Geniza Lab

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.

Legal fragment. Appears to mention a jāriya belonging to a woman, who may be making arrangements for after her death. But needs examination.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th century. The handwriting may be known. Deals with trade in pepper, brazilwood, saffron (zarnaba), dragon's blood (qāṭir), a flask of sorrel (baṭṭa l-ḥummāḍ), and other items. Also mentions the zakāt (here: customs?), someone who died in Beirut, someone who works as a goldsmith in the citadel of the sultan, the purchase of a female slave ('to be imported from [...]'), various amirs, the Qāḍi Jaʿfar, and someone referred to merely as "the accursed one (al-arur)." Underneath the letter on verso, there are several additional lines in Judaeo-Arabic, in a different hand, probably business accounts added later (בקית אלחסאב אלדי ענדכם פי אלאוראק...). And there are the remnants of a few words in Arabic script, probably from the address of the letter. Merits further examination.

Bill of sale for a female slave. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe as well as Elʿazar ha-Kohen b. Shelomo ha-Rosh b. Yehosef Gaon. Location: Fustat. Dated: first third of Sivan 1437 Seleucid, which is 1126 CE. Contents: Shelomo ha-Shammash b. Natan sells to his wife Labwa a minor Nubian female slave (waṣīfa)

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (active 1190s–1212 CE), in Qalyūb, to a family member in Fustat. Moshe requests a silver mirwad (stick for applying kohl) that is in the possession of Ibn Yaʿaqov, and he will send the price. He had sent with the bearer a load of lāsīn silk for Abū l-Riḍā the son of Sitt Ziyāda, who is to pay 2.5 dirhams. He wants to know if they have received the silver from Saʿāda the female slave of Ṭāḥir b. al-Ghuzzī and to purchase with it all the goods that Moshe had already told his mother about, viz., polypodium (? אשתיואן); Iraqi incense; frankincense; white mastic. He has sent another letter with the bearer of the letter for Ibn al-Ṭaffāl. He mentions Ibn al-Nuʿmān in the last couple lines. On recto there is a taqbīl clause and three lines of Arabic script in a chancery hand from a presumably Ayyubid government report (see separate entry). ASE.

Copy of the will of Khulla bt. Shabbat in which she lists her assets (three different dārs held in partnership with her two sisters and one of their sons) and her intention to sell her ghulām (enslaved man) and split the proceeds as charity for Dammūh and burial expenses for the poor. The court tries to convince her that her charitable funds should be used to restore a bible codex (muṣḥaf) worth the same amount of money, but Khulla declines. The document also mentions: Yehuda Ibn al-Sofer (as the scribe of the original will), the daughter of Khulla’s brother Abū ʿAlī al-Kohen (as being owed 6 dinārs) and Yeshuʿa b. ʿEli ha-Kohen (as a witness). RR This is folio 1v in a bifolio of a court register in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashse consisting of four pages and containing four court cases. Another folio is dated 1135 CE. For transcription see attached edition by Goitein, or see Rivlin, Inheritance and Wills, #47, pp. 371-373

Drafts of documents, made by Mevorakh b. Natan b. Shemuel and other scribes. Dating: 1159 CE. Includes a contract of sale of a Muslim female slave, Ṣayd, for 19 and a half dinars, a contract for a partnership between Khalaf b. Samuel and Barakāt b. Mūsā b. Miska, a will of a dying man asking his brother to let his daughter stay with him and take care of her possessions, betrothal deeds, a list of funeral expenses for Mubārak b. Abū l-Munā al-Dimashqī, etc. Mentions Abū l-Surūr the doctor, Sason ha-Levi, Abū ʿAlī, Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon b. ʿEli ha-Levi the dyer, Mufaḍḍal b. Abū Saʿd, Tamīm b. Abū l-Faraj, Ḥayya b. Isaac, Efrayim b. Mešullam, Abū Naṣr b. Saʿīd, Elʿazar b. ʿAmram b. Abū l-Faraj, ʿImrān b. Mevorakh, Shela b. Yaaqov, Miska Berakhot b. Avraham al-Ḥaver, Makārim al-Parnas, Abū l-Ḥasan Kohen b. Ṣāliḥ, Abū Saʿd (known as Ibn al-[..]ṭ), Yehuda b. Shelomo and Shelomo ha-Levi b. Shemu’el. Information from CUDL. See also Goitein's note cards.

Letter from Sitt Dhahab, in an unknown location, to Abū Naṣr b. Karīm, in Qāʿat al-Fāḍil, Fustat. She refers to herself as his daughter. Goitein suggests that he is her elder brother, although in that case it might be odd for a sister to refer to "the house of your brother" rather than "our brother." She reports that Abū l-Faraj b. al-Rayyis (Judge Elijah?) has arrived, with 100 dirhams for them. He is interested in buying wheat. She confirms that several consignments have arrived, including the balālīn (?), a frying pan (ṭājin), a robe (shuqqa), yarn (ghazal), and silk in various forms. She suggests that he send silver to Sitt Iftikhār, who has been seriously ill ("she has not lifted her head") already two months. She uses the word "iltaha'at" (bi-ruḥihā wa-maraḍihā) to describe Sitt Iftikhār; this word also appears in the context of distress in CUL Or.1081 J5 and possibly T-S 10J12.14. It might correspond to التهى, meaning "to be occupied with oneself" (Dozy). She reports on the sale of a female slave for 10 dinars, but this deal may have fallen apart: when "the man" came to fetch her price, "they returned to your brother's house, and they said they wouldn't sell her," and the female slave herself had to be bound with ropes. She then gives an update on the door for the vestibule (kumm). Abū l-Surūr bought one, but it is not suitable. Another worker came and took its measurements and is interested in doing the work. As for the old door of iron, Ḥusām took it down, and Salīm the carpenter didn't lift a finger to help. She urges the addressee to be diligent in forwarding the letters of Abū l-Maʿālī, because his mother and grandmother (or: mother and wife) are worried about him. She urges him to not forget to give an update on Najm in each of his letters, because when he does not, everyone is worried. The address is in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter written by a sick man who asks the recipient to buy him a female slave, for "I have no one to give me medicine," and the children are sick (maṭrūḥīn) as well. Someone in the past told him not to buy a female slave, but now this person tells him to buy one. However, he has no way of accessing his money. Abū l-Faḍl has not been helpful in this matter. He urges the recipient (possibly his brother, since he invokes "my master's upbringing" of the recipient) to do his utmost to get hold of the 5 dinars belonging to the writer, and to go to the Rayyis Abū l-Najm and purchase a female slave with the money. At the bottom appears the signaure Shelomo ha-Levi b. Moshe ha-Shishi, but this name is not completely legible and may not belong to the letter. The handwriting of this signature may be consistent with that of Shelomo ha-Levi b. Moshe ha-Sheviʿi, who appears in T-S 16.356, a legal document dated 1120 CE. If the two are the same person (one before and one after his promotion), this letter was composed some time after 1120 CE. Verso contains several of the same phrases from recto. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter from a man, probably in Alexandria, to his 'brother,' probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer's maternal uncle has recently died. The bulk of the letter deals with a dispute whose details are difficult to reconstruct. Much of it seems to be reported speech between the writer and a woman. The writer also complains of difficult economic circumstances and the high price of flax and yarn. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) ASE

Marriage contract (ketubba). Fragment (lower left corner). Dating: Likely early 11th century, per Goitein. Groom: Moshe b. Yaʿaqov. Bride: Raḥma (רחמה), not a virgin. The dowry list includes a female slave named Saraf (סרף) valued at 40 dinars. One of the totals (of the dowry?) comes out to 58 dinars. Signed by Yaʿaqov b. Moshe ha-Kohen, Mevorakh b. Avraham, Ḥayyim b. Moshe and Shelomo b. Seʿadya. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) AA

Deed of manumission (geṭ shiḥrur) for a female slave. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tishrei 1510 Seleucid, which is 1198 CE. Theoretically the date could be 1520 Seleucid, but that is probably too late, given the signature of Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi on verso. Abū l-Maʿālī al-Levi al-Tājir b. Khalaf al-Dajjānī frees his female slave named Saʿāda. Written in the hand of the court scribe Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (c.1181–1209). Signed: Menashshe b. Yosef. The attestation on verso that the deed was delivered into her hand ('in the Iraqi synagogue') is scribed and signed by Yosef's father, Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (c.1165–1203). Also signed by Menashshe b. Yosef. (Information in part from Moshe Yagur via FGP.) ASE

Letter from Ḥalfon b. Menashshe's daughter to her maternal uncle ʿEli b. Hillel, the deputy overseer (nā'ib al-nāẓir) of Bahnasa. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1100–38 CE. The writer urges her uncle to visit herself and her mother. She is in the sixth month of her pregnancy (r5). She asks the addressee to buy for her a black girl about 5 or 6 years of age from the jālib (slave trader), because she has heard that there are many available in Bahnasa (r15–17). The writer is sad to be separated from her daughter (r26–27). She reports in the margin on the sad condition of Sitt Ikhtiyār, who has been bedbound (rāqida lāzima) for three months with hectic illness (ʿillat al-diqq). "There is nothing left in her but that we say, 'right away, right away'"—does this mean they wait on her hand and foot? or that they expect her to die soon? In any event, her condition is a terrible blow to the writer. ASE.

Deathbed will of a rich woman, made during the absence of her husband. Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 26 Iyyar 1454 Seleucid, which is 13 April 1143 CE, under the reshut of Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Testator: Sitt al-Ahl bt. Abū l-Munā al-ʿAṭṭār al-Iskandarānī, the wife of Abū Naṣr al-Ḥalabī al-Tājir. Witnesses: Yosef b. Thābit ha-Levi; Shelomo b. Natan ha-Haver. "This remarkable deathbed declaration, on the one hand, shows the cosmopolitan character of Fustat: the daughter of a druggist called 'the Alexandrian' was married there to a merchant 'from Aleppo.' On the other hand, it betrays an extraordinary attachment of the testator to her paternal family and to local customs and concepts. The dying woman's husband was a tājir, or great merchant, who traveled far and was expected to be away from home for several years. He probably was on a business trip to India. She had a little boy (Mūsā) from a former marriage, who lived with her parents. As his guardian and her own executor she appointed a brother of her former husband (Abū Mūsā Hārūn/Aharon b. Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen). The main purport of the will was the legal protection of her parents, brother (Abū l-Surūr), and boy against her present husband and providing a sumptuous burial for herself. She wanted to have Muslim wailing women, presumably because the cries and shrieks of Jewish women exercising the same profession were not shrill enough for her taste. The most impressive detail is her wish to be buried together with 'one of her family' meaning her father, mother, or brother. To these she was attached by 'natural ties'; with her husband she was connected solely by a 'contract.'" There is also a clause about Sitt al-Ahl's female slave named Fūq and Fūq's daughter, who belongs to Sitt al-Ahl's mother. Sitt al-Ahl also intends for the daughter of her brother Abū l-Surūr to marry her son Mūsā. (Information in part from CUDL and mainly from Goitein's attached notes, where there is a full translation.)

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Attesting that Sitt al-Gharb bt. Abū l-Faraj b. Semekh al-Daʿwa (known from other Geniza documents) gave a deed of manumission (גט חירות) to her male slave Munjib. There are several text blocks in different hands; all those on recto appear to pertain to the same case. On verso there are notes about other legal cases, as well as two lines from the beginning of a petition in Arabic script. Join by Moshe Yagur. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Abū l-Majd, in Fustat, to Barakāt b. Hārūn Ibn al-Kūzī, in Alexandria, sent via the shop of Maḥāsin al-Ḥarīrī. Dated: Ramaḍān, 620 AH, which is October 1223 CE. Abū l-Majd complains of the difficult times and his illness, and the problems of selling a sick female slave who actively resists being sold (recto, margin). Part of his haste to sell her is that he was denounced to the government (ghamazū ʿalayyā l-dīwān) and lost 52 dirhams, evidently taxes related to the slave. (Cf. ENA NS 77.254, an outline for a deed of sale of a slave, where "if someone tattles to the government" is a specific eventuality that is addressed.) Abū l-Majd asks Barakāt to come to Fustat and try to sell her. If it weren't for the bitter cold, Meir himself would come with her to Alexandria. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Bill of release (draft or copy). In the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya. Dated: Tishrei 1356 Seleucid, which is 1044 CE. Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Shelomo Ibn al-Raqqī, representing also his mother Mubāraka bt. Levi b. Yaʿaqov and her sister Bahiyya bt. Levi (the widow of Aharon ha-Levi and the mother of Mevorakh b. Aharon), releases Yaʿaqov b. David Ibn al-Dawātī from all claims having to do with the support of Yaʿaqov's three children Faraj, Bishr and Sitt al-Bayt. Yaʿaqov is providing food and tuition for them and is also providing a Nubian female slave named Shaʿith (who remains the property of Yaʿaqov). Yaʿaqov has paid rent to Bahiyya for his apartment in Dār Ibn al-Shaʿʿāb. (Mentioned in Goitein, Med Soc I, p. 135.)

Marriage contract, fragmentary and damaged, in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, in the later period of his activity as scribe (dated documents: 1100-1138), in which an Indian female slave worth 20 dinars formed part of a dowry. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 325, 326, 456)

Later document: Petition/letter of recommendation from an unidentified sender, apparently in Fustat, to Yoshiyyahu Gaon. In Hebrew. Dating: Ca. 1020 CE. This is a letter on behalf of the brother of Daniel b. Sahl ha-Melammed, who sent Daniel a letter crying out about his harassment at the hands of somebody (Gil suggests this was a Fatimid military officer but does not explain why). This person claimed in Muslim courts that Daniel's brother was his slave, but "God forbid that a Jew should be a slave of a Gentile, all the more so of a Jew like him" (r34–38). Various Jewish dignitaries are mentioned, including Elḥanan Rosh ha-Seder. Yoshiyyahu is asked to intervene. This fragment also contains a state document in Arabic and a Hebrew piyyuṭ in a different hand than the letter (larger and cruder).

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: Tuesday, 7 Elul 1425 Seleucid, which is August 1114 CE. Inventory of the estate of a wealthy goldsmith, the late Abū Yaʿqūb. The list consists of dinars in bankers’ notes, gold cash, and in bars of precious metals; various vessels, two female slaves, and promissory notes are also referenced. The document was written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and sealed by the rabbinic court on the day of Abū Yaʿqūb’s death. Before any shares were distributed to the heirs, the widow received the “deferred installment” due to her according to her marriage contract, in this case 75 dinars. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society 5:168-70, 549, 533; and Goitein’s index cards) EMS