Geniza Lab

Short letter on a vellum from Palermo by a Baghdadi, mentioning a trip to Sicily and referring to merchandise sent to Damascus by one Harun b. al-Saruji. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Barhun b. Musa al-Tahirti, from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1051. Mentions a legal matter and several goods as pearls and copper. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #341) VMR

Letter from a teacher and copyist in a small town, which has a dayyan, who did not let him teach. He writes about hunger in his household. (Information from Goitein's index cards and Mark Cohen)

Letter from the cantor Abu Sahl (Levi), Fustat, to his son Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub. He informs him that he reached a peaceful settlement with "the man you know," and that Moshe's brother Abu l-Ḥasan (Yedutun) is doing well. Abu Sahl sends his regards to al-Shaykh al-Yesod. Something (a coat?) has arrived and is in the store, and Moshe is asked to come retrieve it on Sunday. This note may be a sequel to Moss. IV,27.2, which describes the efforts of Abu Sahl and his wife to appease the family of the wife of 'Imran (Abu Sahl's brother) in some sort of conflict that Moshe was involved in. Information in part from Goitein, Med Soc V, 598. ASE.

Letter written and sent from al-Mahdiyya by Musa Tahirti to his brother Barhun in Fustat, containing details about trade in the Maghreb and advising his brother about buying flax. (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. III, p. 198)

Short business letter with request to send a reply with the same mail courier and mentioning purchases of commodities. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 284 and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter sent to a maker of scales to whom the writer had given a scale on which to affix a hanger, asking the man to return it right away to the letter-bearer. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Abu Ishaq Ibrahim dealing with business matters.

Short memorandum by Mush b. Yahya al-majani, probably from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1052. Musa is interested in a small delivery that Nahray sent him. In addition, he asks several questions and requests. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #634) VMR

Short letter written and sent from Alexandria by Musa b. Abu al-Hayy to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat, dealing with a shipment of robes and with collecting a debt of 106 dinars. (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. III, p. 525)

Letter in which Shelomo, who was appointed to a new post, complains that he found only opponents and asks advice of the Nagid. He also complains about his illness (l. 16). (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Recto: Letter in the handwriting of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, probably from Qalyub to his father in Fustat, consisting almost in its entirely of good wishes for Tabernacles. He mentions that the turban (raddah) arrived. He mentions the wife of his paternal uncle, but the context is ambiguous. He then admits that he has no money even to buy bread, but all will end well. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 87, 351.) Verso: Either the response or the initial letter, probably from Levi (Abu Sahl) to his son Moshe. Everyone in the family is well. The addressee's brother Abu l-Ḥasan is doing well, in spite of all that he suffers. He mentions something that the wife of the addressee's paternal uncle said, but it is not clear what. There is an abrupt change of topic (unless this topic is what the wife of the uncle was talking about) to a certain Shelomo. "They said that this is something that pleases neither God nor man, that a woman should be married and her husband does not see her plucking or combing or adorning herself or dressing up or going about." The letter is torn here. The gossip about this wife resembles the situation of Sitt Ghazal in her marriage to Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (see T-S 13J8.23), but that marriage took place in 1228 CE, and Moshe b. Levi, the presumed addressee of this letter, died in 1212. ASE.

Recto: Letter in the handwriting of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, probably from Qalyub to his father in Fustat, consisting almost in its entirely of good wishes for Tabernacles. He mentions that the turban (raddah) arrived. He mentions the wife of his paternal uncle, but the context is ambiguous. He then admits that he has no money even to buy bread, but all will end well. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 87, 351.) Verso: Either the response or the initial letter, probably from Levi (Abu Sahl) to his son Moshe. Everyone in the family is well. The addressee's brother Abu l-Ḥasan is doing well, in spite of all that he suffers. He mentions something that the wife of the addressee's paternal uncle said, but it is not clear what. There is an abrupt change of topic (unless this topic is what the wife of the uncle was talking about) to a certain Shelomo. "They said that this is something that pleases neither God nor man, that a woman should be married and her husband does not see her plucking or combing or putting on earrings or dressing up or going about." The letter is torn here. The gossip about this wife resembles the situation of Sitt Ghazal in her marriage to Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (see T-S 13J8.23), but that marriage took place in 1228 CE, and Moshe b. Levi, the presumed addressee of this letter, died in 1212. ASE.

Letter by a teacher complaining about teaching a difficult child. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in which Abu al-Barakat b. Tayyib apologizes for not having sent a certain sum. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a letter regarding someone in need.

Letter written and sent probably from Alexandria by Yaʿaqov b. Salman al-Hariri perhaps to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. Ca. 1052 (Gil). Discusses business matters, announces that merchandise transported in Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ's ship arrived safely in al-Mahdiyya, and describes an attack by warships on the commercial ships in port.

Half of a letter (left side of recto, right side of the three lines of verso) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. Line 8 probably reads, "[My heart is wi]th [my brother] al-Shaykh Abu l-Ḥasan in his illness [פי תעבה]." Also mentions flour; Ibn al-Dakli (?); Fada'il; Abu Nasr; Najm the Faqih. ASE.

Family letter in Judaeo-Arabic. In which a woman with a child asks her sister and mother to take more interest in her because of her condition. Same sender and addressee as CUL Or.1080 J25 and L-G Ar. II.129.

Note, it seems in the hand of Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sighmar, mentioning the disposition of a matter concerning a house and requesting information about various other matters. (Information from Goitein's index cards)