Geniza Lab

Halakhic discussion concerning the arrangements for people who die without relatives (c. 18th century). Information from GRU catalog via FGP.

Fragment of a letter from Amr b. Ibrahim to Cairo dealing with commercial matters. The sender mentions that he delivered some of the addressee's letters to a third person.

Letter from Yosef b. Nadiv the cantor, in Bilbays, to Eliyyahu b. Zekharya the Judge in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mostly about business in wheat. The sender explains that he did not travel to Fustat in person on account of his capitation tax and that of his son Makārim. However, if 'Rabbenu' wishes him to sit around unemployed, he will come to Fustat and do so and will study under him Ḥullin and Qiddushin and Giṭṭin. The sender prays for the Nagid Avraham Maimonides every Shabbat when he lifts up the the Torah scroll. Greetings to Berakhot (=probably Shelomo, Eliyyahu's son) and various other people.

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The sender invites a relative to leave the drug shop in the countryside(?) where his shop was not successful and to come and try to make a living in the quarter of al-Qamra in Alexandria. There is a shortage of silk traders (qazzāzīn) and dyers (ṣabbāghīn) and criers (munādiyyīn) in Alexandria. Verso: Business accounts in Arabic script.

Letter from a father to a son, containing detailed instructions concerning items that the sender sent and that the addressee should purchase. Gives specific quantities together with or underneath each item. Verso contains what is presumably the reply from the son to the father, but without information about commodities, only a report on the sender's dire gastrointestinal illness. "Do not ask what happened to me on Sunday when I (or: you) traveled. There came over me [...] from 20 directions, diarrhea and vomiting and more (ishāl wa-istifrāgh wa-akthar). No one thought I would live, but thank God that everything ended well, and I am doing well, thank God." There are also a couple lines of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. ASE

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to his father-in-law Abū l-Faraj. The addressee's daughter Sitt Ghazāl is well. Shelomo writes that when two letters went unanswered, he immediately assumed that Abū l-Faraj was ill. (There is probably more to this than mere preoccupation: see the discussion of Abū l-Faraj's deliberate cutting-off of correspondence with Shelomo in Krakowski, Coming of Age.)

Letter from Manṣūr Kohen to Eliyyahu the Judge (Abū l-Faraj b. al-Rayyis). In Judaeo-Arabic. There are several letters by this writer: see tag. This letter mentions al-Ra'īs al-Ḥakīm Abū Zikrī and al-Rashīd Abū l-Ḥasan. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

State document in Arabic script. The first three lines only (kharaja al-amr al-ʿālī al-mawlawī al-sulṭānī al-malikī al-[...] al-nāṣirī zāda allāhu fī. . .). (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a letter perhaps to a brother mentioning among other things that one bale sent by the writer on a ship that sank was rescued by divers after two days of sustained efforts. Likely same handwriting as T-S NS J289.

Letter from Yosef Pidonil (? פידוניל) to his father. Dating: Late, perhaps 15th century or later. In Judaeo-Arabic. Note that many of the emphatic and non-emphatic letters are flipped (e.g. חדרתכם for חצרתכם or נסיבו for נציבה or כטיר for כתיר or קרט עיני for קרת עיני). The sender complains that business is poor; mentions Alexandria and Fustat/Cairo; mentions various people such as his sister Jamīla, possibly the female slave of his cousin (ואלגרייה מתע אבן עמתי) David Falījī. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Three lines of a calligraphic letter to the community of Sambutiyya. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Benaya b. Musa in Ibyar to Abu l-Ḥusayn Ṣedaqa b. Nissim in Fustat (sūq) al-ʿAṭṭārīn (Dated 1046 according to Gil). Mentions a shortage of grain and inquires about an apartment. He also mentions a sea voyage he had planned to Sicily which had not taken place and expresses concern for a certain Abu `Imran, urging him to take care of his wife and child. He mentions that he did not buy wheat and beans because the price in Fustat was much lower than in the countryside. "And inform him that I did not purchase anything for him because of the prevailing hunger (jūʿ) and food shortages in the countryside (al-Rīf). One and three-quarter waybas of wheat and beans...whereas an irdabb of wheat (in Fusṭāṭ) sells for 2 dīnārs."

Literary text, probably an Arabic grammar text. Mentions فاعل، مفعول، فعل with a few examples from the Quran in the explanation of these phenomena like the verse in reference to Noah "لا عاصم اليوم".

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Recounting various stages of a dispute involving a borrowed book or ledger (daftar). Mentions what transpired one night at the synagogue. Quotes are given of direct speech. Mentions the addressee's brother Moshe, Rabbenu Nissim, Harūn Ibn al-Sharābī and Rabbenu Yiṣḥaq. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card)

Biblical exegesis of Micah 6:8, perhaps part of the preparation of a sermon. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Note in which the writer apologises to the parnas for acting without consulting him. The parnas had promised to come immediately but instead Salāma came. The writer should not have met Salāma without consulting the parnas. Now the writer hopes the parnas will approve of his decision. Complete note. Excellent script. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

State document: Official report (fragment) concerning armed insurrection and civil unrest. For verso, see separate entry.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragmentary. Dating: 11th century. The sender has sent a purse containing 8 dinars to be given to his family members; mentions Fuwwa and Abū l-Faraj the tax farmer; 10 dinars; flax; someone arriving in Dahrūṭ; and asks the addressee to collect the money owed to the sender in the Rīf.

Note with instructions to draw up a draft of a marriage contract leaving out the names of the bride and groom. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Eli Ha-Kohen b. Ezekiel, Jerusalem, to Eli Ha-Kohen B. Hayyim, Fustat, approximately 1060.