Geniza Lab

Letter from Hillel to Yaʿaqov, delivered by Mansur b. Furayj, concerning the buying of silk and a turban. VMR

Letter from the judge Menashshe to the Cairene judge Avraham b. Natan regarding a personal and communal affair in the small town of Sumbutya (Sunbāṭ), Lower Egypt, signed by the judge, the rosh ha-qahal ('head of the congregation') and five others, ca. 1100.

Letter from Moshe b. Yaʿaqov, Jerusalem, to his wife's brother Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dating: June 1053 CE. The letter is mainly about arrangements for the long-deferred pilgrimage of Mūsā b. Barhūn al-Tāhirtī to Jerusalem. On verso, amidst family greetings and business matters, Moshe conveys his wife's urgent request for myrobalan for her to drink. There are no details about why she needs it, but presumably it is as medicine for an illness.The block of text containing the order set off from the previous block. At least four letters from Moshe to Nahray survive: see also T-S 13J13.5 (from March), T-S 13J17.18 (from July), and Halper 411 (May 1054 CE).

Recto with the address on verso: Letter from an unknown sender, in Ṣahrajt, probably sent to Efrayim b. Shemarya. Dating: First half of the 11th century. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, in beautiful script. Describing the machinations of a rascal. The amīr and the qāḍī are mentioned several times. Perhaps connected to T-S 10J22.7 Verso: Business accounts in Arabic script. Probably the secondary use.

Letter by Shemuʾel Gaon to Egypt appointing one disciple as receiver of collections for the Academy.

Letter from Yosef to Abū l-Fakhr asking him to help contest his obligation to pay the capitation tax of his brother, who was missing in Syria; he explains that his brother had not charged him with this payment before his departure.

Business letter in Hebrew and Arabic script to Abū l-Ḥasan Binyamin requesting the dispatch of merchandise to Qalyub, including medical supplies, via a ghulām, and mentioning the broker Banin.

Beginning of an official epistle to a community headed by [Goitein left empty] b. Shela the judge (הדיין), the fifth judge in the group (Havura) enumerating the various groups of which the community consisted. (Information from Goitein's index card). VMR

Fragment from the beginning of a letter to a dignitary. In Hebrew for the introduction, Judaeo-Arabic for the body, and Arabic for the address on verso: from Yūsuf b. Khalaf to mawlāy al-ḥaver(?) al-jalīl. The upper margin of recto was reused for a Hebrew scribal exercise. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter to Abu al-Fadl al-Murid ('the supplier' of gold and silver to the Mint) b. Tamim refering to acute shortages in the market, late 12th-early 13th century.

Verso: Letter in the handwriting of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. He has arrived safely (presumably from Fustat to Qalyub). He tells the addressee to take the coat (shuqqa) from the house of Ibn Tāj al-Maʿānī and give it to Rabbenu Shelomo, and to give other goods to Abū ʿAlī. He was saddened to leave (Fustat) when a woman in the family (al-kabīra) was sick (mutawajjiʿa). Note that Moshe cut up ENA 2558.18 + T-S 13J7.12, a legal document dated 1194 CE, and reused the versos of both fragments for letters. The transcription for this document is temporarily located on the record for the join (PGPID 1187). EMS. ASE.

Copy of a letter from Madmun b. Ḥasan to Avraham Ibn Yiju (Aden, 1133-1140). For the other copy, see PGPID 5457.

Family note from Hilal. He is requested to meet Avi al-Fakhar, the brother-in-law of the writer, because the Christian Ibn Badir is not being trusted; written to his father-in-law. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Letter from Elazar b. Ahuv to Yefet b. Shemuʾel. Congratulation to a sister who had given birth to a daughter. (Information from Goitein's index card). VMR

Letter from a certain Yaʿqūb to Abū l-Faḍā'il b. Abū l-Saʿīd known as al-Yatīm. In Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee's mother has been sick. The addressee has been trying to sell her (or his wife's?) house, but he can't find a Jewish buyer and he does not have the proper documentation (tathbīt) to sell it to Muslims. The sender gives him advice about this. EMS. ASE.

Letter and notes (verso) about a young woman. Probably written by Shemuʾel b. Seadia ha-Levi, the judge (Ha-dayyan) who was a pharmacist before being a judge. (Information from Goitein index card). VMR

Letter from the Jerusalem community in Fustat, in the hand of ha-Hazan Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya in Tamuz (July) 1028. R. Shlomo b. Yehuda was appointed to be the new head of the Yeshiva in Jerusalem and the Jerusalem community in Fustat are writing to get his re-approval for their leader and judge - Efrayim b. Shemarya. (Information from Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, pp. 83-86). VMR

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to his brother, Abu Zikri in Alexandria. An episode of Abu Zikri in which he suffered from "evil men" alluded to

Brief letter from Yosef b. Avraham in Aden to Avraham b. Yiju, ca. 1147 or 1148. The letter discusses some business matters and mentions the supposed arrival of Ibn Yiju's brother, Mevasser.

Short letter from Yosef b. Avraham to Ibn Yiju, India, Aden, ca. 1147 or 1148.