Geniza Lab

Letter addressed to "the Parnasim." Fragmentary (upper right corner). In elevated Hebrew style. Mentions names such as Yeshuʿa, Avraham, and Netanel. This letter is probably from a Palestinian Gaon, perhaps specifically Avraham b. Shelomo b. Yehuda. Compare Bodl. MS heb. c 28/15 from ca. 1029 CE. (Information from OZ and NLI catalogue: https://www.nli.org.il/he/manuscripts/NNL_ALEPH997007966687405171/NLI#$FL128020286.)

Letter from Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī, in Alexandria, to Yosef b. Avraham. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Mentions items such as flax and a receipt/release (barāʾa). Mentions people such as Mūsā al-Isfāqusī (of Sfax), Abū Isḥāq Barhūn b. Maṣliaḥ (probably al-Tāhirtī), and Abū Saʿīd. Contains numerous instructions about business transactions. Instructs the addressee to leave 4 loads of something in Sūsa (recto, 3 lines from the bottom), asks addressee to write to Sicily (=Palermo?), and mentions Barqa.(Information in part from NLI catalogue: https://www.nli.org.il/he/manuscripts/NNL_ALEPH997007966690205171/NLI#$FL128464586.) OZ. ASE

Letter from Ḥasan b. Isḥāq, in ʿAsqalān, to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllūn b. Yaʿīsh al-Parnas, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. The sender writes on a Thursday, after arriving in ʿAsqalān. He is staying in the funduq of the qāḍī Ibn Khiḍr. He ran into Ḥaffāz (may God preserve him) while en route to visiting Ibn al-ʿAni ("son of the poor man"). Ḥaffāẓ took grave oaths (aymān ṣaʿba) that cannot be violated and took the sender into his home and embarrassed him with hospitality. "He did everything in the world to make me leave my house, but I didn't let him, because my chest is constricted from my separation from my father and my family, and my eye weeps day and night, for my father left me(?) in Ramla... and I do not drink wine or cooked food (i.e., due to the pain of separation)." The sender had asked Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAmmār to purchase something for him. He says that if he were able to return the gold, he would do so. He has sent previous letters from Tinnīs and from Ramla, but has not received a response, "and I do not know if this is disdain or anger or (merely) a delay." A certain woman had asked the sender to buy her a muṣḥaf, but the cheapest he could find was for 3 dinars, and if he purchased it he would not have enough money to continue on his journey. Regards to the sender's sister and to Sitt al-Ahl and al-Baghūḍa(??) and to Abū Kathīr. The last line of the letter reads, "Hopefully Abū Manṣūr will arrive with my father. By God, we have suffered tremendously from his indecency." The addressee of the letter is well-known from many other Geniza documents; see the index of Gil, Palestine, vol. 3, under ʿEli ha-Kohen ha-Parnas b. Ḥayyim. (Information in part from NLI catalogue: https://www.nli.org.il/he/manuscripts/NNL_ALEPH997007966688605171/NLI#$FL128464597.) OZ. ASE

Document in Arabic script. Probably a letter. The top row of text has exceedingly tall ascenders. Needs examination.

Letter from al-Sharīf Ḥasan to the qāḍī Ṣanīʿat al-Mulk. In Arabic script, with diacritics and vowels, calligraphic. Dating: Perhaps 13th to 15th century, on paleographic grounds. This is a letter of recommendation for charity for six 'cut-off' women (nisā' munqaṭiʿāt) who have no husbands (lā azwāj la-hunna) or anybody else to provide for them: Umm Bū Muḥammad and her daughter; the midwife or wet nurse (dāya) and her daughter; and Umm Qays and her daughter. The addressee is described as a "cave (=shelter) for the cut-off and a refuge for those who ask/beg of him" (standard epithets for important and charitable people: see e.g. AIU V.B.48 and on it Cohen, Poverty and Charity, p. 48 n. 36). ASE

Letter in Arabic script. Fragment: left side only. Reporting that the writer has sent 3 dinars and urging the rapid sending of something (a horse? looks like فرس, end of line 7).

Letter from Khiḍr and Sulaymān to their landlord. In Arabic script. Possibly informing him that they are moving out at the end of the month.

Document in Arabic script. Probably a letter. Recto and verso have different formats and probably different hands.

Letter from Muḥammad and Ḥammād(?). In Arabic script. In which they report that they have met with Abū Makhlūf according to the addressee's wishes, and Abū Makhlūf said something about the town of Bahnasā' and the governor (wālī). Needs further examination.

Letter in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Letter fragment in Arabic script. Possibly a letter of appeal narrating the writer's circumstances (fa-lammā kāna fī hādha l-shahr...)

Letter fragment in Arabic script.

Letter in Arabic script. Mentions "al-Ḥājj Rashīd was present." Needs further examination.

Letter in Arabic script. Dating: May be late.

Letter from ʿAbd al-Ḥayy b. Hiba to his 'father' Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. In Arabic script. (But not his real father, because Hiba is dead—raḥmat Allāh ʿalayhi) The writer is asking to be sent some money urgently.

Letter in Arabic script. Addressed to a certain Shihāb al-Dīn. Possibly from Abū l-Munā b. Khiḍr, but this is tricky to read. Only the first few lins are preserved.

Awaiting description

Formulary for letter writing. In Arabic script, calligraphic. Rhymed. Bifolium from a larger book.

Letter (al-mamlūk yuqabbil al-arḍ) that consists of a short introduction and then ~8 lines of accounts. In Arabic script.

Awaiting description