Geniza Lab

Letter from the Qaraite Jews of Ashqelon to the Qaraites and Rabbanites of Fustat. Dating: Summer 1100 CE. The letter deals with the ransoming of Qaraite captives from Jerusalem following the Crusader conquest of the city. (Qaraites represented a large percentage of the small number of Jews who still lived in Jerusalem after the Seljuk conquest[s] in the 1070s.) The letter also explains that the fortified city of Ashqelon had not yet fallen, but the residents are struggling to cope with an influx of refugees and the need to make large payments to the Crusaders to ransom back Jewish captives - men, women and children - as well as books and scrolls pillaged from the synagogues of the Holy Land. Despite the terrible circumstances, they take solace in the fact that that the Crusaders appeared not to have mistreated the women. The writers report that they had received the suftaja (bill of exchange), at least the second substantial donation from the Jews of Fustat to the campaign to redeem captives and books. This letter is a request for further donations. The community in Ashqelon had spent over 500 dinars; ransomed over 40 captives; continues to bear the high expenses of caring for the 20 redeemed captives who remain in Ashqelon; and is now in debt for more than 200 dinars. The writers also mention Jews who had escaped from Jerusalem on their own, and others who had been given safe-conduct with the wālī. Of the refugees who arrived in Ashkelon, many had died of the epidemic they encountered there: "The attacks of these illnesses (amrāḍ), the falling of that plague (wabā'), that pest (fanā'), that disaster (balā')" (recto, lines 17–19); later, describing how the refugees perished, "Some of them arrived here healthy, and the climate turned against them (ikhtalafa ʿalayim al-hawā'), and they arrived at the height of that plague (wa-waṣalū fī ʿunfuwān dhālik al-wabā'), and many of them died" (recto, lines 42–44); then, twice more, the writers emphasize their great expenses caring for those who have survived but are still sick, who need not only food and clothing but medicines and syrups (recto, lines 53–55 and right margin 19–20). There are notes by the writers and forwarders of the letter in the right margin on verso, including Yehayyahu ha-Kohen b. Maṣliaḥ, David b. Shelomo and Ḥanina b. Manṣūr b. ʿUbayd. See DK 242 + T-S AS 146.3 for a letter written one year earlier from the Rabbanites of Fustat to the Rabbanites of Ashqelon, also having to do with the campaign for the ransoming of captives. (Information CUDL and from Goldman, "Arabic-Speaking Jews of Crusader Syria" (PhD diss., 2018), 49–58. See also Goitein, Med Soc 5:537; Goitein, "New Sources on the Fate of the Jews during the Crusaders' Conquest of Jerusalem" (Heb.) Zion, 17 (1952), 136; Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, pp. 241-242; and Goitein's notes attached to Bodl. MS Heb d 11/7 (page 9f). ASE/MR

Letter of recommendation from Yehuda to Avraham ha-Zaqen about a righteous silk weaver named Tahor al-Talmid from the pupils of Avraham Maimonides (min jumlat aṣḥāb sayyidinā), who has "left the world from his heart" and sought the service of the Creator. The letter discusses Tahor's altruistic intention to marry an orphan girl.

Letter of recommendation (?). "This note was cut out (?) from the book belonging to the Persian (al-ʿAjamī) staying with the Jew who speaks on his behalf (?) Elazar b. Yosef; Shelomo b. [...]; Shemuel ha-Kohen b. Berakhot; Yosef b. Yaʿaqov." (Information from Goitein's note card)

Letter to a Gaon, according to Goitein, perhaps from the time of Nethanel Gaon (1160), congratulating him on his son's recovery from illness, and complaining about the cessation of correspondence. It is also a letter of recommendation for the bearer. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 294, 295, and from Goitein's index cards)

Recto: letter of recommendation from Jerusalem to all cities on behalf of Shabbetay Karira b. Raphael (שבתי כרירא בן רפאל), dated Adar 5596 (= ca. 1836 CE). Signed at the foot of the page with 6 elaborate signatures. Verso: an addition to the letter, with one elaborate signature, dated 1837 CE. Information from CUDL.

Calligraphic letter in Judaeo-Arabic, with wide space between the lines, probably a letter of recommendation for a certain [...]n b. Ṣedaqa who comes from an important lineage but who has been afflicted by the vicissitudes of fate. Several biblical verses and Talmudic dicta are cited. ASE.

Recto: Letter of recommendation written by Shelomo b. Yehuda Gaon on a Friday, late in the afternoon, 4 Sivan, probably 1048. Verso: His son Avraham and (Sahlan) Segan ha-Yeshiva b. Avraham Beḥir ha-Yeshiva testify that this was really written by the Gaon. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter requesting financial support for a poor member of the community. (Information from CUDL)

Letter requesting financial support for a poor member of the community. (Information from CUDL)

Letter requesting financial support for a poor member of the community. (Information from CUDL)

Letter requesting financial support for a poor member of the community. (Information from CUDL)

Letter requesting financial support for a poor member of the community. (Information from CUDL)

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.

Letter from Avraham Maimonides, autograph. In Judaeo-Arabic. Begins with the motto הנה אל ישועתי. Addressed to the ḥaver, morenu ve-rabbenu, Yosef. This is a letter of recommendation for Yaʿqūb b. Dani'el: "he is in in grave need" (fa-huwa fī ḍurūra akhīdha wa-ʿindahu qaṭʿa(?) wa-qillat ḥīla); "appoint a guardian for him" (? tawaṣṣā bihi); "he is deserving"; mentions Peraḥya and other people in the margin; then, "encourage them to help him according to your ability" (tuḥarrikhum fī ḥaqqihi ḥasaba ṭāqatika). Information largely from Friedman's Dictionary (pp. 11, 209, 308, 762). ASE.

Late Hebrew letter of recommendation for a poor man.

Letter of recommendation from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides, to be read in the synagogue, on behalf of a pregnant woman who has no money to support her sick son. ASE. Mentioned in Goitein, "The Twilight of the House of Maimonides," Tarbiz 54 (1984), 67–104.

Letters of recommendation for an unnamed man, drawn up by the Sephardic community of Vienna in 1861. This man was from Mosul (Nineveh) and brought with him his own letters of recommendation, for which this is a replacement. He suffers from poverty and illness, and he was robbed in his lodging when he entered the borders of Hungary. There are three different notes sharing the page; the first two urge all who meet him to extend charity to him. (The third note is somewhat obscure and needs further examination.) The first note is signed by Aharon b. Eliyyahu, Yehuda b. Yaʿaqov, and [...] b. Shimʿon. The second note was written by the Sephardic rabbi, Reuven Barukh (served 1846–74). He signed in Hebrew and Latin script, and stamped the document with his seal. ASE.

Letter to the community of Ṣahrajt. In Judaeo-Arabic. Appears to be a letter of recommendation for charity for a certain ʿAllūn, to enable him to travel to Fustat with his brother, but it is rather faded and needs further examination.

Letter of recommendation from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides for the bearer who is named Moshe. See Moss. II,177 for another version of the letter, this one for Shelomo.

Letter from Menaḥem to the judge Yehosef. In Judaeo-Arabic. A letter of recommendation poor man who has debts and must pay the capitation tax. Menaḥem also promises to send the quires (karārīs) as soon as he has finished writing them. "As for the capitation tax, it is said that it will not be demanded from the poor, who may obtain for it a rescript from the government (khaṭṭ al-sulṭān)." ASE.