Geniza Lab

Abū l-Faraj b. Khalaf (?), probably in Minyat Ghamr, writes to his cousin (ibn ʿamma), Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. These cousins had prior correspondence and business dealings—Eliyyahu sent 22 dirhams with his previous letter, and the writer has a store in which he deals in indigo. The purpose of this letter is to ask Eliyyahu to write to the judge R. Menaḥem in the hope of obtaining permission for Abū l-Faraj to take a second wife. Eliyyahu is familiar with the case already, but Abū l-Faraj repeats some of it here. He has endured 20 years of suffering because of the illness of his wife, which prevents her from going to the bath (presumably a problem for him because of menstrual purity laws rather than because of hygiene). When Abū l-Faraj arrived in Minyat Ghamr from Jerusalem, he found a second woman whom he wanted to marry. The local judge, Mufaḍḍal the ḥaver, refused to marry them on his own authority and said that permission would need to come from higher up. Mufaḍḍal sent a letter to R. Menaḥem with Ḥabīb the shohet, but there was no response; Abū l-Faraj himself was unable to accompany Ḥabīb. Abū l-Faraj thought that Eliyyahu would already have intervened on his behalf, but no news of that has reached him. He visited Alexandria, but it seems that Mufaḍḍal discouraged him from seeking a ruling from the judge [A]natoli on account of his strictness. In the remainder of the letter, he repeats his request in various ways. He is willing to come to Fustat in order to marry. Information from Friedman's edition and translation. The writer quotes a saying in lines v13–15, where he is urging Eliyyahu to act quickly, and Friedman marked his translation as somewhat tentative. Cf. alternate versions of the same idiom in ENA 2558.21, T-S 13J21.20, Moss. II,167, T-S Misc.28.33, and Bodl. MS heb. d 66/14, e.g., "mā baqiya fī l-ʿumr mithla mā maḍā," literally, "there do not remain [years] of life like those which have passed," apparently corresponding to the English "we aren't getting any younger, [so please help me]." Another version of the phrase also appears in the first chapter of Ibn Buṭlān's Daʿwat al-Aṭibbā', in the mouth of a physician whose income has dried up and who has nowhere to go: mā baqiya aqallu mimmā maḍā ("what remains is less than what has passed"). See also T-S AS 162.167 + T-S AS 151.29 and Oded Zinger's edition in "You and I will enjoy each other's company until God decrees our death in the Land of Israel," Cathedra 174 (2020), note 22. ASE.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper right corner of recto). He reports that someone gave something to Ḥalfon's mother, and she prays for him and his prosperity night and day. Also, Abū l-Surūr (their brother Peraḥya) gave her 10 dirhams. Nothing more is preserved on this fragment.

Legal document. Location: Tyre. Dated: Thursday, 25 Shevaṭ 15[07] Seleucid, which is 1196 CE if reconstructed correctly. Muʿāfā/Yiṣḥaq b. Shemarya ha-Levi sued his brother Ibrāhīm concerning living arrangements in the house of the family, and in this document they reach a settlement. The case is interesting and rather convoluted; see Goitein's article for edition and analysis.

Leaf from a court notebook. Recto: Legal record. Dated: Tammuz 1549 Seleucid, which is 1238 CE. There are no reshut clauses invoking a Head of the Jews. A house was inherited in equal shares by [ʿAbd al-]Bāqī Sheʾerit ha-Ḥazzan, Abū l-Karam, Abū [...] Khalaf, Ibrāhīm, and Sālim, some or all of whom are brothers. Signed: ʿUziʾel b. Ṭahor ha-Nazir. Verso: Legal record. Location: Fustat. Dated: First decade of Tammuz 1550 Seleucid, which is 1239 CE. ʿAlam bt. Maḥfūẓ gives her husband Abū l-Munā b. Sābiq all the rights relating to a claim of Hibatallāh b. Khalaf relating to the house that is her inheritance from her mother. She appoints him as attorney. Signed by: Mishaʾel b. ʿUziʾel. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Netanel b. Ḥalfon to Zakkay ha-Dayyan ha-Maskil Nezer ha-Maskilim. In Judaeo-Arabic. Probably the same sender as AIU V.B.48 (dated 1174 CE); this letter was written earlier, because his father was still alive when he wrote this letter. Netanel opens with praises for a great woman who departed. After she left, Musallam al-Muṭarriz (the embroiderer) had a wedding. A collection (ṣīniyya, lit. "tray") was arranged at the wedding and brought 30 dirhams. Since Netanel was not present the money was handed over to the "Pride of the Cantors" (al-Peʾer) who was supposed to deliver it to the addressee. (The sender himself is a cantor, since he asks for a piyyuṭ called Raḥmān to be sent with Musallam.) He goes on to report on the collections at two more weddings, that of Yosef b. MN[...] and that of Yosef Ibn Shahīda and the daughter of Munā b. Abū l-[...]. The letter ends rather abruptly just as he begins to say what happened when Abū l-Faraj al-Jazarī arrived. (Information in part from Goitein's index card and Goitein, Med Soc II, p. 499.) Join: Oded Zinger. ASE.

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1080. Natan asks Nahray to help the widow and orphans of b. Sason because they still did not receive the money that belongs to them, probably from the inheritance. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #433) VMR

Letter in the hand of Yefet b. Menashshe probably to one of his brothers. In Judaeo-Arabic. Large fragment (lower right corner of recto). Mentions: Abū l-Munā; the tax collector (ṣāḥib al-mas) Abū ʿA[lī?]; something distressing; a request to talk to someone important (mawlāy al-ajall); Nuṣayr; regards to Khalīl; a great loss (? khaṣāra ʿaẓīma); three dirhams to purchase something with; a Jewish man from Tūnis who is going to Fustat en route to upper Egypt (al-Ṣāʿīd); dinars; Isḥāq b. אלמהר; a complaint about his friends who just take advantage of him (cf. T-S AS 153.235 with a similar complaint); his distress and shame about asking people for help; a request to get Nuṣayr to do something; tailoring something; and the closing greetings.

Recto: Notes for drawing up a legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerns a woman, half of a house, what will happen when she sells her shares, "renting from the dīwān," and so on. Verso: A similar digest of a legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. Different hand (hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe?). Involving a house, various sums of money, and renovating a bustān. This was written on top of a reused fiscal account in Arabic script.

Letter from Harun b. Yosef [al-Ghazal?], Alexandria, to Abū l-Faraj Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. Awkal and to his sons. CUDL description: Fragment of a letter from the brothers Yosef and Nissim, sons of Berekhya, in Qayrawān, to Yosef b. Yaʿqub Ibn ʿAwkal in Fustat, ca. 1015-1017 CE. Similar letters are found at T-S 13J29.9, T-S 16.42, T-S 16.64, T-S NS J388, and Mosseri IV.10(?).

Letter in which a man who calls himself the father of the cantor who is "sick, poor, and naked" asks a prominent physician to arrange for him a collection, pesiqat sedaqa, in his private synagogue—and first to give himself. See further details on Goitein's note card and Med Soc II, Appendix C, #90 (p. 500).

Public prayer for Moshe ha-Kohen, representative of the merchants, containing a prayer for his ancestors and other deceased relatives and praising him for his munificence towards the poor, scholars, synagogues and colleges. (Information from Meditterranean Society, II, pp. 162, 554)

Letter from Yisrael b. Natan, in Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dated: 4 Tammuz = 18 June 1059 CE, according to Gil. The letter discusses the legal queries that Nahray had sent to be answered by the Nasi Daniel b. ʿAzarya, who, however, has been too busy to answer them.

Legal document. Written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: End of Shevaṭ 1439 Seleucid, which is February 1128 CE. In which a widow [...] bt. Seʿadya al-Muqaydisī receives a long list of clothing and household goods from [...] b. David ha-Parnas (aka Dāʾūd al-ʿAṭṭār) pertaining to the estate of her late husband Abū l-Munā Shelomo b. Ḥayyim. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Letter/petition from Yehuda(?), probably in Cairo, to an important person called Sayyidnā, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary orthography. Dating: Probably late 12th or early 13th century. He first makes an excuse about why he could not come in person. Then he asks the addressee to obtain for him a copy of Tadhkirat al-Kaḥḥālīn ("The Oculists' Handbook") in the best handwriting possible. "For this is a khilʿa (robe of honor?) from Sayydinā"—i.e., receiving the book would be like receiving a robe of honor? He explains that the book cannot be found in Cairo. The addressee should spare no expense; the sender will reimburse him. ASE

Accounts in the hand of Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tāhirtī. Barely legible. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 7.)

Letter from Iṣḥaq b. David b. Sughmār to Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tāhirtī, mid 11th century. The writer asks Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tāhirtī to purchase for him urgently a jug or a third of a jug of high quality cooking oil, for which he appears to have found a customer. The price should be a dinar for a jug. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 6.)

Mercantile accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 11th century. Mentions Ibn al-Anṣārī and Abū ʿAbdallāh. Needs further examination.

Letter from Malīj containing a detailed description of a legal case involving a fabric manufactured while evading the tax due on it and sold to an acquaintance who did not keep the secret. Dating: ca. 1100 CE. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 116)

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower left corner). Dating: Probably 11th century. Mentions Aṭfīḥ.

Bifolio of business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. The hand is probably known. Dating: 11th or 12th century.