Geniza Lab

An epistle from the community of Alexandria to that of Mastuara (in Byzantium). The letter deals with the ransoming of Byzantine Jews taken captive, and was probably a letter of introduction to be carried by one of them, called Leo. Leo’s brother Eliyyahu is also mentioned.

Letter from the Babylonian community in Fustat to Hayya Gaon, acknowledging a letter he had previously sent to Avraham (Avraham b. Sahlan). The community refer to their synagogue in Fustat as ‘one that bears the name of your Yeshiva’. (Information from CUDL)

Letter (draft) from Elḥanan b. Shemarya, in Fusṭāṭ, to the Babylonian congregation in Damascus, sending greetings as part of his efforts to raise funds for his school in Fusṭāṭ, adding that a new law forbids them from approaching the Caliph for assistance. The writer also mentions that his son-in-law drowned while away on a commercial voyage and his widowed daughter remains in Qayrawān, pregnant and impoverished. Verso: Letter, from Elḥanan b. Shemarya, in Fusṭāṭ, to three notables in the Jewish community in Damascus, Avraham, Shemuʾel ha-Kohen, and Efrayim, sending greetings, apparently as part of fundraising for his school in Fusṭāṭ. (Information from CUDL)

Testimony made by unknown members of the Jewish community (the signatures are either cut off or were never added). Location: Fustat. Dated: First decade of Iyyar 1540 Seleucid, which is 1229 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides (called 'adon' and 'gaʾon' but not 'nagid'). T-S NS J66 (mainly Hebrew) and T-S 8.161 (mainly Judaeo-Arabic) are versions of the same document. The undersigned say that when they lived in Jerusalem, Yeshuʿa b. Shelomo ha-Levi regularly went up to the Torah for the Levi blessings when no other Levi was present. Moreover, they confirmed this from asking the people of his country. This document was drawn up for him to carry with him as support for his claim to be a Levi. Goitein summarizes it as follows: "How even the poorest of the poor would jealously guard his rights in these matters [participation in prayer] may be seen from a document certifying that a certain young "Levi" was called up in Jerusalem to read a part of the Scripture lection, when no other local or foreign "Levi" was present. This rather comical testimony was given to him "so that he might not be put to shame" (Med Soc II, p. 161). (Information in part from Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, p. 336–37.) VMR. ASE.

Letter, possibly from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides, in which the nagid asks the community in Fustat to take up a charity collection for a scholar, David, on his way to Jerusalem and in a hurry to catch a caravan. A note in the margin indicates this request to expedite the collection. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:136, 548; and Mark Cohen, The Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages, 198) EMS. Bibliography: Mentioned in Goitein, "The Twilight of the House of Maimonides," Tarbiz 54 (1984), 67–104.

Official letter from either the office of Yehoshuaʿ Maimonides (r. 1310–55) or his father Avraham II Maimonides (r. 1300–13). (Goitein favors the latter, even though the same clerk wrote many more documents for Yehoshuaʿ.) This was written at the time of the Jewish New Year (usually late September) in which Yehoshuaʿ Nagid commands that a collection 'from the women' be taken up by two women, one of them the wife of the beadle Sulayman. The women are referred to as “house,” from the rabbinic idiom, “his house means his wife.” (Mark Cohen, Voice of the Poor, 196–98.) EMS.

Letter to a Nagid, R. Yosef, from a community, mentioning that a certain orphan, the son of Avraham, has nothing left for food or clothing. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter of recommendation from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides to be read in "the two synagogues," to help an old man named Yeshuʿa to travel to Jerusalem where his children lived. Bibliography: Mentioned in Goitein, "The Twilight of the House of Maimonides," Tarbiz 54 (1984), 67–104.

Calligraphic list of 29 persons (to be solicited), professions ranging from butcher to physician. A list of potentially related names in Arabic script appears on the verso (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 497, App. C 71)

T-S K15.66 forms the upper part and T-S K15.14 the lower part, of one list of about a hundred persons, contributing or being asked to contribute from 1/6 to 3/4 dinar, as partial payment of the capitation tax, the community making up the balance. These are all male, foreigners, laborers, craftsmen mostly of lower standing, community officials, persons called ghulam or sabi', that is, slave, freedman, or employee, and five others designated as damin, persons for whom security was given. Alternatively, the sums following the names may indicate the amounts to be paid by the community. The notables whose employees are mentioned (Dosa, Ibn Sighmar, Ibn 'Awkal [son of the Yosef], Bahudi, Ibn Hirbish) were active around 1040. Foreigners from Palestine, 5 (Tiberias 3; Baniyas 1; Jish, 1); Persia,2; Tiflis, 1; Spain, 3; Saqlabi (of Slavic origin), 1. Some names are only partly visible. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 440, App. 4-5).

Upper part of a twin list in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, seemingly a draft, one list with amounts, and one mostly without amounts. The sums donated range from one-half dirham, given by the son of bell-maker, to five and one-half. The Rasuy gives one Nasiri through the judge Yehiel. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 488, App. C 44)

Fragment of an opening of a letter from Yoshiyyahu Gaon to the communities.