Geniza Lab

Letter of appeal for charity from a Byzantine man named Mosqos (=Μόσχος). Dating: ca. 1090 CE. The scribe, also a Byzantine, has been identified by Ben Outhwaite. This scribe wrote T-S 12.237, T-S NS 325.184, T-S 13J13.16, and T-S 8J16.29.

The opening of a circular letter for "all the cities of the Rīf" in the name of Moses Maimonides. BL OR 5533.1, T-S 12.238, and T-S 16.9 are all versions of the same letter.

Letter from Tiberias considering appointments which were made in one of the communities in north of Palestine or in Syria.

Begging letter, prefaced with a rhyming poem, from Isaac the blind ("bereft of all the pleasures of the world"), asking for assistance from Ismaʿīl b. ʿAdāya. See also Goitein's note cards (attached and #27116). On verso is a fragment from a liturgical treatise in Judaeo-Arabic, discussing which blessings to say over drinks other than wine (either בורא פרי העץ or בורא פרי האדמה). Information from CUDL and Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 447.

Letter of complaint in Hebrew. At least one side is rhymed. Might be a formulary. Might be related to T-S 12.330 (per Ezra Chwat on FGP) but is not a join. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Ya’aqov b. Salman al-Hariri, from a port city in Syria (maybe Ladikiya), to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1050. The writer describes the hardships of the ship’s journey from Alexandria, when for 8 days the passengers had to draw water that entered the ship and damaged the linen that was there. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #660) VMR

Letter of a local Jewish leader to his superior in the Egyptian capital. The first part of the letter is irrelevant to polygyny, thus it is excluded from the work.

Letter from Nissim b. Ḥalfon, from Munyat Samanhud, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1056. Regarding wheat and flour. It is hard to get wheat, and the writer tries to provide wheat to his family, and asks Nahray for his help. Also mentions lacquer and silk. The writer is worried about his family and asks that his son, Abu al-Husain will keep studying at the “Mualim”. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #594) VMR

Fragment of a letter in which a proselyte (from Christian Europe), probably named ʿOvadya, expresses in beautiful Hebrew his thanks to a distinguished woman, who looked after him, for the fine bread she had sent and gives her instructions on how to bake certain cakes. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 129, and from Goitein's index cards) Verso. (Goitein put the verso before the recto)

Letter in a Spanish hand to R. Yiṣḥaq al-ḥaver al-jalīl. The sender was in great anxiety until Abū Zekharya b. Yūnus and Abū l-[...] al-Khaybarī reported about the addressee's health and safety. They send him a legal query which is copied neatly (but partly effaced), in rabbinical script, on verso. A case of partnership (sharika) where one party claims that the money involved was 'salaf' not 'raʾsmāl' or ribḥ. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Nissim b. Ḥalfon, from Tinnis, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1057. The first part contains greetings for Nahray’s marriage. The writer wishes him to have a son soon. The other part is regarding debt for cloths and pearls. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #592) VMR

Letter from Babylonia to Shelomo b. Yehuda, approximately 1026.

Letter from Yoshe’a b. Natan, probably from Bahanasa, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. September 29, 1051. The letter contains many details about the last phase of arranging the linen for business: the lack in paint to paint the strings and flax growers that did not deliver the goods although they already received the payment. The writer asks Nahray to contact the special Diwan who was in charge of the linen, through Yehuda b. Se’adya (that became “Nagid” later). Yoshe’a expresses his worries for his family and their needs, and asks to deliver everything to Dihn (probably his wife’s name). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #580) VMR

Letter of condolence addressed to a certain Ḥemdat ha-Yeshivah. ASE.

Business letter, sent from Qayrawan by Nissim b. Berekhya to Barhun b. Salih al-Tahirti in Fustat, dealing with the marketing of Egyptian merchandise in the Maghreb. (Information from Gil)

Letter from Nissim b. Berekhya from Qayrawan (Ifrīqiya) to Barhun b. Salah al-Tahirti, Fustat. Mentions shipments of goods from Egypt to the Maghreb. The writer mentions his father but not his brother Yosef. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #153) VMR

Letter sent from Qayrawan by Yosef b. Khalfa to Khalluf b. Farah b. al-Zarbi, probably in Fustat (Gl) (from Yosef b. Khalluf b. Farah to his brother Khalluf b. Farah‚ Ben-Sasson) dealing with goods and their prices in Palermo. Dated ca. 1030 (Goitein) or ca. 1050 (Gil) or uncertain (Ben-Sasson) (Information from Gil)

Letter from Misgavya b. Moshe to the ḥaver Yaʿaqov b. Yosef Av Bet Din, in Aleppo. Asking him to send certain liturgical poems and to help a relative of his: ʿAlī b. Faraj b. Raḥmān, who is the sender's in-law, because 'we married his daughter to the son of Maḥfūẓ b. Yosef, who is the son of my sister." At present he sends 2.5 (Syrian) pounds of mushrooms (kamāh), as nothing else was to be had. Prefaced by 14 lines of opening. See Med Soc III, p. 29, bottom, sec. 1 = III, 434, note 79. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Marduk b. Musa in Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat asking him to find a Jewish maidservant for the writer, ca. 1045-1096

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic to Hananyah ha-Kohen from "his son" Abu l-Ḥasan. After a flattering introduction, the body of the letter begins about halfway down the page. He reports that were it not for the Shaykh Abū l-Faḍl al-Dāʿī, he would have been in trouble (?) (קטע אמרנה = אמרנא) over 2.5 dinars . He was imprisoned for one day until Abu Saʿīd al-Tinnīsī bailed him out on Friday night. Abu l-Ḥasan begs Hananyah to send him his circumcision knife without delay. He sends regards to his father Abū Naṣr, to Abū l-Ḥasan and Abū l-Khayr and Abū Saʿīd and his cousin. Abu Manṣūr and his son send their regards. ASE.