Geniza Lab

Right side fragment: Letter addressed to Shemuel b. Sīd. In Hebrew. Dating: Early 17th century. Needs examination for content. In the upper margin of recto, it refers to the death of Yosef and to his son Shelomo b. Yosef.

Letter from Nissim b. Salāma to his father Salāma b. Nissim. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th century. The writer reports on various financial matters, reports that everyone in his location is in good health, and conveys his preoccupation on behalf of his father, his grandfather, and his paternal aunt. He heard that all of them were "mutakassil," an obscure word referring to some type of illness—Goitein suggests fatigue. Information from Goitein's index cards. ASE.

Letter addressed to a Nagid (Avraham Maimuni or his son David), reporting about payments.

Letter (lower fragment) by Nahray b. Nissim containing instructions about merchandise and payments. Dated ca. 1055. (Information from Gil)

Letter written on behalf of a woman who complains that someone pawned an amount of one dinar. She asks her addressee to take from him what he owes her. At the top of document someone added in Judaeo-Arabic דכרת (the same word that begins the Arabic-script letter), and at the bottom is the Hebrew formula שלומו יגדל "may his peace increase," One of the people in the letter is named Hilāl b. Aharon Ibn al-Shammāʿ. (Information from Naïm Vanthieghem and Oded Zinger)

Letter, calligraphic, written in alternating Hebrew and Arabic. Dealing with political machinations and silencing enemies. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Letter addressed to Sitt al-Khayr. It seems that the writer had learned that Sitt al-Khayr's daughter was going to get married and expresses her expectation in the letter to receive an invitation. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Umm Abū ʿAlī, in the Rif, likely near Damīra, to her son Isḥāq, in Fustat. The latter may live with his aunt and uncle, as the letter is addressed to the writer's sister’s son, Abū l-Munā. The writer is ill, and she repeatedly tells Isḥāq to tell Umm Abū l-Munā to send myrobalan and a medicinal syrup back with the messenger, presumably to be furnished by Abu l-Muna’s father who is a maker of syrups (sharābī). Isḥāq's wife seems to be pregnant (the writer is waiting for "khalāṣ zawjatak"). The writer invites her sister Umm Abū l-Munā to visit her in the village by promising plenty of watermelons to eat. This letter is mentioned in Mediterranean Society, I, p. 121. The Arabic address reads: "yaṣil hādhā l-kitāb ilā waladī al-shaykh Abū l-Munā b. Abū Surrī al-sharābī min khālatihi Umm Abū ʿAlī ... dār al-wāzīr (or wāzīn?)." ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (last 6 lines). Names: Mūsā Ibn al-Sofer; Yosef Ibn al-ʿŪdī; Abū l-Surūr; Yiṣḥaq. Then a warning: "beware of delay..." (the same warning appears in official letters from some of the later Maimonidean Nagids, which would be consistent with the handwriting of this letter).

Letter addressed to Khalaf b. Seʿadya. Formal letter with wide space between the lines. Only the Hebrew introduction is preserved.

Letter about betrothal of minor girls from David b. Daniel.

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī al-Ḥayy, from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1057. Regarding sending goods in leather sacks. Musa returned from the Maghreb. He is planning to travel to Tripoli. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #454) VMR

Letter fragment: bottom right corner only. Mentions health, items to be sent, and regards to various people including Najīb al-Dīn (?). There is a note in the margin mentioning "your ghulām."

Recto: Letter from a teacher to a parnas. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely late 11th or early 12th century, based on the mention of Abū l-Bishr Azhar (see Bodl. MS heb. c 50/16-17 and index of Gil, Kingdom). The writer asks to be paid his weekly salary in addition to what is still owed him from last week. He has already (unsuccessfully) applied to Abū l-Bishr Azhar and to Abū Yaʿqūb with the same request. In support of the urgency of his request, he emphasizes that his wife is severely ill (bi-maraḍ khaṭir ṣaʿb). He is not explicitly identified as a teacher, but Goitein perhaps deduced this from the fact that he is both impoverished and receives a weekly salary from the community chest. Information in part from Goitein's note card. Verso: Reused for accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Letter fragment in the hand of the clerk of Yehoshuaʿ Hanagid regarding taxation, including the fee for the police (tarsīm). Mentioned in Goitein, "The Twilight of the House of Maimonides," Tarbiz 54 (1984), 92.

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Persian. Mentioning Abū al-ʿAlā (בולעלא), Mihrōy/Mihrwayh (מהרוי) and "the daughter of Reuben the draper" (דוכתר ראובן יבזאז). The letter is labeled "L11" in Shaul Shaked's (unpublished) classification of Early Judeo-Persian texts. OH

Half of a letter (left side of recto, right side of verso) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. He mentions missing them during the holiday; arrangements with garments and silver; Menashshe, Shemaryah, the Rayyis; praying for his family to have success in something; that he is doing just fine; Abu l-Yusr is critically ill. ASE.

Letter from Abū l-ʿAlā' b. ʿAyyāsh to his 'brother' in Fustat. In Arabic script. The sender mentions that he is unemployed (qāʿid baṭṭāl). Needs examination. On verso there is a list in Judaeo-Arabic containing names and numbers (see separate record).

Business letter dealing with shipments of textiles within Egypt. The name Abu al-Ḥasan is mentioned. addresed to Barakāt b. Khulayf.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Nearly complete. The sender is annoyed at the addressee for not coming to visit either at night or in the morning. He has enclosed another letter with this one, which should be given to a woman named Naẓar, whether in al-Maḥalla or elsewhere. Greetings to Abū l-Faḍl.