Geniza Lab

Fragment of a letter on behalf of the lepers of Tiberias.

Fragment of a letter from the lepers of Tiberias, probably to Fustat.

Fragment of a letter from the lepers of Tiberias to Mukhtar and his brother.

Letter from Yeshu'a b. Yosef to Nahray b. Nissim.

Letter by Saʿadya Gaon to the Jews of Fustat, fragmentarily preserved; this copy 11th century. Saʿadya stresses the importance of the Oral Law, mentions the names of his supporters in Baghdad and urges the Jews of Fustat to maintain close links with him and his Academy, viz., Sura. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 27; the classmark in Gil is incorrect.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya, approximately 1035.

Letter from a certain Yosef, in Aden, to Yosef Ibn Shanju, in Fustat/Cairo. In Hebrew. Dating: Early 16th century, based on the greetings to Efrayim Karo (v28–29). The sender is reporting on his business affairs in Aden, where he arrived from "Tabor" in Egypt (apparently there is a location that sounds like this between Fuwwa and Rashīd). The merchandise he was expecting to receive from India never arrived. He is planning a trip to Calicut. He mentions two Jewish traders in Aden, Moshe Hakan and David al-Kehlado, who are involved in business with him in Calicut and Surat. There is another, Ibn Yaqar, who is active in the city of Berbera (in Somalia). Information from A. David's edition via FGP.

Family letter in Ladino. "To my mother-in-law in the place of my mother, after I and your daughter Rica kiss your hands: know how astonished we are that after your departure you have not sent us a single letter or an inquiry after our health, knowing how you left us heartbroken on account of your departure. If I had found someone with whom to send my letters, I would have sent you more than two letters. For this reason, we beg you, I and my wife, that with the first person who comes, please write to us of your health. Peace. Many greetings from me and from my wife to the very honorable Yosef Jayan (?) and to your [presumably here addressing Yosef] very honorable wife Doña Esther. Many greetings from my sister Qamar. [From] he who kisses your hand like your own son, ʿOvadya Dichachi (?)." ASE

Letter from Tiberias, containing a legal document recording their estate in the Muslim registration of Tiberias, dated 940. Ca. 1020

Letter from Musa b. Yishak b. Hisda from Mahdiyya, to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. The letter mentions details about shipments from and to Sicily. Describes how the workers on the ship had to hide merchandise in the sea when they encounter soldiers and that damaged a large amount of the goods they shipped. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #190) VMR

Fragment of a letter of a cantor describing the visit of the Nagid in a town, probably Alexandria, during the holidays. The Nagid visited the synagogue of the Babylonians. 300 persons were present. Also lists prices of wheat and bread and reports that the oppressive measures had been slightly relaxed. (Information from Goitein notes and index card.)

Fragment of a letter to Efrayim b. Shemarya, likely from one of the Geonim of Palestine, possibly sent in the name of Shelomo b. Yehuda, as Efrayim is titled "ḥaver" here. The letter was written after the holidays of Tishrei, and the writer reports that they did their best to follow Efrayim's request and organized a pesiqa for somebody. Information from Elinoar Bareket via FGP.

Letter from Avraham, son of the Gaon, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, approximately 1029.

Letter from Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver, in Fustat, to Petahya b. ʿOvadya ha-Kohen, in Damascus. Almost entirely in rhymed Hebrew with one sentence in Judaeo-Arabic in the margin of verso. Dated: Ḥeshvan 1453 Seleucid, which is October/November 1141 CE. Natan complains that his junior school friend has not written to him for a long time. He also conveys his greetings to Petahya's family. Natan's sons Mevorakh, Seʿadya, and Yehosef send their greetings. Natan concludes with a request for pens. Goitein summarizes this document as follows (Med Soc V, p. 294): "Judge Natan b. Shemuel he-ḥaver (Med. Soc, II, 513, sec. 18) served as secretary of the Damascus branch of the Jerusalem yeshiva, but accompanied Maṣliaḥ Gaon, when he opened a Cairene branch in 1127. In a letter from Fustat, dated October/November 1141, Natan complained bitterly about the addressee, Petahyahu ha-Kohen, a close companion of his youth, and two other friends in Damascus, from whom he had not received letters for years. True, in 1141 the Crusaders' kingdom separated Damascus from Egypt. But we know that Jews and Muslims were permitted to travel through the Christian territory, and our letter reports the arrival of a dignitary from Damascus carrying an eloquent epistle to the Egyptian Nagid written by Natan's friend Petahyahu. Natan does not complain about the Crusaders. He accuses Time: 'I complain about Time, the perfidious, the faithless, which disregards the claims of brotherhood and impedes its growing; it weakens and emaciates the love of friends. This is its character from its very beginning, incessantly urging separation, the treacherous robber! . . . It changed your relationship with me, you, my friend and beloved, whom I have reared on my knees, until I made you my equal.'"

Letter from Ḥiyya b. Yiṣḥaq to Shelomo b. Yehuda ha-Kohen (also called ha-Talmid ha-Navon Segan ha-Kohanim). In Judaeo-Arabic. The letter begins with condolences upon the death of the addressee's cousin (ibn ʿamm) Abū Isḥāq. It seems that the addressee was owed money by the deceased and that the addressee has been mistreated by the people of the Rīf, such as Ibn Yeshuʿa. The sender has paid a sum of money (brokerage? שמשאר) to Abū Saʿd b. Hiba(?) and awaits confirmation of receipt. He has received news from travelers about trouble with the judge (qāḍī) of Tyre and a certain amir (אלקטורי). The Nagid intervened to help resolve the situation. The lower part of the letter is missing.

Fragment of a letter from Nāshī b. Thābit ha-Kohen to Yosef ha-Levi he-ḥaver b. Ḥalfon ha-Levi (Fustat), ca. 1084-1090. Nāshī b. Thābit sends his gratitude to “the distinguished Rav”, probably Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef, who was behind the assistance received by Nāshī. Nāshī b. Thābit writes that he is “sitting on coals” because he is unable to attend a wedding owing to the blockade of the town in which he lives. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza (PhD thesis, Princeton, 2014), pp. 408-410.) Arabic trials of the pen on verso.

Letter from Yosef and Nahum, sons of Sahl ha-Bardani, Tyre, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. He mentions the sale of a new Bible for 13 dinars.

Mid-11th-century letter from Umm Faḍā'il, a widow in Fustat, to a family friend, Abū Zikrī b. Yosef (Yehuda b. Yosef Rosh ha-Seder), in the West. The letter deals with her son Fakhr's intended travel to Sicily. She requests that the addresee assist him. She mentions a power of attorney document that she gave to her son, so that he will dispose of their remaining property in Sicily. She also mentions an ongoing divorce of her daughter. Information from Ben-Sasson's edition via FGP.

Letter from Abu Zikri Kohen, representative of the Merchants in Fustat, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, in Aden. Dated: Adar I 1448 Seleucid = January/February 1134 CE. He writes that after Ḥalfon traveled to India and returned to Aden, the people in Egypt expected him to return home. But then merchants arrived in Egypt from Aden and reported that he was staying there. Previously Ḥalfon had deposited a quantity of pepper in Aden, which he had purchased for Abū Zikrī. He had already written to Maḥrūz b. Yaʿaqov concerning the prices of oriental goods in Egypt, and there was a similar list in the hands of the Egyptian merchant Abū Naṣr b. Avraham, who was then working in Aden. Abu Zikri urges Ḥalfon to buy goods in Aden and return to Egypt. However, if Ḥalfon wishes to return to India, Abu Zikri asks him to leave the pepper in the hands of Yosef b. Avraham, because this is already the third year that Abu Zikri cannot travel to Yemen. According to Abu Zikri, Ḥalfon's previous trip to India was unnecessary. Had he bought goods in Yemen and returned to Egypt in that year he would have made a good profit, for even the young and inexperienced merchants at that time in Egypt made immense profits from the goods they bought in Yemen. At the end of the letter, there are greetings to Ḥalfon from his family and the writer and a request to greet the important people of Aden and to help Abu Nasr b. Avraham. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Letter from a synagogue dignitary to a donor. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: early 13th century (during the period of Eliyyahu the Judge and Avraham Maimonides). Concerning the restoration of a Bible codex called al-Jāmiʿ, "the brother of the codex called the Tāj (i.e., the Aleppo Codex," which was in need of restoration and could not be replaced even for 100 dinars. "For work requiring special skills, the usually low tariffs would not do. An ancient model codex of the whole Bible, which had been written, it seems, in the ninth century and was the property of the synagogue of the Palestinians in Old Cairo, needed to be restored at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Three experts were invited for the task, but declared themselves unable to carry it out, for "the resurrection of the dead is more difficult than bringing a human being into existence." Finally, a fourth scribe undertook the restoration of sixty particularly bad leaves, for which he asked a compensation of 1 dirham per leaf. This demand, as stated in the document, was far more than expected. (Information from Goitein's index card and Mediterranean Society II, p. 239, note 52.) Ed. S.D. Goitein, “New Documents from the Cairo Geniza,” in Homenaje: Millás-Vallicrosa, vol. 1 (Barcelona: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1954), 713–16, 719–20.