Geniza Lab

Letter from Abū Is[ḥāq?] to his father Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli b. Hillel. Written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, the addressee's brother-in-law. Discusses various business and family matters, including a potential marriage and the writer's anger at the addressee. Someone has ophthalmia (r16) and a certain girl "went mad" when she heard something (r23)—perhaps the prospect of marrying Faḍā'il. The addressee is asked to send wheat urgently (v3, v7). ASE

Letter from a man in Egypt to his brother or brother-in-law, an India trader in Aden. In Judaeo-Arabic. Frenkel identifies the writer's location as Alexandria, the addressee as Ismāʿīl al-Fāṣid, and the date as 1176 CE, but does not seem to explain her reasoning. The letter recounts an interesting family saga. The addressee's maternal uncle passed away while traveling with the addressee to India. The addressee took care of him before his death. The family has taken great pains to conceal the news of the uncle's death until they receive a detailed account of his will. This long letter repeatedly describes everyone's anxiety waiting for news of the addressee's health and the will. His mother, when she heard of the death of her brother and the news of the addressee's difficulties at sea, fell sick and fasted until news came of the addressee's health. His father stays up all night praying for him. "If you knew how much reward (in Heaven) you receive from every letter you write us, you would do nothing but write us letters." The family congratulates the addressee on his purchase of a male slave (ghulām). Finally, the reason for the anxiety about the will comes to light at the end. The uncle knew or thought that his wife was pregnant when he departed, however, they counted 9 months, and there was no baby. They counted another 9 months, and she had a baby boy. The family evidently wishes to ensure that none of the uncle's inheritance ends up with his wife or son. Even the Muslims say, "We have never heard anything like what this Jewish woman has done. She deserves nothing but hellfire." The widow was able to round up some allies from among the Byzantine Jews, and they managed to gather 10 Jews for the circumcision, but with no cantor or judge present. In the midst of sending everyone's regards in the margin of verso, the writer reports sarcastically that the newborn infant also sends his. Information in part from Frenkel and from Goitein's attached notes. ASE.

Family letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 12th or 13th century, based on layout and handwriting. Same sender and addressee as T-S 8J24.4 and CUL Or.1080 J25. The identities of sender(s) and addressee(s) are difficult to disentangle, but there is probably sufficient evidence contained within the letter. The tarjama reads, "Your son Ibrāhīm," and both of the addresses are made out to Abū l-Ḥasan Ibrāhīm al-Maghribī, in the Goldsmiths' Market, in Fustat. But the main voice of the letter is that of a woman, who is dictating the letter to the scribe Ibrāhīm (perhaps her husband or brother), and she is addressing herself to an older female relative, likely her mother. She also greets her sister Umm Ismāʿīl. The main addressee, who may live with Umm Ismāʿīl, is supposed to tell Umm Ismāʿīl to have her husband (perhaps the Abū l-Ḥasan Ibrāhīm from the address) send a letter with their news. The scribe Ibrāhīm then takes over the letter and greets Abū l-Ḥasan (and his father and his children) and rebukes him for his treatment of a woman (perhaps his wife Umm Ibrāhīm), "This is not what we agreed upon, and this is not how I instructed you (to behave). Whatever you do to her, you do to us." There are regards to various other people, including Sitt Zahr and Abū l-Rabīʿ Sulaymān and his son Ibrāhīm and his mother. As for the content of the letter proper, the sender reports that her daughter (Sitt al-Niʿam) and son (Abū l-Ḥasan) both fell off of a roof, but they were not seriously injured (cf. CUL Or.1080 J25, v22–27). She reports on a woman named Ṣayd (aka Sitt al-Ṣayd), who may be a slave, and who wishes to marry the slave of Ibn Miṣbāḥ, which apparently causes great distress for her owners (this section should be clarified by comparison with CUL Or.1080 J25, v4–12). She asks for her ring to be sent with the addressee's cousin (bint khāl) Sitt Nasrīn, and for a garment to be sold in Qūṣ and for something ("aṭrāf") to be made for Abū l-Ḥasan with the money from the sale. NB: Goitein originally described this as a letter from Ibrahim to his sister, writing about a widow with children who was intending to marry a person who obviously had not too good a reputation. The judge had warned her but she insisted on marrying the man. The writer tells about the children and complains about neglect. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 275, 475 and from Goitein's hand list.) Information in part from Wagner, E. (2015). The language of women: L-G Arabic 2.129. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, January 2015]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.8238. ASE.

Family letter sent by Yosef to Abu al-Ḥasan, informing the addressee that he will come visit on Hanukka and sending his greetings to several people. (Information from Mediterranean Society, v, p. 395 and from Goitein's hand list)

Letter from Sulaymān to his father. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. There is also a basmala in Arabic script followed by "al-mamlūk Sulaymān" at the top of recto. The sender urges his father to spend the holiday with him, as he was accustomed to doing, although at that time he had urged the writer to visit with him. He also reports that his wife is pregnant. On verso there is also poetry in Arabic script and additional jottings in Arabic script. (Information from Cecilia Palombo, CUDL, and Mediterranean Society, V, 15).

Letter. A Maghribi Karaite asks his wife in the most humble terms to come back to him in Cairo. Otherwise, he would marry a girl in the Rif. Goitein's transcription, translation, and commentary are attached. Also discussed in Zinger, "Long Distance Marriages."

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Salmān al-Ḥarīrī, in Alexandria, to his mother and father, in Qayrawān. Dating: ca. 1050 CE. The address bears the name of the writer's father Salmān b. Ibrāhīm, whom Yaʿaqov addresses at the end of the letter, but he addresses his mother for the bulk of the letter. The writer expresses his disappointment in the Maghrebis in Egypt, who did not assist him as he expected when he was newly arrived in Fustat and very ill for one month. He recovered and is now healthier than ever. When he returned to Abū l-Faraj Ibn ʿAllān who had previously promised to employ him, he found that Abū l-Faraj had lost his mother and his sister, "and was too preoccupied for me" (ishtaghala ʿannī). Yaʿaqov set out on his own and started to trade flaxes. He is planning to travel to the north, perhaps to al-Lādhiqiyya (a plan he carried out: see CUL Or.1080 J17, which he wrote from Tripoli, and T-S 8J19.27, which he wrote from Ramla). But he will wait in Alexandria until he learns what his family thinks of this plan, and he will follow their counsel. The end of the letter has the curious line, "Abū Yaḥyā is well, in complete health, and aṣḥābunā are in complete health, no one died except Abū l-Khayr b. Barukh in Tinnīs" (verso, lines 22–23)—which, along with the illness of Yaʿaqov and the deaths in Abū l-Faraj's family, suggests that there was then an epidemic. Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #661. See also ENA 2738.34, a very similar letter which Yaʿaqov wrote at the same time and addressed to his sister. VMR. ASE.

A family letter written by Meir b. Hillel b. Sadoq to his three brothers. He objects to the marriage of Abu al-Mufadal, one of his brothers, and he urges this brother to devote more effort to his religious studies.

Letter. Personal letter in which the writer reassures the recipient that he had acted according to his wishes and delivered five letters to his brothers-in-law but warns that he would not be able to accomplish much else until the holiday. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter. Family letter in which the writer discusses a dispatch of money to be used for wheat and clothing, and expresses desire to be joined by one of his sons. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 193, 467, and Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Barakat b. Hibat Allah al-Ja'fari to Abu al-'Ala Sa'id b. Munajja ('Ulla b. Yosef ha-Levi, the parnas in Fustat). Complete letter containing personal and business matters. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in which the writer asks not to be removed from the addressee's service or friendship. Very effaced. Dated to the late 12th century. (Information from Goitein's index cards). Written by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, with many biblical quotations. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a brother admonishing Sitt Ikhtiṣār and Sitt al-Wasṭāniyya to take good care of their mother and younger sister (by pawning something to send them money to buy grain). Note that he addresses the women in one part of the letter but switches to addressing a man in the remainder. The sender has sent two sleeping carpets (waṭāwayn), one for the girl (al-ṣabiyya) and the other for Misk ("Musk"), the girl's female slave (jāriya). The handwriting of this letter looks very similar or identical with that of T-S NS J3, and some of the same names appear in each letter, including Abū l-Surūr, Abū ʿAlī, and Sitt Ikhtiṣār. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.) ASE

Letter in Hebrew. The writer of the letter sends his apology and emphasizes he did not intend to offend the addressee. The writer ends (lines 18-22) with conveying his greetings to different people in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from Goitein's index cards). Verso: Liturgy (seliḥot for 10th Ṭevet). (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a mother to her children, sent to the shop of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Masʿūd. She is writing from Rashid (Rosetta) on her way to Alexandria, instructing her children to convey news to relatives and friends and to write to her. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a physician to his uncle. Tells the writer's sad story, which involved the death of his beloved wife, an unfortunate second marriage, and his eventual flight. The writer asks his uncle to give his son the family bible. (Edited, translated, and analyzed at length in Oded Zinger's dissertation, chapter 5 and document #10.)

Letter fragment from a son to his remarried father, conveying family news and expressing regret that his father's previous wife is giving him trouble. The writer is suffering from an ailment of the ear: "If my ear were not bound, I would have come to visit you." (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 271, 273.)

Letter from Mevorakh b. Natan to Elazar ha-Kohen expressing sympathy at the death of his father. The writer notes that he had already sent a letter to the same effect but was afraid that it had gone astray. He excuses himself for not attending the funeral because of his poor health. Second half of the 12th century. (Information from Goitein's index cards and CUDL)

Recto: Letter from (or written on behalf of) a woman to her son Avraham ('Rabbenu'). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably no earlier than 14th century, and conceivably much later, based on script and vocabulary. Mentions an area called ḥawsh al-maghāriba in Fustat, where Avraham's sister lives. The letter contains cryptic exhortations about associating with Gentiles, directed at Avraham as well as a certain Raḥel (his wife?). The letter also informs him that his sister's daughter Ḥabība is "stricken" (maḍrūba) and is on the verge of death. "Every day brides and grooms go forth from the neighborhood. I do not wish to confound you by telling you who they are nor how many there are. My son, by God, by God, do not enter the neighborhood until God lifts this affliction from Israel." Is she referring obliquely to an epidemic, and to the victims as "brides and grooms"? Verso: Avraham's response to his mother. He expresses his distress at the death of his sister's husband Yaʿaqov and at the news of Ḥabība's condition. He also mentions the harrowing night he spent on a Nile boat after leaving Ḥayyim's house, which he thought he would not survive. Even in the morning, he [vomited?] from time to time and could not hold any food down until God had mercy. The particular words used to describe his symptoms are obscure, possibly as they are late colloquial Judaeo-Arabic. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 242, 479; IV, pp. 228, 431, and from Goitein's index cards.) It is possible that Avraham's letter came first and his mother's letter is the response. ASE.

Letter from Mansur b. Salim in Alexandria to a friend in Cairo inquiring about his son, who had run away to the army and had perhaps travelled as far as Yemen. See also T-S 10J13.10 and T-S Ar.18(1).137, letters by the same sender concerning the same matter. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 379)