Geniza Lab

Letter from Barhun b. Yishaq al-Tahirti, from Mahdiyya, to Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria. Around 1050. Information about shipments of goods and about the account of the partners. Abu al-Kasim Abed al-Rahman mentioned favorably. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #385) VMR

Fragment of a letter to Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef ha-Kohen the dayyan, mentioning Sulayman b. Yosef. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter of business from Yisrael b. Yosef b. Banuka to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. The letter was written when Nissim, Nahray's father, was still alive. The letter is about a deal that was made to sell beads. Circa 1040 (Gil estimate). VMR

Fragment of a letter from Yusuf b. Eli Kohen Fasi, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Mentions dinars that should be exchanged, and that several letters for Nahray arrived in Alexandria from Tripoli after 25 days. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #403) VMR

Letter from Hilāl, in Alexandria, to Mufaḍḍal b. al-Dayyān, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic. The subject matter is vague; the writer agrees with what the addressee wrote him, and he is at his service, and he goes on to discusses various business matters.

Original text: Literary, in Hebrew. Maybe an ethical will, telling someone to never cease praising God. Might also be a very elaborate letter. Secondary text: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic in the margin of recto: yā mawlāy wa-sīdī. . . Tertiary text: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic on verso. The writer wishes to repay his debts/promissory notes (tawfiya ḥuqaq) including his debt to (ḥaqq) Abū l-Ḥasan. He asks the addressee to help him and tell him what to do.

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to Abū l-Faraj. Only the opening remains. Verso: Letter from Shelomo (likely Shelomo b. Eliyyahu) to his father. In Judaeo-Arabic. He writes, "I met with Ibn al-ʿAmīd, and he prescribed me herb water (? mā' baql) and chicory syrup. Every doctor prescribes herb water for me." One senses frustration. The rest is quite faded. ASE.

Megillat Evyatar, probably composed by Evyatar Gaon and was read in synagoges. Probably was composed in 1094. (The scribe might be Shmuel b. Ya'aqov- a French rabbi active in Egypt in the first two decades of the 13th century. AA)

Bottom of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Vague and somewhat long-winded. Refers to: "al-nawba al-mubāraka"; sending various things; preoccupation on account of others; something which arrived, which the sender was worried would be damaged on the road, and which he is keeping with him until he can find someone to send it with. People mentioned: the brother of Menaḥem, and Yeḥezqel the cantor. It closes with greetings to Sayyid al-Kull and his son, and to Abū Saʿd. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from Yosef b. Yaakov, probably from Tripoli (Libya) to Isma’il b. Barhun al-Tahirti, Fustat. Around 1030. A complaint about a person Ibn Masis. Mentions the “Ka’id” (the ruler of Tripoli) and it seems that there are good relationships between him and the writer. Verso: a list of goods that Isma’il is being asked to buy and send to Tripoli. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #727) VMR

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. On parchment. Fragment (right side only). Very tantalizing subject matter, possibly written on the occasion of a change of government (tabdīl al-dawla). Mentions communal matters and the sulṭān; sounds like a communal letter or sermon addressed to a group, but then the text in the margin conveys greetings to a single person, mentioning names such as Yosef, Shemuʾel, and Elʿazar. Also mentions a man who lost his two sons in the same year. Reused on verso for a Hebrew poem or liturgical text written in very large letters. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from a merchant from South Italy, now probably in Alexandria. Around mid-11th century. The writer describes a disaster in the sea. The writer started his journey with two friends, against his parents will. They arrived in Amalfi and Palermo, and continued on a big ship with 400 passengers to Alexandria. The ship was forced to return to the land after a storm started but on the way back they got stuck after hitting a shoal. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #815) VMR

Letter in Hebrew from the community of Kiev on behalf of Yaʿaqov ben R. Hanukkah. He had been seized by Christian creditors (goyim) of his brother, who had been killed by brigands. Yaʿaqov had stood surety for the loan. The community had redeemed him by paying part of the debt. Now, apparently, they had sent Yaʿaqov to collect as much of what remained of the debt as possible from Jewish communities. He had evidently ended up in Fustat. Dated to the 10th century (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 348 and from Golb and Pritsak)

Letter of Avraham b. Simhon, Ifrīqiya, to Yosef b. ʿAwkal. (A large hole from line 11 to line 22 has obliterated much of the letter.)

Letter. The sender, a newcomer in Fustat from Yemen, describes himself as 'a pigeon whose wings have been clipped' (line 1), writes to his brother in Alexandria concerning his trouble having to live on a half or a quarter dirham a day, and also relating family news. "As for what you wished to know about Yūsuf. . . he now has many dependents, and his vision has weakened, and he has nothing." A palimpsest. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 478; IV, 443; V, 562)

Letter from Mūsā b. Barhūn al-Tāhirtī and his brother Yiṣḥaq b. Barhūn, in Qayrawān, to the senior Tustari brothers (Abū l-Faḍl Sahl (Yashar), Abū Yaʿaqov Yosef, and Abū Sahl Saʿīd the sons of Yisraʾel), in Fustat. Dating: probably first decade of the 11th century. Written on parchment. Though the address lists all the brothers (the members of the respective family firms), the letter is principally from Mūsā al-Tāhirtī to Sahl al-Tustarī. The letter deals mainly with trade in expensive textiles, including some which the Tustaris had shipped for Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef, the leading Jewish merchant of Qayrawān (active 990s–1030s). (Information from Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, pp. 73–79.)

Letter requesting aid for the poor of Palestine, 11th century. Recto: Fully vocalised poetry in a very crude (almost unreadable) hand. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Toviyya b. Eli ha-Kohen to his cousin Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, seeking to mollify him, possibly for Toviyya's failure to reimburse him in a timely manner. "It will arrive next week. You know the vow I swore regarding the lamb (? al-khurayyif), and let this not be something that distresses you, for your magnanimity is greater than this, and it distresses me that it weighed upon your soul." He then mentions something Natan had had sent with Abū Ṣāliḥ on Hol ha-Moed. Toviyya sends his regards, as does his sister, and Abū l-Maʿālī and his mother.

Letter from a Babylonian gaon. Edited in comparison with manuscript. (Top and bottom missing)

Karaite document, compiled by a delegation of 12 Gaza and Jerusalem Karaites, regarding the state of fields in the spring in order to determine whether to intercalate the year, March 1052.