Geniza Lab

Family letter sent by Joseph to Abu al-Hasan, informing the addressee that he will come visit on Hanukka and sending his greetings to several people, such as Umm Najib and Abu al-Najm. 13 century or later. The address on verso is Arabic script. (AA).

Letter sent by Abu al-Hasan b. Atiya to Wafi b. Hasan 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 (FGP)

Letter from Shemuel b. ʿEli gaʾaon, Baghdad, with opening praises, copied in the hand of his disciple Yosef b. Yaʿaqov rosh ha-seder. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat, probably to Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī in Būsīr, ca. 1053. Nahray sends details of various sales in Fustat and of related payments. A man arrived in Fustat, who fell ill and died within 15 days. During his illness he prepared a will, leaving 10 dinars for charity in Fustat. Some of this money was given to the son of raʾs al-galut instead, whom Gil identifies as David b. Ḥezekiya. The receiver of the letter was appointed as one of the executors of the will. On verso there are illegible accounts in the hand of Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 744.)

Letter from Shemuel b. Eli Gaʾon in Baghdad to an unknown person. In the hand of his disciple Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Rosh ha-Seder of Irbīl. The sender mentions that the community members do not fulfill their duties towards the yeshiva. Also discusses the problem of girls forced to marry against their will. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 207. See also Goitein index card.)

Letter from a certain Peraḥya to the Nasi Shelomo. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Reporting that he had intended to pay him a visit on the occasion of his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, however the Nasi Yoshiyyahu came to visit the community for Sabbath, thus he had no time for the visit. He sends greetings in the name of his two sons, Moshe and Shemuel. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Daniel b. ʿAzarya (in the handwriting of his scribe), probably in Jerusalem, to ʿEli b. ʿAmram, in Fustat. The sender mentions the praises that he has heard about ʿEli b. ʿAmram from Moshe, a man who recently arrived in Jerusalem from Egypt. Daniel is not named in the letter or address, but can be identified by his ʿalāma, ישועה, which occurs at the end of the letter and next to the direction of the letter on verso. On verso there is the address of the letter. In a different hand, there is also a long text consisting of a collection of passages from the Babylonian Talmud, Ḥagiga 12; Moʿed Qaṭan 5, 9, 16, for liturgical-homiletic purposes. (Information from CUDL and Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 p. 693-694, #377). VMR

Letter from Sulaymān to his father. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. There is also a basmala in Arabic script followed by "al-mamlūk Sulaymān" at the top of recto. The sender urges his father to spend the holiday with him, as he was accustomed to doing, although at that time he had urged the writer to visit with him. He also reports that his wife is pregnant. On verso there is also poetry in Arabic script and additional jottings in Arabic script. (Information from Cecilia Palombo, CUDL, and Mediterranean Society, V, 15).

Letter of appeal for charity. In Judaeo-Arabic, with a long Hebrew introduction. Asking for assistance in the petitioner’s difficult times of poverty and illness, mentioning his benefactor Abū l-Rabīʿ Sulaymān. Dating: ca. 13th century. This is the handwriting of Berakhot b. Shemuel, who wrote numerous such letters (presumably on behalf of other people.) (Information in part from CUDL.)

Ff. 1-2: Beginning of a letter from a certain Nissim to Eliyyahu b. Zekharya the Judge and to his son the physician Abū Zikrī. The sender tells them they should praise God for saving their children from a dreaded fate (illness?). Dating: ca. early 13th century. F. 3 contains Arabic jottings and Coptic numerals. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Aharon al-Sijilmāsī, in Dahlak, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. Dated: 8 Tammuz, apparently of 1140 CE. Yiṣḥaq continues to report to Ḥalfon on his travel from Egypt to Aden. He is writing 6 weeks after his previous letter, which he sent from ʿAydhāb. This is the second letter he has sent Ḥalfon from Dahlak. He describes his travel by sea south from ʿAydhāb, first to Sawākin, and then to Dahlak. The merchants left ʿAydhāb in two ships belonging to al-Sharīf, one large and one small. Most of the merchants in the small ship had to disembark in Sawākin, as it was overloaded and water was coming in. They later found out that the small ship sank. The sender gives the names of the Jewish traders who died and who survived, including (among those who died) Ibn al-Shumūs (whose drowning is also mentioned in doc. 76). Also mentions: Abū l-Khayr al-Najjār (‘the carpenter’), David, Ibn Zughmār (Ṣughmār), Ibn al-Raqqāṣa, Abū Naṣr, Abū l-Faraj, and Abū l-Barakāt. (Information from CUDL and from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV.)

Letter from Mubārak b. Hiba al-Waṣīṭī to Abū Saʿd and Abū l-Faḍl b. Abū l-Baqāʾ al-ʿAjamī. In Judaeo-Arabic. The address is written twice in Judaeo-Arabic, and there is even a partial address in Arabic script. The sender may be identical with Mevorakh b. Natan ha-Kohen al-Waṣiṭī from T-S 13J30.2 (dated 1146 CE). The portion of the letter preserved here mostly contains polite epistolary formulae. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Commercial letter from Pinto & Suarez to Eliyya Saʿd and Yaʿaqov Shalom, in Fustat/Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic, with an "IS" logo in Latin script next to the address. Dated: [..] Maṭmonim (the ʿomer) 5585 AM, which is 1825 CE. Needs examination for content.

Letter from Hillel b. Yeshuʿa ha-Ḥazzan, in Tiberias, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, in Fustat. Dating: End of 1034 CE, per Gil. Soliciting funds on behalf of the community of people with skin diseases. Mentions a previous emissary Khalaf the Aleppan (כלף הצובי) who has since died. L-G Misc. 25 and T-S 10J12.22 are two copies of the same letter.

Letter in Hebrew. Probably written in Corfu, probably addressed to al-Shaykh Yūnus. In Hebrew. Dating: Late, perhaps 16th century. Discussing competition between Venetians and other traders involved in the spice business as well as seeking the involvement of "the princes" and "the king." Information from A. David's edition via FGP.

Verso: Letter or legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragmentary (upper left corner). Possibly about business. Reports a dialogue and mentions "what he did with the daftar" and "other than that which al-ḥaver al-meʿulle told me." (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter of appeal for charity. A needy man from Qayrawan had applied for assistance from his relative, the esteemed Ifrīqiyyan merchant and scholar, Nahray b. Nissim (active in Fustat, 1060–97 CE). Before turning to Nahray he had already received donations from another prominent Ifrīqiyan merchant, Abū Zikri (Yehuda b. Moshe ibn Sughmār). Nahray had become annoyed. It is not clear whether he was angry because he felt that people might have thought he was neglecting his relative or became peeved for some other reason, such as competition over patronage--or perhaps both (Cohen). In any case, the writer promised henceforth to rely only on Nahray. But since then Nahray has only paid him the insufficient sum of 15 dirhams over the course of eight months. Now the writer is too ashamed to address Abū Zikrī, and he has therefore written this note to a third potential patron to solicit support. (Information from Cohen and Gil and CUDL.)

Letter from a Jewish woman, in or near Tripoli (Lebanon), to her brother-in-law, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. She is a refugee from Jerusalem who has suffered at the hands of the invading Seljuk Turks in the 1070s CE. She had to flee from Jerusalem to Tripoli, where she reports on the carnage she witnessed: ‘I was with him on the day I saw them killed in terrible fashion... I am an ill woman on the brink of insanity, on top of the hunger of my family and the little girl who are all with me, and the horrid news I heard about my son.’ She suggests it would be better to be captured since those in captivity ‘find someone who gives them food and drink’, whereas uncaptured, she and her children are starving. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from a certain Yiṣḥaq to the Gaʾon Sar Shalom ha-Levi b. Moshe (active 1171–95 CE) and his deputy Shelomo. In Hebrew. The sender is a newcomer in the city (presumably Fustat) and complains about the lack of hospitality. He has been traveling for 3 years and left a wife and children suffering under the rule of the Christians (ערלים). He asks for money so that he can go and retrieve his family and from there go to Jerusalem. Verso contains three lines of text, probably the address of the note (it mentions Sar Shalom), crossed out. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter sent by Yiṣḥaq the Jerusalemite to an old friend, judge Eliyyahu b. Zechariah, excusing himself for traveling from Bilbays directly to Alexandria, without making the detour to Fustat to pay his respects to him on the approaching holidays. The writer asks the judge to submit the matter of an old man who was supported by his nephew and lost this support when the nephew died to the Nagid Avraham Maimonides for redress; otherwise, it will end up in the hands of the Muslim authorities. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 397; V. pp. 279, 584)