Geniza Lab

Letter from Shemuel b. Yehuda ha-Bavli to Berakhot ha-Khaver. Shemuel writes that after searching the book dealers of Egypt for rare titles, he learned in Alexandria that the Greeks had many schools with fine scholars, and so he has made up his mind to go on to Thebes and Salonika in Greece after Passover. First, however, he will come to Fustat to collect the books that he had ordered. Ca. 1130s CE. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Awad b. Hananel from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, ca. 1060. In the handwriting of Avraham b. Abi al-Hayy and concerning business matters, specifically a shipment of nuts that was send by the writer to Nahray, and a shipment of oil that Nahray sent to the writer. Also mentions several other goods, and an apartment belonging to Nahray in Alexandria, in which the writer lives. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 3, #567) VMR

Letter from Manṣūr Kohen to Eliyyahu the Judge. See tag for further letters by him. Awaiting further description - see Goitein's index card.

Earlier document: State document in Arabic script. Heavily blurred. The left halves of 7 lines are preserved (which seem to comprise the entire document). Opens with formulaic praises (ونعماه وكبت اعداه اكمل . . . . واعلا . . . .). Mentions the requisite love for the addressee (shurūṭ al-mawadda). May mention the flood of the Nile (ىفيض الما).

Later document: Petition/letter of recommendation from an unidentified sender, apparently in Fustat, to Yoshiyyahu Gaon. In Hebrew. Dating: Ca. 1020 CE. This is a letter on behalf of the brother of Daniel b. Sahl ha-Melammed, who sent Daniel a letter crying out about his harassment at the hands of somebody (Gil suggests this was a Fatimid military officer but does not explain why). This person claimed in Muslim courts that Daniel's brother was his slave, but "God forbid that a Jew should be a slave of a Gentile, all the more so of a Jew like him" (r34–38). Various Jewish dignitaries are mentioned, including Elḥanan Rosh ha-Seder. Yoshiyyahu is asked to intervene. This fragment also contains a state document in Arabic and a Hebrew piyyuṭ in a different hand than the letter (larger and cruder).

Letter from Yehuda ha-Melammed b. al-Ammani, in Alexandria, to Avraham Maimonides in Fustat. Dated: Adar 1528 Seleucid, which is 1217 CE. Yehuda devotes the bulk of the letter (r.17-v.19) to a detailed account of the resolution of the conflict in the al-Ammani family between Yehuda and his uncle, R. Sadoq the Judge, crediting Avraham with resolving it. He describes the scene of the ṣulḥa in which all the family members drank to each other's health (Med Soc V, 39). Yehudah continues (v.19-31) with an encomium to Avraham; the Alexandrians have been praying and fasting for God to lift the epidemic that has attacked the population of Fustat and to protect Avraham specifically. Yehuda then emphasizes with gestures of humility (v.31-49) that all the affairs of the community rest on his shoulders alone, as his uncle drinks all day long. Yehuda's temperament cannot tolerate wine—he quotes Proverbs 20:1 ("whosoever reeleth thereby is not wise")—and does not drink more than a quarter cup in a sitting and certainly never becomes drunk. He explains (verso margin) that Avraham's colleague Abū Naṣr the physician encouraged him to write this letter, even though some of his peers mocked him for this. The letter concludes in the upper margin of recto with praises for Avraham. Information in part from Frenkel and Goitein's note card. ASE.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Letter from a man, in al-Maḥalla, to his son or younger relative. In Judaeo-Arabic, elegantly written. Lines 1-4: A Judaeo-Arabic poem, damaged. Lines 5-12: Opening blessings. The writer reports receipt from Abū l-Majd of the carpet, two turbans (miqʿaṭayn), and the gold leaf. He requests a letter from the recipient. Lines 12-17: The writer suffered an attack of burnt yellow bile one night. He tried every medicine to no avail, but continues to take a half dose of medicine each day. He has been proscribed eating anything at all or drinking wine, and he is in great distress from this. Lines 17-19: Fortunately, the astrologers are all in agreement that his good fortune is imminent starting on the eighteenth of this month. Lines 20-22: “Do not worry if you hear that somebody drowned in al-Maḥalla. It was a youth named Abū l-Faraj, known as Abū l-Faraj b. al-Sunbāṭī.” Lines 22-25: Greetings to the recipient, the mother, the paternal aunt, the maternal aunt, and the old man, likely the father, Abū ʿUmar or Abu ʿUmr (which may be a kunya for a man who has a child at an old age; cf. DK 238.4, lines 19 and 23). ASE.

Letter from Daʿūd Fasī to the cloth merchant Abū l-Afraḥ ʿArus b. Joseph. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein notes below.

Accounts in the hand of ʿArūs b. Yosef.

Letter from Ṭāhir b. Maḥfūẓ, the retired beadle of the Babylonian synagogue in Fustat, in Jerusalem, to al-Shaykh al-Thiqa Hibat Allāh, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated 21 Shevat 1227 CE. The letter consists entirely of expressions of longing and regards, informing his friends and patrons in Fustat that he is now living in Jerusalem and that he is in good health. Ṭāhir sends greetings to the Nagid (Avraham Maimonides), ʿImrān, Abū Naṣr, Ḥananel (b. Shemuel), al-Raṣūy, Sulaymān al-Levi, Abū l-ʿIzz, and his brother in Cairo. Ṭāhir asks that they continually write to him with their news "to revive my strength." R. Elʿazar sends his greetings. Information from CUDL and Goitein's note card. On verso there is also liturgical poetry. ASE.

Recto: Poems by Yehuda ha-Levi, copied by the India trader Avraham Ibn Yijū. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card)

Verso: Medical list in Arabic script. One of the columns is headed, "[For] ear pains." The material is cloth. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Collection of Geonic responsa, in the same hand as T-S 16.99, T-S G2.29, T-S 12.169, and T-S 16.310. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from the Babylonian community in Fustat to Hayya Gaon, acknowledging a letter he had previously sent to Avraham (Avraham b. Sahlan). The community refer to their synagogue in Fustat as ‘one that bears the name of your Yeshiva’. (Information from CUDL)

Palimpsest consisting of the Palestinian Talmud (including Peʾa 18d and 20b-c and Šeqalim, 44a-b; 46b), written over a Syriac text, The Life of St Anthony by Athanasius of Alexandria. Edited in Lewis (1902: 146–49) as text XXXV. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Fragment (left side only). Location: Fustat. Dating: ca. 1030 CE. Bride: Malika/Milka (מלכה). Groom: ʿAllūn b. Ṣeda[qa]. The dowry includes a house in New Cairo. Written and signed by the cantor Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. Other witnesses are: […] b. Yeshaʿya, [ʿAm]ram b. Yefet, and [...] b. Menashshe. (Information from Goitein’s index card and CUDL.)

Christian liturgical fragment in Greek.

Palimpsest, with Palestinian Talmud, ʿEruvin 20d-21d, written over a Syriac version of Hosea 14:4-10; Joel 1:1-2:20. (Information from CUDL.)

Palimpsest, with Palestinian Talmud, ʿEruvin 20d-21d, written over a Syriac version of 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13; 4:1-14. (Information from CUDL)