Geniza Lab

Letter from Avraham ha-Reviʿi b. Shemuel ha-Shelishi, probably in Ramla, to Shelomo b. Yehuda, in Jerusalem. In Hebrew. Dating: Ca. 1040 CE. The letter is also signed by the physician ʿAmram b. Aharon ha-Kohen. (There was a liturgical poet by the name of Shemuel ha-Shelishi ("the Third") whose works survived in the Geniza and who lived around 1000, so this could well be his son.) The bearer of the letter is Moshe b. Mevasser. The senders ask the addressee to ensure that he receives the full third of his father's inheritance that is due to him; there are 3 brothers (including a Natan b. Mevasser), and none is the firstborn. Shelomo b. Yehuda writes about the same case in T-S 20.178. There is also a request "to obtain a little kohl for me to remove the whiteness from the eye of my little daughter," and a request for emblic (amlaj). There may be a reference to the controversy with Natan b. Avraham. (Information in part from Gil.) MR. ASE.

Letter from David b. Daniel to Aaron the cantor

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic (FGP). On verso vocalized piyyut.

Letter to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov, zqan ha-gola, rosh kalla.

Two copies of letters. (1) From Sherira Gaon and his son Hayya to Shemuel b. Yosef ha-Kohen, the Palestinian Gaon. Little of the substance is preserved, but it is interesting that the senders ask for the letter to be read aloud in public (in Ramla or Jerusalem). (2) Letter from Yosef b. Avitur to Shemuel ha-Kohen b. Yosef. This one is not digitized on PGP yet. It was edited by Mann, "Varia on the Gaonic Period (conclusion)," Tarbiz 6, no. 1 (1934), 84–88.

Letter from Abū l-Ḥayy b. Ḥakīm, in Sicily, to Ḥananya ha-Kohen Av Bet Din. Dating: ca. 1025 (unclear on what basis; Gil says ca. 1020, and Simonsohn says before 1020). Written on parchment. The sender reports that the letter of the Rosh Yeshiva Yoshiyyahu arrived, and it was read aloud in the synagogue. Apparently Yoshiyyahu was soliciting funds for the Jerusalem Yeshiva, and this letter is excusing the congregation for failing to donate anything. The reason is that the capitation tax has been increased to 4 1/3 טריים per head. There may be reference to a specific family (his own?) that owes the tax for four people. He claims that many of the Jews of Sicily have fled "due to fear from the rulers of the land." The community does not like to send a letter to the Rosh Yeshiva without a little money enclosed. The letter was written in Elul, and the sender says he will try to raise some funds in Tishrei. This document was edited by Gil and earlier by Mann (see discussion in Mann, Jews in Egypt and Palestine, I, 73–74).

Two epistles addressed to Ḥasday ibn Shaprut (d. c. 970), the first from a notable of Bari, the second from Yehuda b. Yaʿaqov of Rome. In rhymed Hebrew. These are later copies. The first letter narrates the martyrdom of certain rabbis of Otranto and offers an excuse for a certain Shemuel who was bearing letters and a copy of the book of Yosippon and was robbed by bandits and who rode against the bandits to try to get them back. Ed. Adler, Revue des Etudes Juives LXVII (1914), pp. 42-43, and ed. Mann, Texts & Studies vol. I pp. 23-27. Mentioned briefly in Goitein, Med Soc II, p. 242 n. 2 ("As early as the tenth century we find a physician at the head of the Jewish community of Bari in southern Italy, a town famous for its religious scholars"). Previously known as MS. Adler 2156.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, communal. Extremely ornate greetings addressed to Yosef b. Shemuel. The blessings at the bottom seem to have been outlined in red ink for greater effect.

Letter from [...] b. Ghālib to Yiṣḥaq ha-Melammed ha-Sefaradi b. Yosef. Only the address and a fairly formulaic opening are preserved ('all that delayed (wakhkhara!) my letters to you was fate and its calamities').

Letter, draft, by Efraim b. Shemarya to 'the mountain of beauty' Shelomo b. Yehuda.

Letter in Hebrew. The subject is not clear. the governor is mentioned. also mentioned Shabbat and Hanuca candles. From Zadoq b. Av to [...] ha-Revi'i

Letter to a notable in poetic Hebrew. Contains mostly honorary phrases

Letter from Daniel b. Azarya. On verso some names and jottings in Arabic

Letter from Mardūk b. Mūsā from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. August 10, 1047. Regarding shipments of goods and money. Mentions events related to the Bedouin in Egypt. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 778.)

Letter from Menashshe b. Pinhas to Yoashiahu in Cairo, mostly blessings (typicaly of letter of request)

Letter in Hebrew. Signed by [...]HL b. Shelomo Gaon. The sons of the addressee, Shemarya and Moshe, are mentioned. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from Eli Ha-Kohen b. Ezekiel, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, Fustat, approximately 1030. The writer cites his illness as an excuse for something (recto, 18–19).

Letter from ʿImrān b. Yehuda to Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm/Avraham b. Natan he-ḥaver. The sender had heard that the addressee had had a child (mawlūd) and congratulates him and wishes to hear more details. (He clearly did not even know if it was a boy or a girl). (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter (fragment) by Shelomo b. Yehuda written in his own hand (Gil); 1041.

Recto: Petition or very formal letter in Arabic script. Unclear if or how it is related to verso. Begins, "al-ḥaḍra al-āliya al-jalīla...." Needs examination for content.