Geniza Lab

Document of release concerning a partnership, denoted here as ‘mufawwada.’ (Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman, The Business of Identity, Stanford University Press, 2014, 112, 365) EMS

Letter to Abu Sahl b. Ibrahim from his brother Yeshu‘a b. Sa‘id detailing how thieves (wusus) entered into Yeshua’s shop and vegetable garden (mabqala) at night, stealing from him money and silk. He requests Abu Sahl to quiet the heart of Abu Yaqub b. Yeshu‘a and ask him to be patient, further remarking that he is ready to sell his soul to Abu Yaqub (fa lau ṣīrtu an abya‘a nafsī). Verso: directions and list of bible verses. EMS

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

Testimony of Abū Zikrī Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yehosef ha-Kohen releasing Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Yaʿaqov ha-Zaken in the hand of Natan b. Shemuʾel ha-Kohen, signed by Efrayim b. Meshullam (dated documents: 1142–59)

Letter from Yehizkiyahu, the Head of the Gola, b. David to an unknown person. July 1036. The writer asks the addressee to keep their letter correspondence on a regular basis. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #67) VMR

Two questions addressed to Avraham Maimonides about milking sheep on Shabbat. (Information from Goitein's index card). VMR

Letter and a responsum, on either side of the same sheet of paper, detailing the story of a man in distress, particularly because of debt. The letter likely concerns an earlier stage of the case, discussed in yet another responsum. The handwriting looks like Berakhot b. Shemuel. (Mark Cohen, The Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages, Princeton University Press, 2005, 80-2) EMS

Letter from a certain Binyamin to a certain Ḥayyim, perhaps the son of Ḥananel b. Shemuel. Dating: Middle of the 13th century, during the time of David I Maimonides. "We are fortunate to possess a letter from the mid-thirteenth century describing a more extended version of the solitary retreat (khalwa). The letter, composed by one Benjamin to his friend, Ḥayyim, apparently the son of Ḥananel b. Samuel, sought to calm the worried son’s mind over the “journey” undertaken by his father. Eliyahu Ashtor, who published the letter, interpreted this journey as a lengthy business trip. More recently, Paul Fenton has conclusively argued in favor of a pietist interpretation of the letter. The letter is the only direct confirmation that the pietists of Egypt practiced the forty-day retreat known among contemporary Sufis." The complete letter, including the full valediction, was translated into French by Fenton, Deux Traités, pp.63–65. (Information from Russ-Fishbane, Judaism, Sufism, and the Pietists of Medieval Egypt, pp.115–18.)

Business letter in Ladino from Yehudah Fariente to Yehudah Gatenio, dated Kislev 167 (= 5567) of the Era of Creation (= 1807 CE). Mentions people including Shelomo Barukh, Abraham Crispin, Isaac de Quriel, Musṭafa and the writer’s wife Palonba. (Information from CUDL)

Business letter dating to around 1800 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Fragment of a 16th-century letter from David Badūssī in Būlāq, who was a teacher in Jerusalem, to Abraham סורג, philanthropist in Egypt, seeking financial assistance. (Information from CUDL)

Letter asking for financial help, sent from Jerusalem to Bilbays and signed by Yosef b. Gershon and Jehiel Sarfati (the Frenchman).

Letter from a woman named Raḥla Naʿmīṣ, dated Shevaṭ 162 (= 5562) of the Era of Creation (= 1802 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Moses גליפאפה, in Venice, to his teacher Shemuʾel ben Sīd, in Egypt. In Hebrew. Dating: Late 17th century (per CUDL) or early 17th century (per Avraham David, based on a potential reference to the same events in a pinqas entry from the community of Mantua dated 31 January 1616 CE). The letter concerns the ransoming of ten Jewish captives, some of whom were taken in Rome, who are being held in Palermo. Mentions Seʿadya Dārūqīs of Venice, Avraham of Egypt, and Refaʾel of Rome. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya. End of 1025 / 1026. Concerning the Fatimids' army that is coming from Egypt against the bedouins.The letter's main issue is the serious disagreement in Fustat concerning Efrayim b. Shemarya, which some people want to remove from his position, for Shemuel b. Avtalyon. Shelomo suggests Efrayim to restrain his emotions so he will not help his opponents with his actions. (information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, pp. 116-119). VMR

Letter from Saadya b. Natan Ha-Kohen, Jerusalem, to Mevorakh b. Saadya, Fustat, approximately 1070.

Letter from Shimʿon b. Shaʾul b. Yisraʾel ha-Ṭulayṭulī, in Jerusalem, to his sister Ballūṭa in Toledo. The writer (a Rabbanite) relays two years of news about Qaraites and fellow Andalusians in Jerusalem, as well as family news. He conveys the distress he felt upon hearing of the epidemic (wabā') and unrest (tashwīsh) in the environs of Toledo. One theme of the letter is their father's health. "Our father is in a state that one would wish only for one's enemies. He has become paralyzed (mabṭūl), blind (aʿmā), and feeble-minded (madkhūl al-dhihn), and suffers much (mumtaḥin). The bearers of this letter will tell you about him and about my care for him. He does not lack a thing, for he is well served (makhdūm) and cared for (maḥfūẓ). I do not rely on anyone else to concern themselves with him. My bed adjoins his; I get up several times every night to cover him and to turn him, since he is not able to do any of these things alone (idh lā yamlik min nafsihi shay'). May God, the exalted, reward him for his sufferings." Med Soc III, p. 241. Later in the letter, Shimʿon tells Ballūṭa that she need not concern herself with sending the turban that had been requested, "for, woe is me, he no longer has the wherewithal to leave the door of the house. He used to devote himself (wādhāb should be read as wāẓāb) to the Mount of Olives and to God's Temple for as long as he was able and [the strength] was in him, may God reward him." (Gil's translation diverges significantly from this.) A second theme of the letter is the story of a fellow Toledan, Ibrāhīm b. Fadānj, and his wife, who arrived two years earlier after having been taken captive in Byzantium and redeemed in Ramle. For a detailed analysis of their case—involving multiple changes of allegiance between the Qaraite and Rabbanite communities, and the writer's role in aiding them—see Rustow, "Karaites Real and Imagined" (2007), 43–47.

Document written in Zawīlat al-Mahdiyya with a validation written by the court of Fustat, as denoted in Hebrew אשרנוהו (in the validation of the court). The main document concerns a shipment of goods which was sent by Yaḥyā b. Mūsā and which did not include trading goods for Salmān b. Shabīb ha-Kohen. Salmān claims his goods in front of the court. The document mentions Yisrael b.Yūsuf Ibn Bānūqa and others. It is dated: Thursday, 19 Tammuz 4807 AM, which is 1047 CE. Witnesses: Khallūf b. Yehuda; Barhūn b. Moshe b. Barhūn; Yiṣḥaq b. Yaʿaqov .The validation is in the handwriting of Efrayim b. Shemarya. Other witnesses: Avraham b. Mevasser; the cantor Yefet b. David (b. Shekhanya). (Gil, Kingdom, 4: 106-7, Doc. #633; S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:236-7, 574; and Oded Zinger, Women, Gender, and Law, 402). EMS and VMR

Letter to the head of the Academy, Avraham b. Mazhir, from [Natan] b. Shemuel ha-Haver. Dated Marheshvan 1453 sel. (October 1141).