Geniza Lab

Letter written on behalf of and signed by the Gaʾon Sar Shalom b. Moshe ha-Levi ("Head of the Yeshiva of Ereṣ ha-Ṣevi"). In Hebrew. Dating: Probably 1170–71 or 1173–95 (during Sar Shalom's tenures as Head of the Jews). Addressed to a dignitary named Moshe b. Ḥalfon ha-Kohen ("Chief of the Priests"). Sending greetings and asking that the addressee send him a prayer shawl. The addressee is in the habit of doing this whenever he returns safely from a commercial journey. (Information from CUDL.)

Copies of formularies for letters, by the head of the Babylonian academy (probably Saʿadya Gaʾon), who is residing in Baghdad. Contents include letters of greetings and thanks, a letter of condolence, a request for funds and instructions to send questions to the academy, and a detailed defence of the Rabbinic tradition against the Karaites. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from the ḥaver ʿEli b. ʿAmram to the physician Avraham b. Furāt ha-Kohen. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1151–62 CE, as Daniel b. ʿAzarya is invoked as gaʾon. ʿEli opens with a long rhymed poem in honor of the addressee, then goes on to complain about his loneliness and apologize for not being able to come to the addressee in person, as he is unable to leave his office (dukkān) unattended and nobody can take his place. Mann originally published this letter and interpreted dukkān as "shop"; Goitein pointed out that it can also mean the office of a communal leader.

Recto: Legal document written and signed by Natan b. Shemuel. Dated: Iyyar 1456 of the Seleucid Era (=1145 CE). Abū ʿAlī Yefet b. Shemarya ('the head of the parnasim and the trustee of the court') receives a loan of 11 dinars from Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Abū l-Ḥasan Shabbetay Ibn al-Shofeṭ. To be paid back in 11 monthly installments, beginning with the month in which the loan was given. Verso: the repayments are recorded, with signatures of Natan b. Shemuel, Elʿazar b. Moshe and Moshe b. Mevasser. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Fragment of a letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya, approximately 1040.

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Sahlan b. Avraham, 1048.

Letter from Abū Zikrī Kohen, in Fustat, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. Dated: Monday, 1 Shevaṭ 1444 Seleucid, which is 9 January 1133 CE. (Information from India Book 4; full Hebrew description below.)

Letter from Daniel b. Ṭoviyya to a family member, possibly his elder brother (the Arabic address on verso mentions the name Abū l-Faḍl). In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. Dated: 9 Kislev 1479 of the Seleucid Era (= 1167 CE). The sender reports on his travel to Damietta, where he was unable to leave the caravanserai for several days, and other matters. The sender's mother and grandmother are greeted with particular affection, and many other people are mentioned, including Abū l-Surūr Ibn al-Amʿaṭ (known from Halper 345, T-S 12.527, T-S 8Ja1.4, and probably Moss. VII,8.3). Greetings to: Amīn al-Dawla Muslim/Musallam, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥemdat Ibn al-Sukkarī. Abū l-Fakhr al-Ṣayrafī (the banker), and the latter’s business partner Barakāt. The sender has passed on the addressee's greetings to al-shaykh al-sadīd Abū l-Riḍā. Finally, greetings to three people who are probably female slaves: Fayrūz ("turquoise"), Nadd ("ambergris perfume"), and זכיר(?). (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card and attached notes.)

Original use: Fragment of a chancery document, possibly a decree. In Arabic script with wide line spacing. 7 lines are partially preserved. Later, the empty spaces on both recto and verso were reused for Judaeo-Arabic legal documents (see separate record). The last line of ENA NS I.23 reads: "[...] ʿan salaf wa-ḥāḍir ʿan ghāʾib min al-tamassuk." Legible words and phrases from T-S 13J33.11 include: fa-lammā warada min al-shām... al-iṣtināʿ rājī... bi-murāʿā... wa-lā siyyamā wa-qad taqammaṣat(?) min malābis(?)....

Secondary use: A judge's inventory of possessions and money relating to Avraham b. Ḥasan and Abū l-Ṭāhir. Possibly the inventory of a coppersmith who possessed also the three parts of the Bible. Mentions the Iraqi synagogue. Verso: apparently copies of legal documents, one of them relating to an engagement, all written around an Arabic chancery document (see separate record). The future wedding is dated 1391 of the Seleucid Era (= 1079/80 CE). People mentioned include Abū Zikrī, Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq, [...] the trader Pinḥas b. Elʿazar Ibn al-Shofeṭ, and Nahray he-Ḥaver (who may sign somewhere). (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.) Needs further examination.

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to an unidentified personality. Dating: ca. 1035 CE. Join: Oded Zinger.

Letter from Natan Ha-Kohen Ha-Ḥaver b. Yoshiyyahu, Tiberias, to Yaʿaqov b. David, approximately 1050. The writer asks the recipient for support on behalf of the sick who are seeking a cure at the hot springs of Tiberias. (Information from CUDL.)

Letter from Abū l-Ḥasan b. Ibrāhīm al-Zayyāt to the notable Yehuda b. Elʿazar ha-Kohen. With best wishes for the addressee's two sons, Elʿazar Saʿd al-Mulk and Moshe, and his brother Yishʿi the physician and the latter's son Aharon. Abū l-ʿIzz Aharon b. Elʿazar. Also mentions 'the rayyis' Abū l-Walīd. Dating: Late 12th century. Topics: (1) formal openings; (2) something about accompanying a person to the synagogue in a big crowd; (3) physicians; (4) eye illnesses. See also T-S 13J33.8 and DK 245. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Recto: document, either a legal deed or a proclamation, written by Shemarya b. Elḥanan sentencing someone who has slandered ‘our Master and Teacher Shemarya’ to flogging. With quotes from Prov. 21:23, Mishna Sanhedrin 10:1, BT Qiddushin 70a, and Shavuʿot 21a. Verso: responsum with isolated Babylonian vocalisation, dealing with matters concerning orphans, quoting various halakhic authorities. (Information from CUDL; see also Goitein's index card.)

Writ of agency written in Tyre, dated 18 Shevat 4771 (25 January 1011). Ḥalfon b. Moses b. Aaron (Ibn Abī Qīda), the "representative of the merchants" in Tyre, authorizes his father-in-law Solomon b. Rabī' (in Fustat) to collect from Caleb b. Aaron, the "representative of the merchants" in Fustat, what he is owed for 37 mishpālōt (baskets) of glass, which were partly his property and partly held in partnership with Abraham b. Ḥabashī and Aaron b. Jacob (Ibn Abī Rujayf). (Information from Gil, Palestine 1:238)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya, approximately 1030.

Poetic epistle addressed to the poet and man of letters Yehuda ha-Levi, who was also a well-to-do physician and devoted time to public welfare and charity. The writer, a traveler from Badajoz, Spain, is in dire circumstances and requests a donation from Yehuda ha-Levi while the two were sojourning in Egypt. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:580, 5:83, 528) EMS Correction: The manuscript actually says 'אלברגושי' i.e from Burgos, not Badajoz (which back then was still Batalyus) MY

Letter from Menashshe the Alexandrian teacher to (Saʿd al-Mulk) Elʿazar b. Yehuda ha-Kohen. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, in a very flowery style. Dating: Late 12th century. The sender requests help in his rivalry with another teacher by asking the addressee to intervene with his father to put a stop to the actions of a judge, whom he accuses of making parents transfer boys from his to the rival’s school. Same sender and same addressee as T-S 12.425. See also T-S 13J33.3. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Petition from the Jewish community of Alexandria to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya (1140–59 CE). Complaining about oppressive and fraudulent collection of the capitation tax. There are three wicked officials: Ḥasan b. Karām b. Iskandar the jahbadh, ʿUmar b. [...], and Yaḥyā ("may he not live!") b. Abū l-Faḍl known as Ibn Ukht Badīʿ(?). They are issuing receipts without having them registered in the supervising dīwān (wa-lam yuthbithā fī l-dīwān), which enables them to extort a second payment—one for their own pockets, and one for the dīwān. Among the bad effects are "the cutting-off of craftsmanship and the raping of women and the attacking of [houses and the exposing of the] head before the tax collectors." (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's attached notes.)

Legal document. Zakkār b. ʿEli releases Avraham b. Elʿazar. There is no information about the occasion for the release. Dated: Sunday, 7 Av 1388 of the Seleucid Era (= 1077 CE). Signed by: Efrayim b. Moshe, ʿEli b. Yaḥyā ha-Kohen and Ṣedaqa b. Netanel. (Information from CUDL.)