Geniza Lab

Business letter in Arabic script from an unknown trader, possibly to Nahray b. Nissim (Aodeh), on the back of a letter in Hebrew script (see separate entry).

Letter from ʿIwaḍ to Peraḥya the judge. In Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew, with the address in Arabic script and Hebrew. Written on a very long strip of paper, for which the writer asks forgiveness, because time was tight and the matter was urgent. The writer reports that Ibn al-Yamanī rejected the authority of Avraham Maimonides, while he himself vigorously defended the Nagid. The writer gives a blow by blow report of his argument with Ibn al-Yamanī. The writer adds that the ḥaver R. Eliezer was sick (mutamarriḍ) at the time the letter was written (or: at the time he wrote his letter). Eliezer is upset at Peraḥya for failing to respond to his letter or to send him Isaac Israeli's Book on Fevers. (Information in part from S. D. Goitein, The Yemenites, 125–29.) VMR. ASE.

Letter from Natan Ha-Kohen b. Mevorakh, Ashkelon, to Eli Ha-Kohen b. Hayyim, Fustat.

Letter (draft) from Elḥanan b. Shemarya, in Fusṭāṭ, to the Babylonian congregation in Damascus, sending greetings as part of his efforts to raise funds for his school in Fusṭāṭ, adding that a new law forbids them from approaching the Caliph for assistance. The writer also mentions that his son-in-law drowned while away on a commercial voyage and his widowed daughter remains in Qayrawān, pregnant and impoverished. Verso: Letter, from Elḥanan b. Shemarya, in Fusṭāṭ, to three notables in the Jewish community in Damascus, Avraham, Shemuʾel ha-Kohen, and Efrayim, sending greetings, apparently as part of fundraising for his school in Fusṭāṭ. (Information from CUDL)

Yiṣḥaq Nisaburi writes from Alexandria a letter to the Na'ib, Sadaqa b. Yahya in Fustat. He writes about a partnership in a boat and about an alarming governmental decree regarding the inheritance of foreign Jews who passed away in Alexandria. The second decade of the Twelfth Century, according to the names mentioned in the letter. (Information from Frenkel)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Part of a poorly preserved letter, written with widely-spaced lines in an elegant square hand and ornate language, probably the work of a Palestinian gaʾon. Perhaps a letter of recommendation for an emissary. (Information from CUDL)

Letter (large but fragmentary) from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq in Aden to Avraham Ibn Yiju, around 1139-1140. The letter is written in the hand of Shemuel b. Moshe b. Eleazar. The letter contains information about their commercial ventures.

Detailed letter of Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq to Ibn Yiju, India, Aden, probably 1140 [1139].

Legal deed: Karaite deed of betrothal for Khalaf b. Maḥfūẓ (groom-to-be) and Ama al-Qādar bt. Efrayim b. Manṣūr b. Furāt (bride-to-be). Dated Thursday, 17 Sivan 1357 (= 1045 CE; note interlinear reference to Tammuz), probably in Fusṭāṭ, in the lifetime of the Nasi David b. Ṣemaḥ. There are quotes from Psalms 69:13, Nehemiah 2:18, Psalms 64:11, Hosea 2:21, Deuteronomy 1:11, 7:14, and with testimony from Barakāt b. Menaḥem ha-Kohen, and Yefet b. Abraham ha-Levi. Witnessed by Ṣedaqa b. Maṣliaḥ b. Sahl ha-Levi, David b. Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe ha-Levi, ʿAlān b. Nahum, Yosef b. [...] b. Efrayim, David b. [...], and [...] b. Naḥum. (Information from CUDL)

Legal deed: Qaraite deed of betrothal for Khalaf b. Maḥfūẓ (groom-to-be) and Ama al-Qādar b. Efrayim b. Manṣūr b. Furāt (bride-to-be). Dated Thursday, 17 Sivan 1357 (= 1045 CE; note interlinear reference to Tammuz), probably in Fusṭāṭ, in the lifetime of the Nasi David b. Ṣemaḥ. There are quotes from Psalms 69:13, Nehemiah 2:18, Psalms 64:11, Hosea 2:21, Deuteronomy 1:11, 7:14, and with testimony from Barakāt b. Menaḥem ha-Kohen, and Yefet b. Abraham ha-Levi. Witnessed by Ṣedaqa b. Maṣliaḥ b. Sahl ha-Levi, David b. Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe ha-Levi, ʿAlān b. Nahum, Joseph b. [...] b. Efrayim, David b. [...], and [...] b. Nahum. (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Badly rubbed legal document or decree, which mentions ‘his son’ Manṣūr b. Bashāra, followed by a long list of signatures from men including Yefet ha-Kohen b. Joseph, Mevorakh b. Meshullam and Yefet b. Judah. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq to a merchant in Egypt: Attack on Aden by the King of Kish. Aden, ca. 1135-6.

Recto: part of a poorly preserved letter, apparently from the first decade of the 11th century, to Joseph b. Berekhya, representative of the Jerusalem yeshiva in the Maghreb, sending greetings to Nathan ‘Head of the Congregations’, and also to his son Abraham (who would later become the first Nagid in the Maghreb), and also Ṣaliḥ b. Barhūn Tahertī, brother-in-law of the recipient, as well as Furayj. It urges action to be taken by the Jewish communities in the Maghreb regarding a collection for the Jerusalem yeshiva and Joseph Ibn ʿAwkal’s stewardship of the funds. There is also mention of a legal claim involving Abraham b. Shaul Abī Nathan Av Bet Din. Verso: fragment from an unrelated Arabic text. (Information from CUDL)

Business letter, from Jacob to Nathan ha-Kohen. (Information from CUDL)

Some kind of proclamation, apparently in connection with a ketubba. (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.