Geniza Lab

Letter from the ḥaver Yehoshuaʿ b. ʿEli al-Lādhiqī(?), in Jerusalem, to Abū l-ʿIzz(?) b. ʿEli Abū Manṣūr, in New Cairo. The letter consists of a Hebrew poetic panegyric, apparently to accompany the tzitzit (fringes) which the addressee had ordered from the sender (along with prayers on his behalf in Jerusalem). Written on 1 Tammuz. There are good wishes for recovery from illness (maybe the occasion for the order of tzitzit and prayers). On verso there are many other Arabic jottings.

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq, in Aden, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. Dating: October/November 1140 CE. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning the plunder of Aden (involving a person called al-Dughaym and the struggle between "the two Sultans" (=ʿAlī b. Abū l-Ghārāt and Sabaʾ b. Abū Suʿūd)), losses at sea, and the sender's failure in purchasing a household male slave (waṣīf) from a ship from East Africa (Bilād al-Zanj) containing newly enslaved individuals (raqīq). (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book II-48.)

Late business/family letter in Hebrew from Shelomo Binyamin to his brother-in-law, also named Shelomo. He reports that ships from Messina and Ancona have arrived, but not yet the ship from Venice. He mentions several names: Avraham Palma, Yizhaq Fijo (? פיגֿו), Avraham Iskandarani, the writer's son Shem Tov, Yizhaq Castro (so this is probaby 17th century), the Hakham ha-Shalem and his son Shemuel, among others. This letter is mentioned several times in the publications of Abraham David. ASE.

Letter from Mawhūb b. Aharon the ḥazzan to Nahray b. Nissim.

Letter from Manṣūr to either his son or his father Abū ʿImrān. (Both are referred to as ואלד, but this is sometimes the spelling for ולד in this period.) In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 13th–16th century. Mentions numerous business matters. Commodities include textiles and vessels. Names include: Yosef; Saʿdūn b. [..]āʾil; Makīn the son of the sister of al-M[...]; Dāʾūd the boy of the shaykh; Umm Maryam; ʿAbdallāh; al-Shaykh al-Thiqa Kātib al-Jawālī ('secretary of the capitation taxes'); al-shaykh al-ṣafiyy; al-shaykh al-shammas. Mentions the term jāmikiyya (v6). Needs further examination.

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes linked below. This letter may be continued in Bodl. MS heb. d 66/14 (identified by Oded Zinger).

Letter from Yehuda b. Ismāʿīl al-Andalusī, Sicily, to Nissim b. ʿAyyāsh, Fustat. Dating: ca. 1060. Mentions a shipment of shelled almonds and lāsīn silk sent from Sicily in the ship of Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ and its distribution to its owners in Fustat. Also mentions selling pepper that was sent to Sicily. Ismāʿīl, Yehuda’s father, is mentioned in the blessing for the people who passed away. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #577) VMR

Letter addressed to a parnas. On parchment. In Hebrew. Presumably written by a European or Byzantine Jew. Asking the addressee to increase the allotment of two loaves of bread, which was not sufficient, and also toa ddress the community on Shabbat that they should do something for the foreigner. (Information from Goitein's index card.) See Med Soc II, App. B, 94.

Petition of a teacher. Fragment of a letter written by a teacher, apparently to one of the parnasim of the qodesh. Insisting that he is in distress, the applicant evokes a decision of the Nagid, David b. Avraham, giving him the right to live in an apartment of the qodesh for the reduced rent of 12 dirhams. It appears that after having lived in it for 13 years, he is faced with a demand for increased rent. (Information from Gil, Documents of the Jewish Pious Foundations, pp.480-481, #146)

Business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: ca. Nisan 116[.] Seleucid, which is 1149–58 CE (this date is mentioned in the document). The writer mentions Tyre, Egypt (diyār miṣr), and flax. This is a fragment, containing only the right margin and the beginnings of the lines).

Official letter to a communal leader. In Judaeo-Arabic. Wide space between the lines. The writer requests a rapid answer regarding what is to be done regarding the contents of the letter the writer had previously sent. Regards to and from various people.

Letter from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides to a certain Avraham ha-Sar (likely the same addressee as in T-S 8J40.2) regarding an excommunication. Muslim courts are mentioned. Needs further examination.

Business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Possibly 11th century, on paleographic grounds. Verso contains one line of Arabic script, perhaps the address. Needs further examination.

Letter from Abū l-Faḍl b. al-Dhahabī to ʿArūs b. Yosef. In Judaeo-Arabic. Written in two different hands. The writer asks the addressee to let the ṭabaqa and send him the rent. 4 waybas of wheat cost 1 dinar; he wants to have one irdabb per month. "In a letter to ʿArūs b. Joseph (dated documents 1088–1116), a traveling mer­chant with his seat in Alexandria orders one irdabb of sieved wheat every month; he clearly did not wish to receive the entire quantity of the yearly provision at once, because, as he mentions, the price was high (only four waybas for 1 dinar)." (Information from Goitein's note card and Med Soc IV, p. 236, n. 74.)

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Abū l-Ḥasan ha-Talmid b. al-Ḥaver; Karām b. Yūsuf the brother-in-law of Manṣūr the cantor; and Maṣliaḥ. Regards from the addressee's father and sisters. Congratulations on the addressee's health.

Recto: Letter of appeal for charity in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary hand. Written across a bifolium. Perhaps a draft. Verso: The right-hand page is related to the letter of appeal. The left-hand page is very faded; it seems to be a list of names and dates in a mixture of Hebrew script and Arabic script. Needs further examination.

Letter fragment addressed to a Rayyis. In Judaeo-Arabic. The scribe is named Ibn al-Miṣrī.

P16: Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to one of his brothers. Fragment (upper left corner of recto). The addressee is likely Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (rather than Peraḥya), since this fragment is surrounded by other fragments from the Ḥalfon dossier. Only formulaic greetings are preserved.

Letter of recommendation in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. He describes the suffering two people underwent and asks for help on their behalf.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Possibly in the hand of Yefet b. Menashshe.