Geniza Lab

Letter fragment to a distinguished person (yeḥid ha-dor), perhaps the Nagid. In Hebrew.

Perahya b. Yosef asks the writer to return books which he had lent to Rabbi David and which the latter had lent to the addressee. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Informal letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to R. Ḥananel. He asks for a piece of rhubarb (rāwand), it seems for medicinal purposes.

Commercial letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions boats and Rashīd. Regards to Abū l-Faraj. Needs further examination.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Perhaps 12th century. Wide space between the lines, like an official document, but it appears to be about business. Mentions Ibn Zakkār. The sender orders several miʿjars, at least one with embroidery (ṭirāz). Also orders dabīqī cloth. Also mentions something about 'placing the risk on its owner / his friend' (4 lines from the bottom).

Letter from Umm Ṣanīʿa/Ṣanīʿihi to the mother of ʿAbd al-Raḥīm. Fragmentary (upper right corner). In Judaeo-Arabic with some Hebrew, in a square book hand. Dating: Possibly ~13th century, based on the position of the sender's name. Approximately 10 lines of the formulaic opening are preserved, but none of the body of the message.

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya, November 1042.

A letter. The context is unclear

a letter written to Elijah the judge due to the personalities mentioned in the letter, the writer complains that people are “opposing me by submitting responsa to the head of the Jews,” also sending regards to Sitt Rayhan, Elya's wife, and to his sons Abu Barakat (Shelomo) and Abu Zikri. (Info from Oded Zinger Phd. p. 210)

Recto: Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. The sender says that the addressee sent the wrong copy (nuskha) of a liturgical text, but it's for the better, because he never even knew that the addressee had the one that was sent, and he's needed it all year. It seems that the sender will pass the one that he received on to the Kohen. As for the one that was originally requested, it is the maʿamad for the daytime prayers of Yom Kippur. He concludes, "And this is for the price(?) of the nighttime." Maybe the addressee had mistakenly sent him the nighttime prayer and he is enclosing payment? Verso: The response. The sender says that he doesn't have the requested text, but it should be in his grandfather's house, so he will go and look for it. He then refers to some earlier correspondence or communication: "As for what the lord said about Abū l-Riḍā that he does not know אליגאדה(?), I didn't say anything to him more than intimidating him to make him scared."

Letter from Seʿadya ha-Talmid ve-ha-Sofer b. Yisra'el ha-Hazzan to Shemul b. Shela. Dating: Ca. 1040, based on the assessment of Gil. It is known from another letter that the writer was a man from Acre and became a ḥaver there (T-S NS 320.42, ed. Gil, Palestine, II, #141). The purpose of this letter is to invite the addressee to the writer's sermon.

Letter from an India trader, in ʿAydhāb, to his family or colleagues, presumably in Fustat. In Arabic script. There is a transcription in Goitein's attached notes. He comments that "al-Asʿad is the tax farmer of the customs in ʿAydhāb. He receives 5 dinars customs duties and his employees (ghilmān) 1 dinar. Letters of recommendations were sent
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him with the sender. But he bheaved nicely even before he had seen the letters."

Letter, or perhaps an especially narrative-heavy legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Shemuel b. Seʿadya. Mentions trade in silk. Needs further examination.

Letter in Arabic (damaged) to Abu l-Wafa Tamim al-Kohen complaining that a certain woman went to the Rabbanites but had not received her share. It seems that the addressee himself was the person failing to do his duty. One line of the letter continues on verso. Verso: Genealogical list in childish letters carelessly arranged. See Goitein's note card for partial transcription. Information from Goitein's note cards.

On recto a fragment letter from [...] Fasi the cantor b. Shelomo the cantor to Efraim b. Shemaria. On verso fragment from a letter written by Efraim b. Shemaria, probably connected to recto.

Letter in Arabic script. Very neat hand. Approximately 5 lines are preserved, consisting almost entirely of conventional greetings. On verso there is a draft of a letter to some dignitary in Hebrew.

Business letter in the hand of Abū Zikrī Kohen Sijilmāsī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions people such as Wafiyy al-Dawla, Abū l-ʿAbbās al-Farrāsh; Abū l-Maʿālī; the addressee's brother; and Abū l-Qāsim b. Munqidh. Mentions "the canal" (al-khalīj) and al-Buḥayra. (Information in part from Goitein notes linked below.)

Letter from a man, probably in Damietta, to his mother, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. To be sent to the Muṣāṣa neighborhood, to the shop of [...] al-[...] al-Yahūdī. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century. The sender reports that he has opened a shop with "the physician" (al-ḥakīm), where they will work together for a period of 1 year, from Sukkot to Sukkot. There seems to be a dispute between the physician and an in-law of the sender (יקום יצארב הו ויה ויקול לה איש לך פי דא). The sender makes inquiries about a fancy robe (khilʿa) and big turban (biqyār) and asks his mother to go to the judge (al-Dayyān) and have him send a letter to the physician in Damietta, to be read to the heads of the community. There is also some issue involving a silk girdle (zunnār ḥarīr) and an oath. Regards to the mother's entire family. ASE

Business letter. Fragment (lower part of recto). In Judaeo-Arabic. The scribe has a distinctive shorthand for Allāh (antepenultimate word of last line of recto & penultimate word of second line of verso). Dating: 12th century. The sender is a trader in spices (e.g., nard (sunbul) and galangal (khawlanjān)) and garments (little turbans (ʿumayma)). He reports on the prices of goods in his location and tells the addressee not to come, alluding to the danger of the road. He has enclosed another pair of letters to be forwarded to Abū l-Rabīʿ Sulaymān b. Abū Zikrī (Yehuda Kohen).

Letter describing two meetings with physicians. At least part of the letter is addressed to the sender's mother. The first meeting was a visit to Maimonides, who discussed medical topics with the writer, who intends to being a course of study in medicine as soon he sorts out an issue with his brother and maternal aunt. The second was with another physician who visited the writer, checked his pulse, examined a flask of his urine, and prescribed barley water (kashk shaʿīr). Mention is made of a trip to Alexandria. The fragment mentions others and their wealth and very large debts: Abū Manṣūr, Abū l-Maḥāsin, Rīḍā al-Dawla, Ibn Hillel. It also mentions several distinguished physicians apart from Maimonides. (Information in part from CUDL)