Geniza Lab

Letter from Abū l-Barakāt b. Abū l-Ḥasan, in Alexandria, to Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. The letter informs Shelomo about the passing away of the local judge, R. Shemuel. Shelomo's father, Eliyyahu the judge, is asked to come and serve as judge in Alexandria. Gives many names of important community members in Alexandria. (Information from Frenkel.)

Fragments of letters of the Nasi Shelomo b. Yishay. The recto is a fragment of a letter sent to the Nasi Shelomo b. Yishay (originally from Mosul, but then living in Egypt). The sender describes how he saved the property of the orphaned children of a certain Farah. The verso is a letter from the Nasi Shelomo b. Yishay, offering his services to the people of Fustat and especially to the Nagid David, grandson of Maimonides. Dated to ca. 1237. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II,19; also Gil)

T-S 13J22.6 was published By Gil, Palestine, #404. It is the left hand side of the letter. T-S 13J7.6 is the right hand side of the same letter, published by Gil (transcription of the whole document) in his 1991 article of corrections and additions to his 3-volume Palestine. This is a letter of complaint to Avraham ha-Kohen b. Yiṣḥaq b. Furat (mid 11th century). The writers complains about the Christian governor Ibn Gorgas who built a church next to a mosque, a controversy arose, and now the Jews are in danger.

The teacher Dawud of Qalyub writes to the judge Shelomo b. Eliyyahu around 1225 complaining about his meagre salary and his inability to pay the jāliya (capitation tax). (Information from Goitein's index cards, Med. Soc., CUDL and Marina Rustow)

Beginning of a calligraphic letter in Hebrew rhymed prose by Shemuel ha-Levi b. Eli, the gaʾon ("head of the academy of the diaspora") in Baghdad (1164–93). Gil identified this as his handwriting, but Amir Ashur and Marina Rustow believe this to be the very distinctive hand of his disciple R. Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Rosh ha-Seder of Irbil. (Information from Gil, from Goitein's index cards and from Marina Rustow)

Letter from the office of the Nagid Yehoshua Maimonides (d. 1355), to the Jewish community in Cairo. He is ordering them to pay back to the public collection for the money (150 dirhams) that was taken from it to the capitation tax, for the poor that could not pay. This amount of money was taken from the "food for the poor" section in the collection. Mid 14th century (Ashtor estimation). VMR

Calligraphic letter sent by Eliyyahu b. Khalaf to a man, evidently the head of the Jews in Fustat or Cairo, emphasizing that the community in his town enjoyed security and peace. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 349, 350, and from Goitein's index cards)

Beginning of the taqqanah (ordinance) of al-Mahalla, continued in T-S 16.135. See there for fuller description. Ed. Blau, Teshuvot ha-Rambam, vol. 2, 516-518.

Fragment of a letter from Sharira Gaon. Around 970. The content is similar to his letters in T-S 28.24 and T-S 10 J1, in which he asks for communities’ support in his Yeshiva (Pumbedita). (Gil, Kingdom, vol. 2, Doc. #25) VMR

Letter from Yoshiyyahu Gaon to the community of Damietta, approximately 1015.

Draft of a letter from Efrayim b. Shemarya to Shelomo b. Yehuda. (MR; see also S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:399; 2:8, 520, 534)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from a craftsman to ʿAbd al-Laṭīf, second half of the 15th century.

Letter from Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya, Fustat, to Daniel b. Azarya, approximately 1053. The tear between the two sides is indicated here by the following sign /. (Gil, Palestine, Pt. 2).

Draft of an appointment deed to Yeshua b. Yosef to a public role. The handwriting is that of Yeshua. According to the biography of Yeshua, the letter can be dated to the fifties of the Eleventh Century (see Frenkel, p. 54). (Information from Frenkel).

Fragment of an ordinance (taqqana) concerning the Jerusalem community in Fustat. The community decides to choose ten men who will manage the community with Efrayim b. Shemarya. Probably written July 7, 1028; in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya. (Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, 594-596, Doc. #325) VMR

Letter from Yehoshuaʿ Ha-Kohen B. Yair, Tiberias, to the communities of Aleppo, approximately 1020.

Letter from Yefet b. David in Tyre to his father David b. Shekhanya (c. 1008-11 CE). A collection (pesiqa) for the young hazzan Husayn b. Dawud b. Sakan of Fustat in Acre (well-known under the name Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya). (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:221, 222, 569, and CUDL) EMS

An eloquent appeal by a learned merchant from Damascus who had lost all his riches. May be connected with verso, List of donors. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 474-475, App. C 8)

Legal document. Transfer of money to the poor of Jerusalem, ca. 1085. Shelomo b. Hayyim, one of the leaders of the Palestinian Jews, had forwarded 20 dinars to the Rabbanite Jews of Jerusalem. He attests having gotten his money back from those in charge of the compound known as Dar al-maqadisa in Fustat, dedicated to the poor of Jerusalem. The money was returned out of the rent collected from the tenants of the compound. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 212 #32)

Fragment of a list of beneficiaries of charity similar to T-S K15.93, App. B 6, and in the same hand. Much effaced. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 441, App. B 7, dated 1040-1060)