Geniza Lab

Letter (bottom part) from Alexandria to Fustat, dictated by Abu l-Najm Hilal, written down by Abu l-Muna, and addressed to Abu Ishaq b. Yaʿaqov at funduq al-Mahalli, who is to give it to Abu l-Majd the cantor—the brother of Hilal. The writer sends greeting to the addressee’s wife and the teacher Yiṣḥaq. The silk that Abu l-Majd sent to Mahasin has arrived. The old woman (presumably the mother of Hilal and Abu l-Majd) is frail and no longer able to work, and everyone is distressed, and they wish Abu l-Majd to come before she dies. The Ḥaver and Ibn Daud reached an arrangement to alternate Shabbats (in receiving income?) starting after Passover. Information in part from Goitein's note card. EMS. ASE.

Letter from Alexandria sent around 1120 C.E. from a Maghribi merchant, Makhlūf b. Musa al-Nafusi (Ibn) al-Yatim, who proclaims that a friend carried for him a purse with 101 “fresh” (‘tari’) dinars weighing 100 and one/fourth. He asks the addressee to “sell” them, meaning to convert the Sicilian currency he was dispatching into local Egyptian money. Makhlūf devotes eleven lines of the short letter to an apology for not buying his friend a Sicilian turban that was ordered. Confirming the reason by two oaths with God’s great name, the writer acknowledges the omission was due to his own forgetfulness. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:237, 459; 5:248, 575 ) EMS

Letter from Abu ‘Ali Ḥasan b. Imran in Alexandria to his nephew Abu Musa Harun b. al-Mu‘allim Yaqub, admonishing him for having vowed to maintain his elderly mother but failing to keep that promise; the mother had already passed away by the time of the letter’s composition. “How do you act with regard to your Lord? You fast and pray to him; then you make a vow and break it. You do not have the faith of the Jews, nor even that of the Majus,” Abu Ali proclaims, referring to the Aramaic-Arabic name for Zoroastrians. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:334, 598) EMS

Letter from Alexandria to Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment: Bottom half only. Dating: There are reports of men seized for forced labor to dig a ditch around the city. Goitein and Frenkel both suggest that this reference can date the document to 1219 CE, during the fifth crusade. The crusaders besieged Damietta from May 1218 until November 2019 when they finally took it. Evidently, people feared that Alexandria would be next. (See also T-S 16.286, a letter from Alexandria dated 21 October 1219.) This letter reports on the state of the city: "The city is in a dire state because of the digging of the ditch. The city is locked up, and forced labor is imposed upon the population." The writer then gives a detailed report about the medical condition and treatment of a woman who had been injured in an unrelated accident, then discusses some small errands, then an important family affair, and concludes with greetings to at least fifteen persons. Two postscripts are added. "As to Abū l-ʿAlā'—when I arrived, I found the city locked up; no male person could appear in the streets, because he would be taken to the [digging of the] ditch. That's why I was unable to meet him. As to the malḥafa [a blanket serving also as outer garment], the bazaars are locked and no one sells and buys. I am telling you this that you should not think that I am neglectful of your affairs." Regarding the injury of Yumn: "When coming home, I found Yumn—on whom the door fell—in a serious condition. She has been ill for forty days. At the time she was impure and remained in that state; thus all the other members of the household became impure together with her. Only God knows how the situation is; she cries so much that I forget my own tribulations. However, if God wills, she has good prospect for recovery. Her leg is in a case (tābūt) especially made for her. A Christian doctor (ʿarel) treats her and I was told that he did not take any money for her treatment. He at that time was treating the wounded (al-majārīḥ). I did not find any bandage (or plaster/dressing) of palm fibers (marham al-nakhlī) in the house and could not move her; for she cannot get up or sit; she bends forward only a little (qad ittajaha qalīl). Her foot and leg are swollen (manfūkh)." Information and translations from Goitein, Med Soc, V, 56, and note cards #27138–39. This date-palm plaster is recommended for treating wounds and abscesses in the medieval medical literature—a Google search of مرهم نخلي will lead to citations in works by the Andalusians Aḥmad b. ʿIsā al-Hāshimī (d. 1077) and Ibn Zuhr (d. 1162). For Ibn Zuhr, its consistency is like that of honey, and threads are dipped in it before being used to wick fluid out of a wound. Thus, perhaps it is a substance deriving from the date itself, rather than from the palm-fibers. The solution might also be found in Yevr.-Arab. I 1700.22, recto, text block c (PGPID 2724), which may be a recipe for מרהם נכלי. Note also that "ittajaha" in the context of injury or illness most often means "improved" (rather than "bend"), and sick people are often described as "having improved a little" even if they are still in critical condition. The hand of the letter resembles that of T-S 16.272, written by an Alexandrian judge. ASE.

Letter from the Karaite congregation of Alexandria to the leader of their community, complaining about the helplessness and dissolution of the community. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 365) Reused for Arabic accounts with Coptic numerals (see PGPID 35173).

Lengthy testimony describing that at the arrival of the ships from the West in Alexandria, Shelomo b. Hillel from Aleppo and Amran b. Yosef from Tyre had a dispute regarding 4 dinars, which was settled after the intervention of colleagues. 21 Av 1098. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Sale contract in which Sitt al-Ikhwa d. Futuh sells to her brother one eighth of a house belonging to her in Alexandria for nine dinars. Her husband confirms the sale. Fustat, 1241. For additional edition and translation, see Zinger, "Women, Gender, and Law" pp. 352-354. See also, T-S 8J6 14A.

Court record concerning the inheritance of Abū ʿImrān Mūsā b. Yaʿaqov Qābisī, of the Ibn Jāmiʿ family, left to him after the death of his father Yaʿaqov b. Mūsā in Palermo and of his brother Sahlūn in Alexandria. Mūsā b. Yaʿaqov presented to the court in Fusṭāṭ an earlier document issued by a court in Qayrawān on Wednesday, 20 Elul 4792 (1032). The Qayrawān document showed that Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Ṭarābulusī was authorized to govern the inheritance. It also contained a statement of Yaʿaqov b. Mūsā’s widow that she had no claims to the inheritance. Two years later Mūsā b. Yaʿaqov appeared before a court in Fusṭāṭ asking them to issue a document exempting Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Ṭarābulusī from responsibility for the inheritance, which Mūsā has now received in full. The document was issued on Thursday, 21 of the second Adar 4794 (1034). The surviving Fusṭāṭ court record was prepared at the end of Adar 4794. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 406.)

Letter in Ottoman Turkish addressed to Maʿallim Salmūn in Alexandria from Sulaymān Bostancı[?] dating from the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries. There is some damage to the sender's signature but if this reading of his title is correct, this may be a letter sent from Istanbul by a member of the Imperial Guard / Bostancı corps. This seems plausible given that the letter mentions at least four other members of the Ottoman military– Sinān Ağa, Qāsim Ağa, ʿİssa Ağa, and Meḥmed Aǧa. These state functionaries, are occasionally referenced as such i.e. "Sinān Ağa ṣaḥib-i devlet / protector of the state" (l. 8). One other business partner is mentioned in line four, a certain Maʿallam İsḥāk. Much of the letter's contents are related to payments and other correspondence between those referenced. The verso bears two ink stamps and an address on the upper fold, which suggests that this letter was likely sent and received by the recipient Muʿallim Salmūn. MCD.

Torn fragment from a letter regarding stolen books that were bought by the writer in order to save it while he was in Tyre. The government is also mentioned. Might join with T-S AS 145.133: Small fragment of a letter. Mentions [A]haron ha-Haver b. Yoashiyahu, and Alexandria. On verso the writer referred to a bill of divorce, and mentions the son of the Gaon who is located in Fustat. AA

Deed of sale for a property. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Tuesday, 17 Nisan 5338 AM, which is 1578 CE. Seller: Yosef מושודו. Buyer: Binyamin אלרייאש. Price: 10 Venetian ducats. The property borders that of Yosef Sultani and is across from that of Masʿūd al-Djerbi. One witness is משה אג'ימאן, the other signs his name in Latin script. There is a join somewhere, shelfmark not listed in FGP. (Information from Dotan Arad.)

Furaji ha-Kohen appears before the court in Alexandria and declares that he sold to Bu al-Faraj b. Barakat 160 pounds of Sicilian Kosher cheese. Since he wishes now to sell the cheese in the Egyptian country-side, the court issues him a certificate about the information supplied to them by him. Dated Marheshvan 4975/ October 1214. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, 251)

Much damaged and faded letter. Alexandria is mentioned. Barely legible.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably a Maghribī business letter of the 11th century. Fragment (lower half of recto). Mentions the qāḍī Ibn al-[...] and someone called al-ḥāfiẓ. The sender asks the addressee to send a letter on his behalf thanking Manṣūr b. ʿAṭiyya and his father. He asks to be sent the 'miḥbas' (either a collar necklace or a cotton textile, according to the Diem-Radenberg dictionary) so that he can do something with it to keep it from going bad. He reports that many ships have arrived from Sicily. The sender knows that al-Shaykh al-Muwaffaq is saying about him "what I heard from/about him in Alexandria." The continuation in the margin is too damaged to read. AA. ASE.

Verso: Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Discusses at length a family in distress on account of poverty and the capitation tax; the specific details are not clear. The word "complaint" (shakwā) appears several times. The handwriting may be known from other fragments. Written by Meir b. Hillel b. Zadoq (Date: mid 12th century) from Alexandria

A draft of a letter to the community of Alexandria headed by Avraham b. Zur, first half of 16th century. Regarding Shim'on b. Malah who left and live his wife chained with no support. (Data from FGP by Avraham David)

Recto: Bottom part of a letter in Arabic script, from a man to his 'brother.' He spells والساعة as والسعا numerous times. He mentions people including Sulaymān b. al-[...]āmī and the poor man (al-faqīr) Ibn Faraḥ and sends regards to Umm Yūsuf. Needs further examination. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic letter from ʿEli b. Shelomo to his father. The writer is in terrible straits and full of regret. The issue seems to be that a group of Alexandrians have banded together to have the writer fired from his position as slaughterer, cantor, and teacher. "Woe is he who can only depend on God. I have already entered with my qumāsh (garments? furnishings? wife's dowry?)." He then mentions the diwan catching him and having to sell a garment. His intention is to come to Qalyub with his wife. His heart is preoccupied on behalf of [...]. ASE.

Recto and verso: Letter recounting how a storeroom in Alexandria belonging to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, was opened and it was discovered that the grain was spoiled (talaf); the writer asks for instructions on what to do with it. (Nahray 116; S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society 4:435) EMS

Small fragment from a letter. Ben Elisha and Alexandria are mentioned.

Rental Deed issued in Alexandria, 1595. Ya'aqov Casrto is renting to Yosef Lohmit. Signed by Moshe Ajiman and Hayyim al-Ashkar. (Info from FGP)