Geniza Lab

Letter from Yosef b. Avraham to Abū Zikrī Kohen. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Apart from the address, only two other pieces are preserved: the first line of the letter ("The letter of your noble excellence arrived, and it was the happiest letter that arrived...."), and the last two words of the margin of recto: "in Ghulayfiqa," i.e., the seaport in the Tihāma region of Yemen just south of al-Ḥudayda. ASE. AA.

Letter from Ismāʿīl b. Faraḥ, Alexandria, to Yosef b. Eli, Fez. 6 November 1056. Discusses goods arriving from al-Andalus, Italy and the Maghrib; mentions cotton, fruit, textiles, oil and honey.

Legal queries (2) in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, one about niddah, another about oaths, addressed to Abraham Maimuni.

Letter from Mevorakh b. Natan ha-haver containing congratulations to Passover for Shelomo ha-Rofe and "the sons of the generous Yeshua" (Hebrew: "Benei Yeshua Ha-Nadiv"). Verso: The sons contributed to the Holy City, and are congratulated at their father’s life span (“old age”). (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR and EMS

The document begins with four faint lines from the end of a text concerning a halakhic problem and ends with the expression ישע רב , characteristic of Shelomo ben Yehuda. The remaining seven lines of text, in a different hand, constitute a letter dealing with the status of orphans and contain a noteworthy interpretation of Babylonian Talmud Baba Metsia 70a and Arakhim 229. (Hebrew Bible Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, Vol. 1, ed. M.C Davis and H. Knopf, 259-60) EMS Verso: Leviticus 8:9-11, 8:4-6, with the name Yosef in a different hand in the margin. (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Letter from a certain Efrayim concerning consignments of wheat and sums of money, written in a very polite form with many Hebrew phrases, among them biblical citations such as Deuteronomy 26:11. (Information from CUDL) See also Goitein's index card.

Fragment of a letter from Perahya Yiju to Abu al-Fakhr Ibn al-Amshati. Written in al-Mahalla, ca. 1161-72.

See PGPID 2064 for description and tags. Frenkel's transcription is here, Goitein's there.

Letter from Alexandria to Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment: Bottom half only. Dating: There are reports of men seized for forced labor to dig a ditch around the city. Goitein and Frenkel both suggest that this reference can date the document to 1219 CE, during the fifth crusade. The crusaders besieged Damietta from May 1218 until November 2019 when they finally took it. Evidently, people feared that Alexandria would be next. (See also T-S 16.286, a letter from Alexandria dated 21 October 1219.) This letter reports on the state of the city: "The city is in a dire state because of the digging of the ditch. The city is locked up, and forced labor is imposed upon the population." The writer then gives a detailed report about the medical condition and treatment of a woman who had been injured in an unrelated accident, then discusses some small errands, then an important family affair, and concludes with greetings to at least fifteen persons. Two postscripts are added. "As to Abū l-ʿAlā'—when I arrived, I found the city locked up; no male person could appear in the streets, because he would be taken to the [digging of the] ditch. That's why I was unable to meet him. As to the malḥafa [a blanket serving also as outer garment], the bazaars are locked and no one sells and buys. I am telling you this that you should not think that I am neglectful of your affairs." Regarding the injury of Yumn: "When coming home, I found Yumn—on whom the door fell—in a serious condition. She has been ill for forty days. At the time she was impure and remained in that state; thus all the other members of the household became impure together with her. Only God knows how the situation is; she cries so much that I forget my own tribulations. However, if God wills, she has good prospect for recovery. Her leg is in a case (tābūt) especially made for her. A Christian doctor (ʿarel) treats her and I was told that he did not take any money for her treatment. He at that time was treating the wounded (al-majārīḥ). I did not find any bandage (or plaster/dressing) of palm fibers (marham al-nakhlī) in the house and could not move her; for she cannot get up or sit; she bends forward only a little (qad ittajaha qalīl). Her foot and leg are swollen (manfūkh)." Information and translations from Goitein, Med Soc, V, 56, and note cards #27138–39. This date-palm plaster is recommended for treating wounds and abscesses in the medieval medical literature—a Google search of مرهم نخلي will lead to citations in works by the Andalusians Aḥmad b. ʿIsā al-Hāshimī (d. 1077) and Ibn Zuhr (d. 1162). For Ibn Zuhr, its consistency is like that of honey, and threads are dipped in it before being used to wick fluid out of a wound. Thus, perhaps it is a substance deriving from the date itself, rather than from the palm-fibers. The solution might also be found in Yevr.-Arab. I 1700.22, recto, text block c (PGPID 2724), which may be a recipe for מרהם נכלי. Note also that "ittajaha" in the context of injury or illness most often means "improved" (rather than "bend"), and sick people are often described as "having improved a little" even if they are still in critical condition. The hand of the letter resembles that of T-S 16.272, written by an Alexandrian judge. ASE.

Letter fragment of supplication to a Gaon, probably from Jerusalem or Ramla, the eleventh century.

Letter from Yosef b. Peraḥya to an unidentified addressee or addressees (the address is too faded to read). Possibly addressed to a group of pietists. In Hebrew (for the biblical quotations and opening blessings) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body and the address). Only the upper part of recto is preserved, and all the content here is formulaic. (Information from Goitein's index cards and CUDL.) EMS

Letter to Peraḥya ha-Ḥaver about a visit of the carrier of the note, Abū l-ʿAysh, to the Nagid for the issue of whether he had to pay the capitation tax (jāliya) in Fustat or in Peraḥya's location. Verso: Accounts and jottings in Hebrew and Arabic script, mentioning people including Abū l-Ḥasan the doctor, Yeḥiʾel and Nissim. (Information from Goitein's index cards and CUDL) EMS

Fragment of a letter from Nehemya ha-Kohen, the Pumbedita Gaon, to one of the members of the Babylonian community in Fustat, probably the beginning of 963. Asks to renew the connections between them by a gaon’s emissary, probably Shlomo b. Eli b. Tavnai, and by Tuv Aluf and the sons of Aaron ha-Baghdadi. (Gil, Kingdom, vol. 2, #17) VMR

Letter to Abū l-Makārim b. Salāma from his father Salāma b. Joseph (11th century). (Information from CUDL)

Legal document that is a late (16th-17th century) agreement between two businessmen, with a sigla preceding the legal text. It concerns the lending of a sum of money (60,600 medins) and arrangements for repaying the loan (העיסקא) in monthly installments. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from an unidentified sender, in Hebron, to his 'brother' Yeḥezqel Ḥefeṣ, in Cairo. In Hebrew. Dated: Sunday, 17 Av [5]529 AM, which is 1769 CE. It is a reply stating that it is possible that the writer will return to Egypt. Reference is made to documents and a security (polisa / פוליסה). The verso is on the back page of the bifolium. Both middle pages are blank. (Information in part from CUDL and Dotan Arad.)

Legal document concerning financial matters, signed by Joseph Benjamin, and mentioning Judah Bunan and Joseph’s son Nissim. Dated 5579 of the Era of Creation (= 1819 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Letter written by Perahya b. Yosef, the learned nephew of the India trader Avraham Ibn Yiju, which begins with bible verses, including Job 23:28. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:194, 562) EMS

Letter in which relatives of the writer invited him to stay with them in a Christian land but he appears to have declined. Written from Benha, Lower Egypt, on the writer's way to Alexandria. The writer describes how his clothing was stolen on his travels. Dated ca. twelfth century. (Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 4:154, 396). EMS