Geniza Lab

The beginning of what is probably a petition, written by a boy who was abandoned by his father before he was born. (CUDL description: Letter complaining about a husband leaving his wife and daughter, mentioning precious items, gold and silver.)

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to one of his brothers. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (right side of recto). He previously sent something with Yūsuf b. al-[...] and 1 1/2 raṭls of sugar(?) with Baqāʾ(?). The addressee is to split it into two halves and sell them. Discusses various other business matters. (Information in part from CUDL)

Note in Judaeo-Arabic, very faded, mostly formalities. On verso, in a different hand: "khaṭṭ al-Rayyis Abū Manṣūr שצ."

Draft of a letter from someone to his brother, Abū l-Ḥasan, who stayed home alone during the recent holiday while his children were visiting the writer. The writer alludes numerous times to Abū l-Ḥasan’s distress and says that he ought to come for the upcoming holiday, as Abū l-Ḥasan’s house is empty and burdens are more bearable in the midst of family. Mentions the death of the judge’s 18-year-old son. ASE.

A distressed letter to Abū ʿImrān, in the house of Umm Ḥasana, on the alley of the synagogue, Fustat. The handwriting and spelling are very rudimentary. The letter opens with the usual, "I assure you that I am in full well-being and health, all I lack is the sight of you. Otherwise: we are in terrible distress from the high prices and the lack of a living. We go five days without seeing bread, eating only turnips and fava beans and fresh dates. . . we have no food other than this. Life is worthless to me, and I beat my head from the distress and the killing." The writer desperately awaits a letter from his cousins (awlād ʿammi); perhaps there will be relief in it. He has heard that the addressee is studying to be a tailor and wishes him great success. He sends regards to various members of the addressee's family. The scribe may be the same as in T-S Ar.30.246 and numerous related fragments (books of magic and astrology). ASE.

A letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Alexandria. Mentions Avraham; Ibn ʿAllān; the trade in camphor (upper margin). It is quite faded. Needs further examination. "From the address it is possible to read that the recipient was Isḥāq b. ʿEli al-Majjānī. From the handwriting and the style of the beginning of the letter, it seems like the writer was Yosef b. Shemarya, a relative of Isḥāq b. ʿEli al-Majjānī. See ENA 2805.9." Information from Oded Zinger via FGP.

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic to someone addressed as "al-majlis" regarding communal issues. May mention people who are violating a ruling of the addressee; mentions Bū l-Faraj the cantor; and someone who is unsuitable for a job.

Recto: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower left corner). Probably recommending a poor man for charity ("[give him] something to nourish himself with"). Mentions 'my master the ḥaver.' Ends with a ḥasbala. Verso: a price-list in Arabic, or maybe accounts of monthly rent payments (اجرة المحرم...) (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Shelomo b. Nissim ha-Levi al-Barki, from Alexandria, to Musa b. Abi al-Hayy, Fustat. Around 1080. The writer writes to his brother in law, his sister’s husband. Regarding several services he did for his brother in law: purchasing of wheat and collecting rent for hoses Musa has in Alexandria. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #645) VMR

A letter in Hebrew by Salmon b. Avraham the Ḥaver (? information from Mosseri catalog via FGP). He sends regards to many people including Yosef. . . Avraham the Ḥaver. . . Shemaʿya. . . Hillel the cantor who knows the writer from when he lived in Tyre. . . Ṣedaqa the cantor. . . and Yosef. Needs further examination.

Letter probably from Abū Sahl Levi (d. 1211), in Fustat, to his son Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212), in Qalyūb. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Identification based on handwriting and typical content.) Levi has sent Moshe the materia medica which he had ordered. "If you like them, keep them, and if you don't, send them back." They include sumac, spikenard (sunbul), maḥlab, tutty, and clove. There follows some accounting. Levi reports that 'the girl' (=Moshe's wife) is currently ritually impure and will immerse herself on Sunday, so he should endeavor to come visit on Sunday—and to make sure to come to Fustat directly instead of stopping in Cairo—while she is ritually pure. The language is quite ambiguous here, but the best reading may be that she will intentionally not purify herself if she knows that her husband is coming. There is a mystifying instruction (or just innuendo?) to ride the donkey into town if it is more than 6 handbreadths (6 ashbār = ~1.4 meters), and not to bother if it is less than 6 handbreadths. Levi reports that 'your brother' (=Abū l-Ḥasan Yedutun) bought the requested qatāmīr (pl. of qiṭmīr, apparently a date membrane or an eggplant calyx?) as soon as he returned to Fustat, and Ṣāfī took them to Qalyūb the next day and deposited them with Avraham b. Sulaymān for Moshe to collect at his convenience. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Fragment (bottom half) of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic regarding a communal dispute over slaughtering. A certain person, likely a rival of the writer, came to the synagogue, took out the Torah scroll, and declared a ban against any Jew who slaughters in his place or anyone who eats the meat slaughtered by another person. Someone, perhaps the same person, believed that the entire congregation fell under this ban and required a release (hatara) from him. The writer is waiting for a letter from the addressee that will resolve the matter. They have also tried writing to R. Yiṣḥaq several times. In the meantime, the rival parades through the markets with "that which is in his hand" saying that so-and-so has been ruled against (? fulān maḥkūm) and the "slave of our master" (presumably the writer) deceived the people and let them eat unkosher meat and follow their inclinations and whims. Needs further examination.

Small fragment from the opening of a letter to a Nagid.

Letter in Hebrew written on an irregular piece of vellum from prison. David appeals to Avraham ha-Sar to try to bring about his release from prison. David admits that he is not treated harshly by the jailers ("ha-goyim") but complains that his freedom of movement is restricted and that his diet is meager. The language is in an elevated register and full of learned references. Information from Mann, who suggests that the letter is no later than the 13th century and more likely the 12th.

Fragment of a letter from someone to his 'father', sending regards for the holidays and inquiring about small transactions in garments. The writer sends regards to Abū l-Ḥasan and his mother and sister, and to Sitt al-Gharb and her children. On verso he asks the addressee to give to Abū Saʿīd Ibn al-Qaṭāʾif (=Ḥalfon b. Menashshe) the cotton thawb and the fur garment (farw) that he had requested to be sent to him on recto. T-S NS J533 and Moss. II,176.2 appear to be in the same hand and to be related: each includes the identical phrase "אלתוב אלקטן ואלפרו מע."

A letter of recommendation from the office of the Nagid Yehoshua Maimonides, for a poor man Shelomo to be read in the synagogue in Fustat. It is very similar to his letter T-S NS J258 for a poor man Moshe. There is an interesting marginal note in which the writer seems to admit that he has not actually met Shelomo. There is a header added after the letter was complete, similar to those found in T-S Misc.8.18, T-S NS J201, and Bodl. MS heb. b 13/44, of which the second word is probably אמת.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, quite faded, in which Ibrāhīm tells his son Abū l-ʿAlā' how much he misses him and how difficult conditions are.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer asks the addressee to retrieve all of the writer's books that are currently with the 'Rav.' They include parts of Berakhot, the Mishna, Neziqin, and notebooks (karārīs) containing perush. He also asks for a quffa of raisins.

Mercantile letter in Judaeo-Arabic, dealing in corals and pearls among other items. Probably 11th-century.

Letter from Shemuel he-Ḥaver b. Moshe, Tyre, to Yaʿaqov he-Ḥaver b. Yosef, Aleppo, ca. 1025.