulafi in Sicily to Yaʿaqov in Alexandria concerning books. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter of appeal for charity from Yeḥezqel b. Ibrāhīm (the writer) and the former judge Moshe b. Shemarya to Abū ʿImran Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy, Segulat ha-Yeshiva. Moshe has gone blind from ophthalmia (ramad); his eye is white and he walks with a cane. Yehezqel is so infirm that he has not left his home for two years, even to attend synagogue services. They ask Mūsā to intervene on their behalf with the Nagid Sar ha-Sarim (Mevorakh b. Saadya), though they know that Mevorakh is busy with the “service of the rulers” (khidmat al-salāṭīn), see Rustow, Heresy, p. 339, and Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, p. 220. See also ENA 2805.5a, in which Natan b. Nahray informs Musa that as instructed he has given 1 dinar each to Moshe the Judge and Yeḥezqel the Alexandrian, who is sick and confined to his house. Dated after 1094. (Information in part from Goitein’s note cards) ASE

On verso and spilling over onto the margins of recto: account and a list of at least 82 indigent people, including at least 14 Europeans, in the hand of Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy. (Information in part from Goitein’s note cards) ASE

Letter from Ismail b. Yitzhak ha-Andalusi, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1065. Blessings for the holiday. The writer asks to pass an attached letter to his mother and brother in Spain. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 3, pp. 285-287, #512) VMR

Letter from a father living in the countryside to his son's grandmother residing in Fustat. The father expresses his concerns that bad company is leading his son astray, for which he blames the grandmother. He urges her not to let his son leave the city before learning a craft. (Information and partial translation, Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 41, 516)

Letter from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides regarding a collection (jibaya), ordering that the addressee's 'wife' (bayt) and the wife of the beadle Sulayman collect from the women. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Yoshiyahu ha-Nasi to a dignitary whom he addresses as "Sar ha-Teʿuda" and "Nagid Erez Yisra'el ve-Yehuda." After a lengthy introduction, he reports that he has accomplished what was asked regarding the copy of the book, and he also asks the Nagid to go to the physician Abū l-ʿIzz and obtain a waṣiyya (advice? prescription?). There are some faded sections. ASE.

Letter from a certain Yosef, in Alexandria, to his brother, an India trader. Mentions people including Avraham al-Miṣrī, Abū l-Maʿānī, Abū l-Surūr, Ibn Khalaf and Ibn al-Ḍarūra. The writer conveys a great deal of concern for the addressee and writes, "if I were not worried about falling ill or wounding the heart of the old man, I would have sworn to fast in the daytime until I saw your face again." ASE.

Letter from an unknown parent to his or her son Manṣūr b. Faraj, in Fusṭāṭ. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer asks a female family member in the house, probably the writer’s wife, to cut short her visit and come back as soon as possible because the writer is all alone at home, and money is short, and "it is the season" (of diseases?). A wall has collapsed there and as a result the other inhabitants left and went to Minyat Zifta, Egypt. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE.

Letter from Manṣūr b. Sālim to his son Abū Najm residing abroad. The father conveys a strong message to his son to return to God and stop acting in a manner pleasing only to 'fools and people of little religiosity.' He also urges him to travel only with a caravan or on a merchant's itinerary. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late. Currencies: ashrafī. Mentioning various business matters and people including Judah and David Naḥmias and Ibn Hānī. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from an uncle to his niece containing a last warning to the woman to return to her husband. Letter in which the husband and the paternal uncle Abū l-Faraj try to persuade the addressee, a woman in the city, to join her husband in a small countryside town. The letter includes some threats—such as the wife being left as an abandoned woman if she disobeys—and instructions on how she should go about the move. Mentions Abū l-Ḥajjāj Ibn al-Ṭabīb (son of the doctor) and ‘the judge’ (possibly Elijah b. Zechariah, as handwriting looks similar to Solomon b. Elijah, who may have acted as a scribe). C. 13th century. (Information from CUDL.)

Business letter from Farah b. Yosef in Alexandria to Yehuda b. Menashshe in Fustat concerning the delivery of goods, namely items of silver, olive oil, cheese, almonds and saffron sent from Ifrīqiya to Sicily. The writer mentions some hardship in Sicily. (Information from Ben-Sasson, Yehudei sitziliya)