Geniza Lab

Letter from Avraham b. Ya'akov in Jerusalem to his son in Fustat. Around 1040, in the handwriting of Moshe b. Yitzhak from the Karaite community. (Probably the father and son belong to the Karaite community as well). The father describes his difficult situation after the death of another son and because of his illness and his need for money and asks his son for help. (Information from Gil, Palestine corrections, Mehkarim be-Mada'e ha-Yahadut, Te'udah 7, pp. 326-327). VMR

Letter addressed to Maṣliaḥ Gaon with fourteen lines of poetry in the hand of Natan b. Shemuel ha-haver written on the back . (Information from Goitein's index card). VMR

Letter of invitation from David b. Daniel probably to a personality in Fustat, late 11th century.

Letter to Abu Yaʿaqov Yosef the Dyer, from Perahya b. Yosef informing him that he arrived in Alexandria and found Yosef’s wife and children to be well. He further describes that he met with the addressee’s cousin and that he should send his wife something because she had to pawn an item to pay rent. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS C. 11th century - but unusually refers to ‘your wife’ as זוגתך (who also seems to be involved in some of the business activities). (Information from CUDL)

Epistolarium fragment in Hebrew. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS Part of a letter, with widely-spaced lines, probably 11th century and from Iraq. It addresses the recipient in the 2nd person plural. The text remaining is mostly oratorical. The writer sends greetings from his cousin Zakkai and from ‘all the sages of the two Yešivot’. There is a quote from Psalms 59:17, marked with supralinear dots. (Information from CUDL)

Letter opening, fragmentary, from Yosef ha-Kohen b. Shelomo Gaon to a friend (11th century).

Letter from Musa b. Abi al-Hayy from Alexandria to Yosef b. Musa ha-Tahirati, Fustat. Around 1055. The writer is available to work because Avraham b. Farah prevented him from selling trading goods that he had. Mentions details about ships in the Nile which are about to depart. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 3, pp. 530-533, #459). VMR

Letter from Yosef b. Yeshu'a, Alexandria, to Yosef b. Awkal (1028 or 1029).

Letter from Barhun b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Tahirtī, in al-Mahdiyya, to a younger relative. Around 1050. Barhūn informs that a shipment of goods is on its way, mentions that a few relatives are in Sūsa, and shares his willingness to send his father's bones to Jerusalem (his father died in 1049). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 3, pp. 302-303, #383). VMR

Letter from a merchant in Alexandria to a business associate in Fustat, advising him to dispose of goods costing a large amount of money and, “This letter of mine is your proof in court.” The writer also notes he received a loan of 80 dinars from a compatriot and asks that all consignments to himself should be turned over to his creditor. Eleventh century. (S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 1:254, 291, 464, 272; 2:337, 601) EMS

Letter from Salman b. Harun, maybe from Mazar, to Aaish b. Sedaka, Alexandria. Around 1045. The writer asks Aaish to take care of two shipments that he shipped to Egypt so they will not be left on the seashore. In addition, he asks him to collect some of the debts that people (probably) from Fustat owe him. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 519-521, #770). VMR

Letter from Natan b. Avraham to Ḥalfon. Dating: ca. 1037 CE. The writer excuses himself for not seeing the recipient off. The writer was not the host, but he had talked to the recipient a few days before his departure. His excuse is that he had an intense pain, like colic, and he could hardly sit down, let alone stand or ride. The illness persisted for most of the day, and when it relented and Natan asked after Ḥalfon, he was told that he had already departed. Information in part from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Ezra b. Hillel to Nahray b. Nissim instructing him to exchange the 50 dinars sent to him by the writer, which are “out of use here in Alexandria, but are excellent and first class in Fustat. Please exchange them for Damascus [or: Syria] dinars whose legends are arranged in lines, good ones, as I know you are accustomed to procure.” The commission for Nahray, per an agreement his brother-in-law made with writer, will be “one dinar for a hundred [changed],” and the writer further instructs him to execute the order immediately. Alexandria, ca. 1060-1080 C.E. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:238, 378, 459) EMS

Letter from Yeshu‘a b. Ismāʿīl, in Malīj, to Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf b. ʿAlī ha-Kohen. Dating: 11th century. Concerning business matters. The sender delivered something on behalf of the addressee to Abū l-Manṣūr b. Shuʿayb, who showed it to Ibn al-Aʿraj, who refused to buy it. Abū l-Manṣūr now awaits instructions. The sender conveys regards to and from various people. Mentions Isḥāq, who had just arrived and settled the addressee’s debt. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index cards.) EMS Written on the back of a document in Arabic script.

Letter from Nissim b. Ḥalfon b. Benaya, in Tinnīs, to Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tāhirtī al-Maghribi, in Fustat, both prominent in the Geniza correspondence of the eleventh century. The writer mentions merchants from the Maghreb, Syria, and Iraq doing business in the busy Mediterranean seaport. He probably alludes to his illnesses in lines r3–6: "You tasked me with buying ladies' caps (maʿājir), but you know what a 'pain' (wajaʿ) it is, especially selling clothing in Tinnīs, from morning to evening. I relapsed only twice due to the burdens I take upon myself (mimmā najūr ʿalā nafsī). But today, praise be to God, I am in every state of well-being." In lines v4–5, Nissim invokes the common trope of assuming a business partner (here Ibn Juhā) is ill if one has not heard from him in a longer-than-usual time. Information from Gil, Kingdom, III, #597, and Goitein, Med Soc, II, p. 520; IV, pp. 176, 406, and V, pp. 110, 536. EMS. ASE.

Letter from Avraham b. David b. Sughmār, probably in Alexandria, to his son, David, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1055 CE. The father rebukes his son for losing money. He mentions several negative events that happened probably in the Maghreb. Also describes how his son lost trading goods as silk. He also complains about his illness (r6). Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 1-4, #609. VMR. ASE.

Letter from Yūsuf b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī in Būṣīr to Yehoshuaʿ b. Natan ha-Andalūsī (c. 1061 CE).

Letter of recommendation from Daniel b. Azarya to Avraham ha-Kohen b. Yitzhak b. Furat. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 p. 672, #360). VMR

Letter fragment written by a communal official concerning the “rabbi from Rum” who was potentially threatened. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:236-7, 571) EMS Written partly in Arabic characters. (Information from CUDL)

Letter of petition, draft, addressed to “our lord” Mevorakh during his first term in office, from the “holy community of Malij and its cantor.” Only the prefaratory laudes and the address on the back have been preserved. (Mark Cohen, Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Egypt, 167; and Marina Rustow, “The Diplomatics of Leadership: Administrative Documents in Hebrew Script from the Geniza,” in Christians and Jews in Muslim Societies: Jews, Christians and Muslims in Medieval and Early Modern Times: A Festschrift in Honor of Mark R. Cohen, ed. A. Franklin, R.E. Margariti, M. Rustow, and U. Simonsohn, 167) EMS Verso: Address, in 2 lines, and 4 lines of Hebrew script in a different hand and ink which have been crossed through. (Information from CUDL)