Geniza Lab

Letter written to Abu al-Fa(ra)j Daniel b. [...] ha-kohen

Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning Abū l-Surūr b. Sughmār, who is traveling to Dimyāṭ (Damietta). The sender will send another letter to the judge (al-shofeṭ).

Recto: State document in Arabic script. Ends of 3 lines preserved. Perhaps a petition or decree (...bi-l-nāḥiya yatawallā ḥiyāzatahā wa-ḍabṭa ajzāʾahā...). Needs examination.

Letter from Isma'il b. Yosef b. Abi Aqaba, Damsis (Egypt), to his mother's brother Yusuf b. Awkal, first quarter of the 11th century. Ed. S. D. Goitein, 'The Jewish trade in the Mediterranean Sea at the beginning of the 11th century' (Hebrew), Tarbiz, 37(1968), p. 166. Also ed. Gil, Ishamel, doc. 214

Letter from Jerusalem to Avraham ben Yiṣḥaq Sholal in Egypt. edited by Avraham David in Ḥayyim Beinart Festschrift

Letter from Abū l-Faraj b. Manṣūr al-Shammāʿ (the candlemaker/seller) to Eliyyahu the Judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. First he deals with a monetary matter of 104 wariq (silver dirhams) involving Bū Saʿd, Bū Saʿīd, and al-Kohen. The sender and others are very distressed (iltahaba fī qulūbihim al-nār) regarding the daughter of Barakāt b. Abū Sahl the crier in the moneychangers' market (al-munādī fī sūq al-ṣarf, the same profession as Bishr b. Yeḥezqel in T-S Ar.30.30). Barakāt begs Eliyyahu (via the sender) to investigate her condition and make sure she is well. On verso the letter returns to some monetary affairs involving Banīn (who is also mentioned on recto), and ends with greetings to Mufaddal b. Abu al-[...] and Abū l-Majd the cantor (=Meir b. Yakhin). AA. ASE.

Letter in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Hilāl al-Baghdādī (=Ḥalfon's brother-in-law ʿEli b. Hillel). In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (left side of recto). Al-Maghribī arrived from the addressee's location. There are references to various family and business matters, but all are quite vague without the join.

Letter from Avraham Kolon (קולון). Probably addressed to Yosef Ardiʿa (ארדיעה) like his other two letters. Dated: Monday, 17 Ḥeshvan [5318 AM], which is 1557 CE (see A. David's article for explanation of the date). Deals with commercial matters like trade in feathers (ostrich, peacock?). Mentions traders who have Italian names (e.g., Nicoletta) and the ship ʿArīsa that is soon to depart for Venice. Published by Avraham David, Peʿamim 51 (1992), 117–18.

Letter from Avraham b. Yehuda ha-Kohen, in Malīj, to the cantor Elʿazar b. Yehuda, in Fustat (c/o the shop of Ṭarfon ha-Zaqen). In Judaeo-Arabic, with some interesting spellings (e.g., many extraneous alefs, some missing alefs, יתפע for ידפע, and תקתע for תקטע, and אלאלה for God). Dating: Uncertain. The letter was cut up into at least two pendant shapes—one hexagon and one pentagon—and perforated to be hung up. It is difficult to extract much of the content. Mainly dealing with small business transactions, e.g., a kerchief (mandīl) for 20 qirats. On verso, greetings to 'his son Yaʿqūb'; Muʿammar; Abū ʿAlī Muḥsin; Abū l-Ghayth Mufarraj; Hillel; and Yaḥyā.

Legal document in Hebrew, late. The names mentioned are Avraham talmid and Yosef Sevila

List of names and sums of money. Most names appear in connection to a certain market, suggesting this was some sort of collection of communal tax.

Letter by Yehuda ha-kohen (b. Tuvya according to the distinctive hand) to the two brothers Avraham and Yishaq/Ishaq b. al-hakim (i.e. the physician). The first part of the letter is filled with greetings and blessings. Then yehuda informs the brothers that he had sent with the carried of the letter (a certain Asad) 25 dirhems and asks them to buy him with it yarn (ghazl) "because the small ones are naked". On the back there is an account in Arabic letters mentioning flax, ghazl, mandil and weights and prices?

Business letter from Avraham Naḥum, perhaps in Manzala, to a certain Shemuel, in Cairo. In Hebrew. Dating: First half of the 16th century. The sender informs the addressee that he has sent a sum of money (23 gold coins, peraḥim) with the messenger Khalīfa (ll. 9–10, 14) in order to pay various debts in Cairo (specified in ll. 6–7, 9, and 12–13). He has also sent פייסאס לולואיש (=piezas lulues), apparently a Ladino-Arabic term for pearls, which are also to be sold and the proceeds used to defray some of the sender's debts (ll. 10–14). Names mentioned include Shemuel Rashīdī, Avraham Maymūn (the sender's brother-in-law), Shemuel Bahlūl (the addressee's relative, also mentioned in T-S AS 153.214 together Avraham Naḥum, the sender of the present letter). The currency medin/muʾayyadi is also cited. There is also another commodity with a Spanish name: ha-escribanía (a writing-desk?). (Information in part from A. David via FGP.)

Deed of engagement written on the bottom left part of the document (apparently from the court's legal folder) that contains also a dowry list (not present here). The handwriting is similar to that of Mevorakh bar Natan (Fustat, 1150-1181) but he probably did not write the document. Ashur dates the document to the middle of the 13th Century.

Deed of acknowledgment (iqrār). Fragment (upper part only). In the hand of Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli ha-Kohen (compare, e.g., T-S 10J21.14 + T-S 8J32.9). Avraham b. Musallam acknowledges something concerning the textile merchandise that that Abū ʿAlī al-Ṣāʾigh received from him. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.) ASE

Mercantile letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions people such as Abū ʿAlī; [...] al-Bukhtaj; Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Pinḥas; [...] al-Sharābī; Abū l-Faraj; a parnas; and Aharon. Mentions goods such as a 30-cubit Maghribī sūsiyya. Also mentions the government and the capitation tax. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Letter. A Hebrew letter reporting of a terrible tragedy in which a thousand people died. Ed. Ben Sasson in his article in Gil's Festschrift. Transcription awaiting digitization on PGP.

Letter addressed to Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel b. Yiṣḥaq. In Judaeo-Arabic. Sent from (or to?) Alexandria. Dating: Mentions the year "499" as a year recently past, so this letter was probably written early in the year 1500 Seleucid, which would be 1189 CE. (But note that Goitein's index card translates "499" as 1088 CE.) 499 could also be a hijrī date (1105/06 CE), which is made less likely—but not impossible—by the use of the Hebrew month Ṭevet in the same sentence. The writer discusses numerous business matters, complains at length about his poor state, including commodities that were damaged by worms), and the general economic depression: "the times are bilious (al-zamān ṣafrāwī), and their representative here who used to work wonders—there is no business for him or for anyone else, and everything is infinite darkness (חשכות) with all manner of hardship, and most of this is on account of the water (מאים=מים)." He brings up his falling out with Abū l-Ḥasan Bishāra, who is currently shunning him because of how the sender behaved toward him int he past. Other people mentioned include Abū l-Ḥasan Ibn al-Bukhtaj and Ismāʿīl Ibn al-Taherti (spelled אלתאהתי, maybe read אלתאהרתי?), perhaps referring to Shemuel b. Barhūn (but this would not fit with the suggested dating of 1189 CE). AA. ASE

Communal accounts with revenue available and expenditures: 'A [public] Fast--29' 'Food for the poor (mezonot)--39.' Among the expenses, besides bread and salaries, are payments to a traveler called by his name and his rafiq, traveling companion. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 462, App. B 82)

Letter mentioning Elijah the judge and his son Abu Zikri. On the back is an account. possibly in the hand of Shelomo ha-melammed.