Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment: vertical strip containing the right side of recto. Probably addressed to Moshe b. Yehuda. Dating: Last quarter of the 15th century. Dealing with various business matters. Currency: ashrafī. There may be a reference to colic (qawlanj) and a cure, but the context is missing. Mentions "the inferior kohl in Cairo" (v8).

Letter addressed to Moshe b. Yehuda. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Monday, 5 Nisan 5245, which is 1485 CE. Dealing with business matters, such as the trade in raisins. Mentions "the anusim" at least twice. Quite faded and damaged; needs further examination.

Letter or letters in Judaeo-Arabic. In at least two hands. There is an address made out to R. Yisrael (whose surname may be legible). The portion on verso mentions Moshe b. Yehuda (whose archive is found in Bodl. MS Heb. c 72). Dating: Last quarter of the 15th century.

Letter from Hārūn to Moshe b. Yehuda. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Last quarter of the 15th century. The sender reminds Moshe that it is his custom to pay his capitation tax for him. This year, however, Moshe has been gone for 9 months and has not sent any money. He reports that a man named Shelomo Siqillī is en route to Alexandria with R. Yosef Castro—it seems this man also needs money. Mentions the arrival of 'the blue khirqa' (which is also mentioned in a previous letter in this binder). There is yet another man coming to Alexandria who also needs help with the capitation tax; this one is named Mūsā b. Marʿaqa(?). If Moshe b. Yehuda and Ṣedaqa Nes do not act on all these requests, Hārūn will be forced to involve the Nagid.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Likely addressed to Moshe b. Yehuda. Dating: Last quarter of the 15th century. Dealing with urgent and detailed business operations involving 'dhakhīra' (storage fees?); also boats entering the khalīj; camphor and a ginger preserve. Mentions numerous people, including the good-for-nothing Yaʿīsh and his partner Manṣūr; Sulaymān; the late Zayn al-Dīn and his son; the ṣayrafī; the khwāja; Ṣalāh al-Dīn; a certain youth (ṣabiyy) about whom the sender was going to complain to the king; Aḥmad b. al-Ṣafīr(?); and R. ʿAmram.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Likely addressed to Moshe b. Yehuda or to the community of Alexandria. Dating: Last quarter of the 15th century. Concerning a communal issue that involves M. Yaʿqūb, 'the 7 distinguished men of the city,' insubordinacy, and the cantors. Possibly related to the same matter as in Bodl. MS Heb. c 72/21.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to multiple people, perhaps the community of Alexandria as a collective. Dating: Last quarter of the 15th century. Concerning a man who may have left his family in poverty; mentions 50 ashrafīs and a qāḍī. Also mentions Yosef חנך and Moshe Maʿānī.

Letter addressed to Moshe b. Yehuda. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Last quarter of the 15th century. Dealing with various business matters, mainly raisins. Mentions Ibrāhīm Shuwaykh and Ṣedaqa Nes. On verso there are jotted accounts, mentioning camphor, jasmine, raisins, chickpeas, and mulūkhiyya.

Letter from Ṣedaqa Nes, probably to Moshe b. Yehuda. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: last quarter of the 15th century. Needs examination for content.

Letter in the hand of David b. Yaʿaqov al-Shammās, probably addressed to Moshe b. Yehuda. Dating: Last quarter of the 15th century. Dealing with family and business matters.

Letter or letter draft, preserving only the copious opening praises for the addressee. Probably from the archive of Moshe b. Yehuda. Dating: last quarter of the 15th century.

Mirror image (imprint) of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic concerning communal issues (the synagogue, insubordinacy). Dating: Last quarter of the 15th century.

Mirror image (imprint) of a letter in Hebrew.

"The notes prove that love between parents and children is strongest where both are committed to a love greater than themselves." (Goitein, Med. Soc., vi, 2, n. 29)

Letter from Efrayim b. 'Isma'il al-Jawhari to Yosef b. 'Awkal.

Letter from Nissim b. Ya’aqov from Qayrawan (Ifrīqiya) to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat, May 19, 1027. The writer asks Ibn Awkal to hurry with the shipments and answers to and from Rav Hayya Gaon. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #162) VMR

Business letter sent from Qayrawan by Efrayim b. Ismail, probably to Yaʿaqov b. Yosef b. Awkal in Fustat (Gil) or from Ifrīqiya by 'Alush b. Yeshua to Ismail b. Avraham in Egypt (Ben-Sasson). The letter deals mainly with merchandise and shipments of goods. Dated to the beginning of the 11th century (Gil) or the first third of the 11th century (Ben-Sasson). (Information from Gil, Vol. 2, p. 312 and from Ben-Sasson, p. 219)

Letter from Yūsuf b. Q[...] al-[...]ān to Abū l-Faḍl [ʿAṭallāh?] b. Yaʿqūb. In Judaeo-Arabic. Very rudimentary hand. The writer is in distress for some reason, and he seems to have run out of his money thanks to Ibn Asad, and he thanks the addressee for his prior help. The details of his story are difficult to decipher. Verso was reused for accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, but these are too faded to read.

Letter from Avraham ha-Parnas b. Menaḥem to the brothers Yiṣḥaq and Yehoshuaʿ b. Khalfa(?). On vellum. Extremely ornate, calligraphic, scribal hand, vocalized Hebrew. It is torn off before the substance of the letter begins. On verso there is also a legal document, a release (שטר פיצוי). Unclear if this is a draft or not.

Letter addressed to Abū Yaʿqūb b. Yūsuf al-Fāsī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th century. The writer's name may be preserved as well, but the conservators have covered it with paper. The writer gives updates on his own father and mother and broaches various business matters. He mentions the goods of Abū Isḥāq Ibn Barukh.