Geniza Lab

Recto: Letter in the handwriting of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, probably from Qalyub to his father in Fustat, consisting almost in its entirely of good wishes for Tabernacles. He mentions that the turban (raddah) arrived. He mentions the wife of his paternal uncle, but the context is ambiguous. He then admits that he has no money even to buy bread, but all will end well. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 87, 351.) Verso: Either the response or the initial letter, probably from Levi (Abu Sahl) to his son Moshe. Everyone in the family is well. The addressee's brother Abu l-Ḥasan is doing well, in spite of all that he suffers. He mentions something that the wife of the addressee's paternal uncle said, but it is not clear what. There is an abrupt change of topic (unless this topic is what the wife of the uncle was talking about) to a certain Shelomo. "They said that this is something that pleases neither God nor man, that a woman should be married and her husband does not see her plucking or combing or putting on earrings or dressing up or going about." The letter is torn here. The gossip about this wife resembles the situation of Sitt Ghazal in her marriage to Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (see T-S 13J8.23), but that marriage took place in 1228 CE, and Moshe b. Levi, the presumed addressee of this letter, died in 1212. ASE.

Letter by a teacher complaining about teaching a difficult child. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in which Abu al-Barakat b. Tayyib apologizes for not having sent a certain sum. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Four lines of an official letter in Arabic script. Mentions the amīr Shihāb al-Dīn (last line). Reused for a Judaeo-Arabic halakhic discussion.

Fragment of a letter regarding someone in need.

Letter written and sent probably from Alexandria by Yaʿaqov b. Salman al-Hariri perhaps to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. Ca. 1052 (Gil). Discusses business matters, announces that merchandise transported in Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ's ship arrived safely in al-Mahdiyya, and describes an attack by warships on the commercial ships in port.

Half of a letter (left side of recto, right side of the three lines of verso) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. Line 8 probably reads, "[My heart is wi]th [my brother] al-Shaykh Abu l-Ḥasan in his illness [פי תעבה]." Also mentions flour; Ibn al-Dakli (?); Fada'il; Abu Nasr; Najm the Faqih. ASE.

Inquiry whether a meeting should be held in the 'Kanisat al-Shamiyyin' (Synagogue of the Palestinians). Verso contains a fragment of a marriage contract, listing clothing and jewelry. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Family letter in Judaeo-Arabic. In which a woman with a child asks her sister and mother to take more interest in her because of her condition. Same sender and addressee as CUL Or.1080 J25 and L-G Ar. II.129.

Note, it seems in the hand of Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sighmar, mentioning the disposition of a matter concerning a house and requesting information about various other matters. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a letter (right margin, top and bottom cut off). First part discusses the plight of a 'humble' cantor and teacher of small children (in a kuttāb) who has spent all his money and needs assistance, which the writer requests on his behalf from the addressee. Next matter: writer asks the addressee to help the bearer of this letter, who is 'from a good family' (mi-benei tovim), and who arrived 'in this country' from another place after great effort, apparently escaping something untoward, only to find himself in another kind of difficulty, including an illness. (Information from Mark Cohen)

Fragment of a beautifully written business letter, dealing with the sale of various items. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 592 and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter inquiring about a traveler and whether his ship had embarked. Nisan 1415/1104. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment from the beginning of a letter, sent to Fusṭāṭ. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from ʿImrān b. Yaḥyā Ibn al-Rofe, unknown location, to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee opens with the death of his son Yaḥyā. He apparently moves on to business matters, since he mentions "cloves" three lines further down. Recto was reused for pen trials of ornate Hebrew letters, and verso was reused for what looks almost like an architectural drawing. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards and CUDL.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (bottom half of recto). This portion opens with greetings for "the father and the mother." The next portion has been translated by Mark Cohen as follows, who understands this letter as evidence that Moshe b. Mevorakh (in office 1112–ca. 1126) gained the title Nagid even in the lifetime of his father Mevorakh b. Seʿadya (1094–1111): "Kiss on my behalf the hand of our lord the nagid (Mevorakh). Tell him that I, his servant, carry out his orders, and ask him to pray for me. Also, kiss on my behalf the hand of our lord the nagid Moshe—may God lengthen his days—[and say] that his servant prays for him and yearns to see him. . . . We heard of his intention to come to the port and were overjoyed. See if you can corroborate this by speaking to him. If it is true, let me know at once when he is planning to set out, so that I, myself, do not go on a journey before he departs." On verso there is an addendum in Judaeo-Arabic listing the commodities and their prices that were sent with the bearer al-Sh[aykh] Mūsā, including a medicinal theriac (tiryāq). At 180 degrees there are jottings of accounts in Arabic script listing quantities in arṭāl. Goitein's index card indicates that at least at one point in time, he understood the Nagid Moshe in this document to be Moshe b. Avraham II b. David b. Avraham b. Moshe Maimonides (against Cohen's identification of the Nagid Moshe as Moshe b. Mevorakh from 200 years earlier). Goitein's identification may be more plausible on paleographic grounds (however, most references to a "Nagid Moshe" in the Geniza are to Moshe b. Mevorakh; also, Moshe I Maimonides never held the title Nagid). Additionally, the information in this letter is consistent with T-S AS 147.93, a document in which Amir Ashur (in Dec. 2021) discovered the first definitive proof that Moshe II Maimonides held the title Nagid (and moreover, held the title in the lifetime of another Nagid, his father Avraham II, perhaps as in this letter). ASE

Letter by Yosef b. Musa Tahirti from Alexandria containing details about shipments of flax including. List of expenditures. (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. III, p. 260)

Letter, scribed by Yosef, son of the sender Ibrahim ibn al-Ḥaver, to Ibrahim ibn al-Melammed in Malij, complaining that he hasn't heard from the recipient since he arrived in Fustat. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, from Alexandria, to Musa b. Abi al-Hayy, Fustat. November 14, 1079. Natan writes the account for cash from Nahray to Musa’s family in Alexandria. Mentions the ship of the Amir Yahya. Contains details about processing linen. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #436) VMR

Letter from Marduk b. Musa from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1046. Information about a shipment (maybe of linen) that is still is Rashid and does not arrive in Alexandria as expected. Marduk complains that Nahray does not manage his business properly. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #527) VMR