Geniza Lab

Collection of letters relating to the calendar controversy of 921–22. This is part of what Sacha Stern (2020) calls the Letters Miscellany: Letter 4 of 4. Bornstein (1904) called this letter ‘Ben Meir’s Second Letter’. This letter was likely written by the highest authority in Palestine, ben Meir, the Head of the Yeshiva, and likely addressed to the Iraqi/Babylonian leadership. The identity of the author emerges most clearly in his reference to his disciples’ announcement, on the Mount of Olives, of the dates of 921/2 CE (fol.7v:12), as well as from parallels with Ben Meir’s First Letter. Dating: the letter was written after Passover 922 CE, but before the New Year of that year. This date is based on the fact that the author refers to the celebration of Passover 922 as a past event (fol.7r:2) and warns his addressee not to repeat the error of Passover, but also warns his addressee to observe the New Year on the correct date (fol.8r:9-10). In the folios that survive, the author responds point by point to a letter that had been sent to him by his addressee. At this advanced stage in the dispute, the tone of the correspondence had deteriorated considerably. In several places in this letter, the author suggests somewhat perversely that the Iraqis have gone over to the Ananites, who should have been (and were once) their common enemy (fol.7r:17-18, 8v:7); and he comes close to suggesting a permanent schism between Palestinians and Iraqis (fol.8r:2-3, 8v:8; Stern notes that the meaning of these passages, however, needs a more nuanced evaluation). As in ben Meir’s First Letter, the author still lays most of the blame on Saadya (fol.7r:6-8, 8r:14-16, 8v:17-18), as if to give the Iraqis a way out of their entrenched position. (Information from Sacha Stern, The Jewish Calendar Controversy)

Calendrical tables.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Quite damaged. Some excerpts: "By the Law! ... From the day that he traveled until now... he married a woman in ʿAkkā... when the time of his death approached, he made a will in both the Muslim and Jewish (courts) that 'I owe my wife 1000-some dinars.'" The writer apologizes for the state of his letter by saying that he wrote it at night.

Letter from a certain Abū l-Faraj to a judge. He complains that after he had paid 10 dinars according to the judge's decision, his debtors wanted to receive (or received) the rest with interest. Mentions an encounter in the "small guardhouse" (מחרץ for מחרס/maḥras). (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter to the Judge Eliyyahu from a woman, probably his mother or his former mother-in-law. Containing many details about a house in Alexandria. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Two fragments of the same legal document, dated 1532/1220-1221. The physician Abū l-Maḥāsin Yefet b. Yoshiyya and the sugar merchant Abū l-ʿIzz b. Abū l-Maʿānī declare that they had operated a sugar factory for many years together, but were now unable to pay the heavy government taxes any longer. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 580)

Declaration in court by Abu al-Tahir b. Elazar regarding a business of timber for building belonging to Abu al-Baha b. Moshe. Dated Heshvan 1543 Seleucid, which is September-October 1231 CE. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal testimony. Dated: Wednesday the 6th of Ḥeshvan, which Goitein identified as October 1231 CE, based on the surmise that this document belongs together with Bodl. MS heb. e 101/14. The testimony describes how Shamun b. al-Muzanjir was attacked by his brother, ʿImrān, while sewing in the store of Simḥa. Shamun didn't lift his hand against his brother for this happened in the presence of Jews, Muslims and Christians. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p.47; V, pp. 305, 306)

Court record dated Nisan 1410 Seleucid, which is April 1099 CE. Dealing with a complicated lawsuit of a case in which Abū l-Faḍl had sold 91 jars of wine to Hillel b. Yosef for 9 dinars. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 256, and from Goitein's index cards)

Account of Abu al-Maʿālī(?), specifying weight and prices of goods. On verso there are further accounts, involving ward murabbā (rose petal jam). Someone with the title "al-Segulat" (אלסגלאת) appears in the header. There is one line in Arabic script at the bottom, probably part of the same reckoning.

Letter from Zakkay b. ʿAzaryahu the Nasi to the community of Damascus. Only the introduction is preserved. This may be a draft that was abandoned. On verso there is a guide to Arabic prosody, in Judaeo-Arabic.

Book list in Ladino. On the last page of a literary midrashic work in Hebrew. "These are the books I bought here in Patras (Greece), it is good to know(?)" (אישטוש שון ליש לוברוש קי מירקי אקי אין פאטראש קון בייני אשאביר). Dating: Possibly ca. 1498 CE, if this belongs together with the next fragment. Entries include: Naḥmanides; Sefer ha-Agur; Ibn ʿEzra; Kad ha-Qemaḥ; Sefer Miṣvot ha-Qaṣar; commentary on the Moreh by אפ״ד; two books of liquṭim; a commentary on something ("the first book" or perhaps "the razon"?) of Avicenna and other matters; a commentary on the Higayon of Maimonides with other selections; the Intentions of the Philosophers (Kavanot ha-Pilosofim, the Hebrew translation of Maqāṣid al-Falāsifa) by "Abū Ḥamid" (=al-Ghazālī); an introduction to logic; the laws of Yom Kippur (or from Masekhet Yoma); Moshe Narboni's commentary on the Intentions of the Philosophers; Iggeret ha-Musar; Sefer ha-Malmad (of Jacob Anatoli); the book of Ibn Shuʿayb; Ḥovot ha-Levavot; and a few more. ASE

Two legal notes, amidst sundry other jottings, mostly calendrical (including the names of months in both Hebrew and Romance—perhaps Ladino). The first note states that R. Eliezer Griego repaid 300 levanim out of his debt to R. Shem Ṭov. The second note states that Shem Ṭov invested 1000 levanim with the youth Yaʿaqov who will conduct business with the money 'at half profit' for a period of 1 year beginning today, Friday, 4 Sivan 5258 AM, which is 1498 CE. The name Yiṣḥaq Ḥazzan appears below, likely as a witness. On verso there is an elaborate signature of a certain Shelomo. It is not immediately clear whether Bodl. MS heb. e 103/13 belongs together with Bodl. MS heb. e 103/10–12 or not.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Wide space between the lines. The writer is a tax farmer (or perhaps the agent/wakīl of one) in a rural area with cattle and water wheels and wood. He seems to be complaining about how little of the ḍamān proceeds he got to keep and how much work it is to supervise the cowherds and waterwheel users and get them to pay up. But there is a lot of technical language that requires further examination. "By the covenant! I had no resort but to drink with some qāḍī named Abū ʿAbdallāh and some uncircumcised (Christian) tax collector. The drinking was for a profitable thing they had proposed, not on account of any idleness of mine. They said..." In the margin he mentions Rabbenu, possibly the Nagid, and asks for a favor for a relative of his. On verso there are many very deferential phrases and a cryptic passage about insulting people and people's wives and things that can't be repeated in letters to the likes of the addressee. On verso there is also Hebrew liturgical text.

Letter addressed to Naḥum b. Sulaymān al-Iskandarānī, in Fustat. The writer is unidentified. In Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee's letter concerning the house arrived with Mūsā. But the writer met with the addressee's father and brother and with Ismāʿīl and determined that the addressee was mistaken about something. The writer is interested in the turban and the Venetian khirqa and mentions a maqṭaʿ cloth as well. The ambergris that Abū l-Rabīʿ brought has not sold yet, which means his capital is currently tied up in it. The writer has sent pearls with the bearer Masʿūd, and the addressee should look out for him and exchange with Masʿūd the ambergris that he will tell him about. ASE

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Cairo. Dated: 23 Nisan 1434 Seleucid, which is 1123 CE.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Looks 11th century.

Probably non-Geniza. Letter from Yaʿaqov Ḥayy b. Avraham Mondolfo. Dated: 15 Adar 5454 AM, which is 1694 CE. This looks like a draft or writing practice -- there are interlinear corrections as well as citations in the right margin for the biblical verses alluded to.

Probably non-Geniza. Address of a letter in the hand of Yaʿaqov Ḥayy Mondolfo that mentions פישיבה (פישיברי?) (with a Latin-script transliteration) and also London. Re: scribe, see Bodl. MS heb. e 105/53 and Bodl. MS heb. e 105/55. This may even be the address of the letter in Bodl. MS heb. e 105/53.

Probably non-Geniza. Letter from Yosef b. Yiṣḥaq G[allico?], in Jerusalem, to Yaʿaqov Ḥayy b. Avraham Mondolfo, in Siena. Dating: slightly after Adar 5454 AM, which is 1694 CE.