Geniza Lab

Letter from Yefet to Eliyyahu the Judge giving him instructions for drawing up a deed of rent (ijāra) for a building between Yefet and Abū l-Barakāt.

Shelomo b. Eliyyahu writes to a notable, "I was told that you have made a marriage contract (ṣadāq) for your daughter at a Muslim court. I cannot believe it." Med Soc III, p. 444, n. 50. Information from Goitein's note card.

Verso: Letter from Daʾūd (probably muqaddam of Bilbays) to the judge Eliyyahu b. Zekharya. This is a petition in which the sender expresses his alarm over the fact that a responsum from the Nagid Avraham Maimonides with instructions had been sent some time before this present letter to Eliyyahu, who had not acted upon it yet. On recto, there is also an Arabic document (see separate record). (Information from CUDL and Mediterranean Society, II, p. 338.) Join: MAF and AA.

Letter in Arabic script from Ishaq al-'Asali reporting that he is engaged in Hebrew studies and asking for material support. The question is whether he himself did not know Hebrew writing or if the recipient did not know. Goitein supposes the latter. Information from Goitein's note card. On verso is liturgical text in discrete blocks and neat handwriting.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter from an unidentifed merchant, in ʿAydhāb. In Judaeo-Arabic. He complains about the tribulations of getting pepper through customs. The qāḍī in Qūṣ apparently issued an unfavorable judgment. The customs farmer (ḍāmin) in ʿAydhāb said "I have not received anything of the customs duties," and he opened up the store-room (makhzan) and sold off an ʿadl of pepper. The letter was abandoned here. See Goitein's attached notes for further analysis.

Letter from Jerusalem addressed to Efrayim b. Shemarya (Maḥfūẓ), concerning the revenue from the Compound of the Jerusalemites in Fustat, ca. 1040. This letter is written in Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script, whereas the great majority of letters written from Jerusalem to Efrayim b. Shemarya, the leader of the Palestinian congregation in Fustat, are in Hebrew. The writer of the letter is not the gaon himself, but somebody in his retinue. Only the left part of the letter is preserved. Apparently, the writer complains that the revenue from "the compound" (by which the compound in Fustat dedicated for the Jerusalemites is obviously meant) did not arrive; nor did they receive an additional sum which used to be sent from Fustat for "the holiday." Since a holiday just past and one in the near future are mentioned, the period is probably between Pesach and Shavu'ot. The situation in Jerusalem is described in gloomy terms. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 149 #6)

Letter from Barhun b. Salah al-Tahirti, from Mahdiyya to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1045. Barhun is in the Maghreb and makes business with the people of Qayrawan, Safakus, Tripoli (Libya) and he is planning to travel to Sicily as well. Mentions gems, nuts, and flax. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #328) VMR

Letter from Alexandria by a man to his friend, reporting that he had settled the dispute between Shabbat (the recipient's son-in-law) and his wife (the recipient's daughter) with the help of Shabbat's brothers, and recommending a poor and bashful cantor, who was exiled from Spain. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 136, 548; III, pp. 213, 417.) Join: Oded Zinger.

Recto (reuse): Letter from the fledgling cantor [...] b. Shelomo(?) al-Ḥalabī, in Malīj, to his mother, in Fustat (care of Hillel al-Fuqqāʿī in the druggists' market). In Judaeo-Arabic, with some unusual spellings. Dating: After ca. 1110 CE, based on the dating of the other side. The sender traveled from Fustat to Malīj, looking for a judge. He then went on to Shubrā, where he served as cantor, and then Damsīs, where he sang at a wedding. Now he has returned to Malīj. Greetings to family members and to his teacher the cantor. (Information in part from Goitein's note card.)

Letter from Ayash b. Sdaka, from Alexandria, to Barhun b. Musa al-Tahirti. Aruond 1045. Mentions a disagreement with a person that was supposed to send Ayash goods and money. In addition, Ayash asks what exactly he needs to buy. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #482) VMR

Letter from Nissim b. Ḥalfon, from Damsis, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1055. The writer expresses his wishes that the addressee will recover from his illness. Also writes about receiving payment for shipments of asphalt and nuts. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #591) VMR

Letter (upper part) from the Nagid Mevorakh b. Sa'adyah to Abu Ishaq Ibrahim b. al-Rayyis R. Natan, whom he addresses as Hemdat ha-Kahal, asking him to intervene in the strife of the Jewish glassmakers of al-Fayyum. Information and partial transcription on Goitein's index card.

Letter in the hand of Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper left corner of recto). Mentions his shop; an inability to pay something; someone who received letters; someone who has many worries; "fulān b. fulān" and Abū ʿAlī.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Containing a beautifully styled request. This may not be addressed to the writer's mother and father. Rather, the sender is making a request of another man "so that the heart of the venerable father and noble mother may be eased." The request itself is not preserved. He apologizes for his haste in writing this letter in the margin of verso. Goitein identified the hand as that of Abū Zikrī b. Eliyyahu the Judge, based on comparison with the script in 10J16.16 (which is from an ophthalmologist named Abū Zikrī, who is likely but not definitively identical with Abū Zikrī b. Eliyyahu). Information in part from Goitein's index card.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Not a lot of the substance remains; the writer effusively thanks Abū l-Faraj for delivering 15 dirhams.

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, from Alexandria, to Musa b. Abi al-Hayy, Fustat. Around 1080. The writer supports Musa’s family. Mentions trading with Byzantine merchants and merchants from other places in Europe. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #438) VMR

Letter of appeal for charity addressed to the Nagid Abū l-Faḍl. In Hebrew (for the introduction) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body). The writer has been sick for 4 months, unable to do work. The times are difficult for everyone, even for aṣḥāb al-rasāmīl wa-l-dawālīb. This is a relatively long letter; merits further examination. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) ASE

Letter from the Gaon Shelomo b. Yehuda, in Ramle, to his son Abū Isḥāq Avraham, in Tyre or Damascus (Shelomo does not know which, so he arranges for the letter to reach Avraham in either case). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: June 27, 1033 CE, based on Gil's assessment. Shelomo had traveled from Jerusalem to Ramle to see his daughter, because she had given birth prematurely to a boy at 7 months. It seemed at first that the newborn would survive (kānat ʿalāmatuhu khayr), but he died soon afterward (r4–6). Shelomo's daughter remains ill with an intermittent fever (r19, where the word "nawba" is probably to be understood in its technical sense of "paroxysm"), however it seems not dangeorusly ill, since Shelomo plans to return to Jerusalem in two days. Shelomo had sent two previous letters with the same content: he had sent one copy to Tyre, to be forwarded to Damascus, and he had given the other copy to a Damascene Muslim in Abu Musa's caravanserai in Ramleh, who was to pass it on to R. Moshe al-Ḥaver (r6–10). Information in part from Goitein's note card and in part from Gil ASE

Letter addressed to a man with many titles (rabbenu, ha-sar, ha-ḥasid). The writer mentions R. Mevorakh and various business transactions. The language is deliberately very vague.