Geniza Lab

Letter of Nahray b. Nissim to Abū l-Surūr Faraḥ b. Ismaʿīl al-Qābisī (ca. 1053), continued on verso with the address in Arabic and, inverted, Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: business letter (c. 1100 CE) from Ibn al-Ḥasan b. Hūlayf Iskanderānī to the prominent purple-cloth merchant Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Joseph al-Mahdawī in Fusṭāṭ. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic address of the letter; accounts by ʿArūs. (Information from CUDL)

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)

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

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)

Fragment from a letter, possibly mentioning a deed(?) and the Talmud. Approximately 5 lines are preserved. Wide space between the lines. It is not clear if the paper originally extended farther to the left. If it did not and this was a narrow vertical rotulus, the format resembles formal letters such as T-S 20.145 + T-S AS 153.176 + T-S AS 153.177. This was written on a reused Arabic-script document, probably a state document, of which less than one word is still preserved. (Information in part from CUDL.)

A begging letter addressed to Yeshuʿa. The writer hasn’t eaten and requests bread. (Information from CUDL)

Family letter addressed to a certain Ibrāhīm. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary handwriting and orthography. The spellings are so unusual that the letter is hard to understand. It seems that the addressee is being chastised for his prolonged absence and the meager sums of money he sends home to support his wife ("even if you earned a dinar a day in your absence, the money wouldn't be enough"). The addressee is greeted by his wife and by Rivqa {and?} Abū Saʿīd. On verso the addressee is told to send a number of items for Passover, especially wheat. May mention "the one who beat your son." (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter fragment (upper right corner). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. He says that the Nagid had issued a letter/document probably addressed to the judge Avraham b. Shabbetay (of Minyat Ziftā, active ca. 1091–1135). It concerned Ḥasan al-Qudsī and another man, the legal opponents of Abu l-[...]. Someone (Avraham?) should report to Fustat quickly. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Part of the address from a letter to Shemuʾel b. Sid (probably 16th or 17th century). (Information from CUDL)

Draft openings of letters in different hands and different directions, numerals, jottings and an elaborately decorated שין. (Information from CUDL)

Four responsa of Gershom b. Judah (the Ragma), on the subject of borrowing money from gentiles, selling property, interest on a loan, and business deals with non-Jews made on the Sabbath. This is the oldest known Ashkenazi manuscript to be discovered in the Genizah. (Information from CUDL)

Accounts. (Information from CUDL)

Autograph letter by Isaac Luria, sent either from Egypt or Safed (probably the latter), concerning various matters, but principally the payment of monies. Dated only according to the day of the week, Tuesday (יום ג׳), and the parasha (Genesis 35:11) (Information from CUDL)

Recto: business letter from Abraham Monsun to David, in Egypt (16th–17th century). Verso: calculations, probably accounts. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Ben[yamin] to a dignitary called "Nagid," [...] b. Yefet. In Hebrew and Aramaic(!). Only the first few lines on recto and the address on verso are preserved. (Information in part from CUDL, where it is suggested that the addressee is Mevorakh b. Seʿadya and Yefet might be a brother.)

Letter from Yehuda ha-Melammed b. al-ʿAmmānī to Abū l-Ṭāhir b. al-Qaṣṣāʿī, dated 1535 of the Seleucid era (= 1224 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Copy of a letter sent from one of the Syrian communities to Damascus. In Hebrew. Conveying their distress at the imminent arrival and encampment of "the Germans" (ha-Ashkenazim, i.e., the Crusaders) and a plea to pray on their behalf and write to other communities. (Information from CUDL.)