Geniza Lab

Letter from Yeshua b. Isma’il al-Makhmuri from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1050. Information about shipments of goods. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #306) VMR

Letter from Benaya b. Mūsā to Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yūsuf. In Judaeo-Arabic. The purpose of the letter is to explain why the writer never managed to make it to Abū l-Afrāḥ's location for the last two years. The first year, he fell ill in al-Maḥalla, and never even believed he would make it back to Alexandria. This year, he intended to travel, but was unable to "for reasons that cannot be mentioned." Benaya's children--or at least one of them--are hoping to travel this year, and he prays for their success. Benaya is very preoccupied because he heard that his cousin (bint ʿammī) is sick, and he asked the Kohen Abū l-Surūr for news about her but has not heard back, so he now asks Abū l-Afrāḥ for news about his cousin's health.

Nearly complete letter in Judaeo-Arabic to Abū l-Ḥusayn Ṣedaqah b. Nissim al-Mukallifī (?) in Alexandria. The letter is written on a fragment torn from a massive chancery document; only the beginnings of two Arabic lines remain. Most of the letter is devoted to commiseration about the "fire" that the writer has heard is afflicting Abū l-Ḥusayn. Perhaps a great grief of some kind? It is possible that Abū l-Ḥusayn was stranded around Tyre (בגובת צור), but this sentence is fragmentary. Apart from urging the addressee to respond and reassure him, the writer also informs him that ״אערצת אלסרר״ (?) but it didn't come to anything (or gain any money?).

Letter from Makārim b. Yūsuf to the sons of Merayot ha-Kohen, who seem to be the tax farmers of Shubrā. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic (in a different hand from the letter) and in Arabic script. He complains that not only have the two months granted for the delay of payment passed, but five additional months as well. They have made him fall behind on his obligations to others. The deal has to do with silk. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from Mūsā b. Yiṣḥaq b. Nissim, in al-Mahdiyya, to Ismāʿīl b. Barhūn al-Tāhirti. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1030. The writer is looking forward to the addressee's intended visit to al-Mahdiyya. He describes the situation in the Maghreb, and he mentions silk business and a large transfer of money to a yeshiva. "In a letter sent from Fustat to Qayrawan, Tunisia, we read this: 'A wakham like this I have not seen since I have come to Fustat. I was ill for a full four months with fever and fits of cold, which attacked me day and night. But God, for the sake of his name, not because of my merits, decreed that the illness leave me; I am now restored to complete health. The wakham has ceased, and all our friends [meaning the compatriots from Tunisia] are well." (Goitein, Med Soc V, 113.) ASE.

Letter from Barhūn b. Ṣāliḥ to Abū l-Ṭayyib Sa'id reporting on transactions and asking for news of the addressee. Also asking for shipment of some flax.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th century. The sender may be in Tinnīs (l. 1). He wants to borrow from “the Great Rav” (a Tunisian rabbi in Egypt) his copy of the book Megillat Setarim of the Tunisian scholar R. Nissim in order to copy it and to return it. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter about naval warfare off the Ifrīqiyan coast (1100).

Recto: Letter from an unidentified distinguished man to a judge or communal leader. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender's hand might be known (resembles T-S Misc.28.88, another "mice ate my stuff" letter). Dated: Thursday, 29 Tishrei [4849] AM, which is 1088 CE. But there is a difficulty with this precise date, because 29 Tishrei was actually a Tuesday and because a note on verso states that the letter was received "in the first decade of Tishrei." Based in part on the information from verso, we can deduce that the letter concerns a dispute over a dilapidated wall between the sender's property and that of his neighbor Abū Saʿd. The sender is distressed because some of his key evidence "was in the document which was eaten by the mice." He asks the addressee to try to dig up any documentation that will support his case. His legal adversary has refused to accept testimony except from certified trustworthy witnesses (al-thiqāt). The sender complains about a long history of having to sink money into this house on account of his neighbor. He asks the addressee to treat the house just as he would treat his own house and not to neglect this matter. At the end, he briefly mentions other business matter, including an unpaid suftaja. Verso: The response from two judges, Yeshuʿa b. Avraham and [Sal?]mān b. Elʿazar. They have drawn a box around the response and signed their names at the top of the note. Outside of the box, there appears the date already mentioned: first decade of Tishrei 4349 AM, which is 1088 CE. They address the original sender with respectful terms and explain that the dilapidated wall must be fixed. Its benefit is shared between the two houses, while its base is located on the ground owned by Abū Saʿd. They do not explain the legal consequences of these facts; maybe they simply consulted the court's own records and are providing factual evidence to be used in the ongoing litigation. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) ASE

Fragment of a legal document in which a wife appoints her husband Avraham as her legal representative.

Legal document with testimony of Farah b. Yusuf Banuqa regarding shipments to Qayrawan, which were received by Barhun b. Moshe Tahirti.

Legal record, or outline for drawing up a deed of sale. Dated: Sunday, 26 Ṭevet 1537 Seleucid, which is 28 December 1225 CE. Bū Manṣūr and Abū l-Ḥasan the sons of Hillel al-Mūrid sold to Yosef and ʿAfīf the sons of Futūḥ Ibn al-[...] an entire house belonging to them in Cairo on Darb al-Mugharbilīn ("the street of the sifters"). 2/3 of the house had belonged to Abū Manṣūr and 1/3 to Abū l-Ḥasan. The price was 120 dinars. At the bottom of recto and on verso there are (older) accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. (Information in part from Goitein's index card)

Sale of a house, 1254.

Recto: The upper part of a legal testimony. Aharon ha-Zaqen b. Yosef ha-Mumḥeh reports that Abū l-Munā b. Ṣadaqah al-Jūjarī was renting a drug store (or a portion of the building?) from Aharon, but was unable to pay rent, and in fact was thrown in prison because of this. Later, Abu l-Munā fled from al-Maḥallah. Aharon has been pursuing him to try to force him to pay his debts. Verso: Appears to be a literary work in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic.

Prenuptial agreement in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Join by Amir Ashur. Fragment A (CUL Or.1081 J34) contains 18 lines and fragment B (ENA 4011.14) contains 9 lines; fragment B connects with fragment A in line 17. The man is named Menashshe. The woman is named Banāt bt. Shelomo, aka Sitt al-ʿItra—maybe identical with the widow in ENA 2558.4. Ashur posits that the deed was written before 1127, the year Masliah ha-Kohen entered office and the word reshut begun to appear in such deeds. Lines 11-12 set a date for the marriage, meaning the deed was written prior to the wedding day. The agreement is presented in the first person reducing the probability that it is a betrothal agreement. The fact that the document refers to the bride as 'mamlukatuhu' (his betrothed or his fiancee; fiancee is more probable) shows that the agreement was made after the engagement took place. It is possible that during the engagement no agreement was written or that the agreement was not comprehensive and therefore this agreement was written. Despite the fact that the manuscript is incomplete it is probable that the bride represented herself, despite the fact that her father was alive: the groom testifies that he handed over to the bride the money directly. Moreover, there is no mention of a representative of the bride. The document has not been published or mentioned elsewhere.

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (upper left corner). Dating: Early 12th century. Kali bt. Yisrael (קאלי בת ישראל) of Crete (her name means "beautiful" in Greek) gives a power of attorney to her husband Moshe to sell a building belonging to her deceased brother Shemuel for 30 dinars. The building is located on "Milk Street" (Zuqāq al-Laban) running between the Palestinian and Iraqi synagogues in Fustat. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Partnership contract. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dating: Mentions 1428 Seleucid, which is 1116/17 CE (but this is not necessarily the date of the document). Fragment of agreement between three individuals, in which the agent is allowed to do business in the Egyptian Rīf (countryside), in Damietta, in Tinnīs, and in Alexandria—but nowhere else. The agent is Shela ha-Levi, and the investors are Netanel and Shelomo. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

The first line of a legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. "That which that took place before us, we the two permanent judges in Fustat Miṣrayim, and those who are undersigned, that it was when the Creator appointed for Seʿadyah. . . ."

Account of the Qodesh: personal account of a parnas, ca. 1040. Small fragment, the right part of a leaf, in which Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya listed his current pecuniary operations, on the 24th day of Tammuz. Revenues and expenditures were listed together as they developed. (Informtion from Gil, Documents, pp. 189 #19)

Prescription in Judaeo-Arabic for Abū Yaḥyā, including instructions for both medicine and diet. The name of the recipient at the beginning and the phrase "effective if God wills" at the end are written in Arabic script. Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 583.