Geniza Lab

Business letter sent from Alexandria by Avraham b. Farah to Yaaqov b. Avraham

Letter mentioning sums of money, the qadi, the qayyim, and Sulayman the khadim (FGP)

Letter mentioning sums of money, the qadi, the qayyim, and Sulayman the khadim.

Letter from Abū Is[ḥāq?] to his father Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli b. Hillel. Written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, the addressee's brother-in-law. Discusses various business and family matters, including a potential marriage and the writer's anger at the addressee. Someone has ophthalmia (r16) and a certain girl "went mad" when she heard something (r23)—perhaps the prospect of marrying Faḍā'il. The addressee is asked to send wheat urgently (v3, v7). ASE

Letter from Yusha` b. Natan to Nahray b. Nissim.

Letter addressed to Abū l-Ṭāhir al-ʿAṭṭār (the druggist). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th century. Concerning the India trade. Giving details about 15 or so spices and their prices in Fustat. The writer first assures the addressee that his children are well and that many people are traveling from Fustat. He orders a couple mystery items: רבע פילס נרזד and גוז אצטראמי טואל. Information from Goitein's attached notes.

Letter from Salah b. Daud, probably from Tinnis, to Nissim b. Ḥalfon b. Bnaya. Around 1057. Regarding the difficulties to sell indigo, which the writer received probably from Fustat, because the merchants from Alexandria are flooding the market with indigo. Also mentions a check for 60 dinars. It seems like the letter was written in the time of the famine in Egypt and people advised the writer not to travel to Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #784) VMR

Letter sent by Yaʿaqov b. Nissim to his brother Abu al-Khayr. The letter contains an account for raw Susa cloth, sent from Fustat to another town for treatment, 12 dirhams, plus 2 dirhams for the bearer, all paid in advance by the writer, who asks the recipient not to deliver the cloth to the proprietor before he had settled the bill. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 178, 179, 408)

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.

Letter from a father who had undertaken to pay the capitation tax for his son but was robbed. Asks the recipient to pay the tax for his son and releases him from having to repay his debt, 1185

The writer addressing his first cousin, a woman, who probably was his in-law, expresses the wish that the extended family may be reunited in one place. He assures the mother of his wife that her daughter lives in comfort and asks her to send her daughter some of the copper vessels and clothing, parts of the dowry, which had not been delivered yet. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 297; V, pp. 47, 525)

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

See also: ENA NS 8.4. Recto: Fragment of a letter from Yosef b. Musa al-Tahirti, from Alexandria, to an unknown person. Around 1060. The addressee is not Nahray, as Nahray’s name is mentioned in the letter. The letter contains details about shipments of different goods. The letter is written on the other side of a different letter, that Nissim b. Yishaq al-Tahirti wrote around 10 years earlier. Verso: Letter from Nissim b. Yishaq al-Tahirti from Mahdiyya, probably to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1050. Nahray buys flax in Egypt and is about to travel to the Maghreb. Nissim writes him details about different goods. He is worried because he did not hear from the ship b. Bader, which his goods are on it. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #376) VMR

Letter from Nahray b. Natan to Nahray b. Nissim ca. 1055

Leter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century. Names of writer and addressee are missing. Mentions numerous people: Simḥa, Yūsuf, Ibn al-Sharābī, ʿAbd al-Ghaffār b. Makhlūf b. al-Ḥajjār, ʿImrān, al-Shamūsī, Thanā', Faḍl, al-Rashīd, and Sayyidnā. Dealing with various business and family matters.

Letter, neatly written, in which the writer, being financially dependent on the recipient, expresses his disappointment. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Left side of a letter concerning a slanderous woman and her two daughters. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

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)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Beginning and ending are missing. The sender is very agitated and complains about someone who is prepared to swear falsely. Needs further examination. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from the cantor Abū l-Majd (Meir b. Yakhin), in Fustat, to his brother Abū l-Najm Hilāl, presumably in Alexandria. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. Hilāl had recently departed from a brief visit after a prolonged absence ("being away for 10 years and visiting Fustat for 3 days—a person would not believe it"). Abu l-Majd fell sick with unnamed illnesses after his departure. Probably based on a low quality image, Goitein read the margin as stating that he was unable to go down to the synagogue to lead the congregation in the prayer for their sick sister because he himself was not well (Med Soc, V, 537). However, the final letter of the word that Goitein read as דעא cannot be an aleph, and the first letter is closer to Abu l-Majd's distinctive כ than his ד. The best fit may be אלכפץ. Moreover, the word לאכתי fits the context better if it is read לאנני. Thus, a more likely reading seems to be, "I was delayed in going down below (to see you off) because I was unwell...." On verso, Abu l-Majd continues, "...[I went] after you to the water, and I searched the boats and could not find you—it was like you had flown away. By God, by God, send me a healing letter and tell me when you arrived, and how your arrival was, and tell me all of your news." He also asks his brother to inform the teacher Abū l-Futūḥ (Yehuda b. al-ʿAmmānī) that Abu l-Majd sent him the selihot, a letter, and a fatwa, and he wishes to know if they were received. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.