Geniza Lab

Legal queries from al-Maḥalla. The first one asks how to calculate the value of a marriage contract (ketubba) where there is no fixed rule concerning the additional marriage payment (ziyāda). (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Ghāliya bt. Yiṣḥaq, widow of Furayj b. X, and Ḥusn bt. Ibrāhīm acknowledge in court that they have received two dinars from the debt transfer (ḥawāla) of Abū Yūsuf Yaʿaqov b. David through the cantor Musāfr b. Shelomo, the cantor from the debt transfer of Abū Manṣūr Ghālib b. Yiṣḥaq. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter of appeal from an elderly, blind woman, mother of several sons and grandsons, to the Gaon Maṣliaḥ. Dating: 1127–38, based on the tenure of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Written by a scribe on her behalf (Goitein: "A refreshing mixture of the accomplished style of a court clerk and the woman's ipsissima verba"). Subject: She complains about being neglected by her firstborn son Abraham after the death of her daughter, and begs for charity. "After eight lines of biblical quotations and an introduction in Hebrew, the letter continues: 'I wish to inform your high excellency that I am a blind woman. For a long time, I have been sitting in a corner with no access to this world, but as long as my daughter lived, she was always around me and cared for me. Now she has died, and her brothers and their sons have taken what she possessed. My son, Abraham, the firstborn, took the estate, and has not provided me with anything since she died, not even a loaf of bread. I have now entrusted my spirit to God, the exalted, and to you. Shout at him and tell him that he should give me what is indispensable. May the Holy One never let fail your strength and may he guard you from the blows of Fate, such as blindness and indigence, and shield you under the shelter of his wings'" (Goitein, Mediterranean Society, V, p. 124).

Complaint addressed to a Gaon by a son-in-law of a man who left one quarter of a house to an infant daughter and another quarter to his son. The writer probably claimed (that part of the document is torn off) that the man had also promised something to his married daughter, his wife. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 281, 489)

Bitter letter by a public officer complaining about his lot. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 88, 89)

Letter from Yiṣḥaq Ibn Barukh, in Almeria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. Dated: Sunday, 29 Tammuz 4898 AM = 10 July 1138 CE. Concerning their joint business endeavors which are related to Yehuda ha-Levi as well. Ḥalfon had asked the writer to transfer 150 dinars to Yehuda ha-Levi, probably indicating that Yehuda ha-Levi invested in Ḥalfon's business. The sender will transfer the whole amount, when he receives it, to Yehuda b. Ghiyāth in Granada, who will transfer it to Yehuda ha-Levi. (Information from Goitein, 'Rabbi Yehuda ha-Levi in Spain in the light of the Geniza papers', Tarbiz, 24 (1955), pp. 136-137). VMR. See also India Book 4 (Hebrew description below).

Large fragment of an interesting family letter in the handwriting of Toviyya b. Eli addressed to Avraham b. Saadya and another recipient. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter to (Eli ha-Kohen) b. Hayyim, a parnas in Fustat, 2nd half of 11th century.

Letter from the Qaraite Moshe b. Yiṣḥaq al-Maghribī, in Jerusalem, to Abu l-Faraj Nissim b. ʿAmram al-Ṣayrafī, in Fustat. Dating: Mid-11th century. The letter is addressed to the market of the producers of copper tools (sūq al-naḥḥāsīn) in Fustat. This fragment is only the beginning of the letter; the entirety of what remains consists of blessings and prayers and good wishes for the holidays. (Information in part from Gil.) VMR. ASE.

Letter from a factotum to his boss. Reporting that everyone at home is well and giving the prices of different goods. Wheat: 1 dinar per 9 waybas. Honey: 5 dinars per 1 qinṭār. Wax sells well. Flax is exported to the Syro-Palestinian coast. Mufarrij and Shūʿa the Bāniyāsī escaped from the enemy attacking Caesarea (although Goitein read this as Mufarrij and Shūʿa escaping to Bāniyās). Shūʿa returned to Malīj. Mufarrij will come in Elul. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) The letter ends on verso with three lines of Arabic script (يخصو حضرته بافضل السلام وكتابه لا يقطعه عني...), not yet transcribed. ASE

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, in Būṣīr, to Abū Isḥāq Barhūn b. Ṣāliḥ al-Tahirti and his cousin Barhun b. Mūsā, in Fustat. Dating: February 11, 1054 CE. Nahray came to Busir to hurry the buying of flax, according to the advice of ʿAyyāsh b. Ṣadaqa, who is in Busir as well. The letter contains instructions about the business in Fustat while Nahray is absent. Also mentions business with several Muslims. In addition, mentions silk that awaits in Sicily. The addressee had been ill but recovered. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #257) VMR

Complaint by a group of workmen, who were newcomers to a provincial town, that they were dragged to the corvee (forced labor) and forced to work for the government. They also assert that the indigenous inhabitants did not permit them to exercise their craft. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 394, 612)

Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. Signed by Eliyyahu b. Zekharya and Yaʿaqov b. ʿAmram. Dating: Avraham Maimonides is called Nagid, so 1213–37 CE. Quite faded. Quittance between Abū l-Fakhr b. Abū Saʿīd and Munajjā b. Abū l-[...]. Maybe upon the dissolution of a partnership.

Legal deed drawn up in Damascus, September 1084 CE (25 Tishrei, 1396 Seleucid), both qiyum and shimush written by Shemuel ha-Nasi 'the third' b. Daniel ha-Nasi.

Primary text: Accounts for Dā'ūd b. ʿAmmār b. ʿAzrūn for the year 443H (1051/52 CE). 68 lines spread over 2 pages. In Judaeo-Arabic. Nahray b. Nissim appears. Secondary text: Bill of lading, listing days of lading, with boats, number of bales, and to whom belonging. In Judaeo-Arabic. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Ṭoviya b. ʿEli ha-Kohen, in Fustat, to his father ʿEli b. Avraham ha-Kohen, in Banyas/Dan. Dating: May 28, 1112. The son and father had parted ways in Tyre. After a difficult sea voyage, Ṭoviya arrived in Fustat, where he found an epidemic (wabā'). The judge Avraham b. Natan Av became ill and narrowly escaped ("reached the gates of") death, while the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya succumbed. He died on Saturday, the new moon of Tevet, December 2, 1111. (See Cohen, Self-Government, p. 147, where Islamic sources describing the same epidemic are cited as well.) Ṭoviya had received a letter from the Nagid Mevorakh before his death and took it with him to the Rīf, where he stayed for five months. Ṭoviya reports that one of the dignitaries in Fustat—possibly Avraham b. Natan Av—is even more noble and pious than his father had told him. Ṭoviya tells his father to be assiduous in praying for him over Torah scrolls, perhaps because Avraham has not completely recovered from the illness. He also tells him to pray for Moshe Nagid b. Mevorakh. Ṭoviya writes, "Buy me an Aleppo izār (a large wrap or coat) in which I can pray all the time," probably referring to an inexpensive piece of Syrian cotton (Med Soc I, 196). He encourages his father and a certain Natan to join him in Fustat. He sends regards to his brothers Yaḥya and Meir, and to Avraham Pe'er ha-Qahal, and to Mevasser b. Ghālib, and to Yeshuʿa b. Ṣedaqa, and to Yehuda ha-Parnas, and to Y{ū}suf b. Namir. ASE.

Letter from Salāma b. [...] to Abū Saʿīd Makhlūf al-Ne'eman al-Nafūsī. In Judaeo-Arabic. The letter is written in pairs of lines with wide space in between. Most of it has to do with shipments of garments/textiles. The writer has sent what he needed to send with Sālim b. Nissim al-[I]ʿbillānī (? אלעבלאני). Information from Goitein's note card.

Mercantile letter addressed to Abū Saʿd Khalaf (possibly Abū Saʿd Khalaf b. Salāma, the same addressee as T-S 8J16.19 + T-S NS 323.13, though the scribe is different, since the Arabic accounts look quite similar). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th century. Long, and full of details about trade. Mentions the arrival of goods from the West (waṣala min al-gharb...). Note that the small slip containing the beginning of the letter (on recto) and the address (on verso) has been joined incorrectly. Reused for Arabic accounts.

Primary text: Letter from [...] b. Shemuel to Abū Manṣūr [...] b. Ḥusayn b. Shuʿayb. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer has been ordered to pay 50 dinars to Abū l-Khayr, a request that he cannot refuse. The writer asks the addressee to make the payment via Abū Najāh b. Yūḥānas al-Jahbadh (the government treasurer). The 50 dinars should be taken from those that are hidden in dār al-ṣarf ("the house of money-changing," see Med Soc IV, p. 28). Goitein identifies this Abū Najāh with the well-known monk Abū Najāḥ (b. Qannā or Fannā in the chronicles), who acted as advisor to the caliph al-Āmir, ca.1125–28 CE. Secondary text: The remainder of verso and the margins of recto are filled with Arabic script. Needs further examination. Information in part from Goitein's note card.

Beginning of a letter to Daniel b. Azarya (ca. 1055). Sender unknown.