Geniza Lab

Letter with a legal purpose. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th or 12th century. From an unidentified sender to a certain parnas, trustee of the court. The sender urgently asks the addressee to send for the merchants Yaʿaqov known as Ibn al-Suṭūḥ from Tripoli (Libya) and his traveling companion Yaʿaqov b. Zikrī al-Nafūsī who are soon to depart for Yemen. One of them has a bill of divorce with him that must be delivered before he travels. (Information from Goitein's notes and Oded Zinger's forthcoming edition.)

Letter from Moshe b. Shemuel Ibn Jamia from Cabes (Ifriqiya) to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. Around 1030. The letter deals with shipments of money and questions from Cabes to Hayya Gaon, and mentions answers that he wrote back. Ibn Awkal is in charge of the shipments as well as Shemuel b. Barhun al-Tahirti. Shemuel traveled from Qayrawan to Fustat through Cabes. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #142) VMR

Short note recording the receipt of payment for some purchased goods with part of the date preserved.

Note on vellum sent on the evening following the day of Atonement, asking to return liturgical material for the feast of Tabernacles, which the writer had “borrowed.” The writer also wishes that the fast of the addressee should be accepted by God. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Letter in Hebrew, complete but letters smudged on right side and crossed out in line 7. Apparently an appeal for charitable assistance.

Fragmentary letter on vellum referring to the addressee's intimate relations with the Tustari brothers in Fustat and referring to the arrival of the addressee's letter and business transactions. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragmentary letter in Hebrew discussing two people.

Second note from a teacher who, in the letter on recto, had complained about an unruly pupil (see PGPID 2086). A family member has replied on verso, encouraging the teacher to continue writing, as perhaps the notes will scare the boy into behaving well; the teacher has complied with the request and written a second note. ASE.

Recto: Letter in which a teacher complains about an unruly pupil. "Whenever I beat him, I do so excessively; but as soon as I begin, the mistress rushes along and, after having hit him four or five times, releases him. Had it not been for his illness, I would have killed him with beating, although as a poorly clothed newcomer, he is entitled to some consideration." The teacher wants the pupil's family to discipline him in the same manner at home. Verso: Reply of a family member to the teacher's letter on recto. The writer thanks the teacher for his efforts and emphasizes that they spare no pains in trying to educate the boy. He encourages the teacher to keep writing, as perhaps the notes will scare the boy into behaving well. ASE.

Letter from Eli b. Yosef, from Alexandria, to Barhun b. Salah al-Tahirti, Fustat. Around 1055. The writer is from Safukas, and his main trading good is oil that is exported from the Maghreb to Egypt. The writer asks the addressee to take care of an inheritance of his relative, Avraham al-Safakusi, who has two sons – Abu al-Faraj and Ishaq. Ishaq’s guardian is Nehoray. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #713) VMR

Version of the letter in: Mosseri VII 155. Fragment of a letter from Yosef b. Berekhya, probably to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. Around 1020. Another version of the letter was sent earlier through the sea and this letter was sent on the land. Both letters are very similar but not identical. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #152) VMR

Detailed postscript to a letter sent one month before this one with someone who had gotten stranded while traveling on the sultan's ship. This second letter was probably sent overland. The sender is Yosef b. Berekhya. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a court record containing testimony about a negotiation between Abu al-Fadl b. Abu al-Majd and Abu al-Barakat b. al-Dayyan. In the top margin is an Arabic text recording a payment by al-Shaykh Abu Ali b. [...].

Settlement agreement as part of which golden rings worth forty dinars were exchanged (one with a pearl) before the consummation of the marriage which was postponed to complete this exchange. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a letter from Nahray b. Nissim to an unidentified addressee mentioning accounts and the amount of linen that the addressee has to provide. A load of soap on the sultan's ship is also mentioned. Dated to the second half of the 11th century.

Fragmentary list of sums received and final expenditures, including a Passover gift.

Settlement after marital dispute between husband and wife, safeguarding her freedom of movement. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (1100–38). Agreement between Ẓāfira b. Yefet the cantor and her husband, who agree after being on the brink of divorce and following reconciliation that she will have the right of leaving the house and can move between designated places according to her will. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index cards)

Legal document concerning debts, mentioning [...] b. Moses, Moses b. Shelomo (known as Ibn Ḥassān), and Abū Naṣr. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Letter reporting the acquisition of pieces of jewelry and their prices. Wrongly marked as T-S 8 J29 f 15 in Mediterranean Society, IV, Appendix D, note 92.

Court record. Fragment (lower part only). In the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. In which Abū l-Ghayth al-Sabbāk ("the caster") and his son Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarīrī renounce a claim on two pieces of cloth worth two dinars which belong to Sitt al-Milāḥ, the wife of Sulaymān and divorcee of Abū Saʿīd, as described in her ketubba and left to her by her husband. Also mentions [...] b. Ṣedaqa and Abū Manṣūr. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index cards)