Geniza Lab

Fragment of a letter (right margin, top and bottom cut off). First part discusses the plight of a 'humble' cantor and teacher of small children (in a kuttāb) who has spent all his money and needs assistance, which the writer requests on his behalf from the addressee. Next matter: writer asks the addressee to help the bearer of this letter, who is 'from a good family' (mi-benei tovim), and who arrived 'in this country' from another place after great effort, apparently escaping something untoward, only to find himself in another kind of difficulty, including an illness. (Information from Mark Cohen)

Fragment of a beautifully written business letter, dealing with the sale of various items. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 592 and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter inquiring about a traveler and whether his ship had embarked. Nisan 1415/1104. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment from the beginning of a letter, sent to Fusṭāṭ. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from ʿImrān b. Yaḥyā Ibn al-Rofe, unknown location, to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee opens with the death of his son Yaḥyā. He apparently moves on to business matters, since he mentions "cloves" three lines further down. Recto was reused for pen trials of ornate Hebrew letters, and verso was reused for what looks almost like an architectural drawing. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards and CUDL.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (bottom half of recto). This portion opens with greetings for "the father and the mother." The next portion has been translated by Mark Cohen as follows, who understands this letter as evidence that Moshe b. Mevorakh (in office 1112–ca. 1126) gained the title Nagid even in the lifetime of his father Mevorakh b. Seʿadya (1094–1111): "Kiss on my behalf the hand of our lord the nagid (Mevorakh). Tell him that I, his servant, carry out his orders, and ask him to pray for me. Also, kiss on my behalf the hand of our lord the nagid Moshe—may God lengthen his days—[and say] that his servant prays for him and yearns to see him. . . . We heard of his intention to come to the port and were overjoyed. See if you can corroborate this by speaking to him. If it is true, let me know at once when he is planning to set out, so that I, myself, do not go on a journey before he departs." On verso there is an addendum in Judaeo-Arabic listing the commodities and their prices that were sent with the bearer al-Sh[aykh] Mūsā, including a medicinal theriac (tiryāq). At 180 degrees there are jottings of accounts in Arabic script listing quantities in arṭāl. Goitein's index card indicates that at least at one point in time, he understood the Nagid Moshe in this document to be Moshe b. Avraham II b. David b. Avraham b. Moshe Maimonides (against Cohen's identification of the Nagid Moshe as Moshe b. Mevorakh from 200 years earlier). Goitein's identification may be more plausible on paleographic grounds (however, most references to a "Nagid Moshe" in the Geniza are to Moshe b. Mevorakh; also, Moshe I Maimonides never held the title Nagid). Additionally, the information in this letter is consistent with T-S AS 147.93, a document in which Amir Ashur (in Dec. 2021) discovered the first definitive proof that Moshe II Maimonides held the title Nagid (and moreover, held the title in the lifetime of another Nagid, his father Avraham II, perhaps as in this letter). ASE

Letter by Yosef b. Musa Tahirti from Alexandria containing details about shipments of flax including. List of expenditures. (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. III, p. 260)

Letter, scribed by Yosef, son of the sender Ibrahim ibn al-Ḥaver, to Ibrahim ibn al-Melammed in Malij, complaining that he hasn't heard from the recipient since he arrived in Fustat. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, from Alexandria, to Musa b. Abi al-Hayy, Fustat. November 14, 1079. Natan writes the account for cash from Nahray to Musa’s family in Alexandria. Mentions the ship of the Amir Yahya. Contains details about processing linen. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #436) VMR

Letter from Marduk b. Musa from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1046. Information about a shipment (maybe of linen) that is still is Rashid and does not arrive in Alexandria as expected. Marduk complains that Nahray does not manage his business properly. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #527) VMR

Letter sent by Musa b. Abu Ali b. Salah to Abu al-Faraj Yeshua b. Hananya. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a letter by a very unhappy man describing his state as 'drunk, but not with wine', asking for legal help. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 242 and from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a letter mentioning various Muslim officials.

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1062. The writer mentions his difficulties with a person named Abu Zikri Menashshe. Mentions several goods as beads, red dresses, and kosher oil. Natan needs oil for light. He shows his interest in ruby. Natan was very frightened on account of his father, Nahray b. Natan, who was very ill but recovered. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #415) VMR

Calligraphic letter sent by Yefet to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, confirming the arrival of 10 dirhams and sending him some fuller's earth used in households. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 407 and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter sent from Alexandria by Nissim to Abu al-Karam Marwan in Cairo, ordering 50 zabdiyas (vessels) with decorations in color. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 145 and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from an unidentified sender, in Rashīd, to Abū Saʿīd al-ʿAfṣī ("the gallnut dealer"), probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Containing over 30 orders for materia medica in small quantities. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 442.)

Letter sent from al-Mahdiyya (Gil)/ al-Maghrib (Ben-Sasson) to Fustat (Gil)/Sicily (Ben-Sasson), by Ishaq b. Ali al-Majjani to Abu al-Fadl, dealing with a debt of Banu al-Majjani to one named al-Shiraji (Gil) and mentioning legal opinion of Rabbi Hananel b. Hushiel and Masliah b. Eliyyahu. Dated ca. 1039 (Gil). (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. IV, p. 109 and from M. Ben-Sasson, Yehudei sitziliya, p.116)

Letter to [... b.] Ḥalfon. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning business issues, mentioning commodities such as gum and walnuts. Containing an order of Abbadani mats, which were stronger and more durable than regular mats. The writer expresses his preoccupation for the addressee's illness (r4–5). (Information from CUDL; Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 128; and from Goitein's index cards.)

Letter from a certain Shaqrūn to his family members. The address is made out to Barhūn. In Judaeo-Arabic, very colloquial. Dating: Late, perhaps 15th–17th century. The sender addresses himself in turn to his brother Yiṣḥaq (ll.1–11), to his paternal uncle Shāshī(?) (ll.12–13), and to his maternal aunt (ll.13–17). He concludes with greetings to several other family members. The substance of the letter consists of reporting on small business transactions and family affairs. The sender plans to come to שושון or שישין, and once he is there, he will send for his maternal aunt to see her. ASE