Geniza Lab

Letter from Natan b. Nahray (Alexandria), probably to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat). Ca. 1062. Talks about business links with Spain. Mentions a number of commodities: indigo, lead, turbans from Susa and cloves. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 416.)

Letter, fragmentary, from Eliyya b. Yehuda b. Yaḥyā, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1052. The letter contains details about purchases and payments. Eliyya greets the addressee (probably Nahray) for his marriage and sends his greetings to Yehuda b. Seʿadya and his brother Mevorakh. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #705)

Letter, minute fragment. Mentions a reply to a letter from sayyidna

Recto: Letter from a son, in Qūṣ, to his mother, presumably in Fustat. Written in Judaeo-Arabic and a cipher (lines 7-12; noticed by OZ; probably this is also in Judaeo-Arabic). The portion of the letter not in cipher mostly consists of regards, and a complaint that the addressee had sent no letter ever since Abū Manṣūr had left her, and he is angry at her. Verso: Another letter, in Arabic script mixed with Judaeo-Arabic (e.g., الכתאב, وשלום רב والسلام), possibly written by the same pen, but not by the same hand. Needs examination/decipherment.

Letter from Abūn b. Ṣadaqa, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Abūn conveys a detailed tale of a serious falling-out with another merchant and urges Nahray not to associate with him. Abūn describes his reclusive lifestyle in Jerusalem (v25–30) and mentions in passing that he fell sick (r7–8).

Dowry list written on vellum

List of commodities with their prices

List of contributors to the poor. Coptic numerals.

Verso: List of pledges (thabat al-pesiqa). Dating: ca. 1032 CE (based on the date on recto). Interesting entries include: 'the philosopher' (=a doctor? cf. elsewhere in the lists), professions clustered together, 'the deceased' (al-marḥūm), the abundance of 'bankers' (ṣayrafī, spelled srfi), 'son of the kushit ' (Ethiopian woman), 'sons of the man'.

The part written with a wider pen resembles business accounts, while the part written with a thinner pen looks like a portion of a legal document. Dated: Monday, 25 Jumādā I 423 AH, which is May 1032 CE. The two text blocks might be unrelated, but it is tempting to read the upper portion as the inventory of an estate (the تركة repeatedly referred to underneath), while the lower portion includes witnesses' statements about the sale/auctioning of the estate. Mentions Aḥmad b. Hibatallāh al-Wakīl. The last sentence states that ʿAlī b. Musāfir will return to his wife after something to do with this inheritance. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) Two names visible are ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Yaḥyā.

Letter from an unknown writer, either in Gaza or near Jerusalem, to Yishmaʿel, in Fustat/Cairo. In Hebrew. Dating: Second half of the 16th century. The writer describes his persecution at the hands of judges and police in Palestine, specifically in the city of Gaza. It began with a debt owed to the writer by a shāwīsh/çavuş, who denied owing anything (r10–12). The matter came before a judge from Jerusalem, who came to Gaza (r10), and, thanks to bribes and false witnesses, ruled against the writer (r12–15). The shāwīsh continued persecuting the writer, trheatening him with imprisonment or extradition to Damascus for the sake of bringing the case before the Basha there (r15–18). The shāwīsh maintained that the writer owed him 427 Venetian gold coins (peraḥim banādiqa) (r32–33). But the community of Gaza came to the rescue of the writer and agreed to stand security for the loan (r28, v14) that he would need to take out in order to pay off various people to avoid being dragged off to Damascus (r19–31). The writer is now in unbearable financial straits (r31, v6) and asks the addressee to help defray his debts to the community of Gaza (v7–38). The writer has also turned to Yaʿaqov de Villareal and Moshe Porekh(?) for help in transferring the money (v22–25). Information from Avraham David's edition on FGP.

Letter in Hebrew. Very faded.

Fragment of a draft (?) of a petition opening with the taqbīl clause repeated twice (once in isolation) and followed by the caliphal honorific titles: amām al-maqām al-nabawī al-ṭāhirī al-muʿaẓẓam al-sharīf. The actual addressee seems to be a vizier whose titles follow after wa bi-l majlis al-sāmī; al-Sayyīdī al-Ajallī al-ʿĀlī al-Jūyūshī al-Sayfī al-Nāṣirī al-Kāmilī. Probably dates from the late Fatimid period. The petition also has a marāḥim formula "ilā l-marāḥim al-ʿamīma wa l-faḍāʾl al-karīma" (For details on this formula see: Khan, ALAD, pg.396). Further investigation is required to determine the identities of the caliph and addressee in question. On verso there is a single line with a ḥamdala and ṣalwala in Arabic script (perhaps originally from the bottom of the petition? Or from another document that has gotten glued on here.) And there is a cryptic text in Judaeo-Arabic with diagrams of dots and sticks, maybe some kind of technical/magical instructions.

Letter, minute fragment.

State document (fragment) in Arabic script, perhaps a decree. On verso there is a literary text in Hebrew.

Dirge. On verso the name of the owner: Ṣedaqa ha-Kohen b. Simḥa.

Letter from a woman to a communal official. In Hebrew. The purpose of the letter is to advocate for herself in her marital dispute that has already come before the addressee in court. "They brought [...] to my master and said, 'Here are some of my possessions that she has destroyed,' but my master knows that when we came before you in court, he did not mention that I destroyed this shawl, and all of this is 'Perversity is in his heart, he devises evil continually, he sows discord' (Proverbs 6:14)." She flatters the addressee (חכם כמלאך האלהים) and reminds him that her (ex?)-husband is just trying to return to his divorcee, and that he hates her daughter.

Legal document in which a daughter called Mawlat gives her mother Yumn b. Shemuel known as Ismai'l the gift of her entire. Her husband is taking it upon himself to support her daughter in case the mother dies. Written by Hillel b. Eli

Court record in which Karīm is suing Abū l-Munā b. Yehuda concerning a qintar of Syrian oil and copper vessels left in Minyat Ziftā in his hands. For more details on the dispute, see Bodl. MS heb. c 28/68 (PGPID 6438).

Letter from the Yeshiva to the community of Hazor (Caesarea), ca. 1025 (?)