Geniza Lab

Egypt, probably Qalyūb, Monday, 17 of Shevat; January 8, 1140 Ezekiel wrote this letter to his brother Ḥalfon, who is staying in Alexandria, ten days after his previous letter (document ח63). Letters or a letter from Ḥalfon arrived, but these were old letters that still had no reference to Yeḥezqel’s last letters to his brother. The first news item deals again with the case of Abū Yiṣḥaq. Abū Naṣr (Shmuel) son of Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi, the late brother of Yeḥezqel and Ḥalfon, returned from a visit to Ḥalfon in Alexandria but did not bring letters and corals from his uncle that he should have delivered to Abū Yiṣḥaq or letters intended for Yeḥezqel. The writer says that he bought a store in Qalyūb and mentioned unsuccessful cheese businesses and more. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)

Letter from Yosef b. ʿEzra and Avraham b. Muʿṭī, in Tilimsān, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. Dating: After Purim 4898 AM, which is 27 February 1138 CE. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender warns Ḥalfon not to travel from Fez or Almeria, on account of the war in the Mediterranean. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book 4; full Hebrew description below.)

Letter from Ibn Barukh, in Almeria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: probably end of August 1138 CE. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come)

Letter from Abū Naṣr b. Avraham, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. Dating: February 1141 CE. In Judaeo-Arabic. This was written after Ḥalfon departed from Alexandria together with Yehuda ha-Levi. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come) Alexandria

Draft of a letter from Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, apparently in Damascus, to R. Ḥiyya. Dating: Ca. 1145–46 CE. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come)

Probably Granada; Summer of 1138 - Spring of 1139 It is possible that the writer Shemuʾel b. Yiṣḥaq is from the b. al-Fakhr family.1 Besides a polite acknowledgment of receipt of Ḥalfon’s letter, he mentioned his sorrow over the recipient's illness, as he learned from there, and wished him a full recovery. He apologized for not being able to write in an eloquent style like Ḥalfon’s: 'I can't walk in these because I haven't tried' (1 Samuel 17:10). This motif repeats in several of the letters from Spain and even the escapees in them. The writer asked for assistance and sent blessings to 'the most glorious rabbi, the greatest genius', that is Rabbi b. Migash, his son Rabbi Meir, his brother's son Rabbi Meir, his 'comrade' Ya’qub, and the rest of the 'brothers'. The writer's brother also blessed Ḥalfon, and it is possible that he is the author of certificate ח43.2 (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)

Letter from Yeḥezqel b. Netanel, in Qalyūb, to his brother Ḥalfon b. Netanel, in Alexandria. Dated: Friday, 7 Shevaṭ [4900 AM], which is 29 December 1139 CE. Written on a reused state document in Arabic script. (Information from India Book 4; Hebrew description below.)

Partnership or investment (ʿisqa) agreement. Probably from a court notebook. Between Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi and Abū Yaʿaqov Yosef b. Shuʿayb/Shaʾul Ibn al-Najera. Location: Fez. Dated: Last decade of Ṭevet 4898 AM, which is January 1138 CE. (Ḥalfon's father Netanel was still alive when this document was written.) No witnesses. The document is written almost entirely as a first-person declaration by Ibn al-Najera. He has contributed 40 murābiṭī mithqāls and Ḥalfon has contributed 60 murābiṭī mithqāls to the partnership. The active partner (the sole partner doing business with the money) is Ibn al-Najera. (Information from India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Egypt, probably Qalyūb; After 22 of Tevet; December 15, 1139 Ezekiel tells Ḥalfon about his actions after his visit to him in Alexandria. The trip on the Nile was difficult and took a long time. A few days after he returned to Cairo, he went to the village of Benha, to market such expensive silk. Abu Ishak was also there, but the writer did not have the opportunity to meet him. After finishing his business, Yeḥezqel returned to Cairo or Qalyūb, his permanent residence. His younger son Abu al-Fakhr stayed with Ḥalfon in Alexandria, and the writer asked his brother to repay him a favor. Towards the end of the letter, news about the imprisonment of Vizier Riḍwān. Yeḥezqel apologized for the hasty writing. Indeed, he omitted boxes and letters and made other mistakes, including a mistake in the date of the letter. Although there is doubt as to which date was meant there, the rest of the dates mentioned in the letter, which were given according to the day of the week and the day of the month - without specifying the year - are accurate, and they correspond to 1139.2 (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)

India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; English to come)

Letter from Abū Naṣr b. Avraham, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 3 Sivan (4901 AM), which is 11 May 1141 CE. This is the second and last page of a large letter. The first page has been lost. This letter was written when Yehuda ha-Levi was on the ship in Alexandria. Abū Naṣr reports on Ibn al-Baṣrī, a Jew who converted to Islam and caused an uproar in Alexandria. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come)

Letter from Ibn Barukh, in Almeria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. Dating: Probably end of summer 1138 CE. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book 4; full Hebrew description below.)

Letter from ʿAmram b. Yiṣḥaq, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel, in Fustat. Dating: 24 Elul [1451] Seleucid = 8 September 1140 CE. The writer expresses his worries after he did not hear from Ḥalfon for a long time. He describes his sorrow on account of the death of ʿEli the judge (Ḥalfon's brother), and on account of his wife's severe illness. This is the first of three surviving letters in which ʿAmram provides a detailed description of this illnesses of his wife. In this letter: "As for my state and my illness, and the illness of that wretched woman who dies before my eyes a thousand times a day. She has developed, in addition to her infinite illnesses, an illness in her ear for 20 days now, to the point that we have forgotten all the illnesses that came before..." ʿAmram also complains about his own "swollen" (muntafikh) state and his ophthalmia: "I cannot see where I place my pen." He also informs Ḥalfon that Yehuda ha-Levi is on the ship that has just arrived in Alexandria. (Information in part from Gil and Fleischer "Yehuda Ha-Levi and his circle", pp: 420–26). See also India Book 4 (Hebrew description below). VMR. ASE. Alexandria; Monday, 24 of Elul, 1451; September 8, 1140 Description from PGPID 964: See PGPID 9116. Description from PGPID 9148: See join for description (PGPID 9116).

Letter from the physician Yaʿaqov, in Spain, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: between summer 1138 CE and March 1139 CE. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come.) Spain

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham Ibn ʿEzra, in Spain, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: after 1 Nisan 1139 CE. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come)

Letter from Yeḥezqel b. Netanel, in Qalyūb or Fustat/Cairo, to his brother Ḥalfon b. Netanel, probably in Alexandria. Dating: November 17, 1140 CE. In Judaeo-Arabic. Probably written after Ḥalfon traveled to Alexandria to meet Yehuda ha-Levi. Yeḥezqel writes about the fear that gripped him when Ḥalfon left and boarded the boat, while ill and without any companion. The body of the letter deals with business matters, especially recounting disputes with others regarding debts. Yeḥezqel was helpled by Abū l-Waḥsh Sibāʿ. One of these disputes was with the 'youths' (ṣibyān) who owed money to Yeḥezqel. These youths recruited their Muslim neighbors against Yeḥezqel and threatened that their mother would appeal to the state authorities (al-sulṭān) to exempt them from repaying the debt until ('God forbid!' interjects Yeḥezqel) they recover from their illness. Yeḥezqel had already involved two trustees of the court and the Nagid himself, but the youths too appealed to the Nagid. Yeḥezqel continues with the matter of a certain aristocrat named Razīn al-Dawla, who is angry because he had given Yeḥezqel to purchase a garment for the winter, and the order had not been fulfilled. Yeḥezqel asks Ḥalfon to make haste in obtaining the garment, which should be in a beautiful yellow. It may be sent to Yeḥezqel in Qalyūb or to 'the Jew' (the tax farmer) in Shaṭnūf, which is the iqṭāʿ of Razīn al-Dawla. Yeḥezqel asks for news of Ḥalfon's arrival in Alexandria and asks him to convey an apology to Yehuda ha-Levi for not having written to him or come to Alexandria to greet him in person. Information from Goitein and Friedman. ASE. Probably Qalyūb; Sunday, 5 of Kislev; November 17, 1140

Page from a letter sent by Abū Naṣr b. Avraham from Alexandria to Ḥalfon b. Netanel in Cairo on the 23 of October 1140. The letter includes a report on the social uproar caused by Yehuda ha-Levi’s visit in Alexandria when everybody was eager to invite him. The letter contains a request for Ḥalfon to come to Alexandria to settle the disputes caused by Yehuda ha-Levi’s presence in the city. The letter also refers to business matters arising from the India trade, in which both the addressee and the writer were involved. (Information from Frenkel, The Compassionate and Benevolent, p. 523; Goitein, Friedman, India Book 4, p. 417). Alexandria; 10 of Marcheshvan; October 23, 1140

Page from a letter sent by Abū Naṣr b. Avraham from Alexandria to Ḥalfon b. Netanel in Cairo on the 23 of October 1140. The letter includes a report on the social uproar caused by Yehuda ha-Levi’s visit in Alexandria when everybody was eager to invite him. The letter contains a request for Ḥalfon to come to Alexandria to settle the disputes caused by Yehuda ha-Levi’s presence in the city. The letter also refers to business matters arising from the India trade, in which both the addressee and the writer were involved. Abū Naṣr complains about his eye illness: "I only wrote these few letters as I was housebound with a flare of ophthalmia that came over me." At the end of recto and beginning of verso, this proves relevant: "The account is in the shop and I am at home, so I do not have the precise details to inform you." Finally, in the last few lines, "Please extend forgiveness, God knows that I wrote this with the kerchief (khirqa) draped (musabala) over my eyes." The use of a dark kerchief to protect the inflamed eyes from light was part of the standard treatment for ophthalmia (see the tag "khirqa" and the chapter on ramad in Tadhkirat al-Kaḥḥālīn). (Information in part from Frenkel, The Compassionate and Benevolent, p. 523; Goitein, Friedman, India Book 4, p. 417). ASE Alexandria; 10 of Marcheshvan; October 23, 1140

Alexandria; Sunday, 5 of Nisan, 1453; April 5, 1142 This is the third and last page of a letter ʿAmram b. Yiṣḥaq wrote to Ḥalfon. As usual, ʿAmram mentions his troubles, including his wife's illness and his sadness after the death of Eli the Judge, Ḥalfon’s older brother, and he adds to them the sadness over Yehuda ha-Levi's death. After the trip of one relative to India, Amram was left alone, and the loneliness only worsened after the trip of another (perhaps the recipient). There is news of the arrival of another merchant (Yiṣḥaq al-Sijilmasi). Amram repeats his request to Ḥalfon to send him 'Tafsir Yeshayahu' and asks for help regarding the necessary permits to handle the estate of a family member of Ḥalfon. At the end of the letter, she asked about Yiṣḥaq b. Ezra's experiences. When Amram delayed his troubles for too long, as usual, he mentions in passing the laments that he and Ḥalfon used to send each other in their letters mourning the death of Yehuda ha-Levi, and in this paragraph, there is a special interest in evaluating the mark that the death of the great poet left on the Jews of Egypt. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)

Fez, Morocco; End of Tevet; December 20-29, 1141; to Almeria, Spain At the head of this commercial letter is missing, the length of which is unknown, in which the names of the recipient and the addressee were written as usual on the other side of the letter in front of the head. However, the writer clearly mentioned (in line 25) that he was staying in Fez in Morocco, and according to the request to give a message to Rabbi Yiṣḥaq b. Barukh (in line 12), who was one of the people of Almeria, and to take an oath from him, it turns out that the addressee also lived there. Several other people were mentioned by name: Harūn b. al-Bargeloni (= the son of the man from Barcelona), Abu Zikri, Avraham and Avraham (who may be one), Daoud and Barukh. Some of them are probably from the people of Fez, but it is impossible to identify any of them from another source. The main concern of the letter is the news about various goods, including goods sent to Spain. These included alum, indigo, gold, copper, lacquer, scales and weights, ruby wood and paper. Apart from these, the writer ordered a silk robe by special order for the mentioned Abraham who wanted to wear it at his wedding. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)