Geniza Lab

In which a mother informs her son "al-Shaykh Sadīd" that everyone is well, but they have no flour, so please send us flour immediately. She also orders other items such as two ounces of silk (?). She sends regards to the addressee's father and sister, and the little ones send their regards. Verso: "To be delivered to the kitchen (!) of Abū Sadīd."

Letter from Isma’il b. Salama al-Gazal, al-Bahnasa, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dating: ca. 1051. Details about payments and business with local government officials in Upper Egypt. Mentions a stock of about 30 tons of grain. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #709.) VMR

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. Missing only the first couple lines. The writer mentions exchanges of goods (ll.2–3); the rent of a house (l. 3); the sad news of the boy's illness (ḍuʿf al-ṣaghīr, ll.4–5); and that he paid a visit (aftaqid) the addressee's wife and she is in good health (probably after an illness). Needs further examination. ASE.

Recto: fragment of a letter concerning lemons. Verso: receipt for one and a half ūqiyya of rose water and an ūqiyya of lemon, probably in the hand of Abū Zikrī Kohen. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic letter, probably from Yehuda b. al-ʿAmmāni to Me'ir b. Yakhin, mentioning the latter's brothers Hilāl and Saʿīd.

Small fragment of a letter, probably from a Moshe, mentioning the yeshiva (al-matība) and a female slave (jāriya).

Carefully written begging letter from a woman to the Nagid David Maimonides (probably David b. Avraham b. Moshe). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1237–1300. She is married to a tailor and lives on charity with her children in a house belonging to the Qodesh with no roof, and winter has just begun. Refers to a sum of 30 dinars, perhaps the delayed marriage payment she was owed but never received. It is possible that the letter was left unfinished. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter. A Maghribi Karaite asks his wife in the most humble terms to come back to him in Cairo. Otherwise, he would marry a girl in the Rif. Goitein's transcription, translation, and commentary are attached. Also discussed in Zinger, "Long Distance Marriages."

Fragment of a note which on recto contains only formulaic praises and on verso contains an enigmatic sentence (something about "every Jew") and the name Abū l-Barakāt b. Eliyya.

Fragment from the opening of a deferential letter. On verso the writer mentions 'the tax' (? al-mās) and 'your promise'—perhaps he is requesting charity.

Letter (beginning only) from Muṣā b. Yosef to Yoshiyyahu Gaon. Dating: ca. 1020. Conveys extensive greetings. Information from CUDL.

Letter in beautiful Arabic script. The sender/petitioner says that despite his best efforts he was unable to get a dinar from that man, and now he is in difficult straits. He humbly asks the addressee for help.

Letter from Yeshuʿa b. al-Ṭabīb ('son of the physician') Ibn al-ʿAmmānī. Dating: late 11th or early 12th century, if this is the father of the well-known poet Aharon b. Yeshuʿa ha-Rofe Ibn al-ʿAmmānī (1109–43). The letter concerns 10 dinars, the sending of other letters, and a legal deed (sheṭar). I my opinion the hand is much later, 13th century (AA)

Letter from Saʿdān to ʿEli. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The sender reports that he is prostrated in his house (maṭrūḥ fī l-bayt) and the doctor comes twice a day and "cuts his flesh with scissors" (wa-yaqṣuṣ laḥmahu bi-l-miqaṣṣ). Even worse is the poverty. The sender seems to be asking for money -- perhaps some of the money owed him by Abū Saʿīd -- in order to pay the doctor's fees. ASE

Elegies: all appear to be by the same author, including an elegy for a Gaʾon, צפע רוש הלעיטני, and for a woman. ‘Nathan b. Shemuʾel חזק’ is spelled in acrostic. (Information from CUDL)

Official letter in Arabic script. The ends of ~6 lines are preserved. Reused for Hebrew literary text (likely same scribe as T-S NS 111.63 and numerous others). Needs further examination.

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes linked below.

Account in Arabic script, including items such as zayt ṭayyib and waraq. Needs further examination.

Maimonides's commentary on the Mishna, Sanhedrin, Perek Ḥeleq, p. 217 in the Qafih edition; identified by Amir Ashur.

Literary, see FGP for identifications.