Geniza Lab

Letter from Moshe Yijū, in Alexandria, to Abū l-Fakhr Ibn al-Amshāṭī, in Fustat. Dating: ca. June 29, 1155. The writer ("Moshe son of his honor, our master and lord Yosef the teacher—may he live until the coming ofthe messiah!") writes a brief letter, almost complete, which is addressed to the family's patron Abū l-Fakhr b. Avraham but opens with salutations to 'the two esteemed brothers,' namely the addressee and his brother, here named ʿAli. Towards the end of the document greetings are sent to Abū ʿAlī. who is evidently the same individual. Abū ʿAlī Ibn al-Amshāṭī is known from sources discussed in pages 103–4, and with the assistance of this letter he can be identified as Abū l-Fakhr Saadya's brother Ḥananel. Greetings are also extended here to an anonymous brother, apparently the third brother, Ḥayyim. The letter thus not only testifies to the Yijū family's dependence on the Ibn al-Amshāṭīs but also provides additional information on members of that illustrious family. The letter is almost certainly connected to III, 47. Moshe decided not to rely entirely on his brother Peraḥya to ask Abū l-Fakhr's advice on what to do with the lac that he wanted to sell in Alexandria, as implied in III, 47v, lines 1-3, and addressed that important merchant directly: (14) I have attached these few lines to you to inform you of my condition and what happened (15) to me on disembarking. Your eminent excellency is well aware of (16) travel to Alexandria. I don't know what to do. (17) Should I sell that lac or leave it? I request (18) sound advice. Please do this act of complete kindness for (19) me, your servant, who is staying here. (Goitein, S.D. & Friedman, M.A., India Traders of the Middle Ages, III-47a. See also Mediterranean Society, III, p. 225, and Goitein's index cards.)

Letter on behalf of Yaḥyā b. ʿAmmār of Alexandria addressed to ʿŪlla ha-Levi b. Yosef, a.k.a. Abū l-ʿAlā' Ṣāʿid b. Munajjā, a parnas (social welfare official) and trustee of the court in Fustat, dated documents 1084–1117. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Yaḥyā requests financial help, especially with paying off his debts. His dependents include his children and his old, blind mother. When he could not bear to see them suffering from hunger, he ran away. For some time he has been in hiding from his debtors, some of whom are Muslim. He has recently heard that his mother is dying. He fears that she will die "on his account" before he is able to return and obtain her forgiveness. Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 257, Goitein's index cards, CUDL, and Cohen. ASE.

Letter from a young wife, whose father-in-law was also her uncle and who had a brother living in the same town, asking her mother to visit her urgently. (Information from Goitein's index cards, and Mediterranean Society, III, p. 172)

Letter from Moshe b. Yaʿaqov al-Miṣrī, in Malīj, to Abū l-ʿAlā' Yūsuf b. Dāwud b. Shaʿya, in Fustat. The writer complains about the behavior of Malij's governor. He also mentions some commercial transactions and expresses worries about relatives in Damascus. (Information from Gil)

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes and index card linked below.

Letter from the wife of Maʿānī. Desperate letter of appeal to the 'courts' (judges) from a blind woman whose husband had fled to Alexandria and left her and her 3 year old girl. She is pleading to the community for relief. She calls herself 'a widow during the lifetime (of her husband). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 218, 472 and from Cohen)

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes and index card linked below.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham Ibn ʿEzra, in Spain, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: after 1 Nisan 1139 CE. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come)

Letter from a Jewish trader in India to his partner in Egypt. In Judaeo-Arabic. Among many other matters, he mentions donations to pilgrimage sites in Iraq: "for our lord Ezekiel, our Lord Ezra, and Rabbi Meir." See Goitein's attached notes for further information.

Letter from an army doctor, in Ashmūm Ṭannāḥ (present-day Ashmūn al-Rummān), to his son, in an unknown location. The purpose of the letter is to excuse himself for failing to attend his wife's confinement, for he has no choice but to obey the amir's orders. He urges his son to buy her anything she wishes. He relates that the amir first sent him to Salmūn where he stayed treating a Mamlūk until he recovered on Monday. The doctor was then sent to Damietta, and returned to Ashmūm on Tuesday after suffering terribly from the riding. His son's letter informing him of his wife's labor, and her anger at his absence, reached him on Wednesday with al-Kohen (the same day he is writing the present letter). The writer does not anticipate being able to leave before Monday, as the amir will want to take his medicine on Sunday. Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 380, 610. ASE.

Letter from a widow, Umm Abū l-Munā, in reply to a suggestion that she sell her old house, a solid structure in a declining neighborhood, and buy a new one about whose quality she had doubts. The widow apparently derived income from leasing apartments. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 23)

Recto: Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to his paternal aunt Umm Daʾūd, asking for her daughter Sitt al-Yumn in marriage and enquiring about the dowry. Dated Tammuz 1530 of the Seleucid Era (= 1219 CE). In the margins of verso and recto are drafts of a release form in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, concerning the claims between two sisters and Thanāʾ, the mother the late Manṣūr concerning the inheritance of the late Ibn Abū l-Majd the dyer Ibn al-Nāʾila. Abū l-Maḥāsin guarantees his mother ʿIbād’s release for her sister Ḥasab and Thanāʾ bt. Sayyid al-Ahl. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Aharon ha-Kohen b. Namir to ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Moshe. The writer informs the addressee that the item he expects is now on its way to him after a delay. (Information from Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, p. 128, and Goitein's index cards.)

Document of legal import for a woman who has appointed a wakil. Composed in letter form and addressed to the community in Jerusalem. Probably late 13th century. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Circular by the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya to all the authorities in the Rif to bring to court in Fusṭāṭ one Avraham b. Manṣūr who owed to Hillel b. Ṣadoq 500 dirhams. Information from Goitein's note card. There is also a note in Arabic on verso (mentioning Damietta?).

Letter from a weaver to his wife including family news and instructions, and notifying her of his dispatches to them. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 92, 413; III, p. 240)

Abū ʿAlī b. ʿImrān, Alexandria, writes to the son of his dead sister, to Abū Mūsā Hārūn b. al-Muʿallim Yaʿaqov, Fusṭāṭ, the shop of Abū Naṣr al-Tilmīdh. See T-S 8J17.22, same writer, same recipient. "The troubles caused by agnates—but endured with resignation—are vividly brought home in a letter from Alexandria, addressed to the sons of a dead sister in the capital. The writer must have had a number of children, for he reports the death of the youngest, a boy, only in passing, adding drily: "May God preserve the rest." Two aged sisters lived with him, together with an orphan boy from a niece whose recent death is also reported. Another niece staying with him had a suitor whom she could not marry because she was a divorcee and had not received the legal documents (barā'a) needed for the new marriage, probably proving that she did not possess anything from the property of her former husband. The main purpose of the letter to the nephews was to secure the missing papers (perhaps one of them had been married to the unhappy woman). As though that were not enough: two sisters of those nephews lived in a house belonging to their family in Alexandria. The house was ill-omened (mayshūm), probably because someone had been killed there, or had died an unnatural or premature death. No one came to visit the girls, and they lived in complete solitude, "the most miserable creatures in the entire city with no one to care for them." The writer was prepared to invite these nieces to stay with him, but their brother would not permit them to move, probably in order to have someone to look after the property. Having already been ill for five months, during which time he was able to go out to the bazaar only once, the writer had entrusted one of the sons of his dead sister, Ḥassūn, with some of his business, but he had completely wrecked it. "The complaint is to God alone" (for what can one do against a close relative?). Several other relatives are mentioned in the letter in a rather sarcastic vein." Med Soc III A 3, n.2 (p.34).

Letter from Eliyyahu Ha-Kohen b. Shelomo Gaon, Jerusalem, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, Fustat.

Recto: Letter from a woman to her son Abū l-Faḍā'il al-Yahūdī al-Bawāridī ('the maker of cooling or cold vegetables') in al-Qamra, Alexandria. She describes a dangerous journey on the Nile ("we nearly drowned three times, but the end was good. God willed that we meet with the Shaykh Abū l-Makārim, and I stayed with Umm Hiba.") She advises her son to redeem the copper lamp that had been pawned for 3 1/8 (dirhams?). "Do not ask about my state and my illness, about which you know. I left with the fire in my heart on account of Futūḥ and his illness. Do not ask what weighs on Makārim's heart on your account. By God and by the breast which nursed you, do not neglect your son Sulaymān." She sends regards to Ḥasab (?) and his children, to her brother, and to Umm ʿAzīza. Verso: Apart from the address, there is a postscript in a different hand (with rudimentary script and spelling), from another family member who had traveled with the mother from Alexandria. This writer says that everyone is fed up with Karīm. The qumāsh which they brought with them from Alexandria has now been pawned for 40 dirhams. Karīm has not paid a penny of his capitation tax. He even pulled a trick to make his brother have to pay his debt. He is not working. Sulaymān (probably his brother) is working instead, and the writer was forced to accept public charity (kashaft wajhī) to pay off the debt. The next couple lines are tricky. Maybe: 'After all this, he regards me as idle. I do not even have enough water to drink because of him." Then: I regret leaving Alexandria. Regards to you and your family. Send us news of Umm Maʿānī quickly. Information in part from Goitein's note card and Med Soc, I, p. 424; III, pp. 246, 480. ASE.

Letter from the daughter of Rafi al-Hariri to the Nagid asking for a new veil for the holidays. She also asked him to appoint someone to make a collection for this purpose. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 37, and Goitein's index cards)