Geniza Lab

Rescript of the judges of the court appointed by the Nagid Mevorakh to the community of al-Mahalla, advising the community in strongest terms to take back their judge who had left. Dated ca. 1105. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 193, 561; V, 49, 519, 542 and from Cohen)

Rescript of the judges of the court appointed by the Nagid Mevorakh to the community of al-Mahalla, advising the community in strongest terms to take back their judge who had left. Dated ca. 1105. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 193, 561; V, 49, 519, 542 and from Cohen)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to the community of Tatay, approximately 1030.

Form of excommunication. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 599)

Form of excommunication in Aramaic. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 599)

Form of excommunication written in Arabic. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 602)

Forms of excommunication in Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 332) VMR

Letter from Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya, Fustat, to Daniel b. Azarya, approximately 1053.

Petition to David b. Daniel from a destitute woman with no family and afflicted with a serious illness (leprosy, it seems). Dating: ca. 1090 CE. She begs “Our lord David, the great nasi, head of the diasporas of all Israel,” to assist her and concludes the note with wishes for David, that “male children may fill your place.” (Mark Cohen, Jewish Self-government in Medieval Egypt, 207, 219; trans. Cohen, Voice of the Poor, #21, pp.52-3); EMS. The letter describes her as a "lonesome bird on a rooftop"; the same phrase appears in a poem attributed to Yehuda ha-Levi in L-G Lit. I.50. The scribe, a Byzantine, has been identified by Ben Outhwaite. This scribe wrote T-S 12.237, T-S NS 325.184, T-S 13J13.16, and T-S 8J16.29.

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya, approximately 1030.

Letter from Mūsā (or Musallaḥ?) b. Ṣāliḥ to an unknown addressee. In Hebrew and in Arabic script. Appealing for help from the addressee. (Cf. Geoffrey Khan, “The Historical Development of the Structure of Medieval Arabic Petitions,” BSOAS, 53:1 (1990), 21). EMS On verso long text in Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter by Avraham Shabbetay to various communities of Lower Egypt that certifies that Yoshiyyahu b. Moshe makes ‘kasher’ cheese. (Eliyahu Ashtor, “The Number of Jews in Medieval Egypt,” JJS, vol. 19 (1968), 22) EMS (See also Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 47, 532)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Sahlan b. Avraham, approximately 1030.

Petition from a woman to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Location: Fustat. Dating: 1140–59 CE. "'I am a 'cut-off' (munqaṭiʿa) woman and I do not have (recourse) except to God’s gate and yours. I have fallen in with a man who is unashamed of the unseemly things spoken about him. My father does not enter my (house) for anything because of what happened to him. My brother is a young man, bashful and has no tongue… I have no supporter except God, the exalted, and you. May the holy One not lock your gate in the face of every munqaṭiʿ and oppressed (maẓlūm).' This woman is munqaṭiʿa even though she has a father and a brother, because these male relatives are unable to help her. So she is a munqaṭiʿa because she does not have effective male kinship." Information from Oded Zinger, "The Use of Social Isolation (inqiṭāʿ) by Jewish Women in Medieval Egypt," JESHO (2020), 827–28 and Oded Zinger, "Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza," 388–90. She goes on to ask for the Nagid's assistance, and mentions a bill of divorce, the delayed marriage gift, and her husband’s failure to provide for his family. EMS

Letter from Yoshiyyahu Gaon to the community of Jerusalemites in Fustat, approximately 1020.

Complaint of a damin (tax farmer) in al-Minya about competitors, submitted to the Nagid Mevorakh around 1096. The writer claimed to receive one of his appointments as tax-farmer from the father and predecessor of al-Malik al-Afdal. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:361, 605-6) EMS See also Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, p. 149; Mann, Jews in Egypt, II, p. 249; Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 85, 411; II, pp. 359, 361, 606; V, p. 367

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to the congregation of Alexandria from around the year 1025. The letter deals with complaints from the Palestinian congregation in Alexandria against Yehoshuaʿ ha-Kohen ha-Ḥaver b. Yosef and reprimands him for degrading the title 'Ḥaver'. The letter informs him of a negative decision in regard to the suggestion of Sahlan b. Avraham that the cantor of Alexandria, Sela b. Moshe will be granted the title of 'Ḥaver'. The Hebrew opening of the letter was published by Jacob Mann, The Jews of Egypt and Palestine, 2:116, (he misread the cantor's name as Shelomo rather than Sela). See also Goitein, Med. Soc. 2:56 and 2:213-214. (Information from Frenkel).

Letter in Hebrew to all congregations, mentioning David, “Head of the Captivity.” Directions on verso in Arabic script, mostly lost. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) Also in his handwriting (or part of the same letter?): T-S 12.257 + T-S AS 145.278 + T-S K25.209. And T-S 6J5.1 EMS. ASE.

Letter to the judge Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel the Spaniard of Fustat asking him to induce the Nagid to approach the wali (head of police) and the qadi (Muslim judge). (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to the community of Tatay, approximately 1030.