Geniza Lab

Letter in Arabic from a father to a son that consists almost entirely of greetings and well-wishes. The family rejoiced to receive his letters from Tripoli al-Gharb (Libya) and from al-Mahdiyya. The addressee's mother sends her regards, as do his brothers Baqā' and Maʿānī, as do his sister and her children (and she possibly orders a dinar's worth of colored silk when he returns). Umm (?) Yūsuf sends her regards, as do Umm Sitt al-Jamīʿ and Abū Saʿd and Abū Surūr. Verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic mentioning items that were sent with Abū Surūr and others with [. . .] al-Nafūsī and others with [. . .] b. Hilāl. There may be notes from Goitein that are not yet attached. ASE.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic mentioning items that were sent with Abū Surūr and others with [. . .] al-Nafūsī and others with [. . .] b. Hilāl. There may be notes from Goitein that are not yet attached. ASE.

Arabic accounts.

Late accounts in Arabic.

Detailed accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter from Eliezer Zussman, in Jerusalem, to his son Avigdor. In Hebrew. It has an unusual form for a letter: there are no greetings and it ends "ne'um Eliezer known as Zussman"—he seems to have written this page mainly in order to document what happened. Dating: probably not very long after 14 January 1546, the date of the earthquake. "Contemporary Hebrew documents provide an additional, independent source of information about the earthquake. From a Hebrew manuscript notice written by Eliezer Sussman ben Rabbi Abraham Carit [or Tsarit?], who arrived in Jerusalem in [November] 1545 two months before the earthquake, we learn that 'In the month of Shvat the Almighty has shown us signs and wonders that none of our forefathers ever witnessed, and on the 11th of that month, on Thursday, about one in the afternoon. . . (because) of the quake many towers fell down, almost the third of their height, and the tower of "A.A." was one of them. About ten gentiles were killed in Jerusalem but none of the Jews, and in the town of Nablus the earthquake was so strong that at least three hundred gentiles, and three or four Jews were killed. There were also further shocks after that, but not so strong, and to this day we are in constant fear of an earthquake all day and night. . . (Braslavski, 1938).' The 11th of Shvat corresponds to 14 January 1546, which was a Thursday. Klein (1939) suggests that the acronym "A.A." stands for "Avraham Avinu", i.e. our Father Abraham, and refers to the tower over Abraham's Tomb in Hebron. This locality is mentioned in Mujir al-Din's sequel as Al-Khalil, the Arabic name used for Hebron because of Abraham's, the Friend of Allah, sanctuary. The disagreement as to when the copy of this document was made and by whom (Braslavski, 1938; Turnianski, 1984), does not detract from the authenticity of its contents. Sussman died about 20 years after the earthquake [see T-S 13J4.19], and the phrasing suggests that he wrote the note shortly after the event." Ambraseys and Karcz, "The Earthquake of 1546 in the Holy Land," Terra Nova 4 (1992), no. 2, 254–63. There are various notes and calculations added in Italian in 1917 on this fragment and the others in the folder.

Letter in Hebrew dated 1778/79 CE (539 = ותקוה טובה) from the Jewish community of Jerusalem to the Jewish community of Pisa begging for financial aid. The sum of 75,000 arayot is named. Among other distressing events, there was a terrible famine in the preceding year. Their sheliḥim are Eliyyahu Ẓevi, Yaʿaqov Burla, and Yaqar Gershon. ASE.

Letter in Hebrew dated 1781/82 CE (542 = מבשר) from the Jewish community of Jerusalem to the Jewish community of Pisa begging for financial aid. A sum of 8,000 arayot is named. Their shaliaḥ is Yosef b. Robi (? יוסף ן רובי). ASE.

Letter in Hebrew dated 1791/92 CE (552 = וינטלם וינשאם) from the Jewish community of Jerusalem to the Jewish community of Pisa, begging for financial aid, naming a sum of 70,000 arayot. Their shaliaḥ is Mordekhai ha-Levi. ASE.

Letter in Hebrew dated April/May 1807 CE (Nisan 567 = ונשמחה בכל ימנו), from the Jewish community of Safed to the Jewish community of Pisa, specifically the head judge Yiṣḥaq Gallico (יצחק גאליקו), begging for financial aid. Their shaliaḥ is מרדכי אשיאו.

Letter in Hebrew dated 1688/89 CE (תגילו = 449), from the Jewish community of Izmir to the Jewish community of Pisa, following the economic distress in the aftermath of the 1688 Izmir earthquake. It seems that the community of Pisa had been accustomed to sending charity to communities of the Ottoman Empire (ארצות קוסטאנטינה) but this practice had lapsed. Now, the government is demanding a payment if 15,000 of a certain currency (line 7). They already sent their shaliaḥ Yosef ha-Levi, and this letter is intended to encourage them to be generous with him. Note that the Italian on the final page was probably added in 1917, as with the other documents in this folder. ASE.

Letter in Hebrew dated 1726/27 CE (487 = בל תמוט), from the Jewish community of Safed to the Jewish community of Pisa, begging for financial aid on account of the heavy taxes imposed on them. Their shaliaḥ is Daniel Kafsuto (קאפסוטו). ASE.

Letter in Hebrew dated 1726/27 CE (487 = לך לאות), begging for charity from the Jewish community of Pisa. The writers, in Istanbul, call themselves פקידי א״י, and indeed it seems they are writing on behalf of the community in Jerusalem. Their shaliaḥ is Moshe Yisra'el. ASE

Letter in Hebrew dated 1735/36 CE (496 = קרן לעמו), from the Jewish community of Safed to the Jewish community of Pisa, begging for financial aid on account of a heavy tax of 10,000 גרושו׳ that has been imposed on them. Their sheliḥim are Ḥayyim Yaʿaqov and Me'ir de Segura (named 6 lines from the bottom). The Latin script on the final page (Zafed 5496 K. K.) may actually be original. ASE.

Letter in Hebrew dated 1747/48 CE (508 = בשרו), from the Jewish community of Tiberias to the Jewish community of Pisa, begging for financial aid on account of debts owed of 10,000 arayot. Their shaliaḥ is Masʿūd Bonan. ASE.

Letter in Hebrew dated 1759/60 CE (520 = תהֿלה לכֿל), from the Jewish community of Tiberias to the Jewish community of Pisa, begging for financial help. They include interesting details about political struggles and unrest in the Galilee and a month-long siege of Tiberias. ASE.

Letter in Hebrew dated 1766/67 CE (527 = וה(י)כינו את (אשר) יביאו) from the Jewish community of Safed to the Jewish community of Pisa, begging for financial help to the tune of 15,000 gerushim. They recount a fascinating tale of a Jewish man who 'purchased the tax' (=the tax farming rights under the malikane system) from the rulers for 6,000 gerushim. They knew this would turn out badly, but he refused to listen. Later, he was unable to render the full amount demanded by the rulers, so he was clapped in irons, "and died on account of the fright." It seems that now the rulers are demanding that the community itself make up the deficit. There is a somewhat mysterious episode about an evil man who wishes to bring his minions to live in a certain house. The "Italian congregation" of Safed (ק״ק איטאלייאנוס) is mentioned. Their sheliḥim are Yisrael Benveniste and Ḥayyim Mordechai Būnan (their power of attorney is the next shelfmark). Note that the gematriya in fact adds up to 537, corresponding to 1776/77 CE, but one of the yods should probably be ignored, because the power of attorney is clearly dated 527. An earlier cataloguer thought the same (see note on final page). Merits further examination. ASE. MCD.

Power of attorney (שטר הרשאה) in which the community of Safed appoints Yisrael Benveniste and Ḥayyīm Mordechai Būnan as their sheliḥim. See previous shelfmark. There are numerous signatures (or at least names written out by the scribe), including that of Masʿūd Būnan, perhaps identical with the shaliaḥ sent from Tiberias to Pisa nearly twenty years earlier (Bodl. MS heb. c 64/6). ASE.

Fragment containing mirror-image imprints of Hebrew text in a late hand. Probably literary, though it is not out of the question that verso is a letter.

Letter. In Hebrew. Eliyya b. Elyaqim, in Damietta, writes to Moshe b. Yehuda, in Alexandria. The writer signs only his first name on this letter, but his full name on Bodl. MS heb. c 72/14. Dating: Tuesday 24 Kislev (written in the document), probably 1486 CE (the first year in which 24 Kislev fell on a Tuesday after 1484, the date of Eliyya's previous extant letter, Bodl. MS heb. c 72/14.) Subject: shipments of manuscripts. Eliyya reports that he received two letters from the addressee by way of Ibrāhīm Turjiman (טורצימן). Moshe had received the book Torat ha-Adam (by Nachmanides) from Eliyya, but complained in his letter that the writing was inferior. Eliyya apologizes, saying that when he was in Crete giving instructions to the scribe, he ensured that the paper and the writing were of a high quality, even higher than those of the samples he had sent to Moshe. The deterioration must have occurred after he left. Eliyya then reports on the price of the copying: he seems to have promised the scribe either 2 marcellos per volume (per Benayahu) or 12 marcellos for the full set (per David). The Marcello was a silver coin introduced by Nicolò Marcello, doge of Venice 1473–74. The addressee is to calculate the conversion rate between marcellos and Venetian ducats. As for the copy of Sefer Yosippon, the writer does not exactly remember the final price he agreed upon with the scribe. As for the copy of Megillat Esther, the writer urges the addressee to send it to Mordukh in Fustat, who will deliver it to the writer in Damietta. There is a cryptic reference to אלוייזה פיזן: a name? Eloisa Pizan? The writer sends regards to Ṣedaqa, whom Avraham David identifies with Ṣedaqa Nes of Bodl. MS heb. c 72/11. Information from Avraham David's edition and notes on FGP.