Geniza Lab

Letter from the leaders of the community (qahal) of Jerusalem to Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq b. Furāt, Cairo, approximately 1055.

Letter in the hand of Elḥanan b. Shemarya (who refers to himself as "Head of the Row / Rosh ha-Seder") addressed to a cantor named Avraham. In Hebrew. Elḥanan invites Avraham to lead the mourning prayers on the following day for a deceased man. (Information from Bareket and from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Semah of Ramla to Efrayim b. Shemarya written in his own hand. (Gil) Ca. 1030.

Letter of request for money addressed to the Qaraite community on occasion of a circumcision. (Information from Goitein's index cards). Goitein may have identified it as Qaraite becuase of the blessings to the Nesi'im

Letter of Eliyyahu ha-Kohen Gaon b. Shelomo, probably from Tyre. Ca. 1080

List of contributors, including several moneychanger/bankers, a Ben Netira, a ghulam (slave-boy or factor), 'two foreigners', a broker (dallal), a parnas, a Marwan.

Letter from the office of the Palestinian Gaon Daniel b. ʿAzarya (r. 1051–62) to an unidentified addressee in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1055 (unclear on what basis). The letter is about a communal conflict (ikhtilāl al-umūr) in Fustat and the leader ʿEli b. ʿAmram's abnegation of his duty to try to resolve it. Daniel expresses his agitation and says that he has issued instructions to the 'ḥaver' for how it should be resolved.

Letter, fragmentary, from Daniel b. Azarya. Dating: ca. 1050 CE. Maybe a part of the same letter in ENA NS 45.31 + T-S 20.90. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, pp. 639-640, #350) VMR

Letter, fragmentary, from Eli Ha-Kohen b. Ezekiel, Jerusalem, to Eli Ha-Ḥaver b. Amram in Fustat written in his own hand. Eli Ha-Kohen expresses his anxiety over water "wa-qalbī mashghūl bi l- mā". (Gil) Middle of 11th century.

Letter sent to Moshe ha-Kohen dealing with a loan he had given to the congregation and some public affairs. (Information from Goitein's index cards) . Some persons are mentioned: Abu al-faraj ibn al-Tawazi, Abu Imran, Sulayman, Ibn akhu khalfon

Letter from the office of the Nagid Yehoshua Maimonides (d. 1355), regarding evasion of the capitation tax in the community. The previous year they had paid in full and everyone had in addition contributed 10–15 to the mezonot (food) for the poor. (Information from Goitein, Tarbiz 54 (1984), 90–91.) Join: Oded Zinger.

List of contributors containing Coptic numerals. (Information from Goitein's typed texts)

Circular on behalf of a notable from 'Arqa, northern Syria, whose wife and child were held in captivity. On verso blessings on food.

List of 39 recipients of 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/2 dirhams during the 1020s, a period of famine, and belonging together with Mediterranean Society, II, App. B 1-3, pp. 438-440. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 240 and 438, note 111)

Widow with young children, a stranger in Egypt, describes her plight to the elders, it seems, of the Karaite community, asking them to help her to get back to her family in the Holy Land. List of contributors on the reverse side shows that a collection was made in response to the widow's appeal. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 89, 530)

List, an account of expenditures, by Abū al-Munajjā al-Zariz, including clothing the poor (140 dirhams), money for the children of the nasi, for payment to the acquaintance of the dayyan. | List or account in which the Kohen Abū al-Munajjā, surnamed al-Zariz, collector for the charitable foundations in New Cairo, turns in 100 dirhams that were used for the distribution of clothing, and an additional 50 that were spent on another approved charity. Dated Tevet 1493/ December 1181. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 423) Written under the authority of the Nagid Sar Shalom ha-Levi. A note written by R. Isacc the dayyan is mentioned. The transcription here is for ENA NS 28.15.

Letter in Hebrew, draft, addressed to the congregation(s) of Fustat (or Egypt).

Letter in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Small fragment. Wide space between the lines.

Lower, small fragment: Letter from Natan b. Mevorakh ha-Kohen (aka Wahb b. Barakāt). Small fragment (upper right corner of recto). Concerning the leadership of the community in Ashkelon in the time of David b. Daniel, the head of the Jews in Egypt. Describes an attempt to close the synagogue, probably with the help of the Muslim leadership, in order to prevent the Ashkelonian group, with their leader Avraham ha-Hazan, from praying there. Following the closer of the synagogue, the Ashkelonian group asked David b. Daniel to help them and send them a new leader. (Information from M. Cohen, Shalem, 3, pp.105–07.) VMR

List, probably of donors to charity and other communal expenses, only two lines preserved; mentions a ratl of oil (probably a contribution to the synagogue). (transferred to ENA NS 77) formerly ENA Uncatalogued 4.2a.