Geniza Lab

Letter sent by Moshe Agura from Rhodes to his family in Egypt. Published by J. Krivoruchko in https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/taylor-schechter-genizah-research-unit/fragment-month/fotm-2021/fragment-6.

Letter of epitaph by Shelomo b. Yehuda.

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to the community of Fustat. Dating: ca. 1025 CE. On verso there is a fable about a king and a woman in Arabic script.

Strip from the left side of an official poetic Hebrew letter. AA

Letter in the hand of the clerk of Yehoshua Maimonides, it seems conveying greetings for the holidays.

Recto: Letter from Hayya Gaʾon to Neḥemya b. Avraham, in Fustat. Dated: Nisan 1348 Seleucid, which is April 1037 CE. Neḥemya had had a fight with members of his community and he took an oath not to slaughter an animal or pray. He then changed his mind and asked Hayya Gaon to annul his vow. This letter is the Gaon’s response, annulling of the vow. The letter closes with Hayya's motto "yeshaʿ rav" (ישע רב) and the date. Verso: Two distinct text blocks in Arabic script. (1) The names of the months of the Coptic calendar. (2) Accounts, recording credits and debits and mentioning a paternal aunt and her son. Gil understands these as the private accounts of one of Nehemya’s sons, mentioning the name of two sons, Yoshiyyahu and Avraham. List of monthly rental payments, for one third of Sahlān’s house that was probably inherited to the writer. (Information from CUDL and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #40, and E. Bareket, Shafrir misrayim, pp. 167, 169, 174.) VMR

Business letter in Arabic script from Natan b. Yehoshuaʿ b. Natan in Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat.

Letter from Yosef b. Avraham to Avraham b. Yiju. The whereabouts of Yosef and Ibn Yiju are unclear. Goitein thought that Ibn Yiju was in Mangalore while Yosef was somewhere in India. Friedman suggests that Yosef was in Mangalore and Ibn Yiju was somewhere in Yemen. Friedman dates the letter to 1140-1144. The letter contains details of their various business dealings.

Letter from Yosef b. Yiṣḥaq. In Hebrew and Aramaic. Perhaps a responsum. The text seems to be entirely a discussion of talmudic matters, including condolences.

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. Three and a half lines remain. Needs examination. Verso: Informal note from Sitt Abū l-Ḥasan to Ṣadaqa, asking him to [...] for the old woman by coming up to Cairo tomorrow.

Fragment of a late letter in Hebrew signed by Seʿadya b. Moshe ha-Dayyan. See Arad, D. (2008). Syria’s links with the Jews of Cairo in the 15th and 16th centuries. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, August 2009]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.48227

Late letter to Avraham Ardity. Very hard to read. Izmir is mentioned. Also mentioning R. 'Amram. AA

Letter from Barakāt b. Sason to ʿImrān b. Benaya, in al-Maḥalla (אלמחללא). In Judaeo-Arabic, with some unusual orthography (including ש for ס and ת for ד and interchange of ה and א). The letter deals with business matters, including a press (miʿṣara). Refers to people who are traveling to the Fayyūm and wish to travel onward to Qūṣ (קוס), an idea to which the sender objects. At one point he addresses a remark to Ḥārūn b. Isḥāq. AA. ASE.

Letter fragment from Daniel, the Nasi of all Israel, Rosh Yeshivat Ge'on Yaʿaqov addressed to Mevorakh b. Saadya. Nothing apart from the first line of the letter and the address is preserved. Goitein deduces that it was written before 1063 CE (and adds: how interesting!).

Letter written in a mixture of Judaeo-Persian and Arabic in Arabic script. Only partly legible. The fragment is labeled "L8" in Shaul Shaked's (unpublished) classification of Early Judeo-Persian texts. OH

Recto: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Only the formulaic beginning is preserved. Written on a reused page that already had a few words in Arabic script written on it. On verso there is a Hebrew alphabet writing exercise.

Letter fragment from Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tāhirtī. Mentions details about money exchange and shipments of pepper and silk to and from Palermo. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #352) VMR

Letter addressed to the officials Ẓedaqa ha-Levi and Yaʿaqov [. . .]. In Hebrew. Dating: 16th century, based on Avraham David's assessment. The letter concerns collecting debts in Alexandria and someone fleeing, perhaps by way of Damietta. Mentions additional people: Shemuel Filokrono(?) and Shemuel Seretero(?) and Makhlūf b. Marzūq. Information in part from Avraham David's edition via FGP.

Letter sent by Hezekiah b. Shelomo to Mevorakh b. Saadya, reporting that he lost money and asking him to look after him for four months. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter sent from the Jewish community of Aden to a dignitary named Abū Zikrī, likely the Gaʾon Sar Shalom b. Moshe ha-Levi. Dated: Kislev 1497 Seleucid, which is 1185 CE. With a long, flattering Hebrew introduction, and the body of the letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee's father's name appears at the bottom of recto, and Moshe is a plausible reading, though the מ would have to be very elongated. They wish for the visit of the addressee, and they congratulate him on something to do with Alexandria and somebody who was arrested. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)