Geniza Lab

Letter from Yosef b. Yishaq Yerushalmi to Ya'aqov ha-Talmid b. Binyamin. He asks him to receive a bashful needy man well and take care of his capitation tax. Dated 1211 (1400+122, assuming that the Seleucid calendar is meant.) Information from Goitein's index card.

Recto: Letter draft of an opening containing effusive Hebrew praises for the recipient, torn at the bottom. Verso: Another, more polished version of the same, with every hemistich ending in ה. ASE.

Letter from an unknown merchant from the Maghreb, probably to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat, regarding a shipment of oil. Around 1015. Also mentions money that was sent to the Israel Yeshiva. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #168) VMR

Two pages (four columns) of poetic praise for Yehosef ha-Levi Rosh Negidei ha-Golah. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter fragment asking for a favor and stating that the writer relies on God and on the recipient for the solution of the matter. (Information from CUDL)

Court record, drawn up in Fustat, recording a gift. Given by: Sitt al-Bayt bt. Hillel ha-Zaqen, the widow of R. Ḥiyya ha-Mumḥe b. Ẓedaqa ha-Mumḥe. Given to: Abū l-Ḥasan b. ʿEli ha-Zaqen b. Yefet ha-Zaqen known as Ḥasān. This is the second entry on the page; the first seems to be an eschatological text. There is also a letter fragment on verso (PGPID 3117).

Letter from Salama b. Musa ha-Sfakusi from Alexandria probably to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1068. Mentions several people including Avraham b. Farah and Yosef b. Eli ha-Kohen. The writer returned from Sicily to Alexandria and deals with business matters and buying goods. Also mentions the situation in Sicily. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 477-483, #753) VMR

Letter from Salama b. Musa ha-Sfaqusi from Alexandria probably to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1068. Mentions several people including Avraham b. Farah and Yosef b. Eli ha-Kohen. The writer returned from Sicily to Alexandria and deals with business matters and buying goods. Also mentions the situation in Sicily. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 477-483, #753) VMR

Letter fragment addressed to Ḥusayn al-Ṣabbagh al-Ḍāmin in formal style and in curious script of large characters, asking the recipient to pay 1/6 dinars for the hire of a boat, for which the writer had pawned his clothing with the captain al-Rayyis al-Ḥayfī. The writer is hungry and thirsty. It seems he ate something that gave him a bad case of gas ("wa-alqaʾat al-riyāh fī jawfī"), and he has not eaten anything since. Mentions Amīr al-Juyūsh and Saniyy al-Dawla. Information in part from Goitein's index card. Handwriting is the same as ENA 3360.7 (another letter) and may be the same as DK 344 (literary). ASE.

Letter fragment from Daniel b. Azarya to a man in Fustat. Daniel b. Azarya shows his joy that the man recovered from his illness. Daniel b. Azarya describes how he prayed for his recovery in front of Temple Mount and David's tomb. He mentions that he knows about his recovery from a letter he received from Yefet b. David. VMR

Hebrew letter by Efrayim b. Shemarya.

Letter from Yosef b. ʿEzra and Avraham b. Muʿṭī, in Tilimsān, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. Dating: After Purim 4898 AM, which is 27 February 1138 CE. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender warns Ḥalfon not to travel from Fez or Almeria, on account of the war in the Mediterranean. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book 4; full Hebrew description below.)

Letter sent from Alexandria by Farah b. Yosef to Abu Sa'd Khalaf b. Sahl in Fustat, dealing with buying and selling some goods. Dated October 1056. (Information from Gil)

Letter from Farah b. Yosef from Alexandria to Abu Sad Khalaf b. Sahl, Fustat. October 1056. The letter has another fragment (T-S 8 J 21.7). Regarding purchases and sales of several goods: pepper, fabrics, bonnets, and rice. Mentions that the army’s entrance to the city (it is not clear which city) improves trade. Also mentions that a ship arrived from Tyre, and the writer’s nephew who came from there in a different way. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #518) VMR

Letter addressed to Nasi Yoshiyahu. The writer has many debts. Abu Sa'd and the son of al-Rayyis Sulayman are mentioned. In the last lines, the writer asks to know with whom the commentary on the Prophets had been pawned. Likely from ca. 1230s, as Yoshiyahu and al-Rayyis Sulayman are mentioned in the correspondence of Jalal al-Dawlah and Shelomo b. Yishai. ASE.

Letter by Mansur Kohen to Eliyyahu the Judge dealing in sugar candy (see also T-S 16.303). The page is divided vertically, and there is another letter in a different hand which requires further examination. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic mentioning Alexandria. Greetings to the writer's sister and to Hilal on verso.

Letter from Abūn b. Ṣadaqa, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dating: 31 March 1059 CE, according to Gil. Deals with various business matters. He thanks Nahray for burning his last letter. He asks for news of 'al-kabīra' Sitt Murruwa, who had been sick.

Letter from an unknown sender to Nahray b. Nissim. Dating: around 1065. The sender asks Nahray to send him money, as he and the people with him have nothing left. Based on whom he wishes Nahray to greet on his behalf, the sender could possible have been a member of the Tahirti family and a relative of Nahray as well.

Letter to Yiṣḥaq b. ʿOvadya in Granada, Spain, from Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham b. Ezra (Toledo, Spain). "I believe Mar Joseph is traveling to your place to pass there the Passover with Ibn al-Fakhkhar, for the latter has made him desirous of spending the holidays in his house, where he would have a good time. Mar Joseph had planned to go to Seville, but he has changed his mind and is coming to Granada. Take notice of this. I decided not to let this letter go without some foolish poetry of mine. Last night I drafted the nonsense you will see. Mar Joseph has chosen them, and you will pardon me." (Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 16, 638.)