Geniza Lab

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. "sharḥ mā taḥaṣṣala min thamn al-[...]." This seems to be the third reuse of the fragment: first it was a decree, then it was a letter, then it was torn and used for accounts (note that the accounts constitute the only document that is not continuous across the tear). Several names appear, including Bishr al-ʿAṭṭār.

Letter (bottom part) from Alexandria to Fustat, dictated by Abu l-Najm Hilal, written down by Abu l-Muna, and addressed to Abu Ishaq b. Yaʿaqov at funduq al-Mahalli, who is to give it to Abu l-Majd the cantor—the brother of Hilal. The writer sends greeting to the addressee’s wife and the teacher Yiṣḥaq. The silk that Abu l-Majd sent to Mahasin has arrived. The old woman (presumably the mother of Hilal and Abu l-Majd) is frail and no longer able to work, and everyone is distressed, and they wish Abu l-Majd to come before she dies. The Ḥaver and Ibn Daud reached an arrangement to alternate Shabbats (in receiving income?) starting after Passover. Information in part from Goitein's note card. EMS. ASE.

Poetry, possibly a riddle, with allusions to Moshe, Abraham, and the spies from Numbers 13-14, (Hosea) b. Nun and (Caleb) b. Jephunneh. (Information from the Cambridge Genizah Research Unit via FGP).

Letter in which the writer discusses affairs from winter of the previous year and mentions a purchase of pearls. The final two lines of the fragment mention Yusuf ha-haver, member of the great Sanhedrin, and [...] b. halfon ha-Levi. EMS

Letter to Abu al-Ḥasan 'Ali b. Hillel, the cantor, in which the writer describes departing to the house of Abu al-Faraj and an exchange with a ‘Christian scribe.' He sends well wishes to Sitt al-Husn and her children. EMS

Letter from Yosef b. Eli Kohen Fasi, from Busir to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. The writer deals with purchasing flax. He approves that he received coins but he cannot weigh them because he does not have a scale. Writes several instructions for payments. Expresses his opinion that the flax market in Busir is not in a good condition. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #401) VMR

Poem by Avraham Ibn Yiju praising Madmun b. Ḥasan and cursing his enemies. Aden, ca. 1140-1144.

Letter from Ishaq ‘Ammani in which he praises the recipient El'azar ha-Levi ha-Sar and his success with Yoshiyyahu ha-Nasi Nasi ha-Jalut. Also mentions Ishaq Kattan Ammani. C. 13th century. EMS and VMR

Lists of commodities, such as butter, animal fat, almond oil and white sugar, and their quantities in Arabic script. (Information from CUDL)

Four lines in Arabic script, perhaps a recipe or prescription. The words nāfiʿ . . . inshāllah are legible, then wa-l-yudlak fī. . . . Needs further examination. (Information in part from CUDL) EMS, ASE

Letter from Ibrāhīm, unknown location, to Ḥayya ha-Kohen the teacher, in Palermo ("al-madīna"), Sicily. The addressee is asked to deliver two tailored woolen mayzar covers, which had been deposited with him, to the bearer of the letter. The writer includes legalistic language appointing the bearer as his agent: qabḍuhu qabḍī wa-taslīmuhu taslīm{ī} wa-anta paṭur min aḥrayutam. The writer is ill this winter (perhaps this is why he needs the woolen covers). The letter also mentions the process of “cutting up” for making and fitting the sleeves of a garment. Address on verso. (S.D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 4:182, 412.)

Commentary or discussion in Judaeo-Arabic on the difference between men and animals, with citations from Ecclesiastes 3:17 and Psalms 49:21. (Information from CUDL.)

Letter from Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, Fustat, to his cousin Toviyya b. Eli ha-Kohen, in a smaller town, in which the writer refers to the health of the recipient’s brother’s eyes, stating “I received a note from your brother in which he complained that his eyes were in a very bad state and asked for medicaments. I went to the oculists [in the plural], informed them about his complaints, and they prescribed ointments and powders which I sent to him. However, the doctors said to me that the medicines would be of no avail, as long as he continued to work in sunlight, which his profession forces him to do.” The letter also references a ‘maker of razors’ (mawwas) and mentions Ibn al-Minqar Abu al-Ma’ali. Twelfth century. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:421; 2:255, 579; and S. D. Goitein and Mordechai Friedman, India Book, 642) EMS

Letter to Menahem from the cantor of Malij concerning an inheritance. EMS Verso: Jottings in Arabic script. (Information from CUDL)

Letter written by a Byzantine scribe in Egypt on behalf of an unnamed blind man, addressed to a charitable administrator called ‘Eli ha-Kohen b. Hayyim and his son Efrayim. Dating: ca. 1090 CE. The letter details that the poor man’s wife and children are due to come up from Alexandria but they have written to say they cannot afford the cost of a boat ride, and so the writer requests that Eli ha-Parnas hold a collection and “do not let the oppressed return in shame.” The foreign scribe spells Alexandria with a qof instead of the expected kaf. (Ben Outhwaite, “Byzantines in the Cairo Genizah,” in Jewish Reception of Greek Bible Versions, ed. Nicholas de Lange, Julia Krivoruchko, and Cameron Boyd-Taylor, 183, 197-201) EMS

Letter from Avraham b. Rav Shelomo the Yemeni, in Jerusalem, to Eliyyahu the Judge in Fustat. Avraham lives with Eliyyahu's son, the physician Abu Zikri, and he conveys the good news that Abu Zikri has recovered from his febrile illness and has not relapsed for forty days. Avraham's family recently arrived from Bilbays. On verso are jottings and accounts in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. Same writer and recipient as T-S 13J21.5, which was written not long after this one (Goitein's note cards suggest ca. 1214). Alan Elbaum.

Letter requesting charity in which the petitioner describes that he is unemployed, starving, from a distant land (al-Raḥba), and has ‘uncovered his face’ to the addressee. EMS. NB: This was previously listed as T-S 8J16.29 on PGP.

Goitein's note card describes a letter from Moshe b. al-Ashqar, who wished to travel to Safed but heard that there was an epidemic (dever) in Damascus. Dated 1560 CE. NB: This does not describe T-S 8J16.30; needs further investigation to find the correct shelfmark.

Letter from Yosef b. Musa Tahirti, in Busir, to his cousin Barhun b. Salih, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dealing with many commodities being shipped. Dating: ca. 1060 CE. (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. III, p. 232)

Letter from Abū l-Faraj al-Kohen known as Ibn Qasāsa to Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel b. Isḥāq. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Cf. T-S 13J26.20 for another appearance of the sender.) Concerning business matters; mentions commodities such as a kerchief (‘mandīl’), cushions (‘makhādd’), and cotton; mentions people such as al-Bayrūtī.On verso there is a postscript or draft of a letter in a different hand as well as one line in Arabic script. (Information in part from CUDL.) EMS