Geniza Lab

Fragment of a letter from Isma’il b. Barhun al-Tahirti to Efrayim b. Shemarya, Fustat. After a disagreement that happened because of a business of selling indigo (it is not clear what the disagreement was about). The writer informs Efrayim, the judge and leader of the Jews in Fustat that Rav Hayya Gaon sent his answer and he supports the Tahirtis side. The writer writes his Hebrew name – Shemuel b. Rabbi Avraham. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #124) VMR

Epistles in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Bifolium. This section includes the end of one letter, dated Tammuz 4867 AM (1107 CE), and the beginning of "his response to the city of Lucena, to its Rayyis Yehuda b. Yehuda."

Responsum/letter regarding different versions of the Tosefta, mentioning Fustat, Damascus, and Babylonia. Verso: "This letter pertains to the venerable elder Shela b. Nissim." See FGP for further information by Amir Ashur.

Letter from Eliyyahu ha-Kohen “Beit Din” b. Avraham from al-Raqqah to Ya’aqov he-Ḥaver b. Yosef, Aleppo, ca. 1030. The writer thanks the addressee for taking care of the his son, Amram, while he visited Aleppo. Eliyyahu mentions his satisfaction from his status as a judge in three communities in his town (probably the Iraqis, Shamis, and Qaraites), from his acceptance by several heads of Yeshivas in Iraq and the Exilarch (Rosh ha-Gola), and from his good relationships with the Qaraite community and the town governor. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #73) VMR

Fragment of a power of attorney in Arabic script. No names or details seem to be preserved. Reused on recto for Hebrew literary text.

A letter from Faraḥ b. Ismaʿīl, probably in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, 5 June 1056. Deals mainly with financial matters, mentions bills of exchange, a letter sent to Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ, and sending a pouch containing 83 1/2 dinars as cash. Also talks about a sale of tin and reports the arrival of a ship from Palermo with worthless goods. (Information from Gil)

Trader's letter concerned with the sale of commodities, in which the addressee is asked to send 'the boy' to Abu l-Hasan. Judeo Arabic. Only part of the address in Arabic on verso. AA

Letter fragment. In Arabic script. Mentions sending something with someone. Needs examination.

Bifolio. Three of the four pages contain models of polite phrases to be used in Judaeo-Arabic letters. The handwriting might be known. Dating: likely 12th or early 13th century. The fourth page has accounts in Arabic script. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Letter from the Jewish community of Qafṣa (Gafsa), Tunisia, to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1016 CE, as it mentions Manṣūr b. Rashīq's conquest of (or arrival in?) the town, and this Manṣūr was the governor (ʿāmil) of Qayrawān in the year 1016 when al-Muʿizz b. Bādīs came to power. Gil identified the addressee as Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Ibn ʿAwkal, but Goitein disagreed (per his index card). The addressee is asked for a favor or intervention of some kind; Gil assumed that it had to do with the capitation tax, but it is not clear that this is actually mentioned in the letter. The letter is very damaged, but it may be possible to extract more information from it with great effort. (Information in part from CUDL and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 603.) ASE

Family letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 12th or 13th century, based on layout and handwriting. Same sender and addressee as T-S 8J24.4 and CUL Or.1080 J25. The identities of sender(s) and addressee(s) are difficult to disentangle, but there is probably sufficient evidence contained within the letter. The tarjama reads, "Your son Ibrāhīm," and both of the addresses are made out to Abū l-Ḥasan Ibrāhīm al-Maghribī, in the Goldsmiths' Market, in Fustat. But the main voice of the letter is that of a woman, who is dictating the letter to the scribe Ibrāhīm (perhaps her husband or brother), and she is addressing herself to an older female relative, likely her mother. She also greets her sister Umm Ismāʿīl. The main addressee, who may live with Umm Ismāʿīl, is supposed to tell Umm Ismāʿīl to have her husband (perhaps the Abū l-Ḥasan Ibrāhīm from the address) send a letter with their news. The scribe Ibrāhīm then takes over the letter and greets Abū l-Ḥasan (and his father and his children) and rebukes him for his treatment of a woman (perhaps his wife Umm Ibrāhīm), "This is not what we agreed upon, and this is not how I instructed you (to behave). Whatever you do to her, you do to us." There are regards to various other people, including Sitt Zahr and Abū l-Rabīʿ Sulaymān and his son Ibrāhīm and his mother. As for the content of the letter proper, the sender reports that her daughter (Sitt al-Niʿam) and son (Abū l-Ḥasan) both fell off of a roof, but they were not seriously injured (cf. CUL Or.1080 J25, v22–27). She reports on a woman named Ṣayd (aka Sitt al-Ṣayd), who may be a slave, and who wishes to marry the slave of Ibn Miṣbāḥ, which apparently causes great distress for her owners (this section should be clarified by comparison with CUL Or.1080 J25, v4–12). She asks for her ring to be sent with the addressee's cousin (bint khāl) Sitt Nasrīn, and for a garment to be sold in Qūṣ and for something ("aṭrāf") to be made for Abū l-Ḥasan with the money from the sale. NB: Goitein originally described this as a letter from Ibrahim to his sister, writing about a widow with children who was intending to marry a person who obviously had not too good a reputation. The judge had warned her but she insisted on marrying the man. The writer tells about the children and complains about neglect. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 275, 475 and from Goitein's hand list.) Information in part from Wagner, E. (2015). The language of women: L-G Arabic 2.129. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, January 2015]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.8238. ASE.

Forms of polite letter writing. (Information from CUDL.) Or possibly a large letter from the Yeshiva? Closes with "Yeshuʿa." (Information from Goitein's index card.) Needs examination.

Letter from a woman to her husband. Written in excellent script and style. The writer is angry that her husband had to live in her family's house and also had to pay rent. He stayed away, coming home only for Sabbath. The wife wrote that the rent could be returned and that she was prepared to move with him to another place. She added that she had gone on a hunger strike until the matter was settled. On verso the husband replied: 'if you don't break your fast, I shall come neither on the Sabbath nor on any other day. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 195, 196)

Petition from a woman named Umm Hilāl bt. Ibn al-Muhandiz the ḥaver, who is living in the synagogue of the Palestinians. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the tarjama in Arabic script at upper left (عبدها ومملوكها وشاكر انعامها ام (ابو؟) هلال). This appears to be a draft or a copying exercise. The scribe's name appears in the right margin : al-ḥ[aver] or al-ḥ[azzan] Natan. She beseeches the addressee (the Head of the Jews?) to declare a ban of excommunication in the synagogue against all those who have taken food belonging to her (flour, wheat, oil, wine), for they have stolen her possessions (raḥl) and cut off her ability to sustain herself. She invokes the Torah and Moshe b. ʿAmram at the end. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli (active 1066-1108 CE) to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli b. [...] (possibly his son, Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli b. Hillel). Fragmentary (left half only). In Judaeo-Arabic, ending with a ḥasbala in Arabic script (recto, upper margin). Mentions the arrival of a certain Hiba and the purchase of wheat and flour. (Information in part from CUDL.)

11th-century copy of a letter by Saʿadya Gaon to the Jews of Fustat, fragmentarily preserved. Saʿadya stresses the importance of the Oral Law, mentions the names of his supporters in Baghdad and urges the Jews of Fustat to maintain close links with him and his Academy, viz., Sura. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 27; the classmark in Gil is incorrect.)

Calligraphic letter sent to a notable, possibly the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya, asking him to help Natan ha-Kohen, the legal representative of the writer's family, to obtain a favorable settlement in court for a widow and her children. She is owed 10 months' worth of maintenance payments, including for the price of the treatment of her ophthalmia. (Information from Goitein's index cards and from Goitein's hand list)

Family letter sent by Yosef to Abu al-Ḥasan, informing the addressee that he will come visit on Hanukka and sending his greetings to several people. (Information from Mediterranean Society, v, p. 395 and from Goitein's hand list)

Letter sent by Abu al-Ḥasan b. Atiya to Wafi b. Ḥasan and Avraham b. Sedaqa, dealing with an Islamic law that stipulates the levying of 500 dinars from the Jews in Egypt, and sending greetings to relatives. (Information from Goitein's hand list)

Letter from Yefet ha-Melammed (the teacher). In Judaeo-Arabic. Somewhat crude hand and spellings. Dating: Likely 12th or 13th century. "I heard that you are intending to come to us. I was intending to come to Dimyāṭ, but I canceled when I heard that you were coming. Now, someone from Minyat דרכסוס named Badr al-Dīn has brought you 16 raṭls of indigo.... We had given him 160 nuqra (dirhams) per qinṭār...." The writer advises the recipient not to pay too much for the dye used for writing. Dealing with some other small family and business matters. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)