Geniza Lab

Letter from Yisrael b. Natan, Tyre, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, ca. 1060 in the month of Ab.

Possibly a poem, or a poetic letter in Hebrew. Note that the citations in FGP are erroneous and actually refer to T-S 12.322.

Recto: a Hebrew poem. Verso: possibly more of the same, but harder to tell because the rhyming endings are cut off. On vellum. Needs further examination. ASE.

Letter fragment (missing the upper right corner), mercantile, from someone to "my maternal uncle [...] Avraham b. Salih b. [...]," probably 11th century. The writer is upset about something and enemies are gloating. Other merchants traveling to Syracuse and Barqah are mentioned. There are a few words in Arabic at the very end. ASE.

Letter sent from Alexandria by Ismail b. Farah to a member of the Tahirti Family in Fustat, containing details about goods and ships. Dated ca. 1051. (Information from Gil)

Letter from Daniel b. Azarya to a man in Fustat concerning a replacement for the supervisor who was responsible for the butchers in Fustat, after Yefet b. David passed away. The beginning and end are missing. VMR

Letter from Avraham Ibn Yiju, in Fustat, to his brother, Yosef, in Mazara, Sicily. Written in September 1152.

See PGPID 4727; this is an older transcription.

Letter from Yeshu'a ha-Kohen ha-Ḥaver, an official in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim. Yeshu'a writes to raise money to free three Jews held by Italian merchants. The merchants had acquired their human cargo from Rum (Byzantine) pirates. The pirates had beaten and almost killed their captives. Jewish communities in Egyptian port towns bore the brunt of these expenses. Charitable collections were often held throughout the Jewish communities of Egypt to help free co-religionists captured in wartime or in acts of piracy. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Barhun b. Musa al-Tahirti, probably from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim and Ayash b. Sdaka, Fustat. Mentions details about shipments of flax, several ships, and several of Nahray’s business partners as Ibn Sumgar family. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #350) VMR

Letter from the schoolmaster Natan b. Shemuel, in a small town, to his brother Abū l-Ḥasan, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. The writer asks for some ophthalmic medicine, some sour-grape kohl, and an unidentified medicine (רישאנא?), because he needs them very much. If his financial situation were not so terrible this winter, he would have sent some money to cover the cost. He describes his extreme hardships, explaining that he had had to pawn garments to cover the costs of the holidays(?). He asks the addressee to meet with their in-law Abū Naṣr and thank him and seek to resolve some family matter. He worries that people are angry at him: "I think that no one likes a beggar." He then asks for the addressee's indulgence for what he had previously written. He was not himself, because of his great preoccupation upon the death of the khaṭīb of his town, who had been a great support to him. He goes on to allude to a dispute between himself and his cousin (ibn ʿamm), about whom he has many harsh words (incl. "Smoother than cream were the speeches of his mouth, but his heart was war" (Psalms 55:22); "may God save me from his evil"). He conveys greetings to various people, including R. Yeḥiel (active 1224–33). In a first postscript, he reports that Qaḍīb is severely ill with pleurisy (dhāt al-janb). He is out of his mind with worry and asks for his sister Saʿāda to be sent urgently. "May I not live to see her day [of death]." In a second postscript, he reports that actually Qaḍīb is doing much better now, thank God. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 185, 413; V, pp. 242, 573, 600-601.) ASE

Letter in which Shelomo b. Elazar from a town in the Fayyum expresses the thanks of the congregation to one Shelomo for sending a parchment scroll of the Pentateuch, which arrived two days before the New Year, and asks for a scroll of the readings from the Prophets for the day of Atonement. Beautifully written. Information from Goitein's note card.

Hebrew letter, sent by Shemuel b. Shelomo of Lucena, Spain, to Mevorakh b. Saadya requesting assistance. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Treatise on charity in two columns, fragmentary. (Information from Goitein's note card)

Letter of recommendation (?). "This note was cut out (?) from the book belonging to the Persian (al-ʿAjamī) staying with the Jew who speaks on his behalf (?) Elazar b. Yosef; Shelomo b. [...]; Shemuel ha-Kohen b. Berakhot; Yosef b. Yaʿaqov." (Information from Goitein's note card)

Memorial list. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Pious and ethical dicta in Judaeo-Arabic, often rhyming, strung together. The hand is late. Needs further examination. ASE.

Letter from Abū ʿAlī to his father Abū l-ʿIzz. In Judaeo-Arabic. He reports that his mother and Yūsuf arrived safely after four days of travel by boat. He has sent his father a fulled maqṭaʿ cloth worth 49 dirhams and wishes to have for its price 150 jars with unnamed contents. If that sum were not sufficient, he would deliver the balance to the carrier. He alludes to his illness in passing by way of explaining why he has not done something (line 21). (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 446.) ASE

Recto: Formulary for Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew praises to an important person (peloni ben peloni) to be placed at the beginning of a letter. Verso: A Hebrew panegyric. ASE.

Letter from Toviyya b. Moshe, Jerusalem, to Perahya b. Muʾammal, Fustat, probably 1048.