Geniza Lab

India Book II, 21–24 (synoptic edition). Letter from Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan, in Aden, to Avraham Ibn Yiju. Dating: ca. 1135 CE. Altogether, six fragments of (at least) three copies of the letter have been identified, as follows: Copy 1: II,22 (T-S NS J240) = a small section of the original written by Maḍmūn. Ibn Yiju reused verso for writing accounts (cf II,23v = PGPID 5537). II,22a (Moss. IV,21.1) II,23 (T-S 20.137), the main part of the original written by Maḍmūn. Copy 2: II,24 (T-S NS J1), the clean copy of the clerk, with two postscripts added by Maḍmūn Copy 3: II,21 (T-S NS J241), another clean copy of the clerk, on whose reverse side he added the postscripts of the master II,21a (JRL Series B 4089), in the hand of the same clerk who wrote II,21 and perhaps a fragment of the same copy. The text on verso (PGPID 5232) corresponds to II,23 lines 32–43. The text on recto (PGPID 5233) is not paralleled in the other surviving fragments.

Quittance by the rabbinical court of Fustat for money sent to Madmun II. Fustat, probably 1214.

Unusual order of payment of Abū Zikrī Kohen. In Judaeo-Arabic, with a Hebrew 'emet' and Arabic and Greek/Coptic numerals in the upper margin. Moshe b. Netanʾel ha-Shishi ha-Levi initially sent a note instructing Yehuda ha-Kohen (=Abū Zikī Kohen) to issue an order of payment to his banker Abū l-Khayr Khiyār to give somebody (presumably Moshe) 6 dinars for 3 irdabbs of wheat. Upon receiving this note, it seems that Abū Zikrī Kohen added the note "pay them (the dinars) to him," signed it, and added the "emet" and other pertinent notations in the upper margin, i.e., he turned the note requesting an order of payment into an order of payment. (Information in part from Goitein's attached notes.)

Bifolio of mercantile accounts in the hand of Nahray b. Nissim. Dated: 445 AH, which is 1053/54 CE. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

List on a small slip of paper, 22 names of indigent persons, mostly women. The first three are in T-S NS J239v (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 462, App. B 84 [dated to 1200-1240])

List of names from different families, probably a memorial list.

Bill of divorce (geṭ). Draft. Dated: 7 Tammuz 1376 Seleucid, which is 1062 CE. Husband: ʿEli b. David. Wife; Milāḥ bt. Avram. Written and signed by ʿEli b. ʿAmram.Also signed by Aharon b. Yefet. Not delivered. See also T-S 10J2.6, a bill of divorce for the same couple from several years later, also not delivered. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Abū l-Faraj to R. Eliyya or to [...] b. R. Eliyya. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer is distressed. He had sent a letter with Ṭāhir, to be given to Menaḥem, to be given to the addressee. He tells the addressee not to give his response to Ṭāhir, lest it fall into the hands of someone other than the writer. (This sentence could also be read, "do not give it to anyone except Abū Ṭāhir," but in that case the word לשיך should have been spelled ללשיך.) The writer alludes to a distresing matter involving his elder son Yūsuf. ASE.

Recto: Letter of the Na'ib of Malij to the judge Efrayim b. Meshulam regarding a case of an orphan girl. Asks for a quick decision. Verso: The answer, it seems in the hand of Meir b. Hillel b. Sadoq. Further information and partial transcriptions on Goitein's note card.

Letter from Araḥ b. Natan, also known as Musāfir b. Wahb, in Alexandria, to his brother, Avraham b. Natan the seventh, in Cairo. Dating: 1094–1111 CE. Avraham was an associate of the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya. In the letter, Araḥ reports of serious riots in Alexandria and a drunken brawl that ended only with the intervention of the chief of police (wālī), although he also accuses the other faction of having alerted the wālī, in addition to the drunken brawl having drawn his attention. The writer praises the local muqaddam who managed to free those involved with the brawl. He also complains of inappropriate fetishization of official decrees, and is so annoyed at the behavior of his fellow Jews that he reports it to the governor, Fakhr al-Mulk. For his brother’s benefit, he adds that the appropriate way to fetishize a decree is, as everyone knows, to kiss it and put it on your eyes, which is what the governor does. But “the Jews,” he complains, “take it around from place to place” and "wave it around like a banner." There is a passing reference to his illness ('I will tell you about it when my spirit recovers from this illness,' v1). It is likely that he is attributing his illness to the events described in the letter (wa-qad lazimanī minhu mulzim), though Frenkel understands this sentence to mean simply that there is some matter that is incumbent on him. (Information from Miriam Frenkel, Alan Elbaum and Marina Rustow)

Letter from Araḥ b. Natan, also known as Musāfir b. Wahb, in Alexandria, to his brother, Avraham b. Natan the seventh, in Cairo. Dating: 1094–1111 CE. Avraham was an associate of the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya. In the letter, Araḥ reports of serious riots in Alexandria and a drunken brawl that ended only with the intervention of the chief of police (wālī), although he also accuses the other faction of having alerted the wālī, in addition to the drunken brawl having drawn his attention. The writer praises the local muqaddam who managed to free those involved with the brawl. He also complains of inappropriate fetishization of official decrees, and is so annoyed at the behavior of his fellow Jews that he reports it to the governor, Fakhr al-Mulk. For his brother’s benefit, he adds that the appropriate way to fetishize a decree is, as everyone knows, to kiss it and put it on your eyes, which is what the governor does. But “the Jews,” he complains, “take it around from place to place” and "wave it around like a banner." There is a passing reference to his illness ('I will tell you about it when my spirit recovers from this illness,' v1). It is likely that he is attributing his illness to the events described in the letter (wa-qad lazimanī minhu mulzim), though Frenkel understands this sentence to mean simply that there is some matter that is incumbent on him. (Information from Miriam Frenkel, Alan Elbaum and Marina Rustow)

Recto: Legal testimony. Incomplete. Drawn up in Fustat. Dated 1151/52 CE (1463 Seleucid), under the reshut of Shemuel ha-Nagid. The case involves Abū l-Faraj al-Tājir al-Qāhirī aka Yeshuʿa ha-Zaqen b. Yūsuf ha-Zaqen and Abū l-Rabīʿ Sulaymān b. Shelomo b. Yehuda ha-Kohen ha-Sar. The margins and verso are filled with Arabic script. ASE

Accounts of weekly expenditure of a type similar to App. B 41-43, 49, and also in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. A clean copy for three weeks, always opening with the amounts collected by two persons: first week, two laymen; second,the beadles Tahir and Mahasin; third, Tahir and the cantor Abu al-Majd. Cash was 74 dirhams in the first week, 32 1/2 in the third. Here too the standard price for bread was 1 dirham for 10 pounds, since in the second week 9 loaves of bread were resold for 7/8 dirhams. In the second week, a loan of 10 dirhams had to be taken from the judge Hananel to cover the expenses for the bread, and in the third, another loan from a different source. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 461, App. B 77 [dated to 1200-1240]).

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Accounts in Hebrew characters, several lines.

Informal note from Shemuel urgently requesting that the addressee send him with the bearer "two and a half" of the item that Barakāt had given to the addressee.

Document regarding repayment of a debt, 1276.

Legal declaration. Fragment: only the right side is preserved. Dating: 1089–1188 CE. In Judaeo-Arabic. Involves [Yiṣḥaq] b. Yeshuʿa and Zakkāy. Signed by Moshe ha-Levi b. Ibrahīm.

Upper part of a twin list in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, seemingly a draft, one list with amounts, and one mostly without amounts. The sums donated range from one-half dirham, given by the son of bell-maker, to five and one-half. The Rasuy gives one Nasiri through the judge Yehiel. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 488, App. C 44)

Letter from Yūsuf, presumably in Fustat, to his 'brother' Zakarīya b. al-Rayyis, in Fuwwa. In Judaeo-Arabic. The letter is to be delivered to Yūsuf the tax farmer of Fuwwa, who is to forward it to the intended recipient. The letter contains a rebuke for the addressee who left before the holidays instead of staying as everyone urged him. In the meantime, it seems a letter has arrived that demands an urgent response. Everyone is distressed on account of the addressee's illness. Bū l-ʿIzz al-Ghāsūlī brought a letter and three dirhams. ASE.