Geniza Lab

Letter from Khalaf b. Ghanīma, probably in Alexandria, to 'my brother' Bū Yaʿqūb b. Nissim, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer reports that he went to the Rīf to purchase a julla (? גלה) for the addressee, but the cheapest available would have been 3 or 4 dinars. He entered Alexandria with the julla he already had and obtained new gold for the addressee. He went back to the Rīf looking for the julla. He brought the donk[ey?] to the addressee's house (in Alexandria?). The wife and the boy are healthy. The boy had an attack of ophthalmia but it subsided. The writer sends regards to the addressee's maternal uncle Bū Saʿīd. He adds a postscript on verso: "After writing this letter, I went to the Rīf" apparently to buy wheat, but it was too expensive, so he didn't buy any. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer reports that he still has to rest in the house for several days after every one day in the market. He was saddened to hear about the addressee's trouble (shaʿath, likely an illness) on his journey. But when he heard that the addressee had not yet sold the merchandise that is with him, he rejoiced even more than he was pained at the bad news, evidently because he wants to seize the chance to make better business arrangements. He mentions Yūsuf b. Ayyūb in the margin. He eagerly awaits the response. On verso there are some lines of Arabic poetry.

Letter from Yeḥezqel b. Eli ha-Kohen (identification based on comparison with DK 233.2), evidently in Jerusalem, to Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan b. Isḥāq al-Ṣārifī (!), in Fustat. The letter is in Judaeo-Arabic and the address is in Arabic. Dating: second half of the 11th century. Apart from the handwriting comparison, there are at least two other reasons to identify the writer as Yeḥezqel b. Eli: (1) the suftaja (money order) of the rayyis is mentioned in line 17 of this document and line 19 of DK 233.2, and (2) the same bearer is listed underneath the address, ʿUmar b. Yūsuf and his son. Whereas DK 233.2 is dated 21 Adar II, this letter does not bear a date, but mentions a letter from the addressee that arrived on 22 Heshvan. Probably DK 233.2 and T-S Misc.28.171 were not sent together. The writer reports on the epidemic (dever) raging in Jerusalem. The first letter of the word דבר is mostly missing, and it bears the wrong vowel, but the context supports the reading of דבר. It is only Wednesday, and already there have been five funerals this week. The writer mentions children, women, and his paternal uncle "in their number" (the sick? the dead?). He adds, "Many people are ʿalā l-qibla." This phrase does not appear in the Judaeo-Arabic dictionaries. Perhaps it means "praying," or specifically praying in the area of the Temple. The writer touches on various things that he wants the addressee to do for him in Fustat (one of them is reminding the Rayyis Abū l-Ṭayyib about the money order), sends regards to Umm Wahbān, reports that he received the medicine (dawā') sent with ʿAmmār, and reports that he has sent the amulet (? this word looks very much like קמיע but the reading is not certain) of Ibn al-Kohen to the addressee, along with a sealed letter from him. ASE.

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes linked below. This letter may be continued in Bodl. MS heb. d 66/14 (identified by Oded Zinger).

Legal query addressed to Rabbenu Ḥananʾel (b. Shemuel). In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning a man who became sick and had some mental confusion (ikhtibāl al-ʿaql wa-shughl al-dhihn) and something happened with a geṭ. Fragmentary (left side only).

Formal letter in Arabic script. Dating: Perhaps 12th or 13th century based on handwriting. From ʿAbdallāh b. [...]. He reports that he has obeyed the addressee's order (imtathala al-mamlūk al-marsūm) and investigated the matter of Ibrāhīm b. [...]. Then mentions "for the treatment of the eye (li-mudāwāt al-ʿayn).

Letter from Yosef to his brother Elʿazar aka Abū Manṣūr b. Abū l-Surūr. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 12th or 13th century. Fragment (upper part of recto). Yosef complains about his weakness and poverty and worries. Greetings from [Abū] l-Surūr, from the sender's maternal uncle Abū Saʿd and his wife and Isḥāq. On verso the sender seems to complain about a lack of news: he heard something about a marriage, a (newborn?) boy, Sitt al-Kull, and Daniel, but was not informed. He ends the letter, "Do not blame me, for my vision is weak."

Letter addressed to al-shaykh Abū l-[...] al-Yahūdī in Fustat. From his family members (maybe a brother?) outside of the capital. They urge him to come as fast as he can, because the girl (al-ṣaghīra, spelled السغيرة) is sick, with terrible boil(s) or skin lesion(s) (ṭalaʿa ʿalayhā ḥabb ʿaẓīm), and she cries day and night calling for the addressee. Mentions Yehuda Ibn al-Sofer (ابن السوفار). Mentions the addressee's mother.

Verso: Letter in Arabic script. Fragment (upper right corner). The sender has been sick. Not much else is preserved.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Simḥa al-Nīsābūrī ha-Levi to Abū l-ʿAlāʾ Salāma b. Hillel al-Ḥalabī. The sender reports that he arrived in Alexandria on Tuesday after spending three days in Malīj. He did not press Abū Sahl Mukhtār (also mentioned in T-S 12.296v) on the matter of the "sayf" (a sword?). because he was ill. But now he has recovered. The sender also refers to the addressee's intended travel to Yemen. (Information in part from Goitein's note card). Join: Alan Elbaum

Letter from Yiṣḥaq ben Ṣūr. In Hebrew. Dating: Likely 16th century, based on hand, language, and surname (there is a well known Avraham ben Ṣūr from the 16th century). The sender is sick and hasn't yet left the house. He wants to buy a cask (birmīl) of possibly mercury (the word looks like זייבה, but the ה is longer than usual and could potentially be a ק, yielding zaybaq). (Information from A. David's edition via FGP.)

Recto: Letter from communal leaders, in Alexandria, to the judge Shemuel, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Unclear; likely early 13th century, based on handwriting and Goitein's identification of the judge Shemuel as the same one mentioned in T-S 10J16.6. Regarding a woman in Alexandria with a sick daughter, whose husband had fled his creditor and gone to the capital. The letter says that she had been deserted for a long time, that she had to maintain herself and her little girl, to pay rent, and on top of this, was sued in court by the creditor of her husband. The writers of the letter ask in the politest terms that Shemuel approach the Nagid for action in this matter. Verso: Letter from the judge Shemuel to the Nagid. The writer reports that he had sent several summons to the runaway husband, but since both the High Holidays (approx. September) and Hanukka (approx. December) had passed without response from him, sterner measures were now required, and, to the judge's dismay, the Nagid had to be troubled. The matter was of utmost seriousness since the Alexandrian wife asserted that her husband had married another woman and was living with her in Cairo. Clearly, the police now had to be instructed to bring the man to court by force. But only the Nagid, as official representative of the state, was authorized to give that order. (Information from Goitein, Med Soc, III, pp. 203–04 and Friedman, Jewish Polygyny, pp. 213–16.) ASE.

List of deaths in Fustat from the last day of Tevet to the 29th of Nisan 1437 (27 December 1125 - 23 April 1126). By Goitein's count: 41 adults, 18 children, and 6 infants. Includes several female slaves and poor people. Information from Med Soc V, p. 115; Goitein index cards.

Letter of petition from a man to a potential benefactor: 'I hereby inform you that I have been in good health, "concealed" among the people (mastūr bayn al-nās). Then when my hand became paralyzed (infalajat), I was left without a means of making a livin[g].' When capitation tax payment came he had to go into hiding in his house, and so he asks for assistance." Cohen, Poverty and Charity, 42-43. See also Goitein's note card. The writer has been hiding in the house for 55 days. Only Abu l-Fakhr the son of the judge and Ibn [...] al-Amshati have come to his aid, each one giving him 5 dirhems. He bribed the capitation tax collectors with 5 dirhems and already spent the other 5. He needs food. ASE.

Letter from Jalāl al-Dawla (or at least a person from the family of Shelomo b. Yishai the Nasi), written during an epidemic, and mentioning the Nagid [Avraham Maimonides] as being ill and also mentioning his (father?)-in-law the judge R. Hananel, who says, "These days are like the Day of Judgment: everyone is preoccupied (mashghul) with himself." He goes on, "We are doing our utmost to escape from this terrible epidemic. There is not a house in Fustat or Cairo among the important Jews—or anyone else—that does not have at least one sick person. The people are in terrible distress, too preoccupied to care for each other--let alone for a stranger." Jalāl al-Dawla also provides an update on his own diarrhea (v7–8): it is intermixed with white phlegm, coiled/twisted (multaff), and it burns when it comes out (yaldhaʿu waqta majī’ihi). ASE.

Business letter from a father, probably in Alexandria, to a son, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment. Dating: Looks 12th century, but this is a guess. The writer explains that he cannot come because he is very ill (wajiʿ wajaʿin ṣaʿb) and has no energy (nahḍa) to 'enter' (Fustat). He has therefore sent Sulaymān on his behalf to collect his indigo that is with Abū l-Ḥasan. The son is to make sure that this happens, and if he wants to travel back with Sulaymān, all the better. After all, it is the end of the year, and the son has to pay his capitation tax in Alexandria. If the son does come, there is a list of items that he should bring with him. ASE.

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. "Your friend, my brother Abū Bishr Al-Ṭabīb (the physician) sends his regards and asks you to honor him with whatever you need. If you [...], and inform him about your illness [...] and go see him, so that he can treat your eye." The writer goes on to mention flax and the village and the Sultan ('may God prolong his days'). Verso has many greetings. ASE.

Letter from the Tiberias lepers.

Letter in Arabic script. Likely sent from Jerusalem (since it refers to people "coming up" from al-Ramla this week). Addressed to a woman. The sender reports that the mother of Abū Manṣūr is well. This week, Abū l-Faraj al-Tūnisī "came up" from al-Ramla together with "the girl" (al-ṣabiyya). He is still very sick, but she has recovered from her illness. But then the dark girl (al-samrā), the daughter of ʿAbd al-Salām, died. The sender has enclosed a letter from Umm Abū Manṣūr. "As soon as you read it, write the response." Greetings to Abū l-Faraj Hiba and to "my grandson" (ḥafīdī). Reused on verso for writing exercises of biblical verses.

Legal testimony. In Arabic script. The witnesses have examined (bāsharū) the Jew Ibrāhīm b. Abū l-ʿAlāʾ, and found that he had developed leprosy (judhām) on account of a black humor (al-khilṭ al-sawdāwī) and is therefore banned from moving freely and conducting business among Muslims. Witnessed by Aḥmad b. Abū l-Ḥasan and Abū l-Ṭāhir b. Abū l-Ḥasan. Dated: First decade of Rabīʿ II 660 AH, which is February 1262 CE. (Information from Khan's edition.)