Geniza Lab

Business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender addresses a certain Avraham and a certain Abūn (both on recto). Most of the commodities mentioned are materia medica, including balm seed (ḥabb al-balasān), chebulic myrobalan, rhubarb, and kohl. Very faded. There are also remnants of a few words in very large Arabic script, perhaps from a state document. ASE

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic (FGP). Very damaged.

Communal letter in Hebrew. Wide space between the lines. Mentions [...] b. ʿAmram.

Letter of appeal, probably. In Hebrew. Mentions the addressee's brother who married a wife. Goes on to complain about the hardships of fate.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic (FGP). Remnants of 7 lines on recto and verso.

Letter in Ladino to Shelomo Almanas or Almatango[?] on verso from Aharon ha-Kohen dated [54?]78 or [53?]78. The latter year seems more likely because the third digit is expressed with a character that most closely resembles "ש" and alongside "٧٨" or 1617-1618CE. This is a very distinct hand with a great deal of curvature expressed in cursive ligatures. In lines 7-10v the letter's author discusses a transaction in selling items whose color is under consideration and this sale continues as the topic of the marginal section. MCD. On recto is a list of Amoraim and where they are mentioned in the Talmud. Information from FGP.

Business letter. In Hebrew. Dating: Late, probably no earlier than 16th century. There are jottings and elaborate signatures on verso. Needs examination.

Business letter in Arabic script. The sender complains that his previous letters were unanswered and wonders if the addressee has heard anything detrimental. He orders ten فرسي(?) garments and ten garments in white. The sheet is cut out from a list of contributions; on the verso are some Arabic jottings and around it is a list of contributions containing twenty-three names. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Contains the formulaic opening and a few words of the body.

Business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Small fragment.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Small fragment. Mentions Ibn al-Muʿallim Yaʿqūb.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. There are the remnants of 6 lines. Mentions Abū Isḥāq al-Kohen.

Letter in Arabic script with some Hebrew mixed in (בהיכלו). Faded and damaged. A portion of the address is preserved; the sender's name may be Sahl b. Thābit.

Letter in elegant Arabic script. Fragment (right side of recto). Sent from Ramla (l. 2). The content is unclear, but the tone is deferential and the sender is evidently asking for a favor of some kind. Dating: Likely 11th century. On verso, apart from the address, are numerous jottings of different kinds in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic (including one calendrical that states that the sun was created in Nisan). Needs examination.

Letter from a teacher to the father of a pupil. In Judaeo-Arabic, fully vocalized. Need examination for content. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Writing exercises based on a business letter. "I have sent you with Abū l-Faraj.... use it to buy 20 dinars of cinnamon... a dinar of pepper... a dinar of קסט... a dinar of mastic..." (Information in part from Goitein's index card)

Petition. Dating: Late 16th or early 17th century, as it involves the well-known rabbi and judge Ḥayyim Kapūsī (1540–1631). The petitioner makes accusations against a Jewish man named Saʿd b. al-ʿAyṣī(?) who held the rights to a capitation tax farm (kāna multazim bi-muqāṭaʿat al-jawālī) but who was caught up in some sort of scandal (unkira ʿalayhi min al-amwāl al-muḥarrara ʿalayhi li-jānib al-dīwān) and had to leave Egypt for a long time. He eventually returned and attached himself to the court of Ḥayyim al-Kapūsī. Now, whenever litigants come before the court, he extorts bribes from them and hinders them from bringing cases before the Muslim courts. He infringes on people's rights, especially the poor and anyone who does not pay him enough of a bribe. The addressees are asked to send two witnesses to observe the truth of these claims and then act against the wicked man. The Hebrew script in the margin likely belongs with the accounts on verso; it does not appear to be a filing note. This document is particularly noteworthy, because the most famous hagiographical anecdote about Ḥayyim Kapūsī (also spelled Capoussi or Capousi) is that he miraculously regained his eyesight after being accused of taking bribes, thereby proving his righteousness and silencing his enemies. ASE

Letter of congratulation for the holidays. Written in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Probably a draft, as the fragment was already torn before this text was written. The text of the letter draft is surrounded by copious jottings in Hebrew and Arabic.

Letter from Shemarya b. Maṣliaḥ, in Fustat, to the Nagid Yaʿaqov b. ʿAmram, in Qayrawān. Dating: probably spring or summer of 1039 CE, and in any case 1038–42 CE, the period of conflict between Natan b. Avraham and Shelomo b. Yehuda over the gaʾonate in Palestine. The letter drafts on both recto and verso are about that conflict and the question of the loyalties of the community of Qayrawān. Signed by Shemarya but from a group of people; Shemarya's signature is in a different hand from the letter itself, and according to Gil, the scribe is Ghālib b. Moshe ha-Kohen, the son-in-law of Efrayim b. Shemarya. Both Gil and Cohen assume that additional leaders of the Fustat community were planning to sign the letter. This letter covers some of the same ground as the letter on verso; we additionally learn that the support that Natan b. Avraham claimed to have secured in the Maghreb came from the elders of Qayrawān. Jacob Mann published T-S 18J4.16, and Mark Cohen discovered the join with ENA 3765.10 and the significance of this pair of letters. (Information from Goitein, Cohen, Gil, and CUDL.)

Letter from Avraham b. David Ibn Sughmār (according to Gil), in Fustat, to the Nagid Yaʿaqov b. ʿAmram, in Qayrawān. Dating: Probably spring or summer of 1039 CE, and in any case 1038–42 CE, during the period of conflict between Natan b. Avraham and Shelomo b. Yehuda over the gaʾonate in Palestine. The letter drafts on both recto and verso are about the conflict and the loyalties of the community of Qayrawān. The sender asks the Nagid, who had previously petitioned the Muslim official Abū l-Qāsim Ibn al-Ukhuwwa on Natan’s behalf, to show his renewed support for the legitimate gaʾon, Shelomo b. Yehuda. This letter also mentions the arrival in Fusṭāṭ of the Nasi Daniel b. ʿAzarya and presents him as a great reformer, banning the ownership of female slaves, excommunicating miscreants, and cracking down on music. As an afterthought, the sender alludes to terrible wrongs being inflicted by Natan b. Avraham's relatives. One remarkable thing about this letter is that it was written at least a decade before Daniel b. ʿAzarya served as gaʾon (beginning in 1051 CE after the death of Shelomo b. Yehuda). It's also one of the key sources for Daniel b. ʿAzarya's lineage: it says that his father was the exilarch ʿAzarya b. Shelomo b. Zakkay, whose elder son Zakkay (Daniel's brother) established the dynasty of Nasis in Mosul whose descendants crop up throughout the Geniza documents of the next two centuries. Jacob Mann published T-S 18J4.16, and Mark Cohen discovered the join with ENA 3765.10 and the significance of this pair of letters. (Information from Goitein, Cohen, Gil, and CUDL.)