Geniza Lab

Letter from a Maghribi silversmith named Efrayim b. Ishaq of Ceuta, Morocco, who had fled Almohad persecution in his native country about 35 years earlier. He describes himself as a 'foreigner' in spite of having lived in Egypt for about 15 years. When he lost half his sight from ophthalmia (ramad), he was unable to work as a silversmith and had to resort to teaching. He asks the addressee, also of Maghribi origins, for charity. Ca. 1181. The letter is preceded by a poem (lines 3-8). English translation in Med Soc V, 77. T-S 8J20.24 is a sequel to this letter. On verso: an eulogy in Hebrew.

Fragment of a letter composed circa 1236 CE by Abu l-Ḥasan Yedutun b. Abu Sahl Levi, at one time the cantor of the Palestinian synagogue in Fustat, who signs his name Ḥasan b. Sahl. The letter is a detailed explanation of the funeral and financial arrangements following the death of his father Levi and his brother Moshe, with the aim of exonerating himself from the accusations of Abu l-Bayan and Abu l-Fadl (the sons of Moshe?) that Yedutun “took the property of their father and grandfather.” Yedutun’s father, Levi he-Ḥaver, died on the 24th of Tishrei in 1211. His brother, Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, died on the 20th of Adar in 1212. (This is consistent with the information from T-S NS 264.98, a letter written by Moshe, indicating that both Moshe and Levi were alive in 1206.) We also learn that Abu l-Mufaddal the judge died in 1212, only a month or so following the death of Moshe. Yedutun repeatedly refers to his own illnesses, claiming that he was too ill to have had any part in the disposition of the estates, let alone steal more than his share. He notes in the postscript, again emphasizing his physical infirmities, "It has been 24 years since my brother Musa died. [If there is substance to their claims,] how have they ignored this matter for all this time? ... Every penny that falls into my or my wife/family's hands goes to [Abu l-]Bayan... and it is the same with Abu l-Fadl." This letter clarifies an ambiguity discussed by Shulamit Elizur in her article, “Individual Mourning and National Solace in Early Liturgical Poetry,” Ginzei Qedem 7 (2011), pp. 16–24, in which she presents T-S NS 135.3b (Yedutun’s elegy for his father Levi) and T-S NS 325.135 (Yedutun’s elegy for his brother Moshe). Each poem mourns multiple deaths—a father, a brother, and a judge—in addition to the main subject of the elegy, and this letter clarifies that Yedutun indeed lost a father, a brother, and a judge in rapid succession. Join: Alan Elbaum. ASE.

Letter from ʿEli ha-Mumḥe b. Avraham, in Jerusalem, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. Dating: ca. 1045 CE (Gil), and at any rate 1042–46 CE (Goitein), as there are no allusions to the conflict with Natan b. Avraham (which ended in 1042 CE) and Daniel b. ʿAzarya has not yet returned to live in Palestine (1045/46 CE). ʿEli complains about the lack of response to his previous letters and repeats his request for news of the cantor from Mosul, Abū l-Faraj, and for any developments with Daniel b. ʿAzarya, who was at that time in Fustat. He also says that "the Roshim" (=Eliyya and Yosef ha-Kohen the sons of Shelomo b. Yehosef ha-Kohen, who served as gaʾon for 6 months in 1025 CE) want to know the news of Abū l-Faraj and Daniel. The "Av" (=Yosef b. Shelomo Gaon, who then held the position Av Bet Din) has been staying in Jerusalem instead of Ramla (the usual seat of the Av Bet Din) because he bought a ruin in Jerusalem and is renovating it. Even though the letter is in the hand of ʿEli b. Avraham, he apparently is writing in the name of his father, Avraham b. Shemuel ha-Shelishi, as apparent from the Arabic address (ben ha-Shelishi). (Information from Goitein and Gil.)

Letter to Shelomo from a family member in Alexandria reporting on a problem about revenue from a slaughterhouse.

Letter from a man to his 'brother' Abū l-Khayr and to his brother Manṣūr al-Dhabbāḥ, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. The writer urges his brother to end his itinerant lifestyle and return from the "iron furnace" to a life of ease with his family; this would be like living "in Paradise after Hell." There is a key ambiguity in interpreting the remainder of the letter. Goitein understood the addressee to be the writer's brother-in-law (perhaps because of צהרי in ll. 15–16) and the word ʿāṭib ("perishing, destroyed', ll. 6, 16) to be referring to the addressee whom Goitein writes was "reported drowned." But the word ʿāṭib is attributed to the bonesetter (mujabbir) in line 6 and to Ibn al-Dihqān in line 16, and the Judaeo-Arabic צהרי can mean "my back" (ظهري) just as well as the more common "my brother-in-law" (صهري). Thus, another possible reading: "I arrived in good health, but when I arrived, I went to the bonesetter (al-mujabbir), who said, 'You are a wreck (ʿāṭib).' But all turned out well." The writer goes on to explain why he himself left his family: because no one in Fustat could properly treat his illness. He went to Ibn al-Dihqān (when still in Fustat?), who did not know whether his back was ʿāṭib or not. Perhaps ʿāṭib is a technical term related to back pain, or just meaning something like "incurable." The remainder of the letter is quite damaged. The margin mentions the writer's illness/pain, the bonesetter, and perhaps the healing of a wound (ובנא לחם). This document is of particular interest, because references to bonesetters are rare in Geniza documents. Apart from this one: F 1908.44W, where they are called raddādīn; and CUL Or.1080 J214, where they are not named, but the writer had had his leg "pulled" (shuddat ʿalayhi) unsucessfully. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.) ASE

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, probably pertaining to the Qodesh. ASE

Letter from the wife of Shemuel, a poor woman from al-Maḥalla, addressed to the Gaon Maṣliaḥ. She asks for assistance for herself and for her blind son, particularly for paying the capitation tax. She had already been in Fustat one month without relying on anyone for charity. (Information from Goitein's index cards.)

Special congratulations for the holidays. Left two thirds are missing. Wide spaces between the lines. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from the physician Yosef, in Alexandria, to the physician Abū l-Faraj b. Abū l-Barakāt (c/o Abū l-Faraj al-Sharābī), in al-Sūq al-Kabir, Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Hebrew script and Arabic script. Dating: 13th century, according to Goitein. The sender calls himself the son of the addressee, but this is not literal. Goitein surmised that the sender and the addressee were paternal cousins and that the sender was married to the addressee's sister (thus his own paternal cousin)—but Goitein did not explain his reasoning. The subjects discussed include: (1) obtaining books from the addressee's warehouse; (2) the capitation tax; (3) an incident translated by Moshe Yagur as follows: "As for what happened on the Day of ʿArava [last day of the Feast of Tabernacles]: Yaʿqūb b. al-Muʿalim argued with his crossed-eyed son and beat him in the middle of the market with his shoe. And so the boy cried out [in the name of] Islam, and the Muslims gathered in his support (wa-ʾinna al-muslimīn taʿaṣṣabū maʿahu), and they took him [the father] and brought him before the governor. He [probably the boy] said to them, “The punishments of Islam (ḥadd) are not applicable, since I am not mature yet.” The qāḍī Ibn Ghāriḍ deliberated [the matter] and ratified his conversion to Islam (rajaʿa jaddada ʿalayhi al-islām). And there were many debates concerning this, [which] will be too long to elaborate"; (4) lancets (ruwayshāt) for bloodletting that the addressee promised to send; (5) a report that friends and family speak well of the addressee (he had asked to be told what people were saying behind his back); (6) a bakers' strike translated by Goitein as follows: "On the second day of the Sukkot feast there were great disturbances in Alexandria because of the bread, which could not be found all over the city, until God brought relief by the end of the day; the governor (al-amīr) and the superintendent of the markets (al-muḥtasib) rode out and threatened to burn down [the houses of] the bakers because of the bread, after they had inquired with the people at one oven in the east and one in the west. At the end there remained fifty hundred weights of bread in the ovens that night. So do not worry"; (7) the sender's brother has been sending letters asking everyone he knows to pray for him (likely because he is about to depart on a journey). (Information from Goitein's index cards, Med Soc IV, p. 238, and Yagur, "Several Documents from the Cairo Geniza Concerning Conversion to Islam" (2020).)

Extremely faded letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. The overall tone is distressed. When the content starts to be (barely) legible in line 16, Moshe is narrating the events following the death of the sister of Sulayman who was the wife of Ya'qub. The family apparently asked Moshe (a cantor) to lead the services. Over 40 people packed into the house incuding a group from al-Mah[allah?]. He started praying, but it seems quietly and to himself. The congregants shouted at him that he had to pray out loud and with 'cantorship' (אלחזאנה) in the 'new' style. Moshe, however, had forgotten how to do this (performance anxiety?) and so he had to continue praying 'without cantorship.' The continuation is unfortunately effaced, and when it is legible again in line 9 of verso, Moshe is probably writing about his sisters ('al-Kabirah' and Fakhr) and mentions a man named Ibn al-'Assar. He concludes with greetings. ASE.

Medical prescription in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century based on handwriting. Partial transcription on Goitein's index card. On recto there is a poem on the history of the Patriarchs in rhymed Judaeo-Arabic (Goitein wonders: "a haggada for women?")

Mercantile letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 11th century. Large, well-preserved, and essentially unstudied. Sender and addressee are unidentified; the sender is probably writing from Ifrīqiyya. Goitein pithily describes it as "mostly about losses" (hence all the sender's excuses and justifications). The sender previously sent the addressee's business accounts with a man who traveled first to Barqa and then traveled on to Egypt by land(!). Discusses commodities such as "the goods of the East," lac, and flax. The sender learned that a caravan arrived in "the mountain" (al-Jabal) from Ghāniya (? גאניה)—referring to the territory of the Banū Ghāniya?—for the first time in years. Merits further examination.

Letter from Abū Manṣur to his 'brother' Abū Saʿd. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee has promised to come for Rosh Hashana. The sender has sent 5 mezuzot and qinot for the 9th of Av. The sender then discusses the copying of books and the capitation tax. CUL Or.1080 J72 has the same sender and same addressee.

Letter sent from a village to the capital asking for news and discussing shipments as well as what appear to be seasonal laborers. The writer complains he had to buy one young man clothes at a price far higher than the usual half dinar and states that he would hire him again were he to accept the same terms of employment as other young men of his type. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 98.) The writer sends regards and well wishes to Abū Saʿīd, who has an eye disease (r22 and margin). ASE

Recto: Poem in Hebrew, right side, in praise of an Aharon b. Mevorakh (the first name was discovered by Worman in the acrostic). Verso: Remnant of several faded lines of Arabic. ASE.

Letter from Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli ha-Kohen to his cousin the judge Natan b. Shelomo of Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1140 CE. Very damaged/faded. Mentions lawsuits involving a group of Jews from Ḥevron. Also might mention a market inspector (muḥtasib) (last line of upper margin). (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli ha-Kohen to his cousin the judge Natan b. Shelomo of Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Ṭoviyya says that he is sending some wheat and asks for instructions about the price for which the rest should be sold. Dating: ca. 1140 CE. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 425; V, p. 516, and from Goitein's index cards)

Recipe of some kind, very faded. Legible phrases include "al-zūfā wa-l-sunbul"—the hyssop and the spikenard (? Would depend on the next word, now missing); "lubb fustuq"—pistachio kernel; "yusḥaq wa-yunkhal wa-yuʿjan"—crush it and strain it and knead it; "wa-yuʿjan thāniyatan"—knead it again; "ṣamgh ʿarabī"—gum arabic. ASE.

Letter from Nahray b. Natan b. Nahray to Abū l-Faḍl b. Yosef b. David (or rather: Qarawī?). In Judaeo-Arabic. He acknowledges receipt of a letter on the eve of Shavuʿot and asks the addressee to approach Mevorakh b. Seʿadya ("Sayyidnā Sar ha-Sarim") for a man described as בן נס(?) to make a collection for him. He would have gone up to Fustat for him. Same sender: CUL Or.1080 J92, T-S 13J36.8, and T-S 8J25.13. (There are numerous letters preserved from the sender's father Natan b. Nahray in Alexandria to his famous cousin Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat.) (Information from Goitein's index card and Goitein and Friedman, India Traders, p. 255 n. 2.)

Draft of poems for a wedding. (Information from Goitein's index card.)