Geniza Lab

Fragment of a letter from Nāshī b. Thābit ha-Kohen to Yosef ha-Levi he-ḥaver b. Ḥalfon ha-Levi (Fustat), ca. 1084-1090. Nāshī b. Thābit sends his gratitude to “the distinguished Rav”, probably Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef, who was behind the assistance received by Nāshī. Nāshī b. Thābit writes that he is “sitting on coals” because he is unable to attend a wedding owing to the blockade of the town in which he lives. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza (PhD thesis, Princeton, 2014), pp. 408-410.) Arabic trials of the pen on verso.

Letter from Zikri b. Abu al-Rida, the perfume seller, to Abu al-Mahasin, a tailor and weaver, dealing with financial business and referring to several textiles. The letter ends with an announcement of a wedding: 'the little one will enter her house by the end of this month. (verso lines 7-8) (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 115)

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Written in the hand of Avraham b. Natan. Moshe ha-Levi and his father (identified as Ṣedaqa ha-Levi b. Moshe in T-S 12.464) participate in a partnership in a shop. The relationship itself resembles an apprenticeship, as Ṣedaqa explains that Moshe is to transact only with his father’s permission. Furthermore, line 16 makes it clear that the two are to work side by side. That line 17 assigns to “each of the two of them…total responsibility” suggests a corporate liability, not restricted to each partner’s share in the joint concern but instead to fulfillment of the sum total of partnership losses or debts. Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman edited both T-S 12.464 and T-S 16.168 in his dissertation, but these could not be proven to be a join until T-S NS 325.11 was identified as the missing piece by Alan Elbaum. (Information in part from "A Mediterranean Society, I," 443; "A Mediterranean Society, V," 331, 336, 597, 599; Goitein's index cards; and Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 138)

Letter from Umm Dawud to her nephew Abu Zikri describing the wedding of her daughter (c. first half of the 13th century).

Three leaves, all of which belong together. One side of each fragment contains an elaborate trousseau list, with values given in both Hebrew numerals and Greek/Coptic numerals. (It is not immediately clear if all this is for the same marriage vs. distinct marriages.) The versos contain different documents. Verso of fol. 1 contains notes for the drawing up of.a marriage document between the groom [...] b. Yefet ha-Levi and the bride Sitt al-[...]. A note at 90 degrees reads, "The wedding of the son of the Rayyis, Monday 10 Nisan 145[6?]." If the date is read correctly, that is 1145 CE. Verso of fol. 2 contains the beginning of a draft of a ketubba drawn up under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel. b. Ḥananya. There are also some large, ornate red letters and a few words in Arabic script. Verso of fol. 3 contains more of the draft of an ornate ketubba header as well as part of a legal document (perhaps the ketubba itself). The scribe is probably well-known from other legal documents of this period. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter of congratulations to Sar Shalom ha-Zaqen (perhaps Sar Shalom ha-Levi, r. 1173–95) and to the groom and the bride and the whole congregation. In Hebrew, with rudimentary handwriting and orthography. There is a date, but the year is difficult to decipher (Tuesday, 20 Nisan 1[...] Seleucid). Or perhaps this is not a letter at all and rather the copy of the beginning of a ketubba, made by a child or a very untrained scribe.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic calligraphy presenting a Hebrew poem in honor of the addressee's wedding.

Wedding Invitation in French. Dated February 9, 1888 CE. The fathers of the bride (Bienvenue Eliakim) and groom (Raphaël) invite an unnamed guest to the "nuptial ceremony" on February 16 at the home of the groom's father Haïm Lagnado on Hamsani Street in Cairo ("dans la maison de M. Haïm Lagnado, sise Rue Hamsani, propriéte de M. Hassan Madkhour"). Notably, the invitation lists the owner of the property "Hassan Madkhour" in addition to the groom's father, who must have been renting the residence at that time. MCD.

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.