Geniza Lab

Business letter discussing a problem with a consignment of silk and requesting the purchase of linen (ghazal). There are also two lines of Arabic script written upside down in the bottom margin. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Letter from Yaʿaqov the physician (known as 'the effective'), in Shamṭūniyya, near Kūfa, Iraq, to his pupil and perhaps son-in-law Yūsuf, in Jūma Mazīdat (unidentified location; Gil suggests that it is also in Iraq, near Sūra). Dating: Probably beginning of the 11th century. Yaʿaqov reports that he arrived safely in Baghdad on the 15th of Tammuz. He looked for Mājid but was told that he had already come and gone before Shavuot, and he looked for Abū l-Riḍā b. al-Ṣadr al-Tājir al-Baghdādī but was told that he had traveled to Hamadān. Yaʿaqov is optimistic that these men will return with the ḥajj caravans. As for the two yeshivot, Yaʿaqov declined to join either one of them so as not to offend the other. He told them that he had made a vow to visit the graves of holy men (Gil suggests specifically the grave of Ezekiel). He then traveled to Shamṭuniyya, where he found everyone sick from an epidemic disease. The writer himself became ill with a swelling, probably an abscess, on his leg, from which he developed a fever and was bedbound for 17 days. His son Abū l-Barakāt then became ill with a very high constant fever ("like a blazing fire"). Yaʿaqov sent to Baghdad for materia medica and mixed the medicinal syrup (sharāb) for his son himself, which he gave him each day together with barley water (mā' al-shaʿīrūn). His son is now feeling better. At first they were staying in the house of Abū Saʿd 'the paqid' b. Khalaf (probably a relative, at least by marriage, see verso lines 4–5), but when he and his family became ill, they 'cut off' their guests, "and you know that the people of Shamṭuniyya, even when they are healthy, do not care for foreigners." The saving grace for Yaʿaqov was that the people of Shamṭuniyya needed his services as a physician. The geography of Shamṭūniyya/Shamṭūnya is also described by Golb as follows: "[T]his locality is now a ruin known as Tell el-Shamṭūnī, located to the south of Baghdad on the western side of the Tigris near Ctesiphon (al-Madāʾin)." Norman Golb, "A Marriage Deed from 'Wardūniā of Baghdad,'" JNES 43 no. 2 (1984), 154. VMR. ASE.

Beginning of a letter from Tahor b. Avraham to two brothers, Yosef and Yiṣḥaq b Menahem.

Brief letter from a person in dire straits suffering from illness and lack of clothing, and unable to buy anything to eat for the upcoming holiday. (Information from Goitein's index cards.)

Probably an alms list in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic accompanying a dispatch of five dinars and instructions to the addressee on how to spend it. The sender complains that someone stole his turban. "If you saw me, you would not know me, on account of what that godless coward (al-qalīl al-dīn al-qalīl al-muruwwa) did to me, Ibn Khulayf swore in the name of God and lied, by God I'll let him have it as soon as I get to Fustat...." There is a postscript at 180 degrees. Mentions the town of Fuwwa. On verso there is a Hebrew prayer, probably for Simḥat Tora. (Information in part from CUDL.) Join: Alan Elbaum.

Letter from Ascalon to the Nagid in Egypt concerning a dispute in the community over synagogue expenditures, 1st half of the 12th century.

Business letter from Natan b. Nahray, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dated: ca. 1063 CE. Natan's son, and his son's eldest daughter, came down with an illness (ʿāriḍ). He despaired of them and went out of his mind, until God sent some improvement. But they are still weak. He interjects, "By God, watch out for the smallpox (iyyāka al-juddarī)!" The son and granddaughter have erupted in "jarab" and "ḥabba" (skin conditions). Hopefully with this suffering something worse has been averted from them. Please pray for them (r13–19).

Personal letter giving condolences on the occasion of the death of a little girl (presumably the daughter of the recipient) and reporting family news. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 97, 374; V, pp. 110, 536.) Also: "The daughter of Futūḥ al-Shamshūrī says that the wife of my paternal uncle fasts for her son because of his illness. But he has no illness (maraḍ) and nothing wrong with him (ba's), only his body is covered with little scabs (ḥuṣayfāt)." Dating: Probably early 13th century, based on the mention of Abū l-Futūḥ al-Shamshūrī in a letter by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu: Moss. VII,170.1. This letter also mentions the faqīh Jamāl al-Dīn, presumably the same as in Bodl. MS heb. c 28/64.

Census for the capitation tax. List of male persons with consecutive numbers over the names. First complete no. visible is 19, but some names are discernible before that. Total: 68 households. Outsiders: seven from Cairo (in a separate appendix superscribed 'The Cairenes and including the beadle of that city'); three each from Alexandria and al-Mahalla; one from Qus; one Maghribi; one from Damascus. Some are listed together with their descendants, for example (32) Abu Hayyun, the old carpenter, and (33) the son of his daughter (who presumably worked with him). Those listed were certainly persons for whom the community had to provide the capitation tax, either completely or in part. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 460, App. B 75)

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes linked below.

Letter probably from Shemuel b. Eli. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Small fragment of a letter to Yaakov ha-haver (member of the Sanhedrin) from Yusuf ha-Kohen. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Fragmentary letter of request probably from Jerusalem. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Large fragment of a business letter referring primarily to business conducted at Busir.

Letter by a Karaite from al-Andalus noting that he was very well-received by the people of Alexandria, but of all his money only two dinars remained. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Letter from Shelomo to his brother Abu Zikri.

Letter. Beginning lines only, mostly honorifics, very faded. Wide line-spacing, grand layout of the type that became more common starting in the 1060s. (Information from Marina Rustow) Recto (as conserved) contains a protective prayer or charm for the inhabitants of a certain place, written in a mix of Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL) The edition attached to this record is of the recto. The verso could possibly be transcribed with great effort.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: Tuesday, 7 Elul 1425 Seleucid, which is August 1114 CE. Inventory of the estate of a wealthy goldsmith, the late Abū Yaʿqūb. The list consists of dinars in bankers’ notes, gold cash, and in bars of precious metals; various vessels, two female slaves, and promissory notes are also referenced. The document was written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and sealed by the rabbinic court on the day of Abū Yaʿqūb’s death. Before any shares were distributed to the heirs, the widow received the “deferred installment” due to her according to her marriage contract, in this case 75 dinars. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society 5:168-70, 549, 533; and Goitein’s index cards) EMS