Geniza Lab

Description from T-S 20.145: Letter/petition from ʿAmram b. Aharon ha-Kohen "the seventh" (the son-in-law of the head of the Palestinian Yeshiva, Evyatar b. Shelomo ha-Kohen) to dignitaries in Fustat, including the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya. Dating: 1108–09 CE. The sender wants the addressee to exercise his influence to have the Fatimid navy rescue Evyatar and his family from Tripoli in the period between the summer of 1108 CE (when the populace of Tripoli overthrew Ibn ʿAmmār) and 12 July 1109 CE, when the Franks sacked Tripoli. (Information from Brendan Goldman's edition.) Description from T-S AS 153.176 + T-S AS 153.177 (old PGPID 17817): Letter. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1108 CE, as it refers to the flight of Fakhr al-Mulk Ibn ʿAmmār from Tripoli and how he left it in the hands of his cousin Abū l-Manāqib. The layout is like a formal report, with a narrow width and wide space between the lines. The sender says that he has previously sent a letter concerning "the same matter" to "our cousin," a great dignitary and a kohen. "They took it and traveled with it... toward the beginning of Shabbat Vayoshaʿ (=Beshalaḥ?), the day that Ibn ʿAmmār traveled for Beirut—let him return no more to his house, and let not his place know him any more (Job 7:10)—and then traveled for Tiberias (? טברי) to fortify himself there, and the city is now in the hand of his cousin (ibn ʿamm) Abū l-Manāqib." (Information in part from CUDL.) Joins by CUDL (for T-S AS 153.176 + T-S AS 153.177) and Alan Elbaum (for T-S 20.145 + {T-S AS 153.176 + T-S AS 153.177}). For an example of the Fatimid state document format which this is emulating, see another report concerning this period in Tripoli (unpublished): T-S AS 129.149 + T-S AS 116.11 + T-S NS 137.20 + T-S NS 207.44 + AIU I.C.73 + T-S NS 238.99 + T-S NS 244.84 (+ T-S NS 125.135). ASE

Letter to Avraham Maimuni from Yehuda Melammed b. Aharon ha-Rofe.

Copy of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Written on a reused fragment of a letter in Arabic script (the only part preserved is the basmala and the opening "ṣalawāt Allāh wa-bara[kātuh]"). Describing the endeavors of Abū Saʿd "the seventh" to become head of the Jews by bribing the vizier ('mutawallī bāb al-sulṭān') Ibn al-Salār. These endeavors were directed against the court physician and head of the Jews, the Nagid Abū Manṣūr Shemuel b. Ḥananya (in office 1140–59 with interruptions). (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 32, 528, and M. A. Friedman's article on Zuta, p. 479.)

Note in which a scribe asks the Nagid to be permitted to copy an Arabic translation of the tractate 'Hullin.' (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Official letter from the office of one of the later Maimonidean Nagids, with a motto (ʿalāma) at the top. The cantor Faraj is instructed to look after the bearer, Yom Ṭov, who is blind and poor, by arranging a collection for him and his family in the synagogue. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Pastoral letter presumably addressed to the Fustat community from the office of one of the later Maimonidean Nagids (Yehoshuaʿ?). In addition to general admonitions, the epistle states specifically that anyone selected by lot to serve as a collector of alms and refuses to act as such, or anyone objecting to participate in the weekly collections for the poor was liable to be punished with the 'heavy ban'. Dating to the late 13th or 14th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 503)

Letter fragment (lower part) from a muqaddam named Moshe, probably addressed to the dayyanim of Fustat, complaining that after the death of the Nagid Avraham his unworthy opponent had been appointed. A sick, old man is mentioned in the margin, but the surrounding text is damaged, so it is unclear if this is an aspersion directed at the rival or a complaint about his own condition. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.) ASE

Letter conveying instructions from the Nagid on behalf of a female orphan, evidently the response to a petition. She has lost most of her father's estate through expenses. She should be placed 'under the care' of Abū l-Faraj b. Abū l-Ḥasan al-Levi. Everything that has been brought to Fustat should be returned. On verso there is an inventory of goods (left to her? for her trousseau?). (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Yosef and Nissim b. Berakhya (Qayrawan) to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. ʿAwkal (Fustat), ca. 1020, on the death of the Nagid, Avraham b. ʿAṭā. According to the sender’s words, the Maghreb is in a state of decline. The situation is difficult in Gabès as well as in the western parts around Sijilmāssa. A famine and a drought are mentioned. Refers to financial matters, some involving the academies, others involving the people of Gabès who had sent 100 dinars to Fustat some years ago but the money was lost track of. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 435.)