Geniza Lab

Letter from Barhun Levi b. Ishaq concerning a deceased man, a debt, and power of attorney. He informs the addressee, whose name is lost, that he had made a wakila (וכאלה) against Yusuf b. Ibrahim al-Iskandarani, to whom he had sold something and quotes a document. Ibn al-Kuhli, Futuh b. ‘Azun, and the city of Damsis are mentioned. Dated 450 of the Muslim Era (= 1058 CE). Remains of directions on verso. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Invitation by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to his father to spend the Sabbath with him. Shelomo has "turned toward health" after an illness.

Letter from an unknown writer, in al-Maḥalla, to Nahray b. Nissim, presumably in Fustat. The body of the letter is in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1070, based on Gil's estimate. The writer is in need of money and his son is ill. He complains that there is not enough meat in his town; perhaps he mentions this because he thinks his son needs meat to get better. There is widespread unemployment in al-Maḥalla, and traveling at this time is dangerous (ופחד הדרכים יותר). The writer also discusses something that he needs to return, perhaps money or books. The letter ends with a legal query on rabbinic usury (avaq ribbit). Apparently Nahray's letter to the writer contained the Hebrew saying, "Don't judge somebody until you are in his place," and the writer here responds with the popular Arabic saying (משל הדיוט), "The thirsty does not know what is inside of the hungry." Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #829. VMR. ASE.

Instruction by the Dayyan Eliyyahu to his son Barakat (Shelomo) in Qalyub.

Letter fragment from the cantor Khalfa Ibn al-Qafṣī (i.e., from Qafṣa/Gafsa, in Tunisia; Abramson and Golb incorrectly read "al-Qifṭī," from Qifṭ in Upper Egypt). The letter T-S AS 145.81 + T-S 13J23.18 (dating to ca. 1063 CE) mentions Maymūn b. Khalfa al-Qafṣī, perhaps related. (The presence of a Jewish community in Gafsa in the 11th century is proven also by L-G Ar. I.77.) This is a Hebrew letter of congratulations and blessings. Mentions Ḥayyim ‘the honoured elder.' (Information from CUDL, Goitein's index card, and Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 4:359.) EMS. ASE.

Letter fragment, from Avraham, the son of the Gaon, citing the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud (or perhaps the midrash) to argue that one should say a blessing even in adversity. Dating: first half of the 11th century. Join: Oded Zinger.

Recto: Acknowledgment of debt. Lender: Abū l-ʿAlā al-Ṣabbāgh (the dyer) b. Abū Saʿd. Borrower: Abu ʿImrān ʿAmram ha-Levi ha-Talmid. Verso: Records of completed payments. (Information from CUDL.) VMR Should be dated to early 13th century.

An ethical treatise in the style of al-Ghazali. Classical ethics with a tinge of Sufism. It is a quote from a Shi'ite text - see S.D. Goitein, "Meeting in Jerusalem": Messianic Expectations in the Letters of the Cairo Geniza", AJS Review 4 (1979): 43-57.

List of names in Arabic characters with sums in Coptic numerals. (Information from Goitein index cards)

Legal document. Deathbed will of the wife of a scholar, ca. probably 1151. A personal record of an anonymous writer, apparently a member of the court. Together with four other people he was called to attend the deathbed declaration of Sitt al-Husn, the wife of Judge Natan b. Shemuʾel ha-Ḥaver, "the Diadem of the Scholars." Since it was a Saturday, the official report could not be written, and the writer noted the main parts of the declaration immediately after Saturday was over, in order not to forget it. He was probably a court clerk, since his record contains the main formal elements of a regular deed. The woman frees her two female slaves and bequeaths them a quarter of a compound belonging to her, and dedicates half the compound in which the declaration is given to the qodesh. The two female slaves can live in the room in which the declaration is given, provided they keep the Jewish faith. An eighth of another compound partly owned by her is to be sold to cover the expenses ofher burial. She also states which of her belongings should be given to her husband. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 270 #55)

Letter from Sulayman (Shelomo) b. Mevorah (al-Mevorakh) ha-Hazan, to Abu al-Afrah Arus b. Yosef. Address is both in Hebrew and Arabic; signed by the writer. VMR

Letter from the Rosh ha-Seder to a cantor named Aharon, instructing him to appoint Ghalib b. Faraj as agent for the wife of Abu l-Ḥasan al-Ṣayrafi, who was oppressed by her husband. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Muslim to his son ʿIwaḍ. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning sugar cane molasses (quṭāra) and wine. "Stop occupying yourself with marriage plans and such idle things," writes a father, reminding his son, a fledgling physician, that he had not yet made enough money for such ventures. (wa-tukhalli ʿannak al-ishtighāl bil-jīza (=zija) wa-l-umūr al-hadhayāniyya. First Goitein took bljyzh as bil-ijāza (with Imāla) in the sense of tazkiya (certificate of good conduct for a physician), see Med. Soc, II, 250. But the reading suggested here seems to be preferable. Later in the letter the father says: anta muḥārif, "you are a poor man." (Information from Goitein, Med Soc III, p. 245 and 480 note 158).

Letter from Araḥ b. Natan, also known as Musāfir b. Wahb, in Fuwwa, to his brother Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Natan (Wahb) the Seventh, probably in Fustat. Dating: 1090s CE, according to Frenkel. Araḥ is returning from a journey of much travail (taʿadhdhabtu fī safrī wa-waṣaltu sālim). He is now in Fuwwa and intends to return soon to Alexandria. The main issue in the letter is an urgent request to convey a letter from Ḥusām al-Mulk to the Qāḍī of Alexandria, Makīn al-Dawla, regarding the protection of the Jewish community from the 'hatreds' (sin'ot) of the Muslim population. Both the addressee and their cousin Abū l-Faḍl have been ill, based on the wishes for recovery. The faint line of text at the bottom is the mirror imprint of line 9 ("I am intending to trave on Thursday"). Information in part from Frenkel. ASE.

Letter from the physician Abū Zikrī, in Jerusalem, to his father Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. Abū Zikrī reports that his masters, the princes al-Malik al-ʿAzīz and al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam, were laying siege to Damascus and that he was unable to get through to them to request a leave. Although ill himself, the writer states that he visited the sultan’s palace every other day. The letter also makes a note of “our colleagues at Qūṣ.” (Eliyyahu Ashtor, “The Number of Jews in Medieval Egypt,” JJS 18 (1967), 18; and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:347, 603.) "Do not send me the biqyār (a goat-hair garment?), because I am not well, and I am thinking of how you will fare after my death. How terrible would it be to receive your garment in the tailor's packaging, unopened! Ever since you left, I have not even had a single week of health. Regarding the collyria and equipment that you requested, I have not been able to get to it, because I am ill. I am wintering in Jerusalem, because the army is at Damascus, and I am stranded here, and cannot leave without an order from the sultan." EMS. ASE.

Fragment of a letter from Shemuel ha-Ḥaver b. Moshe, Tyre, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, Fustat, probably the middle of the eleventh century.

Letter from Ṣedaqa Shāmī, in Jerusalem, to his brother-in-law Yosef Shammash, presumably in Fustat/Cairo. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, probably no earlier than 14th century (based on paleography and format). Mentions the arrival of Qaraites. The writer uses jōza (for classical Arabic zawja) for wife. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:161, 462) EMS On verso another inscription, in different hand and ink, with a date (only the day of the month), also mentions Yosef the beadle (in Judaeo-Arabic)

Recto and verso: Note from Netanel b. Elʿazar to Neḥemya ha-Ḥakham. The addressee had wanted to meet the sender before his departure but was unable to do so. The sender asks him to forward a letter to Yeshuʿa ha-Dayyan concerning the purchase of saffron. VMR

Fiscal account (?). There are numbers and possibly dates. Ductus seems like someone high-up in the administration. Needs examination, and comparison with similarly structured documents. (MR)

Letter from Ibn Ibrāhīm b. Ṭībān to his brother-in-law Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yūsuf. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: late 11th century. Shortly after these two parted ways, Abū l-Afrāḥ had sent a boy to the writer requesting a medicinal syrup, as he felt ill (mutakassil). The writer returned to the camp site the next day, but Abū l-Afrāḥ had already departed. The writer traveled as far as Būsīs but did not catch up with him. In this letter, he apologizes, explains himself, and requests that Abū l-Afrāḥ inform him about his health before he travels. ASE