Geniza Lab

Letter fragment from Rashīd to Moses ha-Levi in Cairo, which is then reused for a halakhic treatise on shirṭuṭ (drawing up the lines) when writing a Bible. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Shemuʾel to his father, David Conforte, in Ladino, which was then reused for a draft of a halakhic treatise on divorce. (Information from CUDL.) "There is little doubt that the recipient is the famous chronicler/historian David Conforte author of the Qoreh ha-Dorot. He was in Cairo in 1664 as a student and in 1671 as Rabbi. In the letter the son refers to this brother Gabriel Conforte and it was long since surmised that David had a son by the name of Gabriel. The son refers to other letters and to remmitances of money. He complains at length about the state of his financial affairs: ,ke no keda koza sin enpenar. Hayom debo aki en la civdad sobre toda mi kaveza 98 grosos no tengo por donde valerme a sakar nada. El dio por sus piadades mos remedie." Eleazar Gutwirth, "The Family in Judeo-Spanish Genizah Letters," 213–14. ASE.

Letter. Commercial letter from Rashid (Rosetta) to Damietta, mentioning Christian Italian merchants (גירונימו ישו), and a French consul. The text has a number of European loanwords. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Khumsa (כומסה) with a postscript from Jacob Shalom. 18th-19th century. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in written in two different hands, with a postscript by ‘your brother’ Joseph Ṣarūr. Address on verso, possibly in the second hand, reads ‘to my brother ... Saʿadya ha-Levi known as Furaykh from me, David Beḥor’. Mentions people including Menaḥem and Abraham Zraḥiyya. C. 16th-17th century. (Information from CUDL)

Letter (draft) mentioning Abba, Abraham, and Shemuʾel Ibn Sid. Sent by Yehoshuaʿ [...]. Postscript by Avraham Shaul. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yaḥyā (?) M(...) in Alexandria to Benjamin de Quriel. Dated 98 (either 5498 of the Era of Creation = 1738 CE or 5598 of the Era of Creation = 1838 CE, although the latter might be more probable), and mentioning people including Nissim, Salmūn, Umm Abraham, Jacob M[...], Shelomo and תנתן (?). (Information from CUDL)

Letter. Postscript to a letter addressed to the Nasi Shelomo by the scion of the house of David in Mosul who also wrote Bodl. MS Heb. a 3/24. Mentions that he acquired for his son a permit to practice a profession and travel to Bilbays in Egypt. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) The writer mentions that he intended to travel that week, but his son fell ill; he also mentions that the rayyis is ill and cannot read or write letters, but that the sons of Rabbenu Menaḥem have been helping. Circa 1236 based on Bodl. MS Heb. a 3/24.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Yosef Fitru to Yom Ṭov b. Ḥayyim, mentioning Alexandria, Shelomo Solal (cf. T-S NS 175.30) and Yehuda Fanu. Dating: ca. 18th century. Containing instructions about issuing a deed of lease. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Abraham to his brother, Mordechai Kohen, dated 5646 of the Era of Creation (= 1886 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Business letter in Hebrew. Dated Friday 13th [...]. Dating: second half of the 16th century, according to Avraham David. Mentions Shemuʾel, Yaʿaqov and Yiṣḥaq. Reports that a ship arrived from שיטיליש (possibly Sitia, Crete) bearing sakhtiyān (a kind of leather) and carpets. Likewise a ship arrived from מודון (Methoni, Greece). Jottings include the names Yiṣḥaq and Yosef. (Information from CUDL and FGP.)

Letter from Shelomo to Shemuʾel, c. 18th century. (Information from CUDL)

Letter of business from Avraham Haman and Gavriel Ḥefez (חפז) to Merkado Karo and Shim'on Frances, dated 1797 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from the widow of the cantor Ben Nahman to a Gaon concerning the difficulties she is having with the son of her late husband and his sister over her right to domicile in the house to which she has a claim. Cf. T-S 13J13.6 (subsequent plea, two months later, from the same woman), also T-S Ar.18(1).107.

Letter of complaint from the administrator of the Quppa (the bread basket of the community) in Alexandria to R. Avraham the Nagid. Alexandria had a charity collection out of which it was customary to distribute loaves of bread to the needy. The writer of this letter was the 'Mufarriq al-Quppa,' the official in charged of distributing the bread. The addressee was R. Avraham the Nagid and the letter includes a complaint against an Alexandrian Ḥaver who took it upon himself to distribute the loaves of bread against the instructions of the Nagid and the local judge. Apparently, the letter was composed during a period of food shortage and the Nagid decreed that bread will be distributed in small portions in order to stock up for an emergency. The Ḥaver's decision to distribute all the bread of the collection must certainly have been popular among the needy. The manager of the quppa decided not to bring charges against the Ḥaver but to wait for explicit instructions from the Nagid or for the return of Shemuel, the Judge, who was at the time absent from the city. (Information from Frenkel; see also Goitein Med. Soc. 2:492). Verso: Note conveying festival greetings, citing Isaiah 56:7. (Information from CUDL)

Verso: Letter in which the sender thanks a patron for his assistance and gently asks him to resolve a matter that concerns him. (Information from Goitein's index cards).

Letter, apparently written by ʿEli he-Ḥaver b. ʿAmram, introduced with two poems in honour of Elḥanan b. Shemarya, and mentioning Joseph b. Abraham. (Information from CUDL) Four pages of a letter (a, b, c, d) beginning with verses in Hebrew and expressing admiration and congratulations. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from the judge Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo (in office ca. 1125-1150) to Abu al-Husayn Efrayim ha-Kohen b. Yosef the silk-merchant of Damietta. The writer wishes the sender a happy Jewish New Year and orders cloth from him. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter to Abū l-Faḍl in the Fayyum, reports very low prices of wheat in Cairo and a story of unsold bread. Thirteenth century. VMR (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 238, 436-437) There are also jottings on verso. (Information from CUDL)

Note to Umm Bū Zikrī. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer tells her to pack her belongings and to come immediately with the bearer of the letter to the house of Mūsā. She should also bring the book (muṣḥaf) from the house of Sitt al-Jamāl and a specified bunch of papers. Whatever she needs (of money?) she should take from R. Yosef or the bearer of the letter. She should bring Umm Ḥayyūn the wife of the ʿAjamī with her, "because her children have left." (Information in part from Goitein's index card and CUDL.) VMR, ASE.