Geniza Lab

Legal document in Arabic script. A woman named Jamīla has an eye disease and contracts Hibat Allāh b. Ibrāhīm b. Yaʿqūb al-Yahūdī to treat her. The date is given but difficult to read. Needs examination. ASE.

Letter from Salāma b. Mūsā of Sfax, in Mazar, Sicily, to his partner Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sughmār, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The longest letter in the Geniza. Dating: Early 1060s according to Ben-Sasson, based on the military disruptions mentioned. 7 September 1064 according to Gil, based on his identification of the battle discussed as that between the Qā'id of Sfax and the Zīrid ruler Tamīm b. Muʿizz on that date. Many details about a wide variety of commodities are mentioned, as well as financial transactions. "In essence, this long letter had a single purpose: to convince Yehuda b. Sughmār, Salāma's partner, not to dissolve the relationship between them." Salāma in fact agrees to the dissolution of the formal partnership (ṣuḥba), "I got your letters this year, and you swore that you wanted to dissolve. I want this to happen even more than you do. If the partnership continues there will be discord. . . . Now we no longer feel as we used to, when we relied on each other" (v4–5, 30). Despite this, Salāma suggests other ways of continuing their relationship, including Yehuda's mentoring of Nissim, a new junior associate Salāma is sending to him, and Yehuda's sending Salāma some goods in agency. Jessica Goldberg, Trade and Institutions, pp. 296–99 ("Salāma b. Mūsā's Disastrous Year"). Salāma opens with his shock and dismay at the letters full of blame that he had received from Yehuda. "I had expected you to congratulate me on my survival in al-Mahdiyya, my deliverance from destruction, and the terrible ordeal (al-mawqif al-ʿaẓīm, also mentioned in r23) that I would not wish on anyone. I was bound (kutiftu) and almost killed (or executed, ʿuriḍtu ʿalā l-sayf) four times (or five—the ink is flaked here). Even if there were no partnership (sharika), love, (mawadda), or association (ṣuḥba) between us, this would have been incumbent on you. Now, more than one year later, the terror has not subsided, rather the fright remains in my heart. My greatest trial in al-Mahdiyya was my concern for your business. . . ." Interestingly, when Salāma mentions Yehuda's illnesses of last year (mā laḥaqak tilk al-sana min al-ḍuʿf wa-l-tawajjuʿ, r75), there is not a word of the usual sympathy or congratulations on his recovery. Gil understands Halper 414 to be a follow-up from this letter; Goldberg believes that Halper 414, a small sheet, was inserted into Halper 389, which seems to agree with Goitein, who calls it a "continuation" of Halper 389 (see Goitein notes linked to PGPID 35364). Information from Goldberg, Ben-Sasson, and Gil. ASE; MR

Letter from ʿAmram b. Yosef to Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy, Alexandria. Dating: 1094–97 CE. "The addressee Moses, mostly referred to as Mūsā, was active in communal affairs and was honored, because of his generosity, with the title Segullat (ha-'Yeshiva), 'Treasure' (of the Academy).l He was a native of Tunisia, who had settled in Alexandria and was temporarily in Fustat. Lines 1-32, and margin. Expressions of friendship, complaints about the bad times, personal misfortune, and an eye disease, which made it impossible for Amram to come to Fustat in person.2 Verso, lines 1-7. Letters from Yosef b. Abū Kathīr Ibn Yahboy,3 sent, it seems, from 'Aydhab,4 contained, according to hearsay, news about Abū l-Faraj Nissim and the camphor. The addressee is advised to question the Jewish merchants arriving from there. Lines 7-20. In his dire circumstances ʿAmram had given some of his books to the schoolteacher Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī (also a Maghrebi) to sell, but this man had moved to Fustat and nothing was heard from him. Mūsā is asked to remind him of his duties as a pious person and gentleman.5 {See the introduction to II, 3, for the dating.}" Description from India Book, English edition

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to an unidentified benefactor. Shelomo asks him to help him out with the payment of the capitation tax, as he had been ill and had to spend all the money he could save from school fees paid to him on medicine and chicken. (Information from Halper Catalogue and from Goitein's notes in margin)

Letter from an unknown man, unknown location (not Fustat or Alexandria), to his mother Umm Mufaḍḍal, in Alexandria. Written in Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. He briefly expresses concern for his mother's health, because he heard that she has been ill for one year. He then gets to the purpose of the letter, which is to solicit his mother's help in obtaining the divorce he has been wishing to obtain for a year, for he has been prevented from remarrying (presumably by the local authorities wherever he is, because they learned that he was still married to a woman in Fustat). He sent the bill of divorce with the bearer of the present letter, a man from Iraq. He asks his mother to receive the messenger richly. If the wife is still in Fustat, the messenger should continue on his way to complete the mission. If the wife has come to Alexandria, the mother should deliver the bill of divorce directly. He also asks her to send something to Ibrāhīm and to send her response with Ibn Abū l-Najm, "because we have two capitation taxes (we still have to pay)." Information in part from Zinger's dissertation, 246–47.

Letter from Labrāṭ b. Moshe b. Sughmār, the chief judge in al-Mahdiyya, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: Ca. 3 August 1057 CE (Gil) or 1061 CE (Goitein). Goitein explains, "Our letter was written after 1057, the date of the ruin of Qayrawān, when R. Nissim (b. Yaʿaqov) and other inhabitants of that city had found refuge in Sūsa, a seaport on the Tunisian coast north of al-Mahdiyya. R. Nissim died in 1062.The reference to the Sicilian city whose male inhabitants were put to sword by the conquering Normans fits the fall of Messina in 1061." Labrāṭ extols the great rabbinical authority R. Nissim b. Yaʿaqov, and his pupil the enigmatic "Rav" of Egypt. At the time of the writing of this letter, R. Nissim lived in Sūsa. There he supervised the copying of his writings, which was done for the Qayrawān scholar, Nahray b. Nissim, who then lived in Egypt. The letter relates how R. Nissim's writings were transferred to Egypt, an important detail, which sheds light on the value of the Geniza fragments of these writings, which have been published by Sheraga Abramson. Labrāṭ reports on the progress of the court case that Nahray b. Natan brought against his brother Yisrael b. Natan (both of them the cousins of Nahray b. Nissim) regarding the inheritance of their father's estate. The letter hails the zeal and progress made in Jewish learning by a son of R. Natan b. Avraham, Av ha-Yeshiva, the sometime Gaon of the Palestinian academy. The letter concludes with a report of the conquests made by the Normans in Sicily. The reference is to their taking of Messina by assault, and the losses suffered by Jews and, in particular, by Muslims. The writer expresses apprehensions with regard to the import of grain from Sicily, since Tunisia itself, a primarily agricultural country, had been laid waste by the invasion of the Arab tribes. Labrāṭ opens the letter with copious well wishes to Nahray because of his eye disease (wajaʿ ʿayn and ḍuʿf ʿayn) and conveys well wishes to Nahray on behalf of R. Nissim (r4–11). Goitein cites this letter as an excellent example of the convention of expressing preoccupation for a sick correspondent and conveying congratulations upon his recovery: "After having read the bad tidings in Nahray's missives, [Labrāṭ] had become disquieted and frightened, and passed his sleepless nights in asking God to accept himself as Nahray's ransom and to heal him. He had also passed the news on to "the Light of the World" (the spiritual leader of the Tunisian Jews), who was also very worried about it; his prayer for Nahray, Labrāṭ is confident, would be accepted. Finally, the merchants arriving from Egypt reported that Nahray was well and his eyes restored, whereupon Labrat praised and thanked God. He would be set at rest, however, only by a personal letter from Nahray confirming this happy turn of events" (Goitein, Med Soc V, p. 111). Labrāṭ goes on to describe the serious illness of R. Nissim himself (r14–18). All had despaired, "but God looked upon us and did not afflict us and blind our eyes." R. Nissim recovered, but the remnants of the illness did not leave him for a long time. Information from Goitein and Gil. There are photostats and an edition in Goitein's notes (to be uploaded). ASE.

Letter from Yehuda Ibn al-ʿAmmānī, in Alexandria, to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 23 Nisan 1532 Seleucid, which is 1221 CE. There is a lengthy opening with expressions of longing and pleasantries. The addressee is asked to convey a legal query (fatwā) to Avraham Maimonides. Yehuda reports on the death of Hilāl b. Thābit b. Munīr, the brother of the cantor Bū l-Majd (Meʾir b. Yakhin). “[Hilāl] went to rest in the evening and did not awake in the morning. It was the first day of the holiday, and he was buried on the same day; he left a fine boy of sixteen, who studies with me" (trans. Goitein, Med Soc II, 220 and V, 155.) There are photostats and an edition in Goitein's notes (to be uploaded).

Letter addressed to Abū Saʿd. In Arabic script. The sender begs for an urgent loan of 5 dirhams, because he is sick. He will try to repay it when he can leave the house (and get back to work). The bottom is damaged, and the end may be missing. Verso is blank. (Information in part from JRL catalogue.)

Letter of recommendation sent from Ramla, presumably to Fustat. In Hebrew. On behalf of Moshe b. Shemuel. His father Shemuel died this winter, as there was a great epidemic (dever) in Ramla this winter, in which many died 'of our Jewish brethren.' Shemuel left a widow, his son Moshe, and a 7-year-old daughter.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer is recovering from illnesses and is in difficult financial straits. He asks for a loan of 62 dirhams.

Recto: Geomancy castings. May be related to AIU VII.F.32. Includes two questions about the illness of David b. Esther: Is it earthly or from God? And what medicines will help him? Verso: Astronomical tables depending on Zacut's tables of 1513 described in Goldstein, B.R. and J. Chabás, '"ransmission of computational methods within the Alfonsine corpus: the case of the tables of Nicholaus de Heybech," Journal for the History of Astronomy 39 (2008), pp. 345-55, esp. pp. 354-5 (described). 34 lines. Times of true opposition (full-moon) for each month in the year 1796-97 computed (date expressed as 557). Abraham Zacut (1452-1515) credited on line 1 for the method of determining true oppositions. Information from JRL online catalogue.

Fragment from the beginning of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, mentioning that the addressee recovered (naqahtu) from an illness. Also mentions Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm [al-Q?]ābisī.

Alms list in Judaeo-Arabic. Mainly women, children, and/or sick people. JRL SERIES A 293 mentions the sister of Abū l-Faraj b. al-Munajjim; al-ʿAkkāwiyya; the ḥazzab Ibn Sabrī/Sabra; the neighbor of Abū l-Faraj [al-]Dimyāṭī; the wife of the ḥazzan of Shubrā; and many more. JRL SERIES B 2497 mentions Umm al-Ṣibyān the acquaintance of [...]; Abū Hilāl al-Bānyāsī the acquaintance of Azhar; the old, sick woman [in] the house of Ibn [...]; the orphans of Faraḥ.

Recto: Mentions a hypothetical cantor or reader of the Torah who went mad and stole something and was caught. Verso: From a halakhic discussion on the first blessing of the Amidah. See Shmuel Glick's edition on FGP.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions an illness (maraḍ) and aṣḥābunā.

Calligraphic letter sent to a notable, possibly the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya, asking him to help Natan ha-Kohen, the legal representative of the writer's family, to obtain a favorable settlement in court for a widow and her children. She is owed 10 months' worth of maintenance payments, including for the price of the treatment of her ophthalmia. (Information from Goitein's index cards and from Goitein's hand list)

Recto: part of a large letter to the courtier Avraham b. Yashar (Abraham b. Sahl Tustari). The writer wishes him recovery from his illness, and has been praying for his health. He sends greetings to Avraham’s son Yefet (Abu 'Ali al-Ḥasan), who is to be married soon. The date is unknown but must be earlier than Avraham's death in 1047 CE. Biblical quotations are vocalised. The writer had sent a previous letter with illness-related quotations from the sages, and this letter presents illness-related verses from the Bible. The theme is that God sends illness as a trial only to the most righteous. Verso: a calligraphic Karaite legal document (engagement deed or ketubba?). Dated Sunday, the 11th of Nisan xxx4, from somewhere on the Nile (Pishon), probably Fustat. The groom is the Nasi David Yedidyah b. Yoshiyahu b. Shelomo b. [Da]vid b. Bo'az b. Yeshoshafat b. Yoshiyahu b. Sha'ul b. 'Anan. The bride is Bahiyyah bt. Shelomo b. Se'adyah. Information in part from the Cambridge University Digital Library. ASE.

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat, probably to Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī in Būsīr, ca. 1053. Nahray sends details of various sales in Fustat and of related payments. A man arrived in Fustat, who fell ill and died within 15 days. During his illness he prepared a will, leaving 10 dinars for charity in Fustat. Some of this money was given to the son of raʾs al-galut instead, whom Gil identifies as David b. Ḥezekiya. The receiver of the letter was appointed as one of the executors of the will. On verso there are illegible accounts in the hand of Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 744.)

Letter from Hillel b. Yeshuʿa ha-Ḥazzan, in Tiberias, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, in Fustat. Dating: End of 1034 CE, per Gil. Soliciting funds on behalf of the community of people with skin diseases. Mentions a previous emissary Khalaf the Aleppan (כלף הצובי) who has since died. L-G Misc. 25 and T-S 10J12.22 are two copies of the same letter.

Letter from a Jewish woman, in or near Tripoli (Lebanon), to her brother-in-law, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. She is a refugee from Jerusalem who has suffered at the hands of the invading Seljuk Turks in the 1070s CE. She had to flee from Jerusalem to Tripoli, where she reports on the carnage she witnessed: ‘I was with him on the day I saw them killed in terrible fashion... I am an ill woman on the brink of insanity, on top of the hunger of my family and the little girl who are all with me, and the horrid news I heard about my son.’ She suggests it would be better to be captured since those in captivity ‘find someone who gives them food and drink’, whereas uncaptured, she and her children are starving. (Information in part from CUDL.)