Geniza Lab

Very faded right side of a document, with 5 lines at the top of the page, a wide space, then 12 lines at the bottom of the page in the same handwriting. Legible words: "ḥerem stam. . . min al-wujūh. . . lahum shay' yaṭlubuhum. . . fa-innahu bāqī lī 'indahu. . . Sitt al-[. . .]. . . beli ones kelal bevituy. . . al-Shaykh Abū l-Waḥsh." ASE.

Letter from David b. Amar Madini. Around 1040. The addressee and place are missing. The writer expect deliveries from the addressee and suggests he would send them (but not the gold) with one of three people, including two Muslims with the name “Hajj” (that made a pilgrimage to Mecca in the past). Mentions trading of pearls (or corals), cloths, silk, and more. Dated between 1038 and 1045. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #655) VMR

Letter from Menashshe the teacher, to Elazar b. Yehuda b. Elazar ha-Kohen, known as Sa'd al-Mulk, and to his wife, informing them that their boy pleased his grandfather with his knowledge and thereby implying that the writer, as the boy's teacher, expected a bonus in addition to his normal fee. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 187-188, 356, V, 82, and a full translation in Goitein, Education, pp. 48-51)

Letter from Ya'qub to his mother (שקר בנת מבחל?) in Cairo, mainly assuring her that everyone is doing well. Isḥāq recently arrived from the writer's brother, and he and Furayj are doing well. Shemuel the son of the merchant and the writer's wife have also arrived. He asks his mother to assure Shemuel's wife that Shemuel is doing well, and Shemuel's wife's sister (Marḥaba or Muraḥḥaba) that her husband Faraj Allāh is doing well. He says to show this letter to Hārūn the teacher. The bottom of recto and the top of verso are torn off. He sends regards to his cousin (bint khālatī). The name ʿAfifa is written a few lines below the end of the letter. ASE.

Expenditures of the Jewish court in Fustat, early 11th century.

Letter from a Sicilian who had come to Egypt in order to study with Moses Maimonides and with Yiṣḥaq b. Sasson. Despite his long sojourn in the place where his children were born and died, he could not bear the hot climate. He expresses his wish to return to his hometown, Messina, where his learned father lived. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 101)

Letter to Abū Saʿd b. al-Khāzin. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment, left third only. Contains an eloquent opening and mentions the synagogue, difficult circumstances, Ibn al-Shāmī, and Abū Ayyūb. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter segment concerning some legal issues with the signature of Shemarya. The first concerns Nissim al-Iskandarani who has entered into a business partnership with an unnamed woman. Mention is also made of Shemarya’s school. Greetings are sent at the end to Yosef b. Salim. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from an unidentified writer to Eliyyahu the Judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer conveys condolences for a death in the family of Eliyyahu (r6–9). He says that the blow is even harder to bear than his own trials with the sick woman (al-ṣaghīra) in his household. The rest of the letter is about this woman. (Motzkin identifies her with Eliyyahu's daughter-in-law Sitt Ghazāl, but he does not explain why.) The writer asks Eliyyahu to obtain a medical consultation with the Rayyis (Avraham Maimonides?) concerning the patient. The writer provides a detailed, albeit cryptic, account of her problems (r15–v1). First she withdrew from mingling with people (inʿazalat ʿan al-khalṭa—unless this refers to a khilṭ/humor) and remained either silent (sākita) or with some altered mental status (sābita). Those around her attributed this to the wakham (bad air/epidemic) and to her pregnancy. But in the fifth month of her pregnancy, she was afflicted with "dullness of mind (balādat khāṭir), irritability (ḍajar), confusion (taḥayyur), and disorientation (taghayyub)." The family members refrained from giving her any medicine to drink on account of the pregnancy. Finally, God had mercy and she gave birth. (Motzkin understood this as a miscarriage, but the letter does not. She could just as well have carried the fetus to term and given birth to a live child.) But, the writer continues, her situation is still unstable, and they anxiously await Eliyyahu's response with the Rayyis's advice. ASE

Recto: Letter (upper part). Line 7: "As for the matter of the [..]ar, I asked Abu l-Ḥasan about it, and he said that he talked to Yusuf who went to the mistress of the nursing (or wet nurse) slave," who apparently demanded an exorbitant price for her ("she is worth half of these figures"). As for Tawfiq, he had a terrible quarrel with his maternal aunt. She arrived on the same Shabbat as the son of the judge. After the unpleasant events, she went to stay with Abu l-Ḥasan, but she cannot stay there "because of what you know about the women [of the household]." "As for Ḥujrah [another female slave?], it is not possible to [...] to her while her masters are absent." He encourages the addressee or Abu l-Barakat to come soon. The letter cuts off around here. Verso: writing exercises. ASE.

Letter addressed to Abū l-Faraj b. al-Rayyis (=Eliyyahu the Judge?). In Judaeo-Arabic. Regarding a certain Abū l-Bayān al-L[evi?] (=Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi?). Apparently Abū l-Bayān recently arrived in the sender's town (al-baladiyya). He has been working for a teacher (mushtaghil ʿinda muʿallim) and staying with the sender (nāzil ʿindī fī l-bayt). But he seems to have acted in a bad way, spurning the sender's favor and causing pain to everyone (...faḍlī ʿalayhi li-anna ḥasala lana minhu alam...). (This sentence might also mean the opposite, if it actually reads "uns" instead of "alam.") Someone mentioned to someone that the shop was in need of "someone like him." Abū l-Bayān consulted the sender on this matter, who told him that it would be better to go back to his own town, but Abū l-Bayān said that he couldn't do that "for various reasons." The sender now asks the addressee to employ this man. Goitein translates the next bit, "As long as this wheel [of fortune] turns, nothing remains in its accustomed state, except for one to whom God grants a respite. May the Creator spare you and me the hostilities of Time and its vicissitudes, and may he not let us taste, or even see again, anything like that we have gone through and may he accept it [what we have gone through] as an atonement for our sins" (Goitein, Med Soc V, 48). The sender greets the young men (the addressee's sons? but Eliyyahu did not have sons by these names) Abū l-Najm(?) and "the noble branch" (al-farʿ al-najīb) Abu ʿUmar or Abū ʿImrān. In the margin he asks the addressee to convey his regards to Sayyidnā A[vraham? ha-. . .] ha-Gadol. ASE.

Letter (commercial-family) written from Fustat to a brother residing in Alexandria. The letter is from the beginning of the twelfth century. (Information from Frenkel. See additional information in Goitein, Med. Soc. 1:201)

Business letter by a young Spanish merchant writing from Fez to his father in Almeria, Spain, revealing that he preferred not to use his father's house in Fez but to stay with friends instead in order to be able to declare his merchandise as destined for a local merchant. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 61-62 and Goitein's translation, attached.) After he was forced to pay the governor (qā'id) and customs inspector (mutawalli al-ʿushūr) and sundry others, "I was sick for three days out of anger and sorrow. Had I possessed here the same courage as I usually have in Almeria, I would have escaped with less than this. But I consoled myself with the solace of one who has no choice."

Letter to the son/boy R. Elazar, from Yusuf the brother of Mansur. About three-fourths of recto is taken up with self-pitying expressions of how sad and anxious Yusuf is to have received only one letter from Elazar, and how he will die in his distress and old age, and how a letter would heal his heart, and how hard it is to see other children with their parents. The subject of the letter is damaged. It mentions someone or something in the house of Rabbi Yusuf the brother of Musa, the addressee's in-law. Istanbul is mentioned (so post-1453? the language and script also support a late date). The economy is depressed. The writer sends regards to his wife and to his son. "If you ask about me, I am in good health. . . . From the day I got off the boat at Bulak (בולאך?!), I have been well." He sends regards to a long list of people at the end, including Ya'qub and his son; a Jerusalemite woman and a female teacher (Hanna?) and her son; the physician Pinhas; Yehudah Karat (?); everyone who asks about him; everyone in his family and their wives. ASE.

Ketubba, nearly complete, from Cairo, dated 24 November 1822, between Hayyim and Esther (their fathers' names are written but tricky to read), with a me'ukhar of 800 reyals (16000 piastres = 160 pounds). ASE.

Recto: letter by the Palestinian Gaʾon Daniel b. ʿAzariah to the head of the Palestinian congregation in Fusṭāṭ , ʿEli b. ʿAmram, concerning ‘what was collected [from the] market’ (i.e., the proceeds of slaughter) from the beginning of Elul to the end of Kislev. Mention is made of Ṣemaḥ ‘our scribe’ (ספרא דילנא). It closes with his ʿalāma, ישועה, and Daniel signs (in a different ink): Daniel ha-Nasi Rosh Yeshivat Geʾon Yaʿaqov. Verso: probably the draft of a sermon, quoting Isaiah 21:12, different hand and ink. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Letter from the Palestinian Gaon, Daniel b. Azarya (1051-1062), to the head of the Palestinian congragation in Fustat, Eli b. Amram, concerning ‘what was collected [from the] market’ (i.e., the proceeds of slaughter) from the beginning of Elul to the end of Kislev. Verso: Probably the draft of a sermon, quoting Isaiah 21:12, different hand and ink.

Ketubba fragment (upper right corner). Location: New Cairo. Groom: Hillel the elder. Bride: a widow [...] bt. Elʿazar ha-Kohen. Payments: 7 + 30 = 37 dinars. Dated: Thursday, 13 Nisan 15[..] Seleucid, corresponding to the range 1189–1288 CE. (Goitein's index card says specifically end of the 12th century.) (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document fragment (upper left corner) from Fustat. Hardly any content remains. ASE.

Fragmentary, short marriage contract from Cairo, from which most of the details are missing and which does not mention dowry. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 121, and from Goitein's index cards)