Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, with interspersed Arabic script (header, footer, and sliding blessings). Eloquent and formal style, possibly copied from or for a literary source. Seems to mostly be expressing love for the a third person and sadness at his failure to fully reciprocate. Mentions Abū Isḥāq the cantor and Abū Kathīr. "When his late mother died, may her Creator have mercy upon her, I went to his house and consoled him and met his need as far as I was able to with speech. He showed me signs of love, and my limbs bore witness to him with many times the same. They (=my limbs) prayed for him and my soul thanked him, without any imposition (? takalluf) imposed on him or imposed on me from money or honor.... rather, that love for him remained in my heart like.... until the day of Shavuʿot... the soul praised her Creator and prayed to Him from its blackness(?), and my love and affection for him became like the trees whose [...] more than one branch (or root?), and no matter how the wind blows... it does not budge from its place... and it continued like this until he showed me aversion (jafā) from his soul... without any crime that I committed...." Join: Alan Elbaum. Needs further examination.

Letter by the son of the judge (dayyan) of Minyat Zifta to a certain Peraḥya, requesting his intercession with a certain sayyidnā David. Dating: If this David is David Maimonides, the letter would be dated 1237 CE at the earliest. The letter is a litany of the the troubles of the writer's father and the acts of his enemies against him. The father's troubles include the following. His creditors are demanding that he turn over his house to the Muslim authorities (sulṭān). He fell sick one week (parshat Ki Tetze) and wished to take out the Torah scroll and say the blessing—evidently this was thought to be helpful against illness. But his rival humiliated him and took out and made the blessing over the Torah himself. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter from a man, in Damascus, to his father, perhaps in Fustat. The sender expresses his longing and desperation in this foreign land, especially after the departure of Manṣūr ("the world closed itself in on me... I cry... and wish my soul would leave, but it does not"). He reports that he is revered, because he has successfully humiliated all the competing cantors, and now nobody dares to chant in his presence. (The father seems to be a cantor as well.) His father was upset that he entered the service of "someone like the ghulām"; Manṣūr will explain everything when he arrives. He was unable to send some of the goods for his brother; Ibn Abū l-Zakkār may have told him not to trust a potential bearer. He has sent with Manṣūr a mould of cheese worth 2.5 dirhams, and he has equipped Manṣūr with funds to keep the cheese well-oiled en route lest it dry out. He complains about the lack of sustenance in Damascus. He claims to fast most days out of sorrow/longing, and he repeatedly asks for prayers. He is worried that his enemies will gain the upper hand over him (he may have seen this in a dream? Verso, line 8). He describes the hospitality of his paternal uncles and their children and his maternal aunt. He asks for news of potential fiancees back home—his cousin (bint ʿamm) and Nabaʾ—since the locals in Damascus are trying to set him up with a local woman. He emphasizes that he would never get married with his father absent. He alludes to a period of a year when he had a falling-out with his father, a rift which is now healed (this may explain some of the over-the-top language of longing in this letter). He asks for some aqwāl, which should be sent to the house of the Nezer along with instructions to forward them to Aleppo should the son have traveled already. He concludes by warning his father to seal all of his future letters—"and not with a heavy seal." (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Amulet to protect Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen gaʾon b. Shelomo gaʾon (1127–39 CE), destroy his political enemies, and succeed before the government. (Information from CUDL)

Letter (distressed) in Judaeo-Arabic. "If the girl is alive, I wish you to send me the letters, and if she has died, may God. . . . My mind is distressed [tashawwasha khāṭirī] on her behalf. Do not tell anyone where I am. . . because I am scared and my enemies are close behind." Abū Zikrī is mentioned in the middle of the enemies sentence (ואסתכתם אבו זכרי) but it is not immediately clear how he is related.