Geniza Lab

Recto: Beginning of a letter/petition addressed to a judge named Peraḥya. In Judaeo-Arabic, with three Hebrew biblical citations at the top. The sender has sent this letter with his son Yosef, who is in difficult circumstances—something happened that made it impossible for him to live in Fustat, let alone earn a living there. It seems that Yosef wants to travel to al-Shām now. In the missing continuation, the sender presumably asks Peraḥya to help him. Verso: Beginning of a letter from 'your paternal uncle' to a younger man named Efrayim. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender reports that he came down with a stomachache (tukhma) and nearly died and everyone despaired of his health—but now he is better.

Informal note addressed to a certain Abū ʿAlī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Verso is a draft of recto. The addressee is asked to go to the sender's mother and collect the 1 5/8 dirhams that are with her. He should purchase 3 fat pullets for 1.5 dirhams, lime (laymūn akhḍar) for 1/8, and throw in a bit of saffron. The text is damaged and there are slight discrepancies between recto and verso, so these quantities are not certain. The mother is probably sick and all this is intended medicinally.

Tadhkira (memorandum, bill of lading) drawn up by Nahray b. Nissim for Yehuda b. Khalfa. Complete and well preserved. Needs to be edited.

Letter in the hand of Yefet b. Menashshe. Probably addressed to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, since their other brother Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya is mentioned three lines from the bottom. Fragment (left side of recto). Reports on various business transactions. Mentions a bag (kharīṭa) containing tutty and something else (מנד?); scammony (maḥmūda); kohl; Byzantine wormwood (afsantīn rūmī). Mentions someone named Makārim.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower half of recto, upper half of verso). Dating: Likely 12th or early 13th century, based on names, titles, overall style. The sender wants the addressee to obtain the signatures of 10 Jewish men of the town/city to the effect that they don't know anything about something and then to advertise that fact. R. Yosef told the sender that the addressee is not obligated to do anything. The sender adds that he examined "the documents" (al-masāṭīr) and found them "nice and effective" (milāḥ nāfiʿa). But 'the Rayyis' is upset (ḍajūr) about something. The sender plans to take al-Muhadhdhab Abu Saʿīd with him, which he hopes will appease the Rayyis. The sender mentions the addressee's letter to the Rayyis and also assures him that the Rayyis thinks well of him. EMS. ASE.

Letter (right half) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi to a Kohen whose father is named Yehuda. The upper half consists of praises and blessings for the recipient and his son. Moshe then requests urgently that he send him wages or payment of some kind. In the margin he apologizes for his handwriting and style, because he wrote it in a hurry by the light of a lamp. ASE.

Letter from a certain ʿAbd al-Karīm possibly to someone named Ḥasan or Iḥsān (margin, line 1). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 13th or 14th century, based on hand, linguistic features, names, and epistolary conventions. What remains of the letter consists entirely of good wishes for various people, especially for the recovery of the boy Sulaymān, and blessings for the high holidays. The addressee is probably the sender's brother-in-law, as Sulaymān is the son of the addressee and of "the dear sister" Sitt al-Ḥasan. The Niessen and Shivtiel catalogue suggests that there are also well wishes for a good match ('shiddukh'), but it is not clear where this is mentioned. EMS. ASE.

Informal note addressed to Abū l-Bahāʾ. In Arabic script. In which the sender apparently insists half a dozen times that he has fulfilled his promise to purchase something and send it to the addressee.

Letter referring to Saladin’s grand-nephew al-Malik al-Nasir Da’ud (‘the victorious King David’) in which he is assured of the writer’s longstanding and unfailing loyalty. Nasir is called “the sultan, may God make his victories glorious.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:354, 604) EMS

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Apparently a response to an inquiry about copies of the Torah. Not entirely clear.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Short and wide piece of paper. The content is cryptic. "When what happened happened and the messengers came and brought us [to the] police station, and my little son was stood up(?), the other one פטע(?). . . [when a certain woman] learned about this she hung on to us and said. . . and I want them to bring me the other one. . . . who worked with the shaykh my brother. . . . the gold." On verso there is Hebrew piyyuṭ,

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Perhaps 13th century. Headed by the motto הנה אל ישועתי. Fragment (upper part only). The occasion of the letter is to inform the addressee that al-Shaykh al-Rashīd Abū Manṣūr has arrived. In the margins there are very faded jottings in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. On verso there is Hebrew piyyuṭ.

Letter from an unidentified sender to [Asher?] b. Peraḥya Ḥalabī (the Aleppan). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th or early 12th century. Reports on various business matters. Mentions Barakāt b. Khulayf.

Business/family letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower left corner). Mentions Abū ʿImrān. T-S NS J533 and Moss. II,176.2 appear to be in the same hand and to be related: each includes the identical phrase "אלתוב אלקטן ואלפרו מע."

Family letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (bottom part only). Dated: Elul 498[.] AM, which is the 1220s CE. In the portion preserved before the concluding greetings, the sender complains at least twice about the gloating of enemies (shamāta). At one point (s)he exclaims O Ḥawliyya(?), O my sister! There are some more strange names in the greetings section. Greetings to: the same Ḥawliyya and her husband; ʿEli; Maʿadd(?); Ḥusayna and her husband. Greetings from: ʿUmar; Sitt al-Hāl (=Sitt al-Ahl?); Ḥaqqūn(??); Makhlūf; "I, Kātib(? or Kātim? or Khātim?)"; and "my father גיתין.

Family letter addressed to Sulaymān Abū l-Faḍl. in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 14th century or later. Most of what is preserved consists of greetings.

Formal letter in Arabic script. Dating: Maybe Mamluk-era, but this is a guess. Wide space between the lines. Difficult to understand the content. There is a note in the margin that gives some names: Dāʾūd b. Salma; Zayn; Mūsā [...]. On verso there is vocalized Hebrew literary text in an unusual hand. Needs further examination.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Consists mainly of lists of goods and numbers. Mentions people such as Abū Iskandar(!) and Abū l-Ḥasan.

Letter of appeal for charity for assistance in paying the capitation tax. In Hebrew (for the introduction) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body). At the upper left: "...al-ḥaḍra al-shaykhiyya al-ḥazzāniyya(?) Thābit Ibn al-M[...]." This would normally be the position for the sender's name, but the terms of respect suggest it is the addressee's name. But the body of the letter then clarifies that the cantor Thābit al-Kohen known as Ibn al-[...] is the one in need of help. The addressee may be a government official (he is called al-ḥaḍra al-dīwāniyya).

Letter from Hillel b. Abū l-MN[...], probably in Alexandria, to Abū l-Faraj Hilāl al-Iskandarānī, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. The sender was worried about the addressee ever since he departed. The latter's father said that "they were scared" and that "they would try to get you to al-ʿAṭf" (a town also mentioned in T-S 13J24.18 and T-S 16.284). There is reference to "a western wind from our location," and then the rest of the letter is torn away. On verso there is also an accounting note in Judaeo-Arabic (Abū l-Ḥasan b. Futūḥ collected 19.5 wariq dirhams).