Geniza Lab

Letter of condolence from Mawhūb b. Aharon ha-Ḥazzan, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat (?). Dating: ca. 1070. This is a draft. The writer expresses his sorrow for the passing of Nahray’s wife, the mother of his son Abū Saʿd Nissim b. Nahray. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #756.) VMR

Letter from an ardent supporter to Daniel b. ʿAzarya. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1055 CE (per Goitein). This is only the first leaf of the letter. The sender puts his money and his friends at Daniel's disposal. The entire letter is also an attack on ʿEli b. ʿAmram, who is never directly named. The sender describes communal strife in Fustat after the death of the gaon Shelomo b. Yehuda (d. 1051) and Abū Kathīr Efrayim b. Shemarya (d. after 1053 CE, probably ca. 1055 CE). The other supporters of Daniel b. ʿAzarya wanted to appoint the Rav (=Yehuda b. Yosef) as the successor of Efrayim b. Shemarya, and they did not want ʿEli b. ʿAmram to assume the position. (The Rav was in the camp of Daniel b. ʿAzarya despite being the cousin of his rivals Yosef and Eliyya, the sons of Shelomo ha-Kohen b. Yehosef who was briefly gaon in 1025 CE.) However, the sender paradoxically thinks that their enemy ʿEli b. ʿAmram should succeed Efrayim, precisely because then he will have to pay obeisance to Daniel, and the two camps will be united. The letter's contents are as follows: (1) Condolences for the death of Daniel's sister (r1–12); (2) Praises and seeking forgiveness for the fight that they had in the house of al-Damsīsī—Goitein understands that this is because the sender had advocated for ʿEli b. ʿAmram, Daniel's enemy (r13–21); (3) ʿEli ("the idiot") didn't understand that the sender has long been a supporter of Daniel b. ʿAzarya, even before the death of Shelomo b. Yehuda; and anything the sender has done for ʿEli is like what David did for Saul—serving him despite the latter's intention to kill him (r23–36); an explanation of how the sender supported ʿEli b. ʿAmram over the Rav, against the objections of the rest of Daniel's contingent, including Abū Isḥāq (Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq Ibn al-Furāt) (v1–12); ʿEli b. ʿAmram's boorish behavior once he assumed leadership, which alienated the other leading figures of the community (including Abū Sahl al-Kohen, a certain Abū l-Surūr, and a certain Elḥanan) to the point that they boycotted the synagogue (v12–28); ʿEli, fearing that he would be deposed in favor of the Rav, recruited his son-in-law Ḥunayn and started spreading malicious rumors about the Rav, including something he supposedly said to Ibn al-Talmid involving the latter's mother. Then, "Ḥunayn went and gathered some potters and quarrelsome people, and hired about fifty of them, and they wrote legal deeds about the Rav, [saying] that he had apostatized (pashaʿa) in al-Shām and [later] arrived in Egypt to re-Judaize (yatahawwada)" (v29–36). (Information from Goitein's edition. Translation of the last section from Moshe Yagur, "Several Documents from the Cairo Geniza Concerning Conversion to Islam," (2020).)

Letter of condolence in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, probably upon the death of the father of the addressee. Elegant prose and calligraphic script.

Letter of condolence from Shelomo ha-[...] b. Tammām(?) to [...] b. Yiṣḥaq(?), in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer calls the both the addressee and the person who died 'brother.'

Fragment of a letter from Daniel b. ʿAzarya to ʿEli b. Amram, in Fustat. Daniel is expressing his support of ʿEli b. ʿAmram against people who disagree with him. Also words of condolences for a person who passed away. On verso there is Hebrew literary text. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 pp. 683–84, #369). VMR

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic with a few lines of Hebrew headers. A letter of condolence upon hearing about the death of Abū l-Bishr.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to Abū l-Surūr and [M]anṣūr. Conveys condolences on the death of their mother. On verso are a few words in Arabic script.

Letter of condolence to Avraham b. Berakaha. In Hebrew. Dating: Catalogued as 18th century. Several other people are named in the letter.

Letter of condolence from Yiṣḥaq b. Shelomo ha-Maskil to the brothers Binyamin and Yeshuʿa b. Shelomo. In Hebrew. Dated: Monday, 14 Heshvan 5571 AM, which is 1810 CE. Locations unclear, though possibly named on the page containing the address. This document may not be from the Cairo Geniza.

Recto: Letter from Shemuel(?) to Hārūn. The writer may be the husband of the addressee's paternal aunt. In Judaeo-Arabic. Locations unknown; the writer mentions someone who arrived from Cairo with news. Dating: 15th century or later, based on the mention of the currency ashrafī. Much of the letter consists of expressions of condolence. The writer reports that the addressee's paternal aunt is crying and screaming due to the death of the family member as well as due to her separation from the addressee. She is fasting and has not eaten fatty foods (zafar) in 12 days, and refuses to do so until news arrives of the addressee's health. Verso: Letter fragment, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic. Describes scenes of horrific violence around the synagogue in Fustat inflicted by 'the youths' (al-shubbān). Umm ʿAbd al-Ghaffār was beaten. Others were rounded up and tortured. Much of it is a lament that would almost be appropriate for a Tisha b'Av service were it not for the specific details (a synagogue in Fustat/Cairo, the individuals named). Needs further examination.

Letter of condolence from Yūsuf b. Shemuel to his 'partner' (sharīk) Naṣrallāh. In Judaeo-Arabic.