Geniza Lab

Letter from the office of one of the later Maimonidean Nagids addressed to a certain Avraham. In Hebrew. With an undeciphered motto in the header (same as in BL OR 5561B.6). Begins with a mention of two wicked men who have been spreading slander, one named Yosef b. Abū l-Faraj. Also mentions Yehuda. Needs further examination. Verso contains a medical recipe in very faint Arabic script. (Information in part from CUDL)

Draft of an appeal for Shemuʾel b. Nissim and his wife, the daughter of Joseph (the space for her name has been left blank), in the handwriting of Yefet b. David. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Mufaḍḍal, probably in Fustat, to Abū l-Majd al-Melammed, in Qūṣ. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Uncertain, but perhaps ca. 1230s CE, since T-S 13J26.6 (1234 CE) is a letter from Abū l-Majd in Qūṣ to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal in Fustat requesting guidance from the capital on communal affairs; if this decade is correct, plausible options are 1230 and 1237 CE (since the letter was written on Thursday, 1 Tammuz). Concerning a distinguished physician, evidently also the Head of the Jews ("Sayyidnā al-Rayyis") whose burdensome medical responsibilities affected his ability to respond to the needs of the Jewish community. This physician is likely Avraham Maimonides based on the above identifications as well as corroborating evidence (cf. T-S 10J14.5 and Cohen's discussion of this possibility, pp. 134–35 in his article). The sender reports that two different queries for legal opinions (fatwās) had been sent to the physician in the Egyptian capital. He had misplaced the first query and had recovered it only after the second arrived. The sender informs the addressee, who had submitted the two questions, that the physician had composed an answer (jawāb) to both and it was enclosed it the present letter. The verso contains greetings from Abū l-Faraj, Abū l-Riḍā, Yosef, Hiba, and their mother, as well as the address. Upside down, there is also a list of medicinal herbs in Arabic script, unrelated to the letter. The scribe of this letter has distinctive handwriting with very tall, hooked lameds. (Published by Mark Cohen, “The Burdensome Life of a Jewish Physician and Communal Leader,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 16 (1993), 125–36.) Join: Alan Elbaum. EMS. ASE

Recto: ʿamida for Shabbat Rosh Ḥodesh. Verso: accounts. (Information from CUDL)

Verso: Beginning of accounts of expenses for building operations. For recto, see separate record. (Information from Goitein’s index card and CUDL.)

Letter from a woman requesting help in receiving her share from her late husband’s inheritance, with various signatures of support. Mentions government interference as well as her husband's other (simultaneous) wife, the daughter of Abū l-Ṭāhir. Long, well-preserved, and full of interesting details. Should be edited. (Information in part from CUDL)

The beginning of a letter written by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to the communities of Egypt, through al-Shaykh al-Makīn Abū l-Faraj. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower left corner). Mentions a woman who found the sender in Fustat and said something to him; something about sleeping in the evening(?); Abū Sahl the cantor; someone who died and wandering in the desert (a proverb?); a report on the addressee's son Abū l-Khayr; someone who said something about Ibn Bābā; giving the addressee money to redeem a plege; and the ghulām of Abū ʿImrān. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Bifolio containing multiple documents. Dating: Unknown. Recto, right page: Acknowledgment of a debt of 400 dinars owed by the Jew Naṣr b. Abū Saʿd to Abū l-Qāsim b. ʿAbdallāh. In Arabic script. Recto, left page: Oriented at 90 degrees, there is a letter or draft of a letter to an amir with many noble titles. In Arabic script. Verso, left page: Draft of the opening of a Judaeo-Arabic letter in a crude hand. Verso, right page: Writing exercises in both Hebrew and Arabic script. (Information in part from CUDL)

Part of a letter, mentioning Abū l-ʿIzz and the sum of 10 dirhams. A note, in a different hand and ink follows and refers to the same Abū l-ʿIzz, as well as Mūsā b. Hilāl, Mūsā b. ʿAmmatī (‘of my aunt’?), Barakāt b. Abū ʿUmar and the sum of 20 dirhams. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a letter, addressing Shelomo, the wise and discerning. Verso contains just the name Abū l-Faraj al-Tinnīsī in a different hand and ink. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to one of his brothers. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (thin strip from the right side of recto). Yefet refers to a woman in distress (maybe on account of separation). They are looking forward to the arrival of Baqāʾ. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Barhun b. Musa al-Tahirti, from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1052. To be sent to the house of Ibn Isḥāq Ibrahim b. Isḥāq. Mentions shipments of crocus and some shipments by sea. Also mentions a manuscript of the book of Kings. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #342) VMR

Letter from Yehuda to […] b. Natan. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper left corner of recto). Only the opening greetings and part of the address are preserved. (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: end of a letter in Hebrew. Verso: another letter (both are possibly drafts), in the same hand, written transversely in relation to the text on recto, overwriting an unidentified Arabic text. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Hebrew, with an extensive Judaeo-Arabic note, in a different hand, in the top margin. Mentions a pinqas. Written on Thursday, 8 Tishrei (unclear if the year is given). Dating: late. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Ḥasan b. Sahl (aka Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū l-Ḥasan aka Yedutun ha-Levi). Very deferential ("I am illuminated by the light of your opinions," etc.). Asking the addressee whether or not a certain Torah reading should be read for the benefit of the addressee—אן יקאל עליה תורה הלילי(?)—or not. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Recto: a chancery decree in Arabic script, two lines only. Written around the text on recto and also on verso is the liturgy for Rosh ha-Shana, including the ʿamida for the additional service and a reshut, אחג כפתי ובער. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a certain Mūsā, in Alexandria, to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. The sender, who is apparently engaged to a minor girl soon to reach maturity, asks Eliyyahu to intervene with his future father-in-law Bū Zikrī b. Netanel b. Hillel so that Bū Zikrī does not try to delay the wedding any further. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter fragment mentioning R. Judah, and pleading for a reply. (Information from CUDL)