Geniza Lab

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, from Alexandria, to Yosef b. Eli Kohen Fasi, Fustat. Around 1055. Regarding trades of iron and coins, especially Byzantine dinar quarters. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #260) VMR

Letter from Yisra'el b. Natan to a relative in Egypt. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1060 CE. The fate of the addressee was apparently a cause for great worry. Yisra'el mentions the fact that many people died and much proprety was lost in the Magreb. The letter also discusses prices, the addressee's going to the Fayyūm, and the problem of the quarter-dinars brought by refugees from the west. Information from Gil.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Needs examination.

Opening of a letter from a man to his son, headed with על שמך. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Mordechai. Dating: probably 16th century. It is headed by an ornate בע''ה. Verso and the margin on recto contains jottings (signature practice) in a different hand and ink. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from She'erit to Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm al-Talmid. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer heard from Abū l-Barakāt that the addressee is sick (ḍaʿīf) and is very preoccupied and hopes for a letter with news of his recovery. Abū l-Munā is also anxious for news of the addressee and his wife. The bearer of the letter, Yūsuf, is a friend of the writer, and the addressee is to help him sell the items he has with him. Regards are sent to Abū l-Faraj. ASE.

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer is aggravated that the addressee has allowed "the two of them" to sit idle all day long, and demands that he put them to work studying the Qānūn, and if not, fa-lā ikrāh fī l-dīn (Quran 2:256, but unclear what it means here). Verso: Unidentified document in Arabic script. Fiscal accounting?

Petition, probably to Avraham Maimonides, of a widow who lives in a small upper apartment of a ruin belonging to the pious foundation. Recently the rent was increased from two dirhams a month to three and a half. She asks not be moved from this apartment because she enjoys the sounds of prayers that can be heard from the nearby synagogue. See further information in S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 4:66, 366, 374; and Mordechai Akiva Friedman, 'Protesting the Cancellation of Saying Piyyutim' Peamim 78 (1999), 139 n. 47.

Letter from a perfumer, submitting an account to the addressee. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably late 12th or early 13th century. Numbers are given in Greek/Coptic numerals. Mentions people such as al-Melammed and al-Shaykh al-Makīn. Mentions goods such as bamboo chalk (ṭabāshīr) and vessels (qawārīr and zanābīr). The first sum named is nearly 2000 (dirhams?); the final sum at the bottom of the page is torn away. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Yeḥiel b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Ṣarfati, in Jerusalem, to a certain Menaḥem (probably the judge Menaḥem b. Yiṣḥaq b. Sasson), probably in Cairo. Dating: Early 13th century, likely 1219–29 CE (Shweka's assessment). See also T-S 8J33.4, a previous letter on the same matter. "At the beginning of the 13th century there were two communities in Jerusalem which were established after the city was conquered by Salah al-Din in 1191: the Ashkelonite community and the Maghrebi community. Beginning in 1210, a wave of pilgrims – known as the Emigration of the Rabbis – arrived from France and England. Relations between the various communities were very tense, as testified by Yehuda Alharizi, who visited Jerusalem in 1214. From letters of R. Yehiel the Frenchman to Fustat, we learn about a heated debate that took place in Jerusalem at the time. Because the Jews were not allowed to immerse themselves in the Shiloah spring, a campaign was held in Egypt to build a new mikveh, and a large sum was collected and sent to the community in Jerusalem for this purpose. But R. Yehiel, the leader of the community, objected to the construction of a new mikveh, preferring that the women of the community immerse in a private mikveh in his home – according to him, this would enable his wife to supervise the women’s immersion. R. Yehiel appealed to the local judge in Fustat, asking permission to change the the donation’s destination. However, members of the local community were not satisfied with this arrangement, and tried to build a new mikveh. The ensuing dispute split the community, until R. Yehiel and his group were forced to leave the synagogue. The two groups did not hesitate to involve the Muslim ruler in the conflict, which led to the arrest of some members of the community. The controversy spilled over into an interethnic struggle, with tensions caused by changes based on the French halachic tradition instituted by R. Yehiel. Until now, we knew of this story from two pages published almost a century ago. With the discovery of five additional pages, we now have a full description of this episode from the history of Jerusalem in the early 13th century." (Information from Roni Shweka.) Previous description: Four-page letter in Hebrew perhaps from Alexandria, concerning a dispute between prominent members of the Jewish community and the consequent expulsion of one of them from the synagogue. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, 384, and Goitein's index cards.)

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, probably in Qalyūb, to a family member, in Fustat. Fragment: left side of recto, right side of verso, tapering as they go down. The remaining piece is so narrow that it will not make a lot of sense until the join is found. He mentions: two knives, two notebooks; Ṭāhir; Ibn al-Sabʿ; Hiba; Ibn Yaʿaqov; the holidays.

Letter from Saʿīd, probably in Alexandria, to his brother Bū l-Majd Meir b. Yakhin, probably in Fustat. Dating: early 13th century. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary handwriting and spellings. The main purpose of the letter is for the writer to convey his distress when he heard that Meir was sick (tawajjaʿta). ASE

Letter of condolence from Ḥalfon b. Menashshe to his brother-in-law Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Hilāl (=ʿEli b. Hillel) al-Ḥazzan al-Baghdādī. Headed by 'בשמ' רחמ and four lines of biblical quotations. Halfon reports that Sitt al-Gharb was very sick for 13 days and died on Wednesday, the 17th of [...] and was buried on Thursday. (Information in part from CUDL.) Join: Oded Zinger. NB: Goitein's index card does not seem to belong here.

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee, one Ibrāhīm, had asked the writer to copy out the "ṣadr" (in context probably meaning "protocol") of the letter that he had shown him. The writer here complies with that request, copying out an ornate set of addresses to an important person.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment. Mentions business matters, Abū Saʿd b. Munajjā, and Ibrāhīm b. Ṭāhir. Needs further examination.

Letter from Avraham Kolon (קולון) to Yosef Ardiʿa (ארדיעה). In Hebrew. Dating: Thursday, 12 Kislev [5318 AM], which is 1557 CE (see A. David's article for explanation of the date). Mentions a huge shipment of merchandise. "They say" that apart from the 200,000 peraḥim (which typically refers to Venetian ducats) there are 74 cases of coral, 14 cases of קארבה(?), a thousand copper ingots of one kind and 400 of another, 60 cases of hats, 60 cases of silk garments, and 100 packages ("balas") of clothing. Also mentions Francisco Grisolin (פרנסיסקו גריסולין). Address on verso. (Information in part from CUDL)

no image available. According to Mosseri Catalogue: remains of a private letter in Arabic. AA

no image available. According to Mosseri Catalogue remains of a private letter in Judeo Arabic. AA

no image available. According to Mosseri Catalogue a letter in Judeo Arabic addressed to Shlomo, the Head of Geon Yaaqov Yeshiva. I can assume that it is Shlomo, Masliah Gaon's father. AA

no image available. According to Mosseri Catalogue fragment of a letter from Saadya the Head of the Court from Egypt to Shlomo Abusa'ada in Zafet, 16th century. AA