Geniza Lab

Legal query, might be sent to Avraham Maimuni regarding two partners who had quarrelled regarding a certain commodity. The question is about the status of the partnership, whether Shimon is rafiq or sharik, companion or partner.

Letter fragment from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyūb, to a family member, in Fustat. He reports that their letter and the chebulic myrobalan and the opium all arrived. He fears that he has been a burden on them. The recipient is to give some money to Maḥfūẓ and Ibn al-Nuʿmān and receive confirmation of how much Moshe still owes them. He doesn't want to return (to Fustat) if that can be helped. ASE.

Letter sent by the head of the Jews, Sar Shalom ha-Levi Gaon b. Moshe, to the community of Qalyub confirming Moshe b. Levi as slaughterer, cantor and teacher. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Right half of the end of a letter by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. Mentions: the coats (al-shuqaq); his paternal uncles Ta[hir] and 'Imran; a man named Ibn al-Musinn ("son of the stinkard," see Goitein's note card on T-S NS J32); Ibn Nu'man Fada'il; Mahasin b. Hibat [Allah]; and that he sent a copy of the Neviim with the bearer of this letter. ASE.

Family letter in Hebrew. May be in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. The writer sends wishes for the recovery of a woman in the care of the addressees (possibly from an illness of heart rather than a physical illness—ואתם חכמים תדעו לרפות את לבה . . . הקבה ישים רפואתה על ידכם). He adds the conventional "may I be a ransom for you." He discusses the matter of a קוטרוס—a qonṭres or writing-book? On verso he mentions someone who needs to pay the capitation tax but does not have any money; sends regards to his uncle ʿImrān and his wife and her "gevira"; and sends more well wishes to the ailing woman, רפאה שוכן {מ}רומה; and sends regards to his uncle Moshe. ASE.

Verso (probably the original use): Letter fragment. In Arabic script. Written in a formal style and reporting that the bearer (al-wāṣil bihā), a certain Muḥammad, has been diligent in "service" (mulāzim al-khidma) for two and a half years and has not (missed?) a single day. There may follow a request for a favor on his behalf. Needs further examination. Recto (probably the secondary use): Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212), in Qalyūb, to his family members in Fustat. This is the beginning of the letter and conveys concern for some trial (taʿab) that he heard afflicts his brother Abū l-Ḥasan.

Letter fragment (bottom half) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. The entirety has to do with financial transactions and orders for materia medica. Moshe sent 24 dirhams with the bearer. Mahfuz is to get 10 dirhams and Moshe's maternal grandfather is to get 1 dirham ("and may he pray for me"). Then the addressee should pay off the price of the 2 3/4 ratls of rose water. With the remainder, he is to buy 10 sujrahs (? סגרה); mercury (זיבק); and green gallnuts (עפץ אכצר). He concludes by urging his family members to pray for him. ASE.

Recto: Part of an Arabic letter very likely from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. He mentions Abu l-Surur and asks for something to be sent and says that al-Shaykh al-Ra’is thanks the addressee. From lines 5-10, he discusses the affair of Ibn al-Taffal (presumably identical with his nemesis Yefet b. Shelomo the physician known as ‘the son of the fuller’; cf. the other fragments tagged with ‘Ibn al-Taffal’). Moshe appears to be gloating over how Ibn al-Taffal had to leave Qalyub with his tail between his feet, but he is also anxious to hear the news of how Ibn al-Taffal has fared in Fustat, “as if I were present.” But the addressee is not to speak of the matter to other people. (Perhaps Moshe wrote this part of the letter in Arabic to make it harder for snoops to read?) Moshe had had a pair of shoes made for the addressee and sent them with the bearer; the price is 4 dirhams. He neglected some of his other work because he has had so many troubles recently. The remainder is obscure, and the transcription would benefit from further revisions. Verso The tail end of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, also by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, perhaps to the same addressee. It mostly consists of small commercial matters. He wants his garment to be given to his sister Fakhr. He asks about the wife of his paternal uncle. ASE.

Recto: Letter fragment in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Little of the content remains. Verso: Document in Arabic script; only a small, faded portion of the original document remains.

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (identification based on handwriting). In Judaeo-Arabic. Asks the addressee to obtain a responsum (fatwā) and mentions a competing cantor who prays badly. Needs further examination. ASE.

Recto: Letter fragment (upper part only) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (identification based on handwriting). In Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to a group of people, it seems. He states that he is in good health and mentions the woman known as 'al-kabīra.' Verso: Letter fragment (upper part only) in Arabic script. Addressed to Ṭāhir. Mentions a matter of two dinars. ASE

Letter fragment (lower part) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat, regarding small-scale business dealings. He tells the recipient what pharmaceutical goods to buy him with the money that he has probably sent with the messenger as well as whatever money the kerchief fetches: mercury; labdanum; shells of mahaleb (?).... ASE.

Lower left fragment: Letter in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212). He has sent two notes, one with Abū l-Ṭāhir and one with Ibrāhīm al-Dimashqī, to the effect that Sulaymān should pay Ibrāhīm the remainder of what is owed to the distinguished judge Yiṣḥaq ("ha-paṭish ha-ḥazaq"), namely 50-something and a quarter (dirhams?).

Left side of a page of legal queries in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (found by Amir Ashur).

Fragment (left side of recto, left side of verso) of a letter in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. Not enough remains to make sense of it, but there are interesting phrases: "I had pity on the two of them. . . the two of them were fit for it and they pawned/deposited. . . because her poverty. . . I traveled. . . the witnesses, the Jewish neighbors. . . inform them about the sale. . . my dhimma (?) and the rahniyya (?) of the house. . . the qumāsh that is in their keeping. . . [something] for 9 dinars. . . four dinars. . . what is fitting for my cousin [=my wife]. . . the price of the house of Mūsā. . ." ASE.

Query in Judeo-Arabic addressed to an unidentified legal authority concerning a husband's financial obligations towards his wife. The text mentions several objects including the wife's household effects and gold and silver jewelry, and the existence of three children. Undated. Recto is largely effaced and appears to be unrelated.

Legal queries addressed to Avraham Maimonides, probably in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi.

Tiny fragment of a letter by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, including the phrases, "I took a vow" and "if [al-Shaykh] al-Yesod were not with me. . ."

Fragment of a letter by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, including the phrase, "let al-Yesod spend the holiday in the house of [my?] daughter."

Letter probably from Abū Sahl Levi (d. 1211), in Fustat, to his son Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212), in Qalyūb. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Identification based on handwriting and typical content.) Levi has sent Moshe the materia medica which he had ordered. "If you like them, keep them, and if you don't, send them back." They include sumac, spikenard (sunbul), maḥlab, tutty, and clove. There follows some accounting. Levi reports that 'the girl' (=Moshe's wife) is currently ritually impure and will immerse herself on Sunday, so he should endeavor to come visit on Sunday—and to make sure to come to Fustat directly instead of stopping in Cairo—while she is ritually pure. The language is quite ambiguous here, but the best reading may be that she will intentionally not purify herself if she knows that her husband is coming. There is a mystifying instruction (or just innuendo?) to ride the donkey into town if it is more than 6 handbreadths (6 ashbār = ~1.4 meters), and not to bother if it is less than 6 handbreadths. Levi reports that 'your brother' (=Abū l-Ḥasan Yedutun) bought the requested qatāmīr (pl. of qiṭmīr, apparently a date membrane or an eggplant calyx?) as soon as he returned to Fustat, and Ṣāfī took them to Qalyūb the next day and deposited them with Avraham b. Sulaymān for Moshe to collect at his convenience. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE