Geniza Lab

Letter from Eli Ha-Kohen b. Ezekiel, Jerusalem, to Eli Ha-Kohen B. Hayyim, Fustat, approximately 1060.

Letter from Eli Ha-Kohen b. Ezekiel, Jerusalem, to Eli Ha-Kohen b. Hayyim, Fustat.

Letter from Abun b. Sedaqa in Jerusalem to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. Dating: November 1064 CE. The main subject is the tension between the writer and Nahray's cousin, Yisrael b.Natan. Other subjects include details about the burning of ships in Sicily. Opens with a vivid description of the general grief following the death of Sittāt, the wife of R. Natan, who left a boy of 2 years. "How terrible is our grief! It has destroyed us (haddatnā) and sickened us (amraḍatnā).” A government edict threatened to make a dignified funeral impossible, so the mourners considered simply burying her within the walls. “We contracted from this a terrible convulsion (rajf ʿaẓīm),” Abūn writes, “and we gave a bribe and brought her out at night.” ASE

Letter from Abūn b. Ṣadaqa, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dating: 31 March 1059 CE, according to Gil. Deals with various business matters. He thanks Nahray for burning his last letter. He asks for news of 'al-kabīra' Sitt Murruwa, who had been sick.

Letter from ʿEli ha-Mumḥe b. Avraham, in Jerusalem, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. Dating: ca. 1045 CE (Gil), and at any rate 1042–46 CE (Goitein), as there are no allusions to the conflict with Natan b. Avraham (which ended in 1042 CE) and Daniel b. ʿAzarya has not yet returned to live in Palestine (1045/46 CE). ʿEli complains about the lack of response to his previous letters and repeats his request for news of the cantor from Mosul, Abū l-Faraj, and for any developments with Daniel b. ʿAzarya, who was at that time in Fustat. He also says that "the Roshim" (=Eliyya and Yosef ha-Kohen the sons of Shelomo b. Yehosef ha-Kohen, who served as gaʾon for 6 months in 1025 CE) want to know the news of Abū l-Faraj and Daniel. The "Av" (=Yosef b. Shelomo Gaon, who then held the position Av Bet Din) has been staying in Jerusalem instead of Ramla (the usual seat of the Av Bet Din) because he bought a ruin in Jerusalem and is renovating it. Even though the letter is in the hand of ʿEli b. Avraham, he apparently is writing in the name of his father, Avraham b. Shemuel ha-Shelishi, as apparent from the Arabic address (ben ha-Shelishi). (Information from Goitein and Gil.)

Letter from Toviyya b. Moshe, Jerusalem, to Perahya b. Muʾammal, Fustat, probably 1048.

Letter from Yisrael b. Natan (Isrā'īl b. Sahlūn), in Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 31 December 1061 CE, according to Gil. Yisrael mentions letters intended for the Maghrib that he had previously sent, in particular one for a certain Labrāṭ. He asks Nahray to send him the garment that arrived from Tripoli and the medicines (ʿaqāqīr) and the bitumen (qifār) with Abū ʿAlī Ismāʿīl b. Ruʿbūb. Umm Sha'ul, the wife of Nahray, is in Jerusalem, and Yisrael conveys news of her and other contacts. There is a famine in Jerusalem. Yisrael conveys the good news that Abūn b. Ṣadaqa and his daughter have recovered from illness—but Yisrael is sick of Abūn. ASE

Letter from Eli Ha-Kohen b. Ezekiel, Jerusalem, to Eli Ha-Kohen b. Hayyim, Fustat. Discusses the matter of the 18 dinars owed to the poor of Jerusalem. Daniel b. Azarya is on his way back to Jerusalem. Possibly alludes to the drought and epidemic in Fustat ("I am very preoccupied about your situation," verso, line 2), and mentions several people in difficult straits.

Letter from Judge Eliyyahu to his two sons Abu Zikri and Shelomo. He wants them to come back from Jerusalem. 13th century.

Letter from Avraham b. Rav Shelomo the Yemeni, in Jerusalem, to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. Written not long after T-S 8J16.3 (same sender, same addressee). Dating: ca. 1214 CE (Goitein's estimate). Avraham mentions a "brother-like" relationship with Abū Bishr that he entered into at Eliyyahu's recommendation, however Abū Bishr has died and the authorities have confiscated all his property. Avraham also mentions divorcing a woman in Jerusalem "after much suffering and paying her more than was due her." Abū Zikrī, Eliyyahu's son and Avraham's former roommate, can tell Eliyyahu more about what happened. Avraham requests that Eliyyahu convey the news of the divorce to Avraham's son and to the son's mother. He also requests charity for a man who recently arrived in Jerusalem after a harrowing journey. (Information in part from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:47, 262, 437, 485.) EMS. ASE.

Letter from the physician Abū Zikrī, in Jerusalem, to his father Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. Abū Zikrī reports that his masters, the princes al-Malik al-ʿAzīz and al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam, were laying siege to Damascus and that he was unable to get through to them to request a leave. Although ill himself, the writer states that he visited the sultan’s palace every other day. The letter also makes a note of “our colleagues at Qūṣ.” (Eliyyahu Ashtor, “The Number of Jews in Medieval Egypt,” JJS 18 (1967), 18; and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:347, 603.) "Do not send me the biqyār (a goat-hair garment?), because I am not well, and I am thinking of how you will fare after my death. How terrible would it be to receive your garment in the tailor's packaging, unopened! Ever since you left, I have not even had a single week of health. Regarding the collyria and equipment that you requested, I have not been able to get to it, because I am ill. I am wintering in Jerusalem, because the army is at Damascus, and I am stranded here, and cannot leave without an order from the sultan." EMS. ASE.

Letter in Ladino. (Information from CUDL). Line 25 on Verso mentions Jerusalem.

Segment of a letter from Jerusalem to Ascalon, approximately 1070 (?).

Letter from ʿEli b. Yehezqel ha-Kohen, Jerusalem, to Eli b. Hayyim ha-Kohen, Fustat, concerning Eli b. Yehezqel's travels to Acre and Tyre, return to Ramla, and his serious illness there. "I was attacked by vomiting; I exploded from above and below, over 300 times (lit. "sittings"); everybody in the house gave me up. The doctors came on Saturday night and saw that I was finished and that there was nothing to be done any more. I made my will... [then improved]... but I still have terrible weakness." Also mentions the rent from the heqdesh (pious foundation) to the poor people in Jerusalem and other private and public affairs. 1060 (Gil's estimation). (Information from Gil, Palestine; and Goitein's index cards, including index card #27100.) VMR; ASE.

Letter from Moshe b. Yaʿaqov, Jerusalem, to his wife's brother Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dating: June 1053 CE. The letter is mainly about arrangements for the long-deferred pilgrimage of Mūsā b. Barhūn al-Tāhirtī to Jerusalem. On verso, amidst family greetings and business matters, Moshe conveys his wife's urgent request for myrobalan for her to drink. There are no details about why she needs it, but presumably it is as medicine for an illness.The block of text containing the order set off from the previous block. At least four letters from Moshe to Nahray survive: see also T-S 13J13.5 (from March), T-S 13J17.18 (from July), and Halper 411 (May 1054 CE).

Letter from Yosef Ha-Kohen b. Shelomo Gaon, Jerusalem, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, approximately 1050.

Letter from Avraham b. Rav Shelomo the Yemeni, in Jerusalem, to Eliyyahu the Judge in Fustat. Avraham lives with Eliyyahu's son, the physician Abu Zikri, and he conveys the good news that Abu Zikri has recovered from his febrile illness and has not relapsed for forty days. Avraham's family recently arrived from Bilbays. On verso are jottings and accounts in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. Same writer and recipient as T-S 13J21.5, which was written not long after this one (Goitein's note cards suggest ca. 1214). Alan Elbaum.

Letter fragment. Sent from Jerusalem, presumably to Fustat. In Hebrew. Dating: Ca. 1048/49 CE. Damaged and faded. Mentions a scholar who escaped from trouble with the government, apparently in the Maghrib; his sister and a guardianship; that the community honored him when he came to Jerusalem "three years ago [in] the year 4806," which is 1045/46 CE. Also mentions Natan Av Bet Din. Goitein speculated that this might be a description of Daniel b. ʿAzarya, in part based on seeing a dispute over kosher slaughter in l. 21 and connecting this letter to T-S 20.19. Gil disagreed and understood this letter to be saying that the scholar is now dead.

Letter from Shemaʿya ha-Ḥaver, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1053. The writer informs that he is in Jerusalem and is praying for Nahray at the Temple Mount and the Olives Mountain. He asks to pass a letter to the banker Mevorah b.David. Also mentions Avraham ha-Ḥaver b. Amram. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 3, pp. 306-308, #519). VMR

Letter of recommendation for the bearer, mainly missing just the upper right corner. The bearer is a resident of Jerusalem who is traveling to Fustat. In the praises for the recipient, it says, "May God increase his like in the midst of this weak nation [אלאומה אלצעיפה]." ASE.