Geniza Lab

Interesting fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew, with wide space between the lines, addressing al-Mukhtār Muntajab al-Dawla Badr. There is a date and location at the bottom: Adar II 14[.]2, Fustat (צוען מצרים). Most likely is 1442 = 1131 CE (per the catalog), in part because most of the other plausible years were not leap years. The catalog also says that this letter is in the name of Maṣliaḥ Gaon.

Recto: A Hebrew letter begging for charity on Purim, invoking the tropes of hunger and nakedness. The writer suggests that the addressee himself 'or one of the gabbais' bring him the money. He sends wishes for the addressee's recovery from an illness. Verso: Another letter, in Judaeo-Arabic and in a different hand and extremely faded.

Short note from Abū l-ʿAlā' al-Muʿallim to Abū Saʿīd urging him to send the money quickly because the writer urgently needs to pay the capitation tax.

Fragment of a business letter, probably 11th-century, as it mentions Barhūn and Nahray. Difficult to read due to ink smudging; needs further examination.

Order of payment for the Melammed Ḥasan to pay the bearer, al-Shaykh Manṣūr, three dirhams.

Recto: Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic to Rabbenu Meshullam, congratulating him on the holidays, and it seems begging for help with travel expenses. The writer alludes to his bereavement. Verso: Drafts of the opening of a letter to a distinguished person.

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim from Busir to Farah b. Isma’il, Busir. Around 1053. Farah is in Busir, probably was sent there by Nahray, and purchases and packs the shipments there. The letter mentions details about shipping dinars for the purchase. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #256) VMR

Letter of Nahray b. Nissim to Abū l-Surūr Faraḥ b. Ismaʿīl al-Qābisī (ca. 1053), continued on verso with the address in Arabic and, inverted, Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: business letter (c. 1100 CE) from Ibn al-Ḥasan b. Hūlayf Iskanderānī to the prominent purple-cloth merchant Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Joseph al-Mahdawī in Fusṭāṭ. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic address of the letter; accounts by ʿArūs. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, from Alexandria, to Musa b. Abi al-Hayy, Fustat. Around the spring of 1080. Musa is traveling and asks the writer to take care of his family in his absence. The writer brought them food (wheat and butter) and money for their expenses. Mentions the Nagid, Mevorakh b. Se’adya. The writer sends him his greetings for his marriage. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #439) VMR

Letter from Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sugmar, probably from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1070. Nahray is called “Our Rabbi, the head of the Yeshiva”. The letter deals with a delivery of beads that Yehuda received and is sending to Fustat, to the house of b. Sha’aya, and asks Nahray to take care of its selling, even though the price he received for a previous delivery did not satisfy him. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #620) VMR

In which a mother informs her son "al-Shaykh Sadīd" that everyone is well, but they have no flour, so please send us flour immediately. She also orders other items such as two ounces of silk (?). She sends regards to the addressee's father and sister, and the little ones send their regards. Verso: "To be delivered to the kitchen (!) of Abū Sadīd."

Letter from Isma’il b. Salama al-Gazal, al-Bahnasa, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dating: ca. 1051. Details about payments and business with local government officials in Upper Egypt. Mentions a stock of about 30 tons of grain. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #709.) VMR

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. Missing only the first couple lines. The writer mentions exchanges of goods (ll.2–3); the rent of a house (l. 3); the sad news of the boy's illness (ḍuʿf al-ṣaghīr, ll.4–5); and that he paid a visit (aftaqid) the addressee's wife and she is in good health (probably after an illness). Needs further examination. ASE.

Recto: fragment of a letter concerning lemons. Verso: receipt for one and a half ūqiyya of rose water and an ūqiyya of lemon, probably in the hand of Abū Zikrī Kohen. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic letter, probably from Yehuda b. al-ʿAmmāni to Me'ir b. Yakhin, mentioning the latter's brothers Hilāl and Saʿīd.

Small fragment of a letter, probably from a Moshe, mentioning the yeshiva (al-matība) and a female slave (jāriya).

Carefully written begging letter from a woman to the Nagid David Maimonides (probably David b. Avraham b. Moshe). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1237–1300. She is married to a tailor and lives on charity with her children in a house belonging to the Qodesh with no roof, and winter has just begun. Refers to a sum of 30 dinars, perhaps the delayed marriage payment she was owed but never received. It is possible that the letter was left unfinished. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter. A Maghribi Karaite asks his wife in the most humble terms to come back to him in Cairo. Otherwise, he would marry a girl in the Rif. Goitein's transcription, translation, and commentary are attached. Also discussed in Zinger, "Long Distance Marriages."

Fragment of a note which on recto contains only formulaic praises and on verso contains an enigmatic sentence (something about "every Jew") and the name Abū l-Barakāt b. Eliyya.