Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Small fragment. Mentioning Ḥusayn or Ḥassūn. (Information in part from CUDL)

Part of a letter. Small fragment from the lower right corner. Mentions a letter sent to Alexandria. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter or copy of a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter. In Hebrew. Late. Only the address is preserved: to [...] Ashqar. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1218 CE or slightly before, based on the date listed in the accounts on verso. The writer is in desperate straits and asks the addressee to bring the case of Menaḥem (=himself?) to 'the Rayyis,' who may be Avraham Maimonides, and obtain from him 'what will release me (mā yubrīnī).' The writer wishes to move his children to Alexandria. He complains about R. Anatoli ('It is not concealed from you all the 'informing' (מסרות = מלשינות) that took place among us, nor the anger (khulq) of R. Anatoli and his impatience (? צגֿרה)." The writer mentions Manṣūr al-Miṣrī in the context of business matters; sends regards to Abū Zikrī; and the title of a lady (al-sitt al-rayyisa) appears on verso, apparently not as part of the letter. Information in part from CUDL and M. A. Friedman, "Maimonides Appoints R. Anatoly Muqaddam of Alexandria," [Hebrew], vol. 83 (2015), p. 155, n. 80. Join by Friedman.

Part of a (business?) letter. Verso: traces of Arabic script, written inverted, probably part of the address. (Information from CUDL)

Letter possibly addressed to the Nagid. In Judaeo-Arabic, written in a crude hand. Fragment (upper left corner). Mentions the arrival of Abū l-Surūr with the news that (probably the Nagid) had obtained or issued a favorable rescript (tawqīʿ) for a petition. Also mentions the capitation tax and Ibn Barukh. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter. Sent from somewhere in al-Shām to Cairo. In a mixture of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dating: Perhaps 11th century. Sender and addressee are not identified, but they sound important, and they may be identifiable on the basis of a join or handwriting comparison. Mentions: 'receiving the estates/villages'; an order(?) to leave ʿAkkā (Acre); someone who went to Abū l-Faḍl b. Abū Ṣāliḥ, who was with al-Rayyis Abū l-Riḍā who had just arrived from Jerusalem; that person told them to tell the sender to receive everything from him. The sender said that he would obey. The text in the upper margin refers to something 'perishing,' not having courage; someone who intended to do something, and 'from the city/country.' (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from the wife of Khalaf b. Harūn to Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon, seeking help against her cruel husband, written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL). Avraham the cantor and the wife of Abu 'l-Ma'ali Khalaf b. Harun, describing her husband's mistreatment of her and petitioning the Gaon to look into her plight.

Letter, written by Yoḥanan b. Shelomo, in Jerusalem, to his cousin Shimʿon Ashkenazi b. Yeḥiʾel, in Fustat/Cairo. In Hebrew. Dating: Second half of the 16th century, based on Avraham David's identifications of the people named. The writer asks the addressee to send him clothing, because the clothing that has supposedly been sent never arrived (ll. 3–4). He further conveys a request from one of his aunts that the addressee send shoes for another aunt, Milka or Malka (l. 12). The writer mentions in passing the two Ashkenazi Yeshivot in Jerusalem, one of which is under the direction of the addressee's father Yeḥiel as well as Avraham פולק; the other ("where they study not for the sake of heaven") is under the direction of R. Kalman and R. David (ll. 5–7). The writer also mentions his brother Yiṣḥaq who lives in Jerusalem (ll. 7–8). Information from CUDL and Avraham David's edition on FGP.

Letter from Moshe b. Mevorakh the Nagid to Abū l-Makārim. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer insists that the addressee come visit him on Shabbat at the end of the day as he had promised, otherwise he will never talk to him again. "For I have no one to sit with me, and I am alone and my chest is tight. . . and I am all the day by myself." (Information in part from CUDL.)

A small piece from a letter mentioning the elder Abū l-Ḥasan al-Levi, written in the hand of Hananel b. Shmuel. AA

Letter from Menashshe b. Yehoshuaʿ, in Tyre, to the Ḥaver Abū l-Faraj Shemaʿya b. al-Faraj, in Jerusalem. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Menashshe b. Yehoshuaʿ, in Tyre, to the Ḥaver Abū l-Faraj Shemaʿya b. al-Faraj, in Jerusalem. Concerning yarn. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Menashshe b. Yehoshuaʿ, in Tyre, to the Ḥaver Abū l-Faraj Shemaʿya b. al-Faraj, in Jerusalem. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of letter granting the privilege of slaughtering birds, written in the hand of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. (Information from CUDL)

Letter apparently from a woman (based on what appear to be 2 feminine adjectives, כפיפה and ראציא = ראציה) to her father (yā wālidī). Fragment (lower right corner). In Judaeo-Arabic. Refers to family drama and perhaps the sender's desire to move in with another woman in the family (nataʾawwa ʿindahā). On verso there is a draft of the first three lines of a letter in Arabic script. The remainder of verso and the margins of recto are also filled with Arabic-script pen exercises. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from Yosef b. Yeshua from Alexandria, to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. The writer describes the situation in Alexandria before the shipping season starts. Writes that there is a large amount of merchants and of merchandise that are about to be shipped. Also mentions the prices in Alexandria. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #187) VMR. CUDL description: Business letter from Joseph b. Yeshuʿa (ישועא) al-Aṭrābulsī in Alexandria to Abū l-Faraj Joseph b. ʿAwkal. (Information from CUDL)

Letter of condolence, with extensive biblical quotations. A Judaeo-Arabic text on verso, ‘from his servant’, appears to be a postscript. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, mentioning Abū Manṣūr b. Naḥrīr and Moses Abū ʿImrān, dated 1441 (= 1130 CE) in Fusṭāṭ. (Information from CUDL)