Geniza Lab

Letter from Farah b. Yosef Qabisi in Alexandria to Abu al-'Ala Sa'id b. Naja al-Dimashqi ('Ulla ha-Levi b. Yosef). Dating: ca. 1065. Concerns the dispatch of three consignments of merchandise. (Information from Gil, and Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Shelomo (Abu l-Barakat) in Alexandria to to his brother, the physician Abu Zikri son of Abu l-Faraj (Eliyyahu the Judge), in Fustat. Only the introduction of the letter has been preserved.

Letter from Yehuda b. Aharon b. al-ʿAmmānī, in Alexandria, to Abū l-Majd Meir b. Yakhin (Thābit), "the Glory of the Cantors," in Fustat. Dated: 14 Iyyar, 1216 CE. The letter contains information about a communal conflict between Anatoli the Judge and Yehuda's paternal uncle—Ṣadoq b. Shemuel b. al-ʿAmmānī—and his son Mufaḍḍal. (Frenkel suggests this is the same case against a judge that Yehuda mentions in T-S 13J21.25, but that letter was written in 1208.) Ṣadoq had made a taqqana and collected signatures of important Alexandrians such as Abū Saʿd b. Nānū and Bū l-Rabīʿ al-Kohen in order to appoint his son Mufaḍḍal to lead the congregation (as judge?), but Mufaḍḍal is young, beardless, and unmarried, and therefore regarded as unfit to lead the congregation over an older, distinguished man. Moreover, Ṣadoq went to the Nagid Avraham Maimonides for approval of the taqqana behind the back of Anatoli the Judge, who was understandably angry when he heard. It seems that Mufaḍḍal has been shunned by most of the population for the last few months. Yehuda himself is waiting for the Nagid to respond with a fatwa to a query of his own, and he is resentful that the Nagid does not recognize that Yehuda is the one who is managing all the affairs of the synagogue, while his uncle is addicted to wine and incompetent (Med Soc V, 39 and 516, n. 148). Yehuda mentions the Tāj (the Aleppo Codex) "which was written and pointed by Ben Asher or Ben Naftali" in the last line of the main text on verso. The addressee Abū l-Majd was recently sick, and others in his household still are. See also T-S 16.305, a letter written in spring 1217 in which Yehuda thanks Avraham Maimonides for resolving the conflict between him and his uncle. Information in part from Frenkel and from Gotein's note card. ASE.

Fragment of a letter sent from Alexandria to the Head of the Congregations, perhaps R. Eliyyahu the Dayyan, describing a meeting of about fifty elders headed by R. Shemuel, the Dayyan and Ras al-Jaliya (the Nasi). Regret is expressed about a letter sent by the Nagid Avraham, and about letters by the addressee (Information from Goitein's index cards) Letter to someone addressed as ‘Adon ha-Tora Sar he-Te'uda Rosh ha-Qahal Yehid ha-Dor', concerned with community matters, sent to the perfumer's market to Abu l-Faraj (?). Mentions people and titles including the Nagid Abraham, Sulayman, Shemuʾel and ‘al-Nasi Shams al-Din Rosh ha-Galut'. (information from CUDL)

Letter from Shela b. Mevasser b. Naḥum, a judge of Alexandria, to Abū al-Ḥasan Surūr b. Ḥayyim in Fustat, dealing with family and public matters. The letter contains clues about the dispute between Shela and Mevorakh b. Saadya and reflects Shela’s conception of his role as a community leader. (Information from Frenkel, The Compassionate and Benevolent, p. 514; S. D. Goitein, Index cards.)

Letter from Abū l-Barakāt b. Abū l-Ḥasan, in Alexandria, to Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. The letter informs Shelomo about the passing away of the local judge, R. Shemuel. Shelomo's father, Eliyyahu the judge, is asked to come and serve as judge in Alexandria. Gives many names of important community members in Alexandria. (Information from Frenkel.)

Letter from Araḥ b. Natan, also known as Musāfir b. Wahb, in Fuwwa, to his brother Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Natan (Wahb) the Seventh, probably in Fustat. Dating: 1090s CE, according to Frenkel. Araḥ is returning from a journey of much travail (taʿadhdhabtu fī safrī wa-waṣaltu sālim). He is now in Fuwwa and intends to return soon to Alexandria. The main issue in the letter is an urgent request to convey a letter from Ḥusām al-Mulk to the Qāḍī of Alexandria, Makīn al-Dawla, regarding the protection of the Jewish community from the 'hatreds' (sin'ot) of the Muslim population. Both the addressee and their cousin Abū l-Faḍl have been ill, based on the wishes for recovery. The faint line of text at the bottom is the mirror imprint of line 9 ("I am intending to trave on Thursday"). Information in part from Frenkel. ASE.

Letter from Simḥa ha-Kohen (in Alexandria) to his parents-in-law Eliyyahu the Judge and Sitt Rayḥān (in Fustat). In Judaeo-Arabic. Simḥa describes in moving terms the illness and death of his female slave (jāriya). Goitein and Motzkin understood this to refer to his daughter, however it probably means slave here, because Simḥa cites as condolence the formula from Berakhot 16b, "המ ימלא חצרונכם" (noted by Eve Krakowski, 07/2022). The physician Abū l-Thanāʾ had been caring for her in his home, and ultimately told Simḥa to take her back when her illness became hopeless. Simḥa (briefly) rejoiced because no one had expected her to walk again. A porter carried her home in a basket. She then died at home despite their hopes for her recovery. Simḥa's wife–the daughter of Eliyyahu and Sitt Rayḥān—is now in a deep depression ("the world closed itself to her") and sees nobody except Sitt Rayḥān when she visits. Simha now begs her to visit again soon. See also T-S 18J4.10. Discussed in Goitein, Med Soc II, 251.

Letter from Alexandria relating to Jewish prisoners from Byzantium who were brought to Egyptian ports. Detailed summary in Mann, Jews, vol. 1, p. 91. Recto: part of a letter, c. 1030 CE, from Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen b. Yosef the judge, in Alexandria, to Efrayim he-Ḥaver in the Great Sanhedrin b. Shemarya, in Fusṭāṭ, seeking financial help for Shabbetay b. Netanʾel, a ransomed captive who wants to return to his native Byzantium via Jerusalem. Greetings are sent to Efrayim’s son-in-law, Yosef. Verso: address in Arabic script. Information from CUDL.

Letter from Yehuda b. Aharon Ibn al-ʿAmmānī, in Alexandria, to Abū l-Majd Meir b. Yakhin ("the Glory of the Cantors and their strength"), in Fustat. Dated: 22 Shevat 1525 Seleucid, which is early 1214 CE. In the letter are found the repercussions of the arrival of French rabbis to Alexandria. The community seems to be in a serious crisis due to the lack of leadership. (Information from Frenkel.) Yehuda additionally congratulates Abū l-Majd on his recovery (r.7-12) and agrees that his illness is primarily caused by drinking too much wine and that he should moderate his drinking (r.22-24). He refers to a frail woman (r.14-15). He reports that Abū l-Majd's brother Abu l-Najm Hilal is ill: he never fully recovered since a nail entered his leg months ago, and he does not or cannot open his mouth (r.15-19). He only reports this because it is said that Hilāl may be on his deathbed. (Cf. INA D-55 f.4, also known as IOM D 55.4, summarized in Med Soc II, 220 and V, 155, in which Yehuda writes to Eliyyahu the Judge that “[Hilāl] went to rest in the evening and did not awake in the morning. It was the first day of the holiday, and he was buried on the same day; he left a fine boy of sixteen, who studies with me.” However, Hilāl's fatal illness was different than the one mentioned in this letter, as Hilāl was still alive in December 1214 when he wrote T-S 13J21.27, having recently traveled from Alexandria to Fustat and back.) Yehuda devotes much space to discussing piyyutim that these two cantors have sent or will send each other (r.25-v.9); rebukes Abū l-Majd for failing to date his letters (v.1-4); mentions the financial difficulties in his household (v.9-10); mentions Abū l-Faraj b. al-Rayyis (=Eliyyahu the Judge) and his fundraising for Jerusalem (v.10-13); and ends with a recommendation for R. Shemuel who approached him as he was writing this letter and seems to intend to travel to Fustat. R. Shemuel does not speak Arabic and is dependent on the community's aid (v.13-21). ASE

Legal. Bill of partnership. The partners are זכרי בר כלף, Moshe and Reuven. They were merchants in jewels with Mordechai from Alexandria. Hebrew. (FGP)

Legal document. Record of release. Dated: August 9, 1077. Location: Alexandra. This release document, written in the Alexandria rabbinical court, concerns a partnership between Yosef b. Yoshiyya Ibn al-Dhahabī and Khalaf b. ʿIzrūn, which seems to have been canonized in an "Arabic document" in the hand of the latter. The document seems to have been the product of an Islamic court, as it "bear[s] testimony of non-Jews". The partners release each other from a number of possible partnership forms: the khulṭa, the shirka, and the muʿāmala. The partners also release each other from any qirāḍ later in the release clauses; this is certainly because of the linguistic relationship between qirāḍ and qarḍa (though qarḍa refers to a loan, not a partnership agreement). The partners also absolve each other from all oaths, including the ḥerem setam or "anonymous ban" (imposed by the Geonim as the "oath of partners" to prevent malfeasance). These partners likely worked together as partners for a number of years. In T-S 13J1.16, dated to 1066, Yosef appoints Khalaf his agent. It's possible that T-S 16.138 is a release from that agency relationship, but lines 18-19 suggest that the two parties later restructured their relationship and contracted as partners, from which the present document grants release. The signatories, Mawhūb the Ḥazzan b. Aharon the Ḥazzan and Shela b. Mevasser, are well-known members of the rabbinical court of Alexandria at the end of the eleventh century. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 131.) Join: Oded Zinger.

Letter from a son to his mother describing the events of his journey from Alexandria to Fustat and mentioning the illness of his uncle. Much damaged. The travelers stayed with Yusuf in Fuwwa Manṣūra, who is infirm and weak of sight ("May God establish his health and illuminate his sight" etc.). Somebody in the party had an earache, but recovered ("entered the bath") in Fuwwa. On the torn portion at the bottom, the writer cryptically mentions walking barefoot and that his "liver was in the red fire... after the shaking and the weariness...." (Information from Goitein's note card) ASE

Letter from Alexandria from the 21st of October 1219, a short time before the crusaders' assault on Damietta. A man who had to flee Cairo to Alexandria due to debts writes to his sister, who still resided in Cairo, to ask for her help. The letter reflects the difficult situation in Alexandria. The Jewish community cannot manage to support all those in need, since it has only recently paid a large sum to the ruling authorities, a kind of a war tax (tabarru' and ju‘l). (Information from Frenkel). See additional information in Goitein, Med. Soc. 1:98-99 and the detailed discussion in V:55-56. Goitein adds that the letter was sent from Alexandria by a former official of the imperial mint of Fustat to his rich sister. The writer describes how he had lost his post, his house and all his possessions. He hired out his boy to a tailor who paid him half a dirham per week. He lists ten reasons why he cannot possibly come to Cairo; the tenth and "most stringent reason for not making the trip to Cairo was the certainty that his enemies seeing him in such a state of humiliation would rejoice over his misfortune." "Despite the careful enumeration of all his afflictions he forgot one, possibly the worst of all, which he added as a postscript ot his long letter: 'Because of my worries I got dry pimples and my skin peeled off my bones.' Of all concerns, bad health is most apt to move hardhearted relatives" (Med Soc V:56). See also T-S 8J20.26.

Letter from the judge R. Hanan'el b. Shemuel to notable in Alexandria. AA

Letter from Yehuda ha-Melammed b. al-Ammani, in Alexandria, to Avraham Maimonides in Fustat. Dated: Adar 1528 Seleucid, which is 1217 CE. Yehuda devotes the bulk of the letter (r.17-v.19) to a detailed account of the resolution of the conflict in the al-Ammani family between Yehuda and his uncle, R. Sadoq the Judge, crediting Avraham with resolving it. He describes the scene of the ṣulḥa in which all the family members drank to each other's health (Med Soc V, 39). Yehudah continues (v.19-31) with an encomium to Avraham; the Alexandrians have been praying and fasting for God to lift the epidemic that has attacked the population of Fustat and to protect Avraham specifically. Yehuda then emphasizes with gestures of humility (v.31-49) that all the affairs of the community rest on his shoulders alone, as his uncle drinks all day long. Yehuda's temperament cannot tolerate wine—he quotes Proverbs 20:1 ("whosoever reeleth thereby is not wise")—and does not drink more than a quarter cup in a sitting and certainly never becomes drunk. He explains (verso margin) that Avraham's colleague Abū Naṣr the physician encouraged him to write this letter, even though some of his peers mocked him for this. The letter concludes in the upper margin of recto with praises for Avraham. Information in part from Frenkel and Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter sent from Alexandria by Yefet b. Shela to Yosef ha-Kohen, who had returned from Eastern countries to Fustat on his way back to Sicily or some other place in the west. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Yeshua ha-Kohen b. Yosef in Alexandria to the community of Fustat. The handwriting is Yeshua's and the letter is written in rhymed prose. (Information from Frenkel. See additional information in Goitein, Med. Soc. 5:367-8 and Bareket, Shafrir Miṣrayim, 18 (notice there is a mistake in Frenkel's 'mentioned' list: Goitein deals with this letter in volume 5 of Med. Soc. and not in volume 4. The page in volume 5 is 368 and not 68. She also does not mention Bareket's edition). While Bareket claims that the letter was sent from Jerusalem, Goitein claims that it was sent from Alexandria. Goitein claims that the letter was sent by Shelomo b. Yehuda to the Karaites and Rabbanites in Egypt and it was written down by Yeshua ha-Kohen b. Yosef ha-dayyan.

Legal record describing a husband trying to seize property, and declaring that his father-in-law’s accusations are false, even though the latter presented the court with two valid legal deeds as proof. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 66, 179) EMS

Letter from a former official and representative of the Nagid (na’ib) of the Alexandrian community to the Nagid, requesting that he intervene on the writer’s behalf so that he may obtain the pesiqa money and fees that the community leaders still owe him. (Miriam Frankel, “Charity in Jewish Society of the Medieval Mediterranean World,” in Charity and Giving in Monotheistic Religions, ed. M. Frankel and Y. Lev, 2009, 349-50) EMS