Geniza Lab

Letter from [...] b. Avraham ha-Kohen to Abū l-ʿAlā' Ṣāʿid b. al-Munajjā al-Ne'eman. In Judaeo-Arabic (recto) and Arabic script (verso; the text block containing 8 lines of Arabic script appears to be a postscript to the previously Judaeo-Arabic letter). Contains a great deal of information about business arrangements. People mention include Abū Muḥam[mad] al-Ḥalabī, Abū l-Māḍī Khalīfa known as אלכאורגֿי al-Ḥalabī the Muslim, Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf al-Raqqī, Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllān, and Bū l-Ḥasan Zikrī. Concludes with greetings, "written on the 6th of Kislev," and then a postscript about how "the testimony that is between me and her (or: you?) is deposited with Salāma b. Saʿīd." In the Arabic-script postscript on verso, he reports that the wife of Abū Saʿd al-Muqaddasī has begun to recover (qad tawajjahat) [from her illness]. He then mentions Abū l-Najm Hilāl and having sent a gourd/vessel (fuqqāʿa) of oil with somebody to Abū Ṭāhir. There may be Goitein attachments for this document that have yet to be uploaded.

Letter from a scholar from Ramla (who had lived for twenty years in Baghdad) to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1095. Seems like a part of a regular correspondence between the two. Nahray was blind at that time and needed someone to read him the letter. Mentions the book by the Gaon Aharon b. Yosef (Khalaf b. Sarjado) and one of Shemuel b. Hofni’s grandsons. The writer asks Nahray to find a few products in Fustat, including indigo, pepper, arsenic, ammonia water and more. Between his request for funds due to him and his discussion of an ongoing divorce, he interposes the line, “for I am a lump of flesh waiting to die,” continuing later that “I am in need of mercy, my strength is fading” — a common rhetorical strategy for gaining the sympathy of one's correspondent. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #85) VMR, revised following the analysis of old age (and complaints about old age) in the seminar paper of Jake Brzowsky ('21), Fall 2018. Same writer: T-S 24.46, T-S 12.780, ENA 2594.12.

Letter from the judge Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen (dated documents 1125-50), in Fustat, to his cousin Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli, in a provincial town. In Judaeo-Arabic. He opens with a description of the illness of his wife (Ṭoviyya's sister). She is still very sick. She can lie down and sit up by herself, and she can walk 10 steps with great effort if she is assisted. They are sparing no efforts and giving her all the medicines that are prescribed her. "As for other matters": Natan asks Ṭoviyya to assist a man from a good family from ʿAkkā who had lived in the Egyptian countryside but was 'deported' to Fustat. Being without subsistence there, he tried again to go out to the Rīf, and he asked Natan to write to Ṭoviyya on his behalf. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) ASE

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria, to Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm (a.k.a. ʿIwāḍ) b. Ḥananel, Fustat. Abū l-Khayr became ill following ʿIwāḍ's departure, and his mother suffered greatly on his account. He then improved. Nahray himself developed an abscess on his left hip. He too recovered, but the remnants of the illness are still with him. He was not able to go about his work until the present moment. The rest of the letter deals with business matters. ASE.

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda very early in his public career, when he was Av Bet Din, to a notable in Fustat, ca. 1025. He signs: Shelomo Av ha-Yeshiva birabbi Yehuda, and surrounds his name with tiny letters spelling out ‘And I am a worm and not a man’ (Psalms 22:7). The letter was carried by his son Avraham (לידו מיד חמוד), and he is seeking help for the community of Jerusalem, many of whom have died in a plague (נאספו בדבר אשר נפל בעיר). (Information from CUDL)

Business letter from Yisrael b. Yūsuf, in Qayrawan, to Abū Sahl Menashshe b. David, in Fustat. The writer describes how the Rav (the highest authority in the Ifrīqiyan Jewish community) had visited him often during his illness, especially on Sabbaths when it was particularly welcome. Yisrael further tells his associate, “I regretted that you did not charge me with buying things for your boys and the inhabitants of your house [wife], for I am most happy to carry out such orders for you.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:110, 280, 537, 584) EMS

Petition to David b. Daniel from a destitute woman with no family and afflicted with a serious illness (leprosy, it seems). Dating: ca. 1090 CE. She begs “Our lord David, the great nasi, head of the diasporas of all Israel,” to assist her and concludes the note with wishes for David, that “male children may fill your place.” (Mark Cohen, Jewish Self-government in Medieval Egypt, 207, 219; trans. Cohen, Voice of the Poor, #21, pp.52-3); EMS. The letter describes her as a "lonesome bird on a rooftop"; the same phrase appears in a poem attributed to Yehuda ha-Levi in L-G Lit. I.50. The scribe, a Byzantine, has been identified by Ben Outhwaite. This scribe wrote T-S 12.237, T-S NS 325.184, T-S 13J13.16, and T-S 8J16.29.

Letter sent by a man from Sicily who had immigrated to Tyre, describing a civil war in Sicily and the bad economic conditions under which his family lived. Dated to the mid-11th century. (Information from Gil and Ben-Sasson.) The writer and addressee are both unknown. He mentions Abū Yūsuf b. Ismāʿīl [al-Andalusi], known from several other letters of the mid-11th-century. He writes, "I witnessed things I never wanted to see: the bloodshed was such that I walked on corpses like walking on the ground; a great epidemic (wabā')"; and a great inflation. His own warehouse and that of his brother Saʿīd were pillaged. Years after these events, two months before the death of his father, his father purchased a house with gardens for 100 dinars from a Christian. The civil wars (fitan) then resumed, the house became worthless, and his father died. He and his Saʿīd then set about collecting all the debts owed to their late father and the goods their father had deposited with others, chiefly with one flax dealer. Saʿid told him they would split everything 50/50. The entirety of verso deals with how the writer was initially cheated out of his share of the inheritance—it seems by Saʿīd who was in cahoots with their brother-in-law Yaḥyā b. al-Munajjim—and the aftermath. ASE.

Letter from ʿAmram b. Yiṣḥaq, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel, in Fustat. Dating: 24 Elul [1451] Seleucid = 8 September 1140 CE. The writer expresses his worries after he did not hear from Ḥalfon for a long time. He describes his sorrow on account of the death of ʿEli the judge (Ḥalfon's brother), and on account of his wife's severe illness. This is the first of three surviving letters in which ʿAmram provides a detailed description of this illnesses of his wife. In this letter: "As for my state and my illness, and the illness of that wretched woman who dies before my eyes a thousand times a day. She has developed, in addition to her infinite illnesses, an illness in her ear for 20 days now, to the point that we have forgotten all the illnesses that came before..." ʿAmram also complains about his own "swollen" (muntafikh) state and his ophthalmia: "I cannot see where I place my pen." He also informs Ḥalfon that Yehuda ha-Levi is on the ship that has just arrived in Alexandria. (Information in part from Gil and Fleischer "Yehuda Ha-Levi and his circle", pp: 420–26). See also India Book 4 (Hebrew description below). VMR. ASE. Alexandria; Monday, 24 of Elul, 1451; September 8, 1140 Description from PGPID 964: See PGPID 9116. Description from PGPID 9148: See join for description (PGPID 9116).

Letter from Shelomo b. Ḥayyim, in Alexandria, to Abū l-Faḍl Maṣliaḥ b. Yosef, in Fustat. Dating: Ca. first half of the 12th century. The writer had been informed that the boat from Cairo to Alexandria, on which the addressee was aboard, had been turned back by the qāḍī. The addressee is expected to return to Alexandria soon. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 611 and Goitein's attached notes.) After making some purchases in Fustat, the writer realized that he lost some gold, whether in Fustat or while in transit. In the margin, he excuses himself from returning to Fustat and seeing the address in person because he was ill. He hopes that the addressee will be able to see his state when they are reunited (perhaps he has some medical expertise?). In the meantime, the son of the Rayyis, Ibn Naḥūm, has seen him and will give a report on the writer's state to the addressee. ASE.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe, the muqaddam of Sunbāṭ (see T-S 24.25v, dated 1149 CE), to the Nagid. Yiṣḥaq reports that the chief cantor died after four months of lying in bed with terrible pains. He complains that the widow ("the wicked Zeresh") is threatening, as soon as her son arrives, to accuse him before the local chief of police (wālī) of being the cause of her husband's illness and death. She says, "The muqaddam excommunicated him and killed him before the entire congregation." Defending himself, Yiṣḥaq writes, "You know the ḥamas of the Rīf. A person may die from less than this." Goitein understands "ḥamas" to be the Hebrew word variously meaning violence, anger, injustice, or false witness (but usually referring to governmental persecution in Geniza documents). The writer is thus referring to his own sufferings, countering the claim that he killed the cantor with the claim that the distress caused by such a false accusation puts his own life in danger. The writer admits that popular opinion is against him (anā taḥta safeq fī l-amr). In the bottom, fragmentary portion, he seems to complain that he is not being paid; he also mentions a blanket and "three sick people, and I am the fourth." He is prepared to come to Fustat if the Nagid wishes. Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 74, 537. ASE.

Letter from Yisrael b. Natan, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11 January 1052 CE. Apart from business matters, this letter contains information about the struggle over the position of Rosh ha-Yeshiva upon the death of Shelomo b. Yehuda. It appears that the Maghribīs are very involved in this struggle. Yisrael mentions in passing that the remnants of his illness are still with him (r7). Information from Gil. ASE

Letter from Moshe b. Yaʿaqov, Jerusalem, to his wife's brother Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dating: 28 July 1053 CE. Additional echoes of what we found in the previous letter (T-S 13J6.22), after having received a letter from Nahray in the interim. Moshe heard that Nahray had sent money, clothing, and myrobalan with Abū l-Ṭayyib al-Baradānī, but these have not yet arrived. Moshe recently recovered from an illness (iltiyāth) and is still weak. Avraham ha-Ḥaver has also been sick. Information in part from Gil. ASE

Letter from Yosef b. ʿEli ha- Kohen al-Fāsī, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1057. In the handwriting of Salmān b. Hārūn. Yūsuf b. ʿAlī Kohen al-Fāsī writes of his intention to come to Fustat and meet with Abū ʿAbdallah (Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ) to see if he had kept his goods safe for him, and asks to send him his greetings. Contains information about movement of ships and goods. The situation in Alexandria is not good and merchants that were supposed to arrive there did not. Also mentions Nahray’s eye disease. Goitein's note card #27112: "Just as we do, one reacted to the news that a relative or friend was restored to health. One used for the occasion the same phrase 'I congratulate you' as one did with good wishes for holy days or a marriage or a safe return from a journey. T-S 13J17.2 is characteristic in this respect. The copyist of the letter had expressed his good wishes for Nahray's recovery from his serious eye disease. His boss had forgotten to do so but obviously read what the scribe had added. Thus the scribe adds, 'My lord Abu Ya'qub al-Kohen wishes to congratulate you on your recovery.'"

Letter probably from Shemuel b. Daniel b. ʿAzarya (the eldest brother of David b. Daniel). Describing his grief over his father's death. Dating: 1062 CE or shortly thereafter, if Goitein's identifications are correct (since Daniel b. ʿAzarya died in August/September 1062). "After describing his pain—also physical—over the loss of his father and his state of disconsolation (quoting Lamentations 2:13), he continues: 'You, the illustrious elder, have already learned how God the exalted has afflicted the people of Israel and, in particular, myself with the eclipse of the honored position (jāh) possessed by me through the vanishing of the crown, the glory, the power, the splendor . . . the nasi. . . and Head of the yeshiva....'" (Information from Goitein's index card and Med Soc V, pp. 258, 578.)

Letter from Moshe b. Yaʿaqov, in Damascus, to Abū l-ʿAlā Yūsuf b. Dā'ūd b. Shaʿya, in Fustat. Dating: 29 December 1057 CE (Gil) or ca. 1066 CE (Goitein). News has come from Egypt concerning a severe epidemic (wabā'), and the writer is worried and asks for news of the addressee as well as of the merchandise that he had sent to be sold in Egypt. The writer also encloses a letter for Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Dā'ūd b. Sughmār.

Begging letter from Fuḍayl, the brother of Abū l-Ḥasan, and from Abū Saʿd, to his relative Abū l-Khayr Ṣedaqa b. Ṣammūh b. Sasson requesting help for himself and another person. Fuḍayl asks Ṣedaqa to 'make the rounds' and collect some donations from other Jews. "You know how sick I am after having been a man as [strong as] as lion." The total amount asked for is very modest, only five or six dirhams, which might have been only a symbolic number. The letter starts with a biblical quotation (Proverbs 21:14). (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 358, 605)

Letter from Avraham b. Seʿadya the Hebronite, in Bilbays, to Moshe ha-Kohen b. Ghulayb, in Fustat. Dating: beginning of the twelfth century. Recto 1-15: Flowery Hebrew greetings and Passover blessings for Moshe and his three boys, Yoshiyahu, Sa'adya, and Yeshu'a. Recto 15-19: Updates on the health of family members since Moshe departed. Abu l-Bayan and his sister and mother are healthy. Recto 19-24: Avraham and everybody are extremely anxious about the outbreak of smallpox (juddarī) among aṣḥābunā. It afflicted one house, then two, then three. Suhayl's 3-year-old son died, and Mevorakh's son Khulayl is critically ill. Recto 24-25: Avraham and Abu l-Husayn and Abu Sa'id and Umm Abu l-Bayan and Bayan and _____ all send holiday greetings. Verso 1-3: Avraham's knee pain has gotten worse. He wrote this letter while lying on his side. Verso 4-7: Avraham enclosed another letter to his in-law Abu l-Surur and asks Moshe to forward it to Cairo. He asks Moshe to send him some kohl. ASE.

Letter on behalf of Yaḥyā b. ʿAmmār of Alexandria addressed to ʿŪlla ha-Levi b. Yosef, a.k.a. Abū l-ʿAlā' Ṣāʿid b. Munajjā, a parnas (social welfare official) and trustee of the court in Fustat, dated documents 1084–1117. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Yaḥyā requests financial help, especially with paying off his debts. His dependents include his children and his old, blind mother. When he could not bear to see them suffering from hunger, he ran away. For some time he has been in hiding from his debtors, some of whom are Muslim. He has recently heard that his mother is dying. He fears that she will die "on his account" before he is able to return and obtain her forgiveness. Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 257, Goitein's index cards, CUDL, and Cohen. ASE.

Letter from the wife of Maʿānī. Desperate letter of appeal to the 'courts' (judges) from a blind woman whose husband had fled to Alexandria and left her and her 3 year old girl. She is pleading to the community for relief. She calls herself 'a widow during the lifetime (of her husband). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 218, 472 and from Cohen)