Geniza Lab

Letter from Daniel b. Azarya to Eli b. Amram, Fustat. Daniel instructs Eli how to summon to the court. On the other side the letter from Eli b. Amram to Daniel b. Azarya. (Information from Gil, Palestine; and Goitein's index cards) VMR

Recto: Draft of a letter from Fustat to Daniel b. Azarya, concerning "tarima" - a room or apartment, made of wood, that was added to the house's top floor. The writer complains against Ali b. Amram. Around 1060 (Gil estimation). Verso: Arabic document, probably a letter. (Information from CUDL) VMR

Recto: Letter from the Palestinian Gaon, Daniel b. Azarya (1051-1062), to the head of the Palestinian congragation in Fustat, Eli b. Amram, concerning ‘what was collected [from the] market’ (i.e., the proceeds of slaughter) from the beginning of Elul to the end of Kislev. Verso: Probably the draft of a sermon, quoting Isaiah 21:12, different hand and ink.

Recto: Letter fragment from Daniel b. Azarya, probably to Eli b. Amram, Fustat. Mentions the Gaon's opposition to Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 p. 625, #342) VMR

Hayfa, daughter of Sulayman Ibn al-Ariq, writes to the Ḥaver Eli b. Amram, the spiritual head of Jerusalem congregation of Fustat, during the third quarter of the eleventh century. She asks him to write to Damascus (from Egypt) to her husband Said b. Muamar, the silk weaver, after he had deserted her twice. She was forsaken by her family as well. She had a boy from Said and she wants his compassion or that he will set her free. (S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society; and Goitein's index cards) VMR

Recto contains a piyyuṭ for Yom Kippur in the hand of ʿEli b. ʿAmram he-Ḥaver. Verso contains his poem in honour of ʿEli b. Mevasser

Legal document in which Simeon ha-Levi agrees to rent his wife a place to keep her belongings separate from his; Simeon also takes over her dowry without permission. Signed by Ghalib ha-Kohen b. Moshe, 'Eli ha-Kohen b. Ya'is and 'Eli ha-haver b. 'Amram. Dated 8 Tishri 1369 of the Seleucid Era (= 1057 CE). (Information from Goitein's index cards; and Oded Zinger, Women, Gender, and Law, 178). Verso: legal document in Arabic about an agreement and permissions granted of a store to Abu Sa‘id. EMS

Letter from Daniel b. Azarya to Eli b. Amram in Fustat.

Fragment of a letter from Daniel b. ʿAzarya to ʿEli b. Amram, in Fustat. Daniel is expressing his support of ʿEli b. ʿAmram against people who disagree with him. Also words of condolences for a person who passed away. On verso there is Hebrew literary text. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 pp. 683–84, #369). VMR

Faded letter from Eli b. 'Amram the cantor to a notable named Abu [...] b. Masliah, asking him to assist David b. Yeshu'a ha-Gizbar to pay a debt and save him from prison. AA

Recto: Long query addressed in 1058 to the Gaon of Jerusalem by Eli b. Amram, the head of the Palestinians in Fustat. (Or rather, this may be the partnership contract that is the subject of the legal queries/responsa edited in Gil, Palestine #395, #396. Another copy of the same contract is T-S 20.79.) The note describes a legal matter concerning a Jewish Egyptian merchant who entrusted a business friend returning to his native Sicily with a large shipment of goods, including spices and drugs. The agent died while at sea, and the shipment ended up in Tripoli (Libya?) instead of Sicily. The Jewish authorities in Tripoli seized the goods in order to protect the rights of the deceased agent’s widow and daughter. The Egyptian merchant wanted his goods returned to his possession, but the authorities in Tripoli refused unless he pursued a full-fledged lawsuit against the representatives of the heirs in Sicily. The case went to the rabbinical court in Cairo and then the high court in Jerusalem. Verso: Dirge. (Information from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:236, 395-5, 574, 613; CUDL; EMS; and Moshe Yagur, who also identified the join.