Geniza Lab

Maghribī mercantile letter. Dating: Probably 11th century. From Ibrāhīm b. [...], likely in Tripoli (Libya), to an unidentified addressee, likely in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee is asked to go to Mukhtār and frighten him over the 2.75 dinars, since the sender has had to pay this sum to Ibn al-Tāhertī. He mentions appointing an agent and the name Ibn Ṭalyūn and "to collect it from him, a little bit every week." Greetings to many people: the addressee's son Abū l-Faḍl; Ḥasan and his children; Ṣadaqa and his children; Abū Naṣr; Abū [...]; Sulaymān; Samīḥ; Mūsā. Written on parchment. Needs to be unfolded and conserved. Uncited in the literature.

Letter addressed to a woman. In Judaeo-Arabic. The letter contains instructions about money to be received and/or paid; mentions the army (al-ʿaskar); mentions Abū l-Maḥāsin and Abū Isḥāq. Toward the end of verso, the writer explains that he (or she?) will travel with another man and the little girl (al-ṣughayyira), while the addressee(s) should remain in Egypt. Then: "If you wish to marry your daughter to al-Raḍiyy and stay in Egypt--then stay! And if you do not wish, do not marry her to anyone." This reading is not certain, as the letter is quite damaged. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Persian. נדאשתם דיגר בה דל אז . . . . נמיתואנסתם ברדאשתן . . .

Letter in Judaeo-Persian. Needs examination.

Letter in Judaeo-Persian. Needs examination.

Letter addressed to R. Natan ha-Kohen. Extremely faded.

Letter from Binyamin Castro to a business partner. In Hebrew. Dating: 16th century. Informing the addressee about the death of Moshe b. Shoshan (ll. 2–3), a merchant of Alexandria who had dealings with Venetian merchants and consuls (ll. 4–5). Moshe also owed the writer some money (ll. 3–4). He asks the addressee to assist him in taking possession of merchandise belonging to the late Moshe and thereby getting his debt repaid (ll. 11–12, 14–15). "For now the partnership between us is annulled" (ll. 15–16). But he is prepared to renew the partnership with the apotropos Yaʿaqov ha-Levi. There is further discussion of business in khiyār (purging cassia?) (ll. 16–18, 23–25) in partnership with Yehuda al-Ashqar. Mentions financial trouble with the çavuş and the basha and the defterdar and asks for the addressee's help. Information from A. David's edition on FGP.

Letter from an unknown man to his niece (bint al-akh). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 13th century. He opens, "How long will you remain a widow?" The writer has found her a promising suitor who recently visited Bilbays, a learned man who works as a teacher, the son of the sister of the teacher Bū l-Ḥasan Hillel al-Shanshāwī. The writer urges the addressee to send the suitor a letter (? תדפעי לה מן ענדך) and go along with this plan. He continues to urge her to cease wasting her youth in spinsterhood ("for I am a man and I was older(?) than you and I did not sit (i.e. as a widower)."). Cairo is also mentioned. The letter ends very abruptly with none of the formulaic regards, so this was probably a draft.

Letter with a long rhymed Hebrew opening and later a section in Judaeo-Arabic. The letter was sent to Yaaqov he-haver b. Yosef Av bet din in Aleppo from Meir ha-Kohen b. Pinhas, 11th century. Published in Miriam Frenkel's MA thesis on Aleppo.

Letter, first part, flowery, from the Qaraite community of Egypt to that of Damascus. Later than the classical Geniza period.

Literary, or, if a letter, a literary one. Judaeo-Arabic on one side and poetic Hebrew on the other.

Letters dealing with communal matters surrounding the dispute between Shelomo b. Yehuda and Natan b. Avraham, glued together and reused for the epistle of Sherira Gaon. Per Gil, copied by Ibn Sughmār for the benefit of the nagid of Qayrawān and his followers (who must have known the work well). The passage describes a gaonic schism at Pumbedita in the 820s that was resolved peacefully when Yosef bar Ḥiyya relinquished the office and contented himself with the position of av bet din, allowing Avraham bar Sherira to reign unchallenged. The message Ibn Sughmār intended the passage to convey: like Yosef bar Ḥiyya, Natan b. Avraham should step down from the gaonate and be content with his former title; like Avraham bar Sherira, Shelomo b. Yehuda's position should be uncontested. (Information from Rustow, Heresy, 314)

Jottings and drafts of phrases both from a petition (yuqabbil al-arḍ) and an order of payment (yadfaʿ li-muwaṣṣilhā) addressed to al-Shaykh al-Makīn Abū l-Faraj (early 13th century). There is also one line in Arabic script. These are written in the margins and on verso of a literary Hebrew text (seems liturgical or piyyuṭ). There are also various pen trials.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Peraḥya. Fragment (upper left corner). In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Yefet has purchased a quarter-mann of muql (this refers either to the gum resin called bdellium OR to the edible fruit of the doum palm — see Bos et al, Marwān Ibn Janāḥ, entries 294, 521, and 1044). He gives instructions regarding what to purchase, including sorrel seed (bizr ḥummāḍ), and what not to purchase.

Note signed by Yaʿaqov Ṣarfati stating that Shimʿon will give 8.5 of something to the holy congregation of בטאת(?). Dated: Wednesday, 3 Rabīʿ II, דעצה(?). Late. This small note was written on the back of a piece of paper cut from Judaeo-Arabic accounts (which mention David Ḥazzan and David Shammash).

Notebook containing miscellaneous drafts of panegyric letters. In the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. See specific records for specific documents within the notebook. In addition to the letters, there is a medical prescription in Arabic script.

Recto with the address on verso: Letter from a man whose name is too faded to read, near al-Mahdiyya, to his 'brother' ʿArūs b. Yosef, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender is certainly a family member but may not be an actual brother (it looks like his father's name might be [Hi]lāl or [Bi]lāl rather than Yosef). The sender complains about his difficult circumstances and poverty and old age and presumably goes on to ask for money, but the specifics of his request are quite faded. "If you saw me you would not know me (cf. T-S 12.261 and T-S 6J6.19) on account of old age and lack of resources, and how I have to go up to al-Mahdiyya twice a day and the husband of [...] paternal uncle and my maternal aunt and my mother are (burdens) on my neck, and I have no strength but through God. I am worn down: even the prosperous are worn down in al-Mahdiyya, how much the more an old man without property or someone to take pity on me (? ḥanīn). By the truth of this letter, I do not take from the Muslim with whom I am staying any more than 2 gold qirats, and if it is enough for weekdays, there remains Shabbat and holidays and clothing. The qinṭār of flax has arrived with Ibn al-Futūrī, may God reward all of you and preserve your son for you." He goes on to swear "by the bread and salt that is between us" not to neglect his request. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

minute fragments from different, unrelated documents, containing letters and legal documents.

Right fragment: Note in Judaeo-Arabic. "I have sent with Rabbi Ahuv 10 Kāmilī dirhams..."

Left side fragment: Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Elyaqim, in Jerusalem, to the judge Shemuel b. Sīd, in Fustat/Cairo. In Hebrew and Ladino. Dating: Early 17th century. Reports on the order of prayers being conducted in Jerusalem (as acknowledgment of a financial contribution?): 3 psalms, 3 qinnot, a qaddish, seliḥot and another qaddish, 30 psalms and a qaddish. ("This is done because of the command and the will of Your Mercy. . .")