Geniza Lab

Letter from Yosef b. ʿIwāḍ to Hananel b. Shemuel. Alexandria, probably 1214-1215.

Letter of business in which the writer requests the recipient purchase for him a measure of oil, two ‘futa’ (sari-like cloth), and two dinars of dried fruit (‘zabib’). Abu Imran, Abu al-Rida, and the town of Qus are mentioned, and the writer sends greeting to Abu al-Faraj and Yishaq. EMS (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from a merchant, who had been out of work for a year and a half and suffered heavy losses, to an unnamed individual into whose family he had recently married. The writer expresses regret at the change to his own character and requests from the addressee, “something that would cover at least part of my expenses.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:242, 573) EMS

Letter from Abū l-Faḍl b. Sahl to his relative Ibrāhīm b. Ṣalḥūn, in which he describes a difficult journey that cost three times as much money as he had budgeted for it. "Do not breathe a word about travel. This is a difficult journey that is only good for the wealthy." He then describes his trials with Yūsuf who has been fraternizing with Gentiles and insulting the Jews from East to West. Yūsuf insults Nahray and Ṣedaqa and all the kohanim "up to Aaron." "No one approves of this. By God, speak to the judge." He concludes with greetings and with the postscript, “You know that I am weak in expression; my writing is not worthy of your trouble [or: do not make fun of me]; let no one read this letter except yourself.” He is probably referring to his very poor spelling, though Goitein's note card suggests that it is because he does not want the bad things he said about Yūsuf to get around. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:240, 422, 572, 626) EMS. ASE.

Letter from Yeshūʿa ha-Kohen b. Avraham ha-Galili, in Shubra Damsīs, to Efrayim b. Meshullam (judge, active 1142–54). Dated: 1142 CE (month of Av). The writer sends greetings in the name of his two sons. He encloses a letter from Rabbenu Zakkay for Efrayim, as well as another letter from R. Zakkay and a letter from himself to be delivered to the Nagid, whether by Efrayim himself or by the bearer of the present letter. The bearer is a worthy man and has with him a sick girl whom he "wishes to treat," and the bearer himself is also chronically ill and weak of sight. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:513; Norman Golb, “Topography of the Jews of Medieval Egypt,” JNES 33 (1974), 141. See also Goitein's index card) EMS. ASE.

Letter from Miryam to her brother, Moses Maimonides (1170-1204). Miryam asks her brother to enquire after the whereabouts of her son and to induce him to contact her, last quarter of the 12th century.

Letter from a trader in India to his cousin, who was also his brother-in-law, in Egypt. The writer had apparently been in India and for some time, and complains that he hadn’t heard from his relatives in Egypt, rebuking the addressee for failing to send news of his aunt, Umm Mufaḍḍal, of the addressee's mother, of Umm Saʿīd, or of Iftikhār, or news about who died and who is still alive. He also rebukes him for failing to send condolences on the death of his mother. He is also angry at Mufaḍḍal, apparently another cousin, the son of a different aunt of the writer, for his behavior after the sender lost 4,000 mithqāls. The letter demonstrates the tension between the writer’s belief in the legitimacy of his extended family’s claim on his resources, on the one hand, and his anger at their irresponsible conduct. While the writer is quite angry at the addressee, he nevertheless asks him to send his middle son to him to marry the writer’s daughter, who was there in India with him; he implies that this arrangement is preferable to him because it would preserve his daughter’s dotal property within his natal family. Between the lines, he specifies that he wants the older of the middle sons, the one with the “healthy” eye, presumably a euphemism for a diseased eye. He then discusses various business transactions, many involving stationery and garments. Also mentions Naṣr, who is in a ḥajj caravan; and sends regards to the addressee's children; Abū ʿImrān and his children; Abū ʿImrān and Ghulayb; Abū l-Munā (and congratulations on his safe return from al-Jāwa, probably meaning Southeast Asia broadly); and Munajjā. The fragment ends with the sender cursing the Aleppan (al-Ḥalabī) who made off with everyone's qumāsh. (Information from CUDL, from Goitein, Med. Soc., 3:35, from Krakowski, “Female Adolescence,” 166n20, from Marina Rustow and from Alan Elbaum)

Letter fragment (right half of recto, left half of verso) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. It is primarily concerned with the commodities of saffron and safflower (specifically that the miller doesn't cheat them out of the right amount of saffron or dilute it with safflower), along with a report of products ground by the miller by request. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 270-272, 585.) There are Hebrew alphabet and Arabic jottings in the margins. Moshe mentions someone named al-Siqilli; a young donkey (jahsh); three children who have been sickened; dragon's blood (dam akhawayn); EMS. ASE.

Letter addressed to Najīb al-Siqillī, in Alexandria. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dating: Probably no earlier than 13th century. Mentions "our friends in (New) Cairo." (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in which a tax-farmer named Yehuda, who received one and a half dinars a month, is mentioned. Dated to the 12th century.

Legal testimony. In the hand of Sahlān b. Avraham. Dating: Ca. 1030 CE. Concerning orphans and large sums of money in an estate. Mentions Efrayim the Ḥaver (probably Efrayim b. Shemarya). (Information in part from CUDL.) The join is not continuous, so there is no direct proof, but it seems very likely. ASE

Left half of a testimony given in court recording a lively dispute between Mubarak, Hillel, Habib b. Khalaf and Salama b. Mundhir mentioning the sums of sixteen, nine, and thirty-nine dinars. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Petition from Yefet ha-Melammed the schoolmaster to Avraham Maimonides; the latter's answer is on verso, lines 18–26. Yefet writes that he is ill and losing his vision, and consequently has been unable to pay his rent (?) which has accumulated in arrears of six dirhams. Avraham grants him the money. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 37, 529, and Goitein's index cards.) Many of the specifics of the writer's financial situation are lost. There is an ambiguity as to whether "ujra" here means rent or wage/tuition. In "Side Lights on Jewish Education" (p. 96), Goitein prefers the latter: "The community paid for [the tuition of] the sons of those who were impeded by any reason to go after their usual professions (munqaṭiʿ)," referring to recto, lines 9–11. In this reading, the word munqaṭīʿ refers not to the writer of the letter but to the parents of his pupils who have been unable to pay him. "[This] teacher receives 1 dirham per pupil and week, probably for special reasons," referring to recto, lines 13–14 and 17–19. Yefet has evidently continued to work despite his condition, but has not received the wages officially due to him from the community. He thus writes with a description of his current plight (shidda) to expedite the payments. ASE

Secondary use: Letter from ʿIwāḍ b. Ḥananʾel to Nahray b. Nissim. Dating: 1045–96. Dealing with numerous business matters. He reports that Shemuel dropped a vessel or gourd (fuqqāʿa) full of honey into the Nile.

Verso (original use): Left half of an Arabic-script letter with wide line-spacing. Refers to the wages owed for transport of wheat. Reused for a letter from ʿIwaḍ b. Ḥananel to Nahray b. Nissim (see separate entry).

Petition of a pregnant woman describing herself as a 'lonely foreigner' (gharība qatīʿa). Ibrāhīm, the scribe, emphasizes the great reward and place in heaven the recipient will obtain if he helps the woman. He also adds various business matters of his own, including, apparently, something to do with the 'milking' of musk. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.)

Letter from Daniel b. ʿAzarya probably to ʿEli b. ʿAmram, mentioning a realease valid in both Muslim and Jewish courts. A third person is asked to act in a court case to appear the following Monday. Dated to the 11th century. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index cards)

Letter to a woman in which the writer mentions his mother and aunt, and gives news about a marriage that has taken place.

Letter in which a man complains about a conflict over a power of attorney and a deposit. The sender of the letter held the opinion that he had not done his opponent any harm but the latter had accused him in public of the opposite, threatening to bring this and other matters to the attention of the government.

Memorial list of the family of Eliyyahu the Judge in the hand of his son Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. Amir Ashur, "A Memorial list of Elijah b. Zechariah’s family: T-S 10J18.2," Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, December 2020.