Geniza Lab

Letter from a man entitled “segan ha-yeshiva” to Aharon the Cantor. Dating: Possibly ca. 1035 CE, based on Goitein identification of the addressee with Aharon b. Efrayim, who is the addressee of T-S 8J33.1, ca. 1035 CE. The writer has been confined to his house with the remnants (baqiyya) of a serious illness (maraḍ ṣaʿb, alam, ʿillal). He cannot stand, and he can hardly write. He asks Aharon to bring the Nasi and Abu ʿAlī to treat his illness, and to go with Abū l-Khayr Mevorakh to collect money from 'aṣḥābunā' for a man in need and naked (insān mastūr wa-ʿaryān), i.e., himself. They are also to get a half dinar for the writer from Abū l-Ḥasan. Information in part from Goitein's note card. The scribe has cut and reused a classical Arabic text in calligraphic script with full diacritics and vowels. ASE.

Letter of appeal for charity, probably. In Hebrew. Dating: Late, possibly 18th or 19th century. Very long-winded, and full of kabbalistic drashes about Satan and related matters.

Recto: Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic to al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab, perhaps begging for charity. Mentions necessity/want (al-ḍurūra) several times and concludes with, "I have no one who bestows favor (muḥsin mutafaḍḍil) like you." Verso: Lists of names in Arabic. Musā... Mufaḍḍal... ʿAbdallāh... Ibrahīm Shammūl (?)... Sulaymān Ibn [ ]... Tawfīq Ibn Saʿīd.

Letter in Hebrew (left side only) in a beautiful scribal handwriting from a man who was among the great men of Constantinople until the wheel of fortune turned on him, and now he has come to [Egypt] and begs for help since he has heard that the addressee is a generous man.

Fragment (lower right corner) of a letter of appeal (begging letter) in Hebrew. ASE.

Fragment (lower right corner) of a begging letter addressed to a judge. The writer seems to have spent two months hiding indoors from his debtors. The handwriting looks familiar. ASE.

Letter of appeal for charity. There are 10 lines of flowery Hebrew praises for the recipient followed by a space and then six lines of the Judaeo-Arabic letter have survived. The writer's son is sick and they are in need of clothing and they ask the recipient for help.

Recto: Hebrew letter of appeal from the old, poor man Yosef b. Elazar ha-Kohen to Avraham ha-Sar b. Elazar. The body of the letter occupies the middle third of the page sandwiched between fulsome blessings and learned biblical quotations and lessons about the importance of charity. Verso: very neat calendrical tables with molad calculations for the years 1122/3, 1125/6, and 1129/30 CE.

Yizhaq ha-Kohen al-Nafusi (from Nafusa, Libya) who was thrown off by a donkey and was lying in the building of the synagogue of Alexandria without being able to work asks Moshe Tiferet ha-Kohanim for help. Information from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter from a Spanish community to Egypt concerning an impoverished and aging man from Rhodez, France, who appraoched the ruler of his land for redress after his son was murdered; the ruler instead expropriated his possessions. Wants to go to Jerusalem to spend the rest of his life there. Recto after a long alphabetical exordium.

Letter of appeal to Avraham Maimonides, begging for financial assistance, mentioning an old man who is sick and the plight of at least two daughters. Avraham Maimonides then wrote four lines, now quite faded, underneath the letter. ASE.

Letter of recommendation. Late. In Hebrew, with some Aramaic and Judaeo-Arabic. The bearer Saʿīd b. Manṣūr the Yemeni is from a good family and has had to abandon his wife and children, traveling in search of charity and a living.

Letter of appeal. Above, 13 lines of Hebrew blessings in large letters (perhaps a template purchased already filled out). Below, 6 lines of Judaeo-Arabic begging for help from the recipient in smaller letters.

Letter of appeal for charity. In Judaeo-Arabic. Well-written. Refers to "three breads (akhbāz) a week." (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Letter of appeal for charity addressed to a certain Rosh ha-Qehillot. It is written entirely as a Hebrew poem. There are lengthy descriptions of the sufferings of the sender and his children as well as praises for the addressee.

An interesting begging letter by Yosef, the Samaritan priest, who apparently belonged to the Samaritan congregation in Fusṭāṭ. The letter has been edited, translated, and analyzed by A. Cowley. There is a long preamble listing a great many names of God, grouped in alphabetical order, in Samaritan Aramaic. Here is Cowley's translation of the substance of the message: "The Lord reward [you with goodness] and favour and truth for the words which you spoke on the Sabbath to the distinguished elder, the Lord preserve him. Now, my brethren, if the word which you spoke before him had been (spoken) to a stone or a flint which can neither answer nor speak a word back, it would have been ashamed and confounded before you, but up to the present he has not given me any help, nor will he. I know the Samaritans to be without intelligence, caring only for the things that are seen (?), and that they have not done good in the sight of God, and will not. For they seek only a reputation in this passing world, whereas if they took pleasure in what is lasting they would have shown kindness to the poor, the afflicted and needy, the strangers and priests, such as I am. Now, brethren, I did not ask him for either gold or silver. I am a carpenter. I can make boxes, bedsteads, doors, and beams. I asked him to speak to the head carpenter for me that he should take me with him to work every day for wages enough for me and my family to live upon. He has not done so either from the fear of the Lord, or because of what you said, or for my sake. And now it is right that we turn our faces to the Lord our God, the fountain of goodness which is not shut up, the well of mercy. . . . " Part of a pair with T-S 16.26.

Very faded document in Hebrew, probably a letter of appeal, as it mentions the writer's misfortunes and how he falls upon the mercy of the addressee and of God.

Letter from a wretched Abū l-Ḥasan b. Yūsuf begging for charity from a dignitary, probably the Nagid.

Letter of appeal for charity addressed to ʿEli ha-Zaqen the Parnas. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. There are interesting opening blessings, including the phrase "zohar ḥashmalim." There are also interesting phonetic spellings, with vowels, throughout. The body of the request is punctuated by erudite rabbinic and biblical references. These are prefaced by an apology for bothering ʿEli when he has so many strangers to take care of (wa-ʿalā annī aʿlam anna ʿalayh ʿā'ila kabīra min al-ghurabā')—it seems that عائلة is being used here in its broader sense of "dependents" rather than a literal family. ASE

Letter of appeal for charity from Abū Dāniyāl to Maṣliaḥ Gaon. The house where the writer lives with all his family is collapsing around them. There are several interesting spellings in this letter, e.g., אלצצֿירה for الصغيرة.