Geniza Lab

Letter from Meʾir ben Naʿim, mentioning business matters and the name Abraham Ashkenazi. End of 18th century. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from David ben Naʿim to Moses ben Naʿim concerning business matters, dated 188 (5588 of the Era of Creation = 1827 CE). Mentions people including Shelomo Azulay and ישעייה עאניז (Isaiah Aniz ?). (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. Various draft legal documents on recto and verso (possibly from a court notebook), including one completely crossed out. People mentioned include Menaḥem Ṣarfati b. Moses and Ḥanuna wife of Shemuʾel [..], Jacob ha-Levi b. Rahamim and Isaac Reuben b. Jacob. A commodity is mentioned (14 raṭls of sikilianus (שכילייאנוס)). Dated Kislev 5455 (= 1695 CE) in Egypt. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Avraham Haman and Gavriel Hefez to Karo y Frances concerning business matters. Dated 168 (5568 of the Era of Creation = 1807 CE), and mentioning people including Nissim Minyani (מנייני). (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Letter sent to al-Mahalla concerning various business matters and dealing with the sale of sugar, chewing gum (mastaka) and rice. Dated 1165. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 605-606, and Goitein's index cards). Verso: Recipes in Arabic script. (Information from CUDL).

Letter from Ḥalfon ha-Kohen b. Yehuda ha-Kohen to Abu al-Farah Arus b. Yosef about the troubles he underwent after leaving for a business trip. On the way by boat his wares were drenched and spoiled. He also reports about a business dispute with a third person which was solved by way of a settlement out of court. (Information and translation from Goitein, Letters)

Letter from Zikri b. Abu al-Rida, the perfume seller, to Abu al-Mahasin, a tailor and weaver, dealing with financial business and referring to several textiles. The letter ends with an announcement of a wedding: 'the little one will enter her house by the end of this month. (verso lines 7-8) (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 115)

Letter from Yeshua b. Yaʿaqov to Avraham Ibn Yiju regarding the death of Madmun b. Yefet, Dhu Jibla, 1151.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Yosef Yerushalmi to Abu al-Mansur Elazar the scribe from whom the writer asks a favor. The letter opens with six lines of Hebrew poetry and also has four lines of poetry in the body of the text (lines 13-16) which is mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter concerning business matters containing many greetings. The sender writes that pieces of parchment have arrived from North Africa. The rest of the parchments will be sent to the recipient with Ishaq b. Abu Munajja.

Verso: Letter from Hananya b. Yehuda to Yehi'el the judge b. Elyaqim. The writer asks the addressee to come to Jerusalem and decide in a legal matter. Recto: Part of the (draft of) the opening of a badly written letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter fragment written by Sahlān b. Abraham, quoting from Jeremiah 17:17 and Zephaniah 3:12. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Makhlūf b. Musa ibn al-Yatim, Alexandria, to Abu Yiṣḥaq Avraham b. Yahya Fasi, Fustat. The main part of the letter is an apology that the recipient was not met and was not bidden farewell before his departure to Fustat. The intended meeting point was Bab al-Sidara, the entrance to Alexandria from the mainland. (Information from Frenkel.) Goitein adds that the recipient was Abu Yiṣḥaq Avraham b. Yahya Fasi. The writer castigated the addressee for choosing the wrong company and excused himself for not seeing him off on account of the bad weather and his toothache, which he describes in graphic detail (see Med. Soc. 5:108, 248). Makhlūf accidentally wrote part of a letter intended for another person on the verso of this letter, then crossed it out and explained what had happened underneath.

Letter from Mansur b. Salim in Alexandria to a friend in Cairo inquiring about his son, who had run away to the army and had perhaps travelled as far as Yemen. See also T-S 10J13.10 and T-S Ar.18(1).137, letters by the same sender concerning the same matter. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 379)

Rect: Letter concerning an order for pieces of clothing which the writer had sent but the addressee had not confirmed receiving. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 408). Verso: Arabic jottings. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Ovadiah in the inn to Abu 'Amran in rhymed prose. On verso is an address in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from Goitein's index cards and CUDL)

Recto: Letter containing greetings to several people. (Information from Goitein's index cards) Verso: Magical text, Shimmush Tehillim, 13th-century. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Moshe b. Yosef Yiju, in Alexandria, to his brother Perahya in Fustat. Sent to the shop of Abū l-Faḵr the perfumer b. Abraham. Written probably around June 29, 1155.

Letter from Farah b. Yosef Qabisi in Alexandria to Abu al-'Ala Sa'id b. Naja al-Dimashqi ('Ulla ha-Levi b. Yosef). Dating: ca. 1065. Concerns the dispatch of three consignments of merchandise. (Information from Gil, and Goitein's index cards)

Letter in Hebrew with introductory phrases of appeal. Closes with verses about the ephemeral nature of wealth and the mitzvah of charity. (Information from Goitein's index cards)