Geniza Lab

Letter concerning business matters in which the writer mentions silk and asks the addressee for further trade-related instructions to be sent to him in a future letter.

Memorandum from Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan to Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Netan'el. Location: Aden. Dating: ca. 1135 CE.

Petition from Yusuf requesting help from the addressee, Natan, for a woman who has weak vision and a blind daughter. The sender also enquires after another woman.

Petition from Yaʿaqov b. Aharon, a man of some learning. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Unknown. The sender petitions the addressee for financial help and for an appeal through the addressee to the council of elders to arrange a public collection for him. He describes himself as 'naked and bare with nothing upon me and nothing beneath' and having three children and a wife. In the margin the sender offers to copy out for the recipient the 'prayer for rain,' a long and extremely difficult liturgy (recited on the concluding holiday of the Feast of the Tabernacles) which Yaʿaqov obviously knew by heart. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 90, 531.) Possibly in the hand of the clerk of Yehoshua Maimonides (d.1355).

Business letter concerning a trip of the addressee and a third person, and mentioning 80 dirhams in the possession of someone else and the arrival and news of yet another person.

Letter to Abu al-Faraj who is addressed with many honorific titles and is informed about the delivery of his letter to the sender.

Letter fragment (lower part only). In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning administration of a legal affair. The sender reports that Abū l-Ḥasan b. Ayyūb, who owned property on Zuqāq al-Lawwāzīn, requested the transfer of his property, including future purchases and sales, to his sister before his death. The sender asks the addressee to do what is required by Jewish law and protect the rights of the widow and the orphan. In a postscript, the sender adds that Umm Abū l-Ḥasan took nothing from the estate of her brother, excepting the value of half of a robe which she had deposited with him. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.) EMS

Letter from a person who asks for a loan to pay his capitation tax.

Letter from Moshe b. Yefet to Avraham referring to a visit of the addressee to the sender and mentioning lodging for travelers on the top floor of a synagogue. The letter ends with a religious formula in Hebrew including a quote from the Bible. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 76)

Letter referring to the arrival of a third person called Sa'id b. Moshe who received something from the sender and brought something with him. Ends with greetings for family of the addressee ('the young and the old, sons and daughters').

Letter from Mordechai b. Simḥa who is in the Persian city of Kashan. In Hebrew. Dating: Possibly 17th century. The sender also signs his name Mordechai Ṣefati ha-Kohen. "I beseech the master to speak with the parnasim of the congregations to give me what they see fit, sufficient for the expenses of travel, for God willing, I plan to go to the land of Israel. Let them do for me at least what they did for the Indian gentile, the idol worshipper." (They provided him with a donkey and gave him money.) "Let them do for me what they did for the chelebi - many 'גרושו - even though he was going outside of the land, to Persia (ereṣ ha-ʿajam), in order to eat meat and drink wine..." On verso he adds a postscript about what happened with the parnas Yeḥezqel (some sort of conflict, with insults flying). Edited by Simha Assaf. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Beginning of a letter in which the sender conveys knowledge about his own situation and writes that he needs something.

Beginning of a letter to an unidentified scholar. On the verso there is some writing in large Arabic script, but unrelated to text on verso.

Beginning of a letter addressing the Nagid Avraham Maimonides (1205-1237).

Letter concerning a reconciliation, presumably between husband (Maḥfūẓ al-Qudsī) and wife. Signed by the judge Avraham b. Natan Av Bet Din (in New Cairo, dated documents 1098–1114). On verso and continuing on recto there are biblical quotations. (Information in part from Oded Zinger's forthcoming edition.)

Fragmentary letter mentioning several names and a parnas.

Letter to a brother conveying good wishes and telling him that someone had to go to the synagogue every Saturday and on feast days. (Information in Mediterranean Society, II, p. 36)

Letter draft in Hebrew, opening with the report of the writer that he had expedited the collection of the monies pledged for the poor on the Sunday following Purim.

Letter from Avraham b. Hillel, beginning with a biblical quotation (Shemuel I, 25:6), containing congratulations on the occasion of the opening of a perfume shop and mentioning that the sender has received a letter from Moshe ha-Kohen who is in good health. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in Hebrew to two men, one of whom is called Abu al-Ḥasan.