Geniza Lab

Large fragment of a detailed order for textiles, specifying 18 different colors, sent to Spain, perhaps from al- Ahwaz. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 106, and from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a letter from Yisrael b. Natan, Jerusalem, probably to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. The letter deals with trades, especially of fabrics. Yisrael b. Natan returns some pearls to Fustat because he is disappointed with their marred color. He asks that they be sold in Fustat, and some carnelians purchased with the money. Nahray is also asked to urgently provide parchment in order for Yisrael to do some work as a scribe. The last part is about Avraham b. ha-Gaon Shelomo b. Yehuda. Yisrael asks Nahray for bitumen (qifār) for his eye problem because he cannot get any in Jerusalem; see also T-S 12.364; T-S 13J26.4; and T-S 10J10.24. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 3, pp. 145-148, #472) VMR. ASE.

Letter from Ayash b. Ṣedaqa, Alexandria, to an unknown addressee. Dating: January 1051. Lists of goods that were bought or sold. Some details about the market and credit conditions as well as details about shipping. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #486) VMR

Verso: Letter from a father, unknown location, to his son Baqāʾ, in Fustat. The letter was sent to the shop of Meshullam/Musallam to be held for the addressee. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 12th century. Written on verso of an Arabic petition to a high Fatimid official; Goitein suggests that the sender of the Judaeo-Arabic letter may have been an official in the same office (hence with access to this scrap paper). The father has sent 20 dirhams with Abū l-ʿAlāʾ, of which 11 dirhams are for the capitation tax and the remainder for his wife ("bayt"). He exhorts his son to behave well (ḥusn al-ʿishra) with the latter's mother, wife, and siblings. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.) ASE

Letter from Bu l-Khayr to the local school teacher, asking him for a loan of 400 dirhams against a security to help him out until his partner Manṣūr comes back. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Document in Arabic script, in a calligraphic hand, without wide space between the lines. Likely a letter. Five lines are preserved, but they are very faded. Appears to mention "the pillars of the bathhouse" (arkān al-ḥammām). Needs further examination.

Letter(s) in Ladino, with occasional sentences in Hebrew. The sender of the main letter has had an attack of "mal de ojo" (evil eye? or simply an eye disease?). Most of the letter deals with business matters, including the trade in indigo (אנייר) and wine. Mentions many people, including ʿOvadya; Shemuel Amato; Moshe ʿOvadya; Moshe Botaril. Mentions places such as Alexandria and Crete. Addressed to Yaʿaqov Kapiloti (?קאפילוטי). Needs further examination.

Three long drafts of letters in elaborate Hebrew, sent from the court in Fustat. The first deals with the cantor Yiṣḥaq of Ṣahrajt who permitted a woman to marry before three months from her divorce had elapsed. Dating: Early 11th century. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Letter (with Fatimid petition/report formulary) sent by the shammash (beadle) of Sunbāṭ in the center of the delta to Shemuel ha-Nagid (1140–59) describing a brawl and accusing the opponents of having arranged with the wali beforehand to look the other way. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 368, 369, and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter sent by the community of Fustat to a place in the Egyptian Rif, asking to help a Palestinian, as the local people had just paid the capitation tax for ninety poor men. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 95)

Letter sent from Cairo to Bilbays containing a request to contribute to the capitation tax of a poor teacher and his son. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Saadya Ha-Ḥaver, Hebron, to Evyatar Gaon, Fustat, beginning of 1082.

Letter addressed to Mevorakh b. Yefet. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning the arrangements for the sender's upcoming marriage (e.g., the stipulations of the ketubba and the size of the marriage payments) and seeking instructions from the addressee.

Business letter addressed to Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen Sijilmāsī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Barakāt Ibn al-Lebdī; Hārūn b. Rajā; Efrayim b. Ismāʿīl. (Goitein's attached notes may refer to several other documents other than this one; Goitein quotes a sender who says “I cannot undertake for the third year a voyage [to Aden]," and he makes some date calculations mentioning the years 1131, 1134, and 1135.) Goitein's attached notes also contain a full transcription.

Letter from Nahray b. Natan b. Nahray, in Alexandria, to a certain Abū Saʿīd. Fragment (upper part only). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late 11th century. The sender and his father, both residents of Alexandria, are known to have exchanged letters with their relative, Nahray b. Nissim. (Gil mistakenly identified the sender as Nahray b. Nissim himself.) In this letter, Nahray b. Natan writes that he has received a letter with a list of merchandise sent to Fustat by Abū Sulaymān Dāʾūd Ibn al-Lebdī. The list of merchandise is valuable for the study of the Indian Ocean trade. The sender says that he has sent two purses of 100 dinars each with two different messengers and asks the addressee to buy several items for him. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book I.)

Letter from Yosef b. Shemuel ha-Levi known as Ibn al-Lukhtūsh, probably in Granada, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, probably staying somewhere in Spain not far from Granada. Dating: October 1138 CE. In Judaeo-Arabic. See also IV,3 and IV,40, other letters with the same sender and addressee. This letter testifies to the recognition that Yosef accorded to Ḥalfon as a leader with stature in the Jewish world. The sender comments on a letter he received from Ḥalfon containing things that disturbed his peace, probably meaning Ḥalfon’s precarious health and things that prevented him from setting out and difficulties in trading. The sender hopes that business with Tilimsān has reached a successful conclusion, probably a reference to the same affairs as in IV,30 (at which time the money from Tilimsān had not yet arrived). The letter also includes information on other financial matters, including money given by the author to Ḥalfon for a copyist and cantor. A greeting is sent to Abū l-Barakāt b. Harith al-Levi, who arrived in Almeria from Alexandria in August 1138 CE. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Letter addressed to Moshe ha-Dayyan, who has a son named Yosef. The sender reports that Avraham was grateful for the favor of the addressee and the favor of al-Nadiv. Avraham has sent a letter enclosed with this one, and the addressee is asked to take a look and respond to all of Avraham's needs. The letter sent by Avraham is presumably the same one written on verso, which contains numerous questions about Talmudic passages and the glosses of "the Frenchman" (Rashi?).

Family letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Almost certainly from a woman, addressed to her cousin (ibn ʿamm). Goitein describes it as a "fragment of a family letter warning a young husband not to squander his wife’s trousseau." The relationships will take some work to figure out. The sender reports that a certain woman heard that her sister's husband is in prison. Referring to another man, "he and his wife are doing well." Then, "Please ask her husband to let her stay with us until she give birth, so that we can look after her, I and her sister. At this point, she inserts the threats—if the husband touches the dowry, she will send a petition/complaint to the Nagid informing him of everything. The sender has sent with Umm Hiba the bearer of the letter two shirts and two malʿabs (toys?). She has purchased garments for the woman and for her mother-in-law (apparently an effort to win her good graces so that she treats her daughter-in-law well, as he writes, "if I hear that she treats her well, God Almighty will reward her"). If the pregnant woman's own mother were not sick, she would have traveled to her. Regards to "the dear girl" and her children and her husband. "I have sent you 3 [...] for the children." מפרכה and her sister send regards. (Information in part from Oded Zinger.) ASE

Family letter, partly in Hebrew and partly in Judaeo-Arabic. The handwriting seems to be that of the judge Mevorakh b. Natan. Dated: End of Ṭevet 1492 Seleucid, which is 1180/81 CE. There is a long passage (in rhymed Hebrew) about the addressee's mother ailing ever since he departed for Alexandria with the caravan. The scribe wrote the letter while very sick (marīḍ lāzim lā aʿaql ʿalā nafsī min al-ḥamāʾil(?) ṣudāʿ(?) al-bārī yulaṭṭif bi-raḥmatihi fa-tabsuṭ al-ʿadhr...). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Letter, fragmentary, conveying praises to the addressee.