Geniza Lab

Letter addressed to the Nagid Mevorakh about irregularities and inefficiency in the administration of the synagogue of the Iraqians in Fustat. The writer especially complains about the beadle of the synagogue. Dated ca. 1105. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 83, 85 and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Jalal al-Dawla in the name of Jesse b. Shlomo to the Nasi (president) Shlomo b. Ishai, Fustat. January 10, 1254. The letter regarding a book that was found in Abu al-Fatah’s estate after his passing. Ishai declared that the book belongs to his uncle, the Nasi Yoshiyahu b. Ishai so it cannot be sold, but ha-Kohen Nafis al-Davla is interested in buying it for his son. They ask the addressee, which is in Damascus, for instructions what to do. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #101) VMR

Letter from Moshe b. Yiṣḥaq, a Jerusalemite Karaite, to the brothers Yiṣḥaq and Benjamin b. Yosef in Warjalan, July 1039.

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Avraham b. Shelomo Ha-Paqid, Fustat, approximately 1050.

Recto: part of a letter, c. 1039 CE, written by Abraham b. David b. Siḡmār, on behalf of the Jerusalemite congregation in Fusṭāṭ, to the Nagid Yaʿaqov b. ʿAmram, in Qayrawān, concerning the conflict between the Gaʾon Shelomo b. Judah, and his rival Nathan b. Abraham, and asking the Nagid, who had previously petitioned the Muslim official Abū l-Qāsim Ibn al-Ukhuwwa on Nathan’s behalf, to show his renewed support for the legitimate Gaʾon, Shelomo. The writer also mentions the arrival in Fusṭāṭ of the Nasi Daniel b. ʿAzariah, grandson of the Exilarch Shelomo, and his efforts to reform the conduct of the Egyptian Jewish communities in respect of owning female slaves and enjoying secular music. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Avraham, son of the Gaon, to David b. Aharon, Fustat, probably fall 1025. Avraham gives brief details of a recent visit to Damascus, explaining that he had already written to the recipient during the feast (probably of Tabernacles), but that the letter had been delayed due to local disturbances. He mentions the arrival of Ṣedaqa b. Menakhem, from Fustat, who praises the recipient for his kindness towards him. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq in Aden to Avraham Ibn Yiju in India, probably from 1146. The letter contains much information on their commercial transactions. T-S 18J4 18 is the original letter written in the hand of Shemuel b. Moshe b. Eleazar. III, 13 and III, 14 are fragments from the same copy made from the original (III, 13 matches with lines 13-36 and III, 14 matches with lines 36-49). The copyist made a few corrections in the copying process without correcting the original. The other side of III, 13 was used by Ibn Yiju to copy a piyyut of Yiṣḥaq b. Giyat. In the other side of III, 14 Ibn Yiju wrote a business account (see III, 25). III, 13 = T-S NS J21 III, 14 = T-S 8.19

Letter, mainly about shipwrecked goods, from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq to Ibn Yiju, India, Aden, almost certainly 1146.

Letter by Shabbetay b. Avraham dayyan of Minya Zifta to Yehuda b. Elazar Kohen, complaining that Abu al-Makarim b. Abu al-Dimm, an outsider from Cairo, had opened with two partners a store of medical potions, thereby doing harm to the Jews. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, PP. 48, 67, 68, 533)

Letter from Shelomo b. Ḥayyim b. Shelomo to Avraham ha-Sar b. Natan ‘the Seventh’. Dating: Ca. 1100 CE. Information from CUDL. There is a rhymed Hebrew introduction (~10 lines) and a Judaeo-Arabic body (~6 lines plus margins). The bulk of the letter is taken up with good wishes for the addressee's recovery from an illness. It briefly touches on financial dealings, e.g., the writer has obtained nearly 4 dinars of the money owed to the addressee by Ibn Shuwayʿ. The writer twice sends regards to the Nagid Mevorakh, urging Avraham to tell him of Shelomo's "iftiqād" (preoccupation/solicitude, especially during illness) for him. ASE.

Private letter from Raqqa to Moses Maimonides (?). Letter from Raqqah (Syria) to Fustat. May 1197. The writer stayed in Fustat in the past. He laments the lack of intellectual life in Raqqa, and is determined to return to Fustat once his business in Raqqa has furnished sufficient profit. Halakhic questions had been addressed to Yosef, and then to Shemuel and Avraham in Aleppo, and Shemuel had come to Raqqa with a commentary on Berakot. Various business matters are also discussed, involving ʿEli, and also Abu l-Zuhd in Damascus, as well as the recipient. He sends his greetings to Maimonides and several other people in the city. It seems like he is a poet and a person who copies books. Mentions his desire to return to Fustat but because of his work he cannot. He was expecting to receive several books from Aleppo and other places but only one of them arrived. The writer is a clothing merchant as well and has contacts with the people in Aleppo and Damascus. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #90 and CUDL) VMR

Letter from Raqqah (Syria) to Fustat. May 1197. The writer stayed in Fustat in the past. He sends his greetings to Maimonides and several other people in the city. It seems like he is a poet and a person who copies books. Mentions his desire to return to Fustat but because of his work he cannot. He was expecting to receive several books from Aleppo and other places but only one of them arrived. The writer is a clothing merchant as well and has contacts with the people in Aleppo and Damascus. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #90) VMR

Legal opinion of Eli ha-haver b. 'Amram regarding the estate of Shelomo b. Yefet. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 255, 483, 280.) See also Moss. VII,89.4.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Report from a man called only "al-nāʾib" (the deputy), in Malīj, to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya (in office 1140–59), in Fustat/Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning Ṣāliḥ b. Abū l-Khayr, a man from Malīj who had been robbed by bandits on his way to Cairo, in between a town called Dijwa (likely present-day دجوي just south of Banha) and a town called Kharāb (?! "ruin"). But he managed to conceal some of his possessions from the bandits. He slept in Dijwa and then wen to Kharāb and complained to the local nāʾib that he had been robbed on the land of the town. He made the error of showing the goods that he still had with him as evidence of his claim that the rest had been stolen. The nāʾib assigned him two escorts, who killed him and his donkey as soon as they left the town. The people of the town told this to his children. The nāʾib has acknowledged that he received Ṣāliḥ in his town, in the majlis of the deputy of the Ṣāḥib al-Ḥarb of al-Sharqiyya province. The report ends after a few more faded lines, with a version of a raʾy clause; evidently the Nagid Shemuel is expected to intervene and achieve some kind of justice for the heirs. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Nethanel Ha-Levi b. Ḥalfon, Fustat, 1045 C.E.

Letter from Ṭoviyya b. Daniel (as far as the first few words of line 31) and the Gaʾon Shelomo b. Yehuda (from the remainder of line 31, as well as line 30, inserted between lines 29 and 31 in minute script), on behalf of the academy, in Ramla, regarding the imprisonment and subsequent release of "our ḥaver who had been ordained in our academy’, (probably Efrayim b. Shemarya). Dating: ca. 1030. The ḥaver and some colleagues had been falsely charged, apparently by rivals within the Shāmī Rabbanite congregation in Fusṭāṭ, but the intervention of the Sahl, Saʿadya, and Yosef b. Yisraʾel al-Tustarī and Abū Naṣr David ha-Levi b. Isḥāq caused the governor to investigate and dismiss the charges. The faʾon led prayers of thanksgiving in Ramla, mentioning both the caliph and his governor, and has arranged for the same to be done in Jerusalem. He urges the leaders of the Rabbanite community in Fusṭāṭ to strive for peace. (Information from CUDL) Letter in Arabic script on verso (as catalogued); see separate entry.