Geniza Lab

Letter from Salama b. Nissim b. Ishaq al-Barki, from Busir, to Barhun b. Salih ha-Thirti. Around 1053. The letter contains a list of flax Salama bought, arranged by the names of the growers, quantity, and the price that he paid. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #642) VMR

fragment of a letter - needs examination. Image not available

Formal letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Wide space between the lines. Dated 18 Ḥeshvan. Portions of 6 lines are preserved from near the beginning. On verso there are jottings in Hebrew and Arabic script; the latter look like drafts of the beginning of a letter but aren't fully deciphered.

Fragment of a letter from an unknown person from Alexandria, to Barhun b. Musa ha-Tāhartī, Fustat. Around 1060. Regarding pearls, silk, and cardamom. The writer asks that Nahray b. Nissim would be present at the time of the pearls selling. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #810) VMR

Letter in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (Date: 1100-1138). In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender has sent the two documents (kitābayn) concerning the consignment of musk as well as the document attesting that Abū l-Barakāt owes 250 dinars, all with the orphan (al-yetom) who is with him. The sender asks for money relating to a business arrangement, referring to a promise made by the addressee earlier. The letter concludes with the motto ישע רב, ‘a great salvation’. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower left corner). Mentions various business matters.

Letter in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, apparently a draft. Contains rhymed praises and addresses, among others, Abraham the teacher. It refers to Akiva b. Yosef in the margin.(Information from CUDL) Join (Moss. VII,136.1 + Mos. VI,208.2) by Roni Shweka, April 3 2019.

Either a short note or the beginning of a letter from the Cordoban (al-Qurṭubī) Mūsā al-Kohen to Binyamin. In Judaeo-Arabic, in a dreadful hand. On verso there is a note that seems to refer to 'the handwriting of my brother's son [Yosef??] Ibn Migash (may God have mercy on him)." If this is indeed a reference to Yosef Ibn Migash, the document dates to some time after 1141 CE. But it is difficult to understand—meeds further examination. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: Letter from the yeshiva in Jerusalem to Mevorakh (b. Seʿadya?), in Fustat. In Hebrew. Fragmentary. Dating: After 1094 CE. This is a letter of support for Shela b. Mevasser and his brother, having to do with their silk shop in Alexandria. Information from Miriam Frenkel, The Compassionate and Benevolent, p. 82 (where she corrects Gil's dating of the document to 1071 CE). On verso there are extensive accounts in Arabic script, some entries beginning with "al-dār."

Letter of congratulations to the Gaʾon Sar Shalom ha-Levi, after his reinstatement in the office of head of the Egyptian Jews. Dating: possibly ca. 1176. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter fragment from Ḥalfon b. Menashshe's wife, in Fustat, to her brother Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli b. Hillel, probably in Bahnasa (based on T-S 13J21.18). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1100–38. The writer thanks the addressee for a gift of 12 dirhams (r9). She urges him to come together with his son Yisrael to her, in a hurry, it seems to escape from the smallpox (judarī) about which everyone is anxious (r10–24). Without the join, the part about the smallpox remains ambiguous: someone in the writer's location is "in a difficult state from it" (r14), but this could either mean that they have smallpox or that they are worried about the outbreak in the addressee's location. Turfa and her husband send their regards (r28–29). (Information from Goitein, Mediterranean Society, III, p. 22, and Goitein's note card.) ASE.

The beginning of a letter from Shelomo b. Elijah the judge to Abū l-Faraj b. Abū l-Ḥasan al-ʿAṭṭār. Five short lines preface the letter, consisting of the sender’s name followed by biblical verses. The address on verso is given both in Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Short note instructing the addressee to investigate the inheritance left by Abu Nasr b. Banin, who died in Minya. In the hand of Avraham Maimonides.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Late. Very faded.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender seems to be imploring the addressee to resume his correspondence, for "I used to be like a son to you." (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter from Efrayim b. Shemarya, around 1030. Writes about the events in Mount of olives, and some words about the ban on the Karaites and the authorities' response, that is known from Shelomo b. Yehuda's letters. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 pp. 598-599, #327). VMR There is Efrayim b. Shemarya's Arabic hand in the margin and dispersed throughout the letter.

Letter from the Jewish community of [Minyat] al-Qā'id (?) to a certain Abū Isḥāq (?). In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment only.

Letter in Hebrew. Small fragment.

Letter in Hebrew, possibly begging for charity. Probably late. Needs examination.

Beginning of a petition from the wife of Abū ʿAlī al-Sukkarī to an unidentified ḥaver. In Judaeo-Arabic. Written in a crude hand. She says that she is a sick woman and presumably goes on to ask for help, but the continuation is lost. In the upper margin, there is a jotting in Arabic script (a basmala?) and a copy of the first words of the letter, in a different hand and ink. Verso contains a Hebrew blessing. (Information in part from CUDL.)