Geniza Lab

Beginning of a letter from Yaʿaqov b. Yosef mentioning the payment of goods and another document from the same writer to the addressee relating other information.

End of a letter conveying greetings to all family members ('father, mother, sister, uncle, aunt, and anyone else under your care') of the addressee. Reporting the death of a woman.

Letter with a legal purpose. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th or 12th century. From an unidentified sender to a certain parnas, trustee of the court. The sender urgently asks the addressee to send for the merchants Yaʿaqov known as Ibn al-Suṭūḥ from Tripoli (Libya) and his traveling companion Yaʿaqov b. Zikrī al-Nafūsī who are soon to depart for Yemen. One of them has a bill of divorce with him that must be delivered before he travels. (Information from Goitein's notes and Oded Zinger's forthcoming edition.)

Letter from Moshe b. Shemuel Ibn Jamia from Cabes (Ifriqiya) to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. Around 1030. The letter deals with shipments of money and questions from Cabes to Hayya Gaon, and mentions answers that he wrote back. Ibn Awkal is in charge of the shipments as well as Shemuel b. Barhun al-Tahirti. Shemuel traveled from Qayrawan to Fustat through Cabes. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #142) VMR

Note on vellum sent on the evening following the day of Atonement, asking to return liturgical material for the feast of Tabernacles, which the writer had “borrowed.” The writer also wishes that the fast of the addressee should be accepted by God. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Letter in Hebrew, complete but letters smudged on right side and crossed out in line 7. Apparently an appeal for charitable assistance.

Fragmentary letter on vellum referring to the addressee's intimate relations with the Tustari brothers in Fustat and referring to the arrival of the addressee's letter and business transactions. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragmentary letter in Hebrew discussing two people.

Second note from a teacher who, in the letter on recto, had complained about an unruly pupil (see PGPID 2086). A family member has replied on verso, encouraging the teacher to continue writing, as perhaps the notes will scare the boy into behaving well; the teacher has complied with the request and written a second note. ASE.

Recto: Letter in which a teacher complains about an unruly pupil. "Whenever I beat him, I do so excessively; but as soon as I begin, the mistress rushes along and, after having hit him four or five times, releases him. Had it not been for his illness, I would have killed him with beating, although as a poorly clothed newcomer, he is entitled to some consideration." The teacher wants the pupil's family to discipline him in the same manner at home. Verso: Reply of a family member to the teacher's letter on recto. The writer thanks the teacher for his efforts and emphasizes that they spare no pains in trying to educate the boy. He encourages the teacher to keep writing, as perhaps the notes will scare the boy into behaving well. ASE.

Letter from Eli b. Yosef, from Alexandria, to Barhun b. Salah al-Tahirti, Fustat. Around 1055. The writer is from Safukas, and his main trading good is oil that is exported from the Maghreb to Egypt. The writer asks the addressee to take care of an inheritance of his relative, Avraham al-Safakusi, who has two sons – Abu al-Faraj and Ishaq. Ishaq’s guardian is Nehoray. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #713) VMR

Version of the letter in: Mosseri VII 155. Fragment of a letter from Yosef b. Berekhya, probably to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. Around 1020. Another version of the letter was sent earlier through the sea and this letter was sent on the land. Both letters are very similar but not identical. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #152) VMR

Detailed postscript to a letter sent one month before this one with someone who had gotten stranded while traveling on the sultan's ship. This second letter was probably sent overland. The sender is Yosef b. Berekhya. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a letter from Nahray b. Nissim to an unidentified addressee mentioning accounts and the amount of linen that the addressee has to provide. A load of soap on the sultan's ship is also mentioned. Dated to the second half of the 11th century.

Letter reporting the acquisition of pieces of jewelry and their prices. Wrongly marked as T-S 8 J29 f 15 in Mediterranean Society, IV, Appendix D, note 92.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Between judges or communal leaders, dealing with at least two ongoing legal cases. The first concerns a lawsuit between al-ʿAmmānī and his allies (mutaʿaṣṣibīn) versus Ibrāhīm al-Zand(?). There is a concern that al-ʿAmmānī and those on his side are trying to cheat the Qodesh (l. 7). The second case comes up in ll.13–15; apparently, documents have reached the court to the effect that Ibn Mufaḍḍal has been doing bad things. ASE.

Poetic letter to Shemuʾel ha-Nagid, with jottings in Hebrew (repeated lines of Esther 1:1) and Arabic (see separate record). (Information from CUDL)

Three lines in Arabic script, perhaps a draft of a letter or petition. From a certain Manṣūr to the amir Saʿd al-Mulk Naṣr al-Dawla(?) Fakhr al-Mulk.

Flowery Hebrew letter addressed to R. Maimonides.

Note from Sahlan b. Avraham, leader of the Babylonians in Fustat, to Aharon the Cantor ha-Mumhe b. Efrayim, in which he informs him that a certain physician has arrived from Jerusalem, bearing letters from the Gaon to people in Fustat, ca. 1035.