Geniza Lab

Probably a copy of a letter (?), with quotations such as Jeremiah 15:2. (Information from CUDL)

Letter (Information from CUDL)

Probably a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter mentioning a certain Joseph and commodities such as sugar. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Mūsā b. [...] to Abū Isḥāq. Small fragment. Reporting on business matters ("what I received of gold"). (Information in part from CUDL)

Small fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Not much is preserved apart from greetings. Mentions the parnas Yiṣḥaq and Musallam ha-Kohen.

Letter opening from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya, before 1048.

Letter to Moshe b. Nissim (or Moshe b. Labrāṭ?). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th or early 12th century. Fragment (left side of recto). The addressee is told to send a letter to Tinnīs. Mentions the boats (al-qawārib) which went to Abū Muḥammad, and news about what happened to the boats. The sender curses the addressees' enemies. Ends with a bialphabetic blessing: ורחמת אללה וبركات (wa-raḥmat Allāh wa-barakātuh). (Information in part from CUDL)

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions an agent (wakīl); Sicilian cheese; "we are all Jews, and the Truth (al-Ḥaqq) unites us all"; and "the Sicilian Kohen (al-Kohen al-Siqillī) sold it to him." (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from an India trader in Quṣ. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably end of 11th or early 12th century, based on Goitein's assessment. The writer departed when sick (wajiʿ) and arrived healthy in Qūṣ after a Nile voyage of 14 days. He reports that a tremendous Fatimid treasure had been commandeered by al-Bulyanī (perhaps the head of the tribe which commanded the Qūṣ-ʿAydhāb route). The treasure included 70 slave women, each with a eunuch and jewels and a chest of textiles. See Goitein's attached transcription and correspondence with Claude Cahen.

Recto: letter from Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen b. Abraham ha-Kohen, a cantor from Damsis to his maternal uncles, sons of Moses ha-Kohen. With introductory citations, such as Ecclesiastes 8:4. Verso: address is written both in Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Opening of a letter. On verso a drawing. AA

Family letter, mentioning the addressee’s brothers and mother. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions numerous items of clothing and textiles. Written during an epidemic (wa-l-zamān zamān maraḍ, 3 lines from the bottom of recto). The sender’s brother is in Maḥalla, and he is rumored to be sick. The sender mentions greetings from and to Abū l-Ḥasan, Natan and Shemuel al-Baghdādī, and asks for things to be sent either with the carrier of the letter or with ‘the rayyis’, whoever travels first. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter mentioning many names such as Abū l-ʿAzz, Ibn Abū l-Ḡīya (?), the elder Mūsā, Judah, Sulaymān al-Kohen (?) al-Ṣayrafī, Abū Naṣr b. Sālim, the elder Hārūn and Abū l-ʿAlā, and commodities such as amomum (qāqulla). (Information from CUDL)

Letter in the hand of Yefet b. Menashshe probably to Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Binyām al-Rashīdī. Greetings to Sitt Naʿīm and to Abū l-Surūr (probably their brother Peraḥya). The addressee should encourage someone (probably Abū l-Surūr) to come down with Baqāʾ, because there is still employment to be had in the castle. At the end: "The letters which arrive from [...] Ḥārat Zuwayla, please forward them to their owners." (Information in part from CUDL)

Formal petition in Judaeo-Arabic from a group of "poor" people to a notable titled Peʾer ha-Qahal, ‘the crown of the congregation.’ Header: Psalms 41:2. Mentions idolatry. (Information in part from CUDL)

Document(s) in Hebrew. Square letters. Extremely faded. The second line of recto reads כבוד גדולת שלמה איש חמודות. There is a name that looks like Shukayr b. ʿUmar in line 4. Verso in a different hand.

Letter addressed to a judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1221–52 CE, as it mentions Crusaders ("Franks") fighting at al-Manṣūra 2 years prior. At that time, Sayyidnā al-Nasi intended to borrow from the sender a beautiful copy of the book of Īlāqī (probably al-Īlāqī's epitome of the first book of Avicenna's Canon) in order to copy it for the addressee. The Crusaders were attacking al-Manṣūra, and the sender was in the army camp together with a gentile (presumably Muslim). He had three books with him, including a commentary and some of the 'kalām' of Maimonides (=Guide for the Perplexed?) as well as the Īlāqī. The Muslim companion had no eyes for anything but the Īlāqī, and he offered money to borrow it, copy it, and return it. As everyone was penniless at the time, the sender agreed, but he never saw the book again. Sayyidnā al-Nasi already forgave the sender for this, but is making him write this letter to explain the situation to the addressee. The addressee must not think that he is being negligent in finding another ('regular') copy to use for his purposes. Everyone he asks either says they don't have it, or they're worried he'll make off with it and give it to the Nasi. ASE

Letter opening from Yoshiyyahu Gaon to Efrayim b. Shemarya, approximately 1020.