Geniza Lab

From Nahray b. Nissim (Misr) to Farah b. Isma'il Farah (Busir).

Letter from Salah b. Barhun al-Tahirti from Qayrawan, to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal from Fustat. Around 1010. Regarding a shipment of silver which b. Awkal sent from Fustat to Qayrawan. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #132) VMR

Question submitted to "sayyidnā," it seems the Head of the Karaite community, about a case that had come before the governor/chief of police (wālī) of Alexandria. One of the writer's opponents was Ibn al-Laḥḥām, who had been under a ban of excommunication for 25 years for having a child with a woman lacking kashrut (according to Karaite law). The son is now a member of the community. Information from Goitein's index card.

Recto: Fragment cut out from a poem of Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver. In the margin is a fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic letter. Verso: Legal query in a different hand concerning a husband whose wife died, and he is claiming her possessions from her mother. See Goitein's note cards and the attached correspondence with M. A. Friedman.

Letter from Ibn Barukh, in Almeria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: probably end of August 1138 CE. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Yosef, who has no income except from copying books and who now turns to a friend for help. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Abū Naṣr b. Avraham, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. Dating: February 1141 CE. In Judaeo-Arabic. This was written after Ḥalfon departed from Alexandria together with Yehuda ha-Levi. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come) Alexandria

Fragment of an interesting letter sent to Abu al-Fadl Mevorakh b. Avraham by Shemarya b. Efrayim. Dated ca. 1070. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, 388, and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter of recommendation from Yehuda to Avraham ha-Zaqen about a righteous silk weaver named Tahor al-Talmid from the pupils of Avraham Maimonides (min jumlat aṣḥāb sayyidinā), who has "left the world from his heart" and sought the service of the Creator. The letter discusses Tahor's altruistic intention to marry an orphan girl.

Fragment of a legal document regarding a sale.

Last page of a letter from Abū Naṣr b. Avraham, in Alexandria, to a public figure, in Fustat. Identification is based on handwriting and style. The first page of the letter is missing. Dated: 9 Tammuz, apparently of the year 1141 CE (so the 8th of June). The letter contains information on ships that frequented the port of Alexandria. It mentions an attack of Bedouins on the passengers of the Sultan's ship in Tobruk (this note was added from Goitein) as well as general news and instructions of a commercial nature, dealing with spices, perfumes, books, pearls and gold. The letter reports the great distress in which the Jews of Alexandria found themselves. The leaders of the community, among them Abu Nasr himself, were under house arrest due to unpaid debts from previous years. The matter created 'hatred' (Heb. sinʾut) and general anarchy. The recipient is asked to intervene in the matter and petition a few Muslim public figures which might assist. (Information from Frenkel and Goitein's note card.)

Letter from Avraham b. Yosef al-Sabbāgh, Alexandria, to Yosef b. 'Awkal, Fustat. Dating: ca. 1020. Written by a copyist, Daniel ibn al-Shama. Includes details on government officials and commodities. Written on parchment.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic to an important personage. Malij is mentioned in the body and in the address. The name Shemuel b. Hananiah appears after the date (Kislev) in the margin of recto.

Letter from Sitt Dhahab, in an unknown location, to Abū Naṣr b. Karīm, in Qāʿat al-Fāḍil, Fustat. She refers to herself as his daughter. Goitein suggests that he is her elder brother, although in that case it might be odd for a sister to refer to "the house of your brother" rather than "our brother." She reports that Abū l-Faraj b. al-Rayyis (Judge Elijah?) has arrived, with 100 dirhams for them. He is interested in buying wheat. She confirms that several consignments have arrived, including the balālīn (?), a frying pan (ṭājin), a robe (shuqqa), yarn (ghazal), and silk in various forms. She suggests that he send silver to Sitt Iftikhār, who has been seriously ill ("she has not lifted her head") already two months. She uses the word "iltaha'at" (bi-ruḥihā wa-maraḍihā) to describe Sitt Iftikhār; this word also appears in the context of distress in CUL Or.1081 J5 and possibly T-S 10J12.14. It might correspond to التهى, meaning "to be occupied with oneself" (Dozy). She reports on the sale of a female slave for 10 dinars, but this deal may have fallen apart: when "the man" came to fetch her price, "they returned to your brother's house, and they said they wouldn't sell her," and the female slave herself had to be bound with ropes. She then gives an update on the door for the vestibule (kumm). Abū l-Surūr bought one, but it is not suitable. Another worker came and took its measurements and is interested in doing the work. As for the old door of iron, Ḥusām took it down, and Salīm the carpenter didn't lift a finger to help. She urges the addressee to be diligent in forwarding the letters of Abū l-Maʿālī, because his mother and grandmother (or: mother and wife) are worried about him. She urges him to not forget to give an update on Najm in each of his letters, because when he does not, everyone is worried. The address is in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from the community of Sfax, largely consisting of prayers and praises for the recipient. Two letters from the recipient had arrived, and there was rejoicing in the synagogue with five Torah scrolls taken out of the ark, and foreigners from Tripoli were present. Signed by Ibrahim b. Sahlan, Yishaq b. Barhun, Shemuel b. [ ], Farah b. Ibrahim, Harun b. Ya'aqov (?). ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic; the names are missing.

Business letter from Yiṣḥaq Nīsābūrī to ʿUlla Dimashqī. Mentions Alexandria, Ashqelon, shipments of rhubarb, and a business dispute brought to court. (Information in part from Goitein's index card and Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 209, 452.)

Letter, complete, to Yosef b. Ya'aqov from his brothers 'Imran and Maymun, who are in Alexandria. Information from Goitein's note card.

Toviah b. Eli ha-Kohen to his cousin and brother-in-law Natan ha-Kohen, mainly to ask him to settle a debt of 12 dirhems before Shabbat. His sister is ill. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter dated 25 Tishrei 1212 (4973) from Yehuda b. al-Ammani, a cantor, schoolmaster, and clerk in Alexandria, to Abu l-Majd Meir b. Yakhin, a senior colleague in Fustat. Recapitulating previous communication between the two (cf. T-S 13J21.25 written four years earlier), Yehuda notes with frustration that the addressee asked him to send dirges for the deceased, and so he sent him about thirty, and the addressee had replied that he had them all with the exception of two or three. Yehuda advises the addressee to advise him of the first lines of the poems so that there would not be unnecessary duplication (Med Soc V:179, 556.) Almost all of the letter deals with this topic and with the vicissitudes of mail delivery, since many letters both from Yehuda and from Abu l-Majd's brother Abu l-Najm Hilal were either delayed or never arrived at all. Starting on line 16 of verso, Yehuda writes, "On the night that I wrote this letter, seven great and learned rabbis arrived, and behind them 100 people—men, women, and children—asking for bread. This is apart from the 41(?) beggars we already have in the city [Alexandria], and most of the congregation has been exhausted by poverty." Along with other family news, Yehuda writes, "Your brother Sa'id quarreled with his wife and traveled, and no one knows where he traveled. A roof fell on his wife, but she was saved from death." EMS. ASE.