Geniza Lab

Letter from Musa b. Yaakov al-Misri, probably from Alexandria, to ha-Nagid Yehuda b. Saadya, Fustat. May 4, 1067. The writer is on a ship that is about to sail and informs Yehuda that he passed his letters to Mahdiyya and Tripoli in Libya. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 270-271, #685) VMR

Letter to Nahray b. Nissim in which the writer mentions a letter received from Nahray from his brother, and that Nahray had visited Caesarea. He discusses various business matters and writes that Abu Sa‘d al-Halabi is supposed to carry a mula’a to Nissim, and that Abu al-Surur sends his greeting and is now in Tripoli (Libya). (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Recto: probably a letter, mentioning Mevorakh. There is a commentary on the Shemaʿ in the margin. Verso: commentary on the Shemaʿ (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), with citations such as 1 Shemuʾel 7:3. (Information from CUDL)

Letter fragment written by a communal official concerning the “rabbi from Rum” who was potentially threatened. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:236-7, 571) EMS Written partly in Arabic characters. (Information from CUDL)

Blessings in Hebrew, which are possibly part of a letter. At the top of the page are 2 lines in Arabic script, also possibly part of a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter of petition, draft, addressed to “our lord” Mevorakh during his first term in office, from the “holy community of Malij and its cantor.” Only the prefaratory laudes and the address on the back have been preserved. (Mark Cohen, Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Egypt, 167; and Marina Rustow, “The Diplomatics of Leadership: Administrative Documents in Hebrew Script from the Geniza,” in Christians and Jews in Muslim Societies: Jews, Christians and Muslims in Medieval and Early Modern Times: A Festschrift in Honor of Mark R. Cohen, ed. A. Franklin, R.E. Margariti, M. Rustow, and U. Simonsohn, 167) EMS Verso: Address, in 2 lines, and 4 lines of Hebrew script in a different hand and ink which have been crossed through. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in which the writer complains about his financial state. The sender gives advice to the addressee about leaving some place and taking his childrens' property with him. There is no need for a power of attorney. The sender complains about his weariness and financial loss; mentions 70 dinars. He is mainly worried about the children, "who have no one in the world." He himself was sick recently. (Information from Goitein’s index card) EMS

Recto: Letter opening with phrases in Hebrew rhyme. Psalms 119:165 is written in a smaller script in two short lines preceding the letter proper. No names are preserved, but the recipient (addressed in the third person) is referred to with various ostentatious titles, including ‘crown of the Jews’. Verso: List of about forty bible verses, not all suitable for laudatory introduction; perhaps for wall decoration only. (information from Goitein's index card). VMR and EMS

Prenuptial agreement in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. (Ashur, "Engagement and Betrothal documents", 42, no.144). VMR

Letter from Hillel to his son Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli b. Hillel. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic. Dating: probably mid-12th century. Fragment: only the beginning and the address remain.

Recto: Lower part of an incomplete letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Abū Isḥāq and then describes a quiet apartment which has been obtained for the addressee: "The place which I have taken is in the alley near the house of Ibn Rajāʾ, inside, before you get to the roofed passage of Ibn Rajāʾ, on the righthand side. It is an apartment over another one. There is no one else with you in the apartment, and the people in the house underneath are strangers who keep to themselves and don't poke their noses into anyone's business, and no one has to fear them, such that not a single word that you say will be overheard, except that they are women(?)." Verso: list of commodities such as saffron and wax, with Hebrew numerals. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Letter concerning business affairs (cloth trade) in which the writer mentions the city of Damietta, and silk for Abu al-Mufaddal. EMS

Letter from Abūn b. Ṣedaqa (Jerusalem) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat). Dating: 10 March 1064 CE (Gil). Abūn mentions that he is unable to travel due to his weakness, and that his illness has aged him before his time such that he is no longer as Nahray knows him. Ed. Gil, Palestine, #499. ASE.

Letter from Zekharya b. Ya’aqov b. al-Shama, from Tripoli (Libya), to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1060. The letter deals with shipments of goods and coins. The writer asks Nahray to take care of two Muslims that are delivering this letter. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #667) VMR

Letter from Mevasser b. David from Busir, to Yaaqov b. Avraham b. Alan, Fustat. Around 1052. The writer makes merchandise in Busir to ship to Fustat through the Nile but the ships are not enough and the letter describes the struggle to get a ship. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 295-299, #693). VMR

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy, in Alexandria, to Thābit b. Avraham al-Ṣabbāgh. Dating: ca. 1062. The writer mentions a shipment of goods and he is interested to know the prices for several items. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 3, pp. 551-553, #466). VMR

Letter from Yaʿqūb b. Salmān al-Ḥarīrī, in Ramla, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fusṭāṭ. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dating: ca. 1066 CE, according to Goitein's estimate. In some respects it is a standard mercantile letter, mentioning various commodities and prices. The sender also mentions being caught in a storm while sailing from Jaffa, the port of Ramla. He asks about the price of wheat and bread in Fusṭāṭ, as it was ravaged by the massive famine (1062–70) and asks about the state of his father and family during these trying times. This letter shows that trade continued even during the famine years. (Information from Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, p. 45.) YU

Letter from Yosef Ibn ʿEzra and Avraham b. Muʿṭī, in Tilimsān, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic, with some phrases in Judaeo-Persian. Dated: 28 Ṭevet 4898 AM, which is 13 January 1138 CE. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English description to come.) See also Shaked, "Persian-Arabic Bilingualism" in From A Sacred Source, pp. 322–24 (edition and translation)

Letter from Yosef, in Tripoli, Libya, to his mother, probably in Fustat. Although the address reads "from your son Yosef," the letter is written in the voice of an older woman who defends herself against the addressee's blame for not looking after Yosef properly and for not marrying him to her own daughter. The writer describes a form of temporary marriage that Yosef contracted with an orphan girl. “He fell ill (maraḍa), and his illnss intensified (ishtadda wajʿuhu), and he had no one to attend to him. Thus he saw fit to take a young orphan girl to attend to him, and he married her on the condition that if he wished to be free to move back to his country, he would write her a bill of divorce.” The letter further reports that the wife gave birth to a boy who died. The writer adds that she herself was sick during these events (and thus could hardly be blamed for not intervening). See Eve Krakowski, “Female adolescence in the Cairo Geniza documents,” PhD diss., The University of Chicago, 2012, 68; and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:306, 494. EMS. ASE.

Recto: Judaeo-Arabic introduction to a treatise (or possibly a letter). Verso: mirrored text from a Hebrew document. Information from CUDL.