Order of payment issued by Abū Zikrī Kohen to his banker, Abū l-Ḵayr Ḵiyyār, instructing him to pay on account of the household of Amīn al-Dawlā 100 dinars. Dated Av 1451 (= 1140 CE).Condition: HolesLayout: 5 lines (recto); jotting (verso)
Order of payment issued by Abū Zikrī Kohen to his banker, Abū l-Ḵayr Ḵiyyār, instructing him to pay Abū l-Faḍl 7 dinars. Dated Av 1451 (= 1140 CE).Condition: HolesLayout: 5 lines (recto; verso is blank)
Letter from by the physician Abū Zikrī b. Abū l-Faraj b. al-Rayyis, currently in the service of the Sultan al-Malik al-ʾAzīz (Saladin's son and successor), to his father, describing his inconsolable grief and mourning after the death of a younger brother. Mentions a number of dignitaries from the Ayyubid courtLayout: 53 lines + marginalia (recto); 48 lines + marginalia (verso)
Letter from Abū Zikrī b. Abū l-Riḍā to Yešuʿa b. Zechariah, mentioning correspondence and dealings with a large number of people, including Ḥasan, the servant of Menaḥem, Abū l-Faraj the glazier, Simḥa, ʿAbd al-Muḥsin b. Ḥarb al-Mukārī, Joseph, Samuel, and Abū l-Ḥasan.Condition: holesLayout: 27 lines (recto; verso is blank)
Letter from the army doctor Abū Zikrī to his father Elijah b. Zechariah, written shortly before 1227 CE. He writes from Alexandria to convince his father to take the post of judge in Alexandria. He promises his father that he will procure a pension for him from the Ayyubid sultan al-Malik al-Kamil (r. 1218-1238) and reports on the downfall of the Muslim governor and the Jewish Nasi of Alexandria and suggests that his father could get a position in that town if he so wanted.Condition: Torn, holes, stained, slightly rubbedLayout: 24-31 lines + marginalia
Letter from Abū Zikrī b. Ḥananel to ʿArūs b. Joseph concerning business matters, and mentioning commodities such as sal ammoniac.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 19 lines + marginalia (recto); 8 lines (verso)
Recto: letter from the uncle of Solomon b. Elijah’s wife, Abū l-Barakāt in Alexandria, to Solomon and his wife. The uncle takes exception to Solomon calling his wife ‘shameless’ and says that when he heard that Solomon had beat his wife, the family had threatened to intervene. However, afraid of gossip, the family had decided against an intervention. The dispute between Solomon and his wife was to do with a lack of housework on her part. Verso: accounts in Arabic and Hebrew script.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 38 lines (recto); 3 lines + accounts + jottings (verso)
Recto: letter to Elijah the judge from Abū l-Barakāt in Alexandria, reporting the death of Rabbi Samuel. This is probably the same Abū l-Barakāt, uncle of Solomon b. Elijah’s wife, whose handwriting can be seen in T-S 13J8.23. Verso: prayer, starting אתה חונן לאדם דעת מלמד, asking for forgiveness from sin, and jottings giving the start of verses and mentioning the name Abū Naṣr b. Abū Qayn. 13th century.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 37 lines (recto); 13 lines + marginalia (verso)
Letter to the judge Elijah from his wife’s nephew Abū l-Barakāt Ibn al-‘Aṭṭār (son of the perfumer).Condition: rubbedLayout: 31 lines + marginalia (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Barakāt b. Ṭayyib, whose son is in Dammūh. He sends greetings to Abū Naṣr and Abū l-Ṭāhir.Condition: holesLayout: 19 lines (recto; verso is blank)
A letter referring to family and business matters, sent from Abū l-Bayān to his father. Many names are mentioned, including Abū l-Mufaḍḍal, Maʿālī b. Qisqās, Abū l-Riḍā and Abū Isḥāq b. Pinḥas. Also mentions the toponyms Cairo and Tinnīs.Condition: good conditionLayout: 87 lines + marginalia (recto); 1 line (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Faraj to ‘the judge’, mentioning ‘the leader’ Abraham, and the elders Menaḥem, Mubayyin and Abū Saʿīd. On verso is a postscript to Abū l-ʿAlā al-Zajjāj (the glass maker) and accounts in Arabic script with Coptic numerals.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 8 lines + marginalia (recto); 4 lines + jottings (verso)
Letter to Umm Joseph, mother-in-law of Bayyān al-Buḵtaj (‘the cooked’?), inquiring after her health, from Abū l-Faraj. Elijah the judge, to whom the letter is sent, is asked to read it out to her. On verso is a list of people including Abū ʿAlī, Manṣūr b. Naqqād, Ḥusayn, Jacob, Joseph b. Solomon, Ṣedaqa b. Abū Naṣr, Sulaymān Ibn al-Parnas, etc.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 15 lines + marginalia (recto); 10 lines (verso)
Letter in which the husband and the paternal uncle Abū l-Faraj try to persuade the addressee, a woman in the city, to join her husband in a small countryside town. The letter includes some threats—such as the wife being left as an abandoned woman if she disobeys—and instructions on how she should go about the move. Mentions Abū l-Ḥajjāj Ibn al-Ṭabīb (son of the doctor) and ‘the judge’ (possibly Elijah b. Zechariah, as handwriting looks similar to Solomon b. Elijah, who may have acted as a scribe). C. 13th century.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 18 lines + marginalia (recto); 23 lines (verso)
Abū l-Faraj Hārūn, Muḵtaṣar Hidāyat al-Qāriʾ (‘Shorter Guide for the Reader’): vocalisation of certain words with segol/ṣere and with qameṣ and pataḥ, quoting Job 31:35; 8:19; 33:29; Leviticus 15:25; Psalms 42:10; 43:2; Job 7:20.Condition: torn, stainedLayout: 7 lines
Abū l-Faraj Hārūn, Muḵtaṣar Hidāyat al-Qāriʾ (‘Shorter Guide for the Reader’): on vocalisation/accents, e.g. the vocalisation of קול with qameṣ or ḥolem, quoting Psalms 35:10; Proverbs 19:7;Condition: tornLayout: 7 lines (recto); 6 lines (verso)
Abū l-Faraj Hārūn, Muḵtaṣar Hidāyat al-Qāriʾ (‘Shorter Guide for the Reader’): on accents.Condition: badly torn, holesLayout: 6 lines (recto; verso is blank)
Abū l-Faraj Hārūn, Muḵtaṣar Hidāyat al-Qāriʾ (‘Shorter Guide for the Reader’): on the exchanges of the letters.Condition: torn, holes, slightly rubbed, slightly fadedLayout: 12 lines (recto); 11 lines (verso)
Part of a begging letter, c. 1025 CE, written by Abū l-Faraj al-Ḥaver, in Tiberias, to Abū l-Ṭayyib the cantor, in which Jewish lepers, who reside in Tiberias in order to seek treatment in its hot springs, describe their symptoms, including deafness, blindness and mutilations, and ask for financial assistance from the Jewish community in Fusṭāṭ. In the main text of the letter, and in the one line of Hebrew in the address on the verso, blank spaces remain in which to insert the name of the recipient and his father. The remaining two lines on the verso are the address in Judaeo-Arabic.Condition: torn, holesLayout: 12 lines (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Faraj b. Hillel to the Nagid Mevoraḵ b. Saʿadya, pertaining to business of a bee farm, and mentioning people including Abū Ḡālib the tax farmer of Jazīrat Qawsiniyya.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 13 lines + marginalia (recto); 2 lines (verso)
Recto: letter. Verso: note, probably accompanying some kind of consignment, from Abū l-Faraj b. Mubārak to Abū l-Faḵr.Condition: tornLayout: 3 lines (recto); 6 lines (verso)
Recto: letter to Abū ʿAlī Ezekiel b. Isaac from Abū l-Faraj b. Qasāsa (cf T-S 13J26.20), concerned with business issues. Mentions commodities such as cotton, and people such as al-Bayrūtī. Verso: a postscript or draft of a letter in a different hand.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 17 lines (recto); 16 lines (verso)
Recto: letter written by Abū l-Faraj b. Ḵalaf. Much of the script is erased or very faint. Mentions a certain Ibn Abū Isḥāq. Verso: either postscript or short note ‘I just heard from Abū […]’, sending instructions ‘to be given to the elder [...] Elijah’.Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, faded, stainedLayout: 34 lines + marginalia (recto); 8 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Faḍl and his mother to his father Abū Naṣr, complaining about the hardship of the family after the father had left them without support.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 22 lines + marginalia (recto); 6 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Faḍl b. Sahl to his relative Abū Isḥāq, Ibrahim b. Ṣalḥūn. Mentions Joseph, Abū Saʿīd and his brother Naṣīr, Nahray, Abū ʿAlī, Jacob, and Abū l-Faḍl.Condition: torn, holesLayout: 17 lines + marginalia (recto); 4 lines (verso)
Letter to the judge Elijah from his brother-in-law Abū l-Faḍl in Alexandria (13th century).Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 23 lines + marginalia (recto); 3 lines + marginalia (verso)
A letter (or rather a memorandum: תדכרה) by Abū l-Hasan to his brother Barakat b. Ḵulayf. The data on the list on verso (which is part of the letter) was copied from Hibat Allah b. Ḵalaf al-Ḥamawī’s notebook. The writer complains that he couldn’t sell the resin and mentions a transport by the ship of al-Harbī, who was apparently a Christian from a Christian land. Barakat b. Ḵulayf is a known figure active around 1080 CE. This letter is dated Sunday, 12th of Sivan (the year is not mentioned).Condition: TornLayout: 39 lines (recto); various lines in 2 columns (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Majd in Qūṣ to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal the judge, mentioning Egypt, Abū l-Riḍā, Ibn Ibrahim al-ʿArīf, Abū l-ʿAlā b. Ḥassūn, Abū l-Ḥasan and Abū l-Ḵayr. Dated 145 (= 1545) of the Seleucid Era (= 1234 CE).Condition: holesLayout: 36 lines + marginalia (recto); 29 lines + marginalia (verso)
Beginning of a letter from Abū l-Majd, probably to the house of his son Abū l-Maḥāsin b. Abū l-Majd in Maḥalla.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 6 lines (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Recto: order of payment by Abū l-Majd to Abū l-Faḍl al-Ṣayrafī the cantor and treasurer to pay Surūr al-Zayyāt (‘the olive oil trader’). Verso: Arabic note concerning payment.Condition: torn, holesLayout: 6 lines (recto); 4 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Majd to Barakāt b. Hārūn Ibn al-Kūzī in Alexandria, sent via the shop of Maḥāsin al-Ḥarīrī. He describes the difficult times and his illness, and the problems of selling an ill slave girl.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 25 lines + marginalia (recto); 28 lines (verso)
Recto: letter from the cantor Abū l-Majd, sending congratulations for the birth of a boy, and asking whether ‘the prayer’ will be held on the Sabbath or on the day of the circumcision. Verso: probably part of an official document, mentioning the sultan.Condition: tornLayout: 10 lines (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Majd and his father Abū l-Faraj to Elijah the judge (13th century).Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 33 lines + marginalia (recto); 31 lines (verso)
Letter to Abū l-Manṣūr from Abū l-Majd b. Ṯābit (probably Abū l-Majd Meʾir b. Yaḵin).Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, fadedLayout: 2 lines (recto); 4 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Manṣūr b. Abū l-Faraj to his mother in Fusṭāṭ, sending greetings to his wife, Abū l-Ḥasan, Abū l-Bišr, Abū Naṣr, Abū l-Karam and his children.Condition: holesLayout: 23 lines + marginalia (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Manṣūr b. Ṭāhir al-Kohen to Abū l-Manṣūr b. Isḥāq al-Dimašqī in Fusṭāṭ, mentioning the abolishment of certain taxes on Jews and Christians by Saladin, business matters, and people including Hibatullāh the trader from Tripolis and Ibn al-ʿIzz b. Bišr.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 28 lines + marginalia (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Letter to Abū Isḥāq Abraham b. Nathan ‘the Seventh’ from Abū l-Maʿālī (who calls himself ‘his son’), mentioning Passover wishes and greetings to Abū l-Ḥasan and Abū l-Najm.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 25 lines (recto); 4 lines (verso)
Letter from [Abū l-]Maʿānī in Alexandria to al-Mukarram, son of the Kohen Abū l-Baqā. He asks the addressee to thank the Nagid Abraham Maimonides for the appointment of the inspiring new teacher Abraham ha-Kohen the judge. Sent to the caravanserai al-Maḥallī.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 14 lines (recto); 2 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Maḥāsin in Alexandria to his mother Sitt Ḡazāl bint Abū ʿUmar in Fusṭāṭ, detailing his travel by boat from his mother’s place back to Alexandria. Mentions Abū ʿImrān b. Ḡulayb, Abū Isḥāq and Abū Manṣūr.Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, fadedLayout: 21 lines + marginalia (recto); 17 lines + marginalia (verso)
F.1: copy of a polemic against a Gaʾon written by Abū l-Maḥāsin, son of Abū Naṣr al-Ḥasīd. F.2: treatise concerning prayer times.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 16-17 lines (1v is blank)
Letter of Abū l-Maḥāsin b. ʿAlī the trader, introduced by citations from Proverbs 3:4, Psalms 37:11 and 119:165. Mentions consingments of medical commodities such as betel palm (fawfal), amomum (qāqulla) and quince (safarjal), a doctor’s visit and names such as Naḥūm the perfumer and Abū Manṣūr Ibn al-Ṣāʾiḡ (goldsmith), cousin of the writer.Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: 53 lines + marginalia (recto); 6 lines (verso)
Letter from a mother to her son Abū l-Maḥāsin in a hostel in the Alexandrian quarter al-Qamra. Written by Abū Manṣūr and mentioning people including Abū l-Waḥš, the shop of al-Kohen al-Siqillī and Abū l-Faraj al-Šarābī.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 21 lines + marginalia (recto); 4 lines (verso)
Recto: letter from a certain Abū l-Qasam (?). Verso: title page of a book of recipes used in the ʿAḍūḍī hospital in Baghdad.Condition: Torn, holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: 6 lines + marginalia (recto); 8 lines (verso)
Leaf from the opening of a Hebrew translation of a work by Abū l-Qāsim Ḵalaf b.ʿAbbās al-Zahrāwī, possibly a section of his Kitāb al-Taṣrīf. The name of the author is written in large letters above the introduction, which details the reasons for this translation. The first chapter, entitled ‘Burns’, begins on verso. The text also deals with blood-letting and cupping.Condition: torn, stainedLayout: 30 lines (recto); 32 lines (verso)
Recto: letter from the merchant Abū l-Riḍā ha-Kohen in Tiberias to his bother Saʿadya in Jerusalem. Abū l-Riḍā has travelled from Jerusalem to Tiberias via Nablus and Beisan (Beit Shean). Ca. 11th century. Verso: Arabic letter mentioning sums of money.Condition: Slightly fadedLayout: 28 lines (recto); various lines (verso)
Letter to Nahray b. Nissim, possibly from Abū l-Surūr, concerning various consignments. Mentions people including Samuel, Joseph, (Abū) ʿAlā, Abū Saʿd al-Ḥalabī, Nissim, Tripolis and Qīmāriyya.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 14 lines + marginalia (recto); 6 lines (verso)
Letter to Abū Naṣr b. Joseph from Abū l-Surūr Qaṭāʾif (possibly Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya b. Manasseh), reporting the arrival of Abū l-Najm Hillel, and an exchange between the latter and Abū l-Faraj al-ʿAkkāwī regarding the shipment of goods to the addressee.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 16 lines + marginalia (recto); 6 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Surūr b. Ṭarīf to Abū l-Makārim and Abū Jacob, sons of Abū Jacob Kohen, describing the severe illness of Abū l-Riḍā, ‘their brother’, and asking for doctor’s advice and medicine.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 19 lines (recto); 10 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Surūr and Abū l-Saʿd to Yaḵin b. Nathaniel. Both father and son carry the title ‘Head of the (Fusṭāṭ) Congregations’. The Nagid Moses is greeted.Condition: holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: 17 lines + marginalia (recto); 11 lines (verso)
Letter from Minyat Zifta mentioning various community affairs and expressing concern about the lack of reply to previous correspondence regarding the appointment of trustees. At the end of the letter ‘their servant’ (the normal term used for the writer) Abū l-ʿAlā is mentioned, who had been very ill. The writer also mentions Ibn Sālim al-Labbān, who is a tax farmer in Minyat Zifta, Abū l-Ḥasan צהר אלחבר, Abū l-Baqā, Bint Manṣūr […] al-Kohen al-Malījī, Bint Umm Manṣūr, Bint Umm Nawīm, Abū ʿAlī b. Sahlān, Abū Saʿd al-Malik, Abū l-Ḵayr al-Kohen, Amīn al-Dawla Abū Saʿd and his son, Abū l-Maʿāli al-Levi, Abū l-Mukārim, Abū l-ʿAlā, and also Minyat Ġamr and the Nasi.Condition: Badly torn, holesLayout: 17 lines + marginalia (recto); 10 lines (recto)
Letter from Abū l-ʿAlā al-Kohen to Tiqva b. Yešuʿa, concerning business matters and affairs in the community of Damīra. Mentions ʿAmram ha-Kohen, Abū l-Faḍl and Ibn al-Wāṣiṭī al-Kohen Mubārak.Condition: holesLayout: 19 lines + marginalia (recto); 20 lines (verso)
Letter to Elišaʿ ha-Sar ha-Levi from Abū l-ʿIzz b. Abū l-Munā, asking for support. He has been in hiding because he cannot pay the poll-tax, and his wife and children have been starving.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 28 lines + marginalia (recto; verso is blank)
Recto: letter to three men, Abū l-Barakāt, Abū l-Ḡamm (?) and Barakāt from Abū l-ʿIzz b. Abū ʿUmar, mentioning names such as Samuel and Isaac. At the top of recto there is also a document in Arabic script. Verso: draft of a formulaic greeting to a woman and other jottings.Condition: torn, rubbedLayout: 17 lines + marginalia (recto); 11 lines + marginalia (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Ḥasan to his son. He had sent many letters and not received a reply and now asks him to visit, and to buy him a coat and a Byzantine chest.Condition: holes, rubbed, fadedLayout: 17 lines (recto); 1 line (verso)
A letter sent to Yešuʿa the Doctor ha-Sar b. Aaron the Doctor al-Mānī, who is studying in Cairo, by his cousin, Abū l-Ḥasan Judah, a teacher and court clerk, from Alexandria, c. beginning of the 13th century. The doctor strove to get an appointment in a hospital in his native city, Alexandria. The cousin advises the doctor to obtain letters of recommendation to a list of prominent figures there. He comments that whenever anyone declares he wants 'to read' medicine in Alexandria he is told that the reading has to be done in Cairo and, likewise that the tazkiya (certificate of good conduct) has to be obtained there. Mentions Joseph al-Baḡdādī and the judge R. Anatoli.Layout: 55 lines (recto); 54 lines + marginalia (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Ḥasan al-Dimašqī to the leader of the community, asking him for support in the case of a Jewish elder wrongly accused of having an affair with a girl from a caravanserai, and to exert his influence against anti-Jewish sentiments in general.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 28 lines + marginalia (recto); 2 lines (verso)
Letter to a number of male members of a family, including Judah ha-Kohen b. Elʿazar, his sons Elʿazar and Moses, Judah’s brother Yišʿī the doctor, and Abū l-ʿIzz Aaron b. Elʿazar. Also mentioned are ‘the leader’ Abū l-Walīd, Abū Saʿd and Saʿd al-Mulk. The Arabic address contains the name Abū l-Ḥasan b. Ibrahim, apparently the sender of the letter.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 25 lines + marginalia (recto); 2 lines (verso)
Letter from Abū l-Ḥasan b. Maḵlūq, Abū l-Faḍl b. Jacob, Abū l-Manṣūr b. Abū l-Faraj, Muqaddisī and his brother Abū l-Surūr, and Abū l-Ḥujāj b. Abū l-Faraj, to an unknown recipient; they had written a letter before but had forgotten to mention their names (?!).Layout: 10 lines (recto; verso is blank)
Letter to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli b. Hilāl the cantor al-Baḡdādī from his sister concerning various family matters. Written by Ḥalfon b. Manasseh (possibly the sister’s husband, since he married a daughter of Hillel b. ʿEli). 12th century.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 26 lines + marginalia (recto); 3 lines (verso)