Geniza Lab

Letter from Khalfūn b. Benaya(?) to Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā b. Mūsā Majjānī. (The names are very difficult to read; these may be not exactly right.) In Judaeo-Arabic. On vellum. Dating: 11th century. The letter itself is very faded. An 'iqtiḍā'" is mentioned twice, and perhaps the addressee's cousin (ibn ʿamm) Abū Ibrāhīm Isḥāq. ASE

Letter from Hārūn b. Sulaymān ha-Ḥaver al-Kohen to [...] b. Ṣadaqa(?) Ibn Shaʿya(?). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 11th century, on paleographic grounds. The writer opens with complaining about his ear illness (if that is what ʿalā aṣli udhnī means; same phrase as in MS Heb. e 45/75). Mentions a jar of rose petal jam (ward murabbā); silk; a mandīl; a Nisapuri thawb; Sulaymān; Ghulayb; and "al-jawhara." Needs further examination.

Letter from Qayrawan to Efrayim b. Shemarya in Fustat. 23 July 1035.

Fragment of the beginning of a letter to the Nagid. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from Yosef b. Ya’aqov al-Itrabulusi from Gabes (Ifrīqiya) to Yosef b. Ya’akob b. Awkal, Fustat. The writer traveled to Qabes after visiting Barka, Tripoli (Libya), and Qayrawan (Ifrīqiya). Describes his difficulties managing Ibn Awkal’s merchandise. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #172) VMR

Letter in ornate Hebrew. From Moshe ha-Ḥazzan ha-Zaqen to at least two addressees, including someone addressed as Nagid, R. Shela, and a certain Ḥamishi ba-Ḥavura. One of these people is also the son of Ṭoviyya.

Fragment of a letter from the brothers Yosef and Nissim b. Berekhya from Qayrawan (Ifrīqiya) to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. Around 1017. Yosef, the older brother, writes the letter. Mentions details about the Nagid, Avraham b. Ata, and his activities for the Yeshivas. The money that was collected in Fustat and Qayrawan from Yamen, Spain, and the Maghreb, is sent to Ibn Awkal in Fustat. A small portion of the money is designated to the Erets Israel Yeshiva but most of the money is designated to the Babylonian Yeshivas. Also mentions a military travel by the governor of Qayrawan, and the Nagid Avraham b. Ata accompanied the governor (probably while he was a doctor). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #148) VMR

Letter from a certain Yiṣḥaq to Eliyyahu the Judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. He asks for news of the silver. "And how are you doing after the hardship of the journey?" Phonetic spellings: מה עקני לם נגֿי אלי שי אנתעלמו = ما عاقني لم نجئ الا شيءٌ تعلمه.

Letter addressed to an important person (perhaps Eliyyahu ha-Kohen Av Bet Din, who is greeted 3 lines from the bottom). In Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Only the right side is preserved, so the story is difficult to figure out, but the letter is a recommendation or request for help for a man with a good reputation and something to do with Alexandria and a marriage.

One phrase from the beginning of a letter addressed to Ḥananel ha-Dayyan. Dating: likely 13th century. This is fragment that mainly contains a literary text in Hebrew, reused for some jottings.

Letter from Shemuel b. Avraham al-Majjānī, probably in Aden, to (Abū Zikrī) Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer has sent spices to the addressee with Abū Isḥāq b. Siwār al-Muslim. He asks him to sell them and give the proceeds to Abū Naṣr b. Elishaʿ, who should give 2 dinars to the writer's mother and the rest to his wife. He reports on the the aṣḥāb (Nahray and Ibn Nufayʿ and Ibn al-Yatīm and al-Fāsī and a Jew whom the writer did not know) who were traveling with ʿAlī al-Dībājī and speculates that perhaps they were detained in Dahlak, because they haven't caught up with the writer's party. He then crosses out that statement and writes above it, "they caught up with us the night of the mabīt (spending the night on board before sailing) to Aden." The writer wishes to travel on to al-Qaṣṣ (identified by Sebastian Prange as Bhadresvar in the Gulf of Kachh, in Gujarat—see Monsoon Islam, Table 4.1). When his ship had reached Bāb al-Mandab, the ruler (ṣāḥib) of Dahlak attacked the ship and plundered it, but let the merchants go. There is a postscript about smuggling Ibn al-Yatīm's coral through customs. ASE

Letter from Ṭahor b. Avraham to Ḥananel b. Shemuel. Dating: First half of the 13th century. Very similar to T-S NS 321.101 (same writer, same addressee). Only the beginning is preserved. Mentions Abū l-Faḍl b. Yehuda. (Information in part from Goitein and Friedman, India Book III, p. 56 n. 122.)

Letter from an unknown writer, in Fustat, to Yūsuf al-Ḥazzān(?), in Alexandria. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. There is a rumor going around that Abū ʿImrān got married, and the writer wants to know if this is true or not. The bearer of the letter had been in Qūṣ and he has news that might interest the addressee. The addressee's elder sister and Hibatallāh send their regards.

Note from Eli Ha-Kohen b. Ezekiel to Avraham Ha-Kohen b. Yiṣḥaq b. Furat.

Letter from Avraham ha-Ḥaver b. Amram from Jerusalem to an Andalusian merchant staying in Ramla. Ca. 1050.

Letter from Salmān b. Dawud al-Barqi, probably from Tripoli, Libya, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Mentions beads and ships, but most of the letter is not clear. Around mid-eleventh century. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 517-519, #769). VMR

Letter fragment. Wide space between the lines. Only a few words of blessings and honorifics are preserved, including the name Yosef ha-Levi ha-Ḥaver.

Letter from Nissim b. Shela to the teacher Yiṣḥaq b. Ḥayyim Nafūsī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Contains detailed information about the sending and selling of books. People mentioned include the shammash Thābit, the Ḥaver, someone's father-in-law (ḥammūhu) Abū l-Ḥusayn; and Abū Isḥāq al-Ṣayrafī—this last is the person with whom Nissim sent his previous letter along with the medicinal electuary (maʿjūn). He is eager to learn whether taking the electuary has made any difference in Yiṣḥaq's illness. He signs off with the phrase עתרת שלום ואמת.

Note by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to a scribe, also named Shelomo, in an urgent tone, to finish the copying of certain books including the targum of Kings and the targum of the haftarot.

Shelomo urges Abu'l-Makarim in Qalyub (?) to collect money to pay the capitation tax of needy people