Geniza Lab

Letter from Yosef b. Eli Kohen Fasi, from Busir to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. The writer deals with purchasing flax. He approves that he received coins but he cannot weigh them because he does not have a scale. Writes several instructions for payments. Expresses his opinion that the flax market in Busir is not in a good condition. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #401) VMR

Letter from Ishaq ‘Ammani in which he praises the recipient El'azar ha-Levi ha-Sar and his success with Yoshiyyahu ha-Nasi Nasi ha-Jalut. Also mentions Ishaq Kattan Ammani. C. 13th century. EMS and VMR

Letter from Ibrāhīm, unknown location, to Ḥayya ha-Kohen the teacher, in Palermo ("al-madīna"), Sicily. The addressee is asked to deliver two tailored woolen mayzar covers, which had been deposited with him, to the bearer of the letter. The writer includes legalistic language appointing the bearer as his agent: qabḍuhu qabḍī wa-taslīmuhu taslīm{ī} wa-anta paṭur min aḥrayutam. The writer is ill this winter (perhaps this is why he needs the woolen covers). The letter also mentions the process of “cutting up” for making and fitting the sleeves of a garment. Address on verso. (S.D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 4:182, 412.)

Letter from Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, Fustat, to his cousin Toviyya b. Eli ha-Kohen, in a smaller town, in which the writer refers to the health of the recipient’s brother’s eyes, stating “I received a note from your brother in which he complained that his eyes were in a very bad state and asked for medicaments. I went to the oculists [in the plural], informed them about his complaints, and they prescribed ointments and powders which I sent to him. However, the doctors said to me that the medicines would be of no avail, as long as he continued to work in sunlight, which his profession forces him to do.” The letter also references a ‘maker of razors’ (mawwas) and mentions Ibn al-Minqar Abu al-Ma’ali. Twelfth century. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:421; 2:255, 579; and S. D. Goitein and Mordechai Friedman, India Book, 642) EMS

Letter to Menahem from the cantor of Malij concerning an inheritance. EMS Verso: Jottings in Arabic script. (Information from CUDL)

Letter written by a Byzantine scribe in Egypt on behalf of an unnamed blind man, addressed to a charitable administrator called ‘Eli ha-Kohen b. Hayyim and his son Efrayim. Dating: ca. 1090 CE. The letter details that the poor man’s wife and children are due to come up from Alexandria but they have written to say they cannot afford the cost of a boat ride, and so the writer requests that Eli ha-Parnas hold a collection and “do not let the oppressed return in shame.” The foreign scribe spells Alexandria with a qof instead of the expected kaf. (Ben Outhwaite, “Byzantines in the Cairo Genizah,” in Jewish Reception of Greek Bible Versions, ed. Nicholas de Lange, Julia Krivoruchko, and Cameron Boyd-Taylor, 183, 197-201) EMS

Letter from Avraham b. Rav Shelomo the Yemeni, in Jerusalem, to Eliyyahu the Judge in Fustat. Avraham lives with Eliyyahu's son, the physician Abu Zikri, and he conveys the good news that Abu Zikri has recovered from his febrile illness and has not relapsed for forty days. Avraham's family recently arrived from Bilbays. On verso are jottings and accounts in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. Same writer and recipient as T-S 13J21.5, which was written not long after this one (Goitein's note cards suggest ca. 1214). Alan Elbaum.

Letter requesting charity in which the petitioner describes that he is unemployed, starving, from a distant land (al-Raḥba), and has ‘uncovered his face’ to the addressee. EMS. NB: This was previously listed as T-S 8J16.29 on PGP.

Letter from Yosef b. Musa Tahirti, in Busir, to his cousin Barhun b. Salih, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dealing with many commodities being shipped. Dating: ca. 1060 CE. (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. III, p. 232)

Letter from Abū l-Faraj al-Kohen known as Ibn Qasāsa to Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel b. Isḥāq. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Cf. T-S 13J26.20 for another appearance of the sender.) Concerning business matters; mentions commodities such as a kerchief (‘mandīl’), cushions (‘makhādd’), and cotton; mentions people such as al-Bayrūtī.On verso there is a postscript or draft of a letter in a different hand as well as one line in Arabic script. (Information in part from CUDL.) EMS

Letter to Shemuʾel, mentioning Jacob Sonso (שנשו) (c. 15th-16th century). (Information from CUDL)

Letter addressed to Abu al-Faraj, son of Daniel the teacher, in the “habs Bunan” neighborhood. The writer describes that the wife of his son is asking for a divorce, framed as the result of her husband’s mistreatment; also mentions Abu ‘Ali. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender, and Law, 140) EMS

Letter addressed to Abu Sahl b. Moshe, the cantor, in which the writer requests aid in a mixture of Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic. In a post-scripted note, the petitioner also requests some food should the addressee have a Jewish celebration. (Mark Cohen, Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages, Princeton University Press: 2005, 57-8). "By constant fasting and hunger my eyesight has become faint and my heart blotted out, so that I do not know what I am writing" (Goitein, Med Soc V:87). EMS.

Letter, mentions consignments from the Aleppians to Fustat (the writer had written to Damascus). Verso: Letter in Arabic script, in which the writer talks about stolen items and the dishonesty of a third party. (Information from the Cambridge Genizah Research Unit via FGP).

Part of the body of a letter, probably 11th century. Only a few lines are legible, which complain about a threat to the community, ולא דיינו עוצם צערנו וכובד טרחנו עד אשר קם עלנו סטן להסטיננו, and refer to giving false testimony, שנעמוד לו עדות שקר. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a contact in Fustat. He heard that al-Shaykh al-Yesod would like to spend Shabbat in Fustat, and the addressee is to look after him. There is an air of secrecy, however. "Tell him that I am a member of the family (min dhurriyatikum), and if he asks you about the family (al-dhurriya), tell him there are no news." (Perhaps referring to a waqf dhurriya i.e. family trust? or simply to a regular inheritance?). The specifics of the matter are obscure. Moshe also writes that the Shaykh Sajjāʿ al-Dīn (‘the poet’) apprehended him and said, 'What is that feeble old man doing to you? Let me put him in order (?)." Sajjāʿ al-Din apparently refers to the writer's brother, Abū Isḥāq. Moshe reiterates what the party line should be if either al-Yesod or Sajjāʿ al-Din bring up the matter of an inheritance with the recipient. EMS. ASE.

Letter fragment addressed to a communal leader, a ḥaver. In Hebrew. Regarding a matter of inheritance (‘they are orphans and a widow’) and the writing of a document for Hillel. Hillel’s late brother, Menaḥem, is also mentioned. Greetings are sent to ‘his community, his friends and the elders of his court’ (זקני בית דין). (Information from CUDL)

Letter from an unknown writer, probably in Hebron, to his wife (addressed as al-Sitt al-Jalīla), probably in Fustat. Addressed to al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab al-Khayyāṭ (the tailor), possibly the wife's father. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer reports that he developed a serious illness (ḍuʿf ṣaʿb) in Hebron. He is sustained only by her prayers and his knowledge of her righteousness. He departed on this journey because business had ground to a halt and he needed to gain a living. (Information in part from Goitein’s note cards.) EMS. ASE.

Stern letter from the office of Yehoshuaʿ Maimonides, requesting the addressee’s quick appearance together with money he owes. An Arabic basmala (or perhaps authentication mark, see Yehoshua's other letters to the community) is written over Yehoshuaʿ’s motto. (Information from CUDL.) Bibliography: Goitein, "The Twilight of the House of Maimonides," Tarbiz 54 (1984), 92.

Letter, possibly from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides, in which the nagid asks the community in Fustat to take up a charity collection for a scholar, David, on his way to Jerusalem and in a hurry to catch a caravan. A note in the margin indicates this request to expedite the collection. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:136, 548; and Mark Cohen, The Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages, 198) EMS. Bibliography: Mentioned in Goitein, "The Twilight of the House of Maimonides," Tarbiz 54 (1984), 67–104.