Geniza Lab

Letter from Abū l-Faraj, in Alexandria, to his son-in-law Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. Abū l-Faraj admonishes Shelomo to treat his wife Sitt Ghazāl well, and informs him that Shelomo's aunt (who is also his mother-in-law) is not coming to check that her daughter is well but rather coming to arrange a marriage between her son and Shelomo's niece, because she is the owner of 9/24ths of a house belonging to the family. He opens the letter with his preoccupation for Shelomo's illness and his happiness upon learning of Shelomo's recovery (r6–10). He also wishes a speedy recovery to Shelomo's mother (Sitt Rayḥān). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq, in Aden, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. Dating: October 20, 1137 CE (Heshvan 3, 1449 Seleucid). Long letter in which Khalaf writes about an unfortunate turn in his business affairs. Khalaf had sent goods with Abū l-Yumn al-Maḥallī and Abū Zikrī al-Ṣā'igh to Egypt for Abū ʿImrān Ibn Nufayʿ and at that time had asked Ḥalfon to help Abū ʿImrān with the sales and purchases (r17–23). But Abū ʿImrān died, and Ḥalfon traveled to the West, and the two messengers suppressed Khalaf's letters and acted as if the merchandise belonged to them (r23–27). Abū l-Yumn was going to return to Aden, but he fell ill in Qūṣ and had to return to Fustat, and Khalaf does not know his current condition. Abū Zikrī al-Ṣā'igh is planning to travel on to the West. He had with him a container (mikḥala) of musk that was destined for Ḥalfon, but the head of the Jews, Maẓliāh Gaon, took the container from him before he traveled (r27–38). Khalaf has already asked Abū Zikrī Kohen, the representative of the merchants, to go to the courts with the purpose of recouping the value of the goods Khalaf has lost and sending the money back to Aden. In this letter, Khalaf asks Ḥalfon to assist Abū Zikri Kohen in this (r38–53). The letter continues with other business matters, including an update on the shipment of nard (sunbul) for Ḥalfon and his partner Mubārak al-Māliqī (i.e., from Malaga) that was detained in al-Qaṣṣ, evidently a location in NW India (r53–v3). Khalaf concludes with regards for Maṣliaḥ Gaon; for Ḥalfon's brother ʿEli Nezer ha-Maskilim; and for "the congregations." Khalaf is preoccupied that he has received no letters from Ḥalfon (v4–10). Information from Goitein and Friedman. ASE.

Recto: Letter from an unknown busybody in Minyat Zifta to the Nagid Avraham (II?) in Fustat/Cairo. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The purpose of the letter is to relate various improprieties ("matters proceeding not as they should," r13–14) of a muqaddam (perhaps of Minyat Ghamr?), al-Shaykh al-Sadīd. The first episode (r17–32): The local schoolteacher had to go to Cairo to pay his capitation tax (jizya) because he was originally from the Levant. When the teacher was delayed in returning, the community began talking about hiring a new teacher. Al-Sadīd caught wind of this and vetoed the proposal, fearing that a new teacher would be a nuisance (tashwīsh) to him, and he insisted that he teach the children himself. They responded that he was far too busy with his medical practice and serving as muqaddam, not to mention his business dealings. He persisted, and they said, "But you don't even live here!" He said that he would come live there until the original teacher came back. The teacher came back, and al-Sadīd was so enthusiastic about the additional income that he refused to let the children return to the original teacher, and he had made their parents vow to that effect. The community felt pity on the original teacher because of his poverty. The second episode (r32–45): During the same period of al-Sadīd teaching the children, someone fell sick in Minyat Zifta. A group of people, including another physician named al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab, came to visit the patient and found al-Sadīd attending him. Al-Sadīd rudely ignored al-Muhadhdhab. After everyone had sat around the patient, al-Muhadhdhab said, "Are you angry at me? I have been courteous to you, just like the community. I don't know what you want from me. I left you the synagogue and didn't attend today." Al-Sadīd (saracastically): "Thank God you found people to support you (against me?)." The writer of the letter editorializes: There were many people present who also don't attend the synagogue, but not because they were supporting al-Muhadhdhab, rather because they heard about how al-Sadīd had disparaged them. Back to the story: Al-Sadīd sighed and said: "How I hold back from complaining about my travails!" The writer: He didn't hold back at all. The third episode (r45–end): A certain judge (qāḍī al-ḥukm) was seriously ill (marīḍ bi-maraḍ shadīd), and al-Muhadhdhab was attending him "[against] his will and not for his good." This is unclear: was al-Muhadhdhab treating the judge incompetently, or was al-Muhadhdhab the one somehow coerced into this job? Meanwhile, al-Sadīd had been angling to get a connection to this judge. The judge had a slave with jaundice (khadīm bihi yaraqān). This too is unclear: is the slave acutely ill, or is this simply a description of his chronic state? Al-Sadīd came and spoke to the slave, and then came back with something to give to the slave—and the story ends here, unless the join is found. This document is possibly related to Bodl. MS heb. a 3/15, a letter from Avraham (I) Maimonides ordering a territorial muqaddam in Minyat Zifta/Minyat Ghamr to share his duties with his cousin al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 189, 560.) Verso: Mysterious page of notes in Judaeo-Arabic in at least two different hands. The items on this page include two recipes for staining (or dying? or removing stains? the word is tulaṭṭakh/laṭkh); Judaeo-Arabic poetry; a riddle or two; and an extended grammatical discussion of case endings after 'kāna and her sisters' and related topics. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions a certain Abū l-Ḥasan b. Ḥassūn. The writer recounts the legal proceedings following somebody's death and various people bearing false testimony. The writer toook a vow and paid a certain woman what was her due. "In the course of this, a severe illness came over me (wa-ḥadatha li-ʿabdihā fī ghuḍūn hādha maraḍ ṣaʿb), so I was forced to leave the [elders] and return to my family (wife), fearing that it would get worse (khawf an yashtadd [bihi?] al-amr)." The writer is mentioning this as a justification for failing to continue to be there in person (wa-kān ʿadhr ʿabdihā fī dhālika wāḍiḥ). He asks for forgiveness from 'ḥaḍrat sayyidinā', and if the latter orders him to return in person, he will do so. ASE.

Letter fragment in the hand of Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi Nisaburi about his cost in an affair concerning Abu Sa‘id Makhlūf al-Nafusi. (Information from Goitein's index cards; and Mediterranean Society, 4:413.) EMS. The writer also wants more bibles sent and warns him of any more business with Makhlūf. He mentions further matters regarding Abu l-Faraj and Abū Tahir, and sends greeting to a number of people, including Abu Sahl, Abu l-Rida and Abū l-ʿAla who are admonished for not writing for a long time. (Information from CUDL.) He also describes a prolonged illness (60 days) this winter and asks Abū l-Munā to try to obtain a drug called Abū Zīdān for him; the physicians tell him there is no alternative. Join: Oded Zinger. ASE.

Letter in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Ḥisday ha-Nasi (a Qaraite communal leader) concerning a husband who wishes to divorce the wife he had been coerced into marrying in Alexandria. The husband demands to pay the marriage gift in installments (i.e., never completely) after all that he had suffered from her bad character (al-tarbut raʿa). He has been with her for three years, but it feels like twenty. He is perishing from his illness (maraḍ) and poverty and bad wife. If his request is refused, he threatens to flee the country and leave her an ʿaguna. Shelomo is probably not writing on his own behalf, as it is unlikely that he would consult a Qaraite Nasi for a legal opinion. Contains elements of both a petition and responsum. There is a provocative (mis)quotation of Leviticus 14:45 on verso: "I have broken (should be: he shall break) down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, etc." With this the husband is comparing his wife (referred to as one's 'house' in Judaeo-Arabic) with a house stricken with ẓaraʿat. (Information from CUDL and Oded Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 87, 149, 180, 220, 260.) EMS. ASE.

Letter from a woman, unknown location, to her brother Yūsuf b. Makārim the cantor and dyer, in Bilbays. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dating: Likely 15th or 16th century, per Goitein. Contents: The writer is ill, possibly with ophthalmia. She asks for instructions concerning various matters, many having to do with their house. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards and CUDL.) EMS. ASE.

Letter from Ibrāhīm, unknown location, to Ḥayya ha-Kohen the teacher, in Palermo ("al-madīna"), Sicily. The addressee is asked to deliver two tailored woolen mayzar covers, which had been deposited with him, to the bearer of the letter. The writer includes legalistic language appointing the bearer as his agent: qabḍuhu qabḍī wa-taslīmuhu taslīm{ī} wa-anta paṭur min aḥrayutam. The writer is ill this winter (perhaps this is why he needs the woolen covers). The letter also mentions the process of “cutting up” for making and fitting the sleeves of a garment. Address on verso. (S.D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 4:182, 412.)

Letter from Bū l-Faraj to Umm Yūsuf the mother-in-law of Bayān al-Bukhtaj ('the cooked,' from Middle Persian pokhtag), sent via Eliyyahu the Judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. The occasion for the letter is that the writer heard that Umm Yūsuf, probably a woman of some social standing, had fallen ill. The letter is prefaced with a note to Eliyyahu, asking him in urgent terms to read the note to Umm Yūsuf and to greet her sons (ashbāl, lit. 'lion cubs') on his behalf. In the letter proper, Bū l-Faraj first reports to Umm Yūsuf that he remains in the same distress (illness?) as "on the day you met me in the synagogue," and that was before his heart was afflicted with anxiety on her behalf, especially when the dreadful news reached him today (of her illness). "If you wish to consult me (in istanṣaḥtīnī), send to me Bū l-Ḥajjāj Yūsuf or whomever you see fit." The nature of this consultation is not clear. Is Bū l-Faraj a physician who wishes to help treat her in her illness? He urges her repeatedly to send a mesenger without delay. He excuses himself for not visiting her in person, 'due to my condition which is not hidden from you.' (See S.D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:144, 550; and Eve Krakowski, “Female adolescence in the Cairo Geniza documents,” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2012, p. 134.) EMS. ASE.

Letter sent to Abū l-Barakāt Ibn Shalīda, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer calls the addressee 'my uncle' (ʿammī). The purpose of this letter is to break off their relationship, and it is striking for its hostility. The writer reports that Abū Isḥāq the cantor recently arrived and told him that the addressee is seriously ill (fī ḥālin ṣaʿb min al-wajaʿ). In place of expressing sympathy, the writer begins a tirade about how the addressee has mistreated him (and/or his family members?) and wounded his heart; "even strangers could not wound my heart so" (r13–14). The substance of the conflict is difficult to discern. The writer expresses the wish that certain people will be killed by marauding Ghuzz (Seljuks/Turkomans) (r7–8). The writer continues, "May God curse the hour that unearthed this matter. . . it has brought me nothing but evil (wabāl). From now on I care nothing about what you desire or about the illnesses of those in your family. I swear to God that I will not write you again, wish you peace, or ask after you, neither you nor those in your family, neither with language nor tongue (i.e., not at all). And [I will remain?] in this world without uncle, without father, and without brother." He concludes with two somewhat self-righteous biblical quotations: 'Abraham was one among the nations [and he inherited the land]' (Ezekiel 33:24, slightly misquoted), and 'may God repay every man according to his deeds, according to the fruit of his doings' (Jeremiah 17:10, slightly misquoted). The writer might also quote 1 Samuel 24:15 ('The Lord therefore be judge') earlier in the letter (r11–12), but a lacuna makes it difficult to be certain. Information in part from Goitein's note card. EMS, VMR, ASE.

Letter previously thought to be from Abū Yaʿqūb Ibn al-Najera, somewhere in Spain, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel, likely in Lucena. Dating: likely August 1138 CE. Identifications and datings are based on comparison with the preceding document, T-S 12.285. [However, T-S AS 149.119 is a letter from Ibn al-Najera and does not resemble this one.] This letter recounts the writer's visit to a woman who owed him 10 mithqāls, but he found her sick. He now asks Ḥalfon to advance him a certain sum, probably the same 10 mithqāls, for the purpose of his travel to Almeria. Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book 4 (Hebrew description below) = Goitein and Friedman, Ḥalfon the Traveling Merchant Scholar (India Book 4), pp: 182-183. VMR. ASE.

Letter from Avraham b. David b. Sughmār, probably in Alexandria, to his son, David, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1055 CE. The father rebukes his son for losing money. He mentions several negative events that happened probably in the Maghreb. Also describes how his son lost trading goods as silk. He also complains about his illness (r6). Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 1-4, #609. VMR. ASE.

Letter from Yosef, in Tripoli, Libya, to his mother, probably in Fustat. Although the address reads "from your son Yosef," the letter is written in the voice of an older woman who defends herself against the addressee's blame for not looking after Yosef properly and for not marrying him to her own daughter. The writer describes a form of temporary marriage that Yosef contracted with an orphan girl. “He fell ill (maraḍa), and his illnss intensified (ishtadda wajʿuhu), and he had no one to attend to him. Thus he saw fit to take a young orphan girl to attend to him, and he married her on the condition that if he wished to be free to move back to his country, he would write her a bill of divorce.” The letter further reports that the wife gave birth to a boy who died. The writer adds that she herself was sick during these events (and thus could hardly be blamed for not intervening). See Eve Krakowski, “Female adolescence in the Cairo Geniza documents,” PhD diss., The University of Chicago, 2012, 68; and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:306, 494. EMS. ASE.

Letter from a woman in Fustat to her sons. In a mixture of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic written in an elegant scribal hand. The writer reports the dire conditions in Fustat, including the plunder of the Dār al-Fā'izī (in the Judaeo-Arabic portion) and conveys news of the sick children in the house who are worsening day by day (in the Arabic portion). On verso are jottings in Arabic script, unclear if connected to recto. (Information from Goitein's index cards and Renee Levine Melammed.)

Letter in which Shelomo, who was appointed to a new post, complains that he found only opponents and asks advice of the Nagid. He also complains about his illness (l. 16). (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Recto: Letter in which a teacher complains about an unruly pupil. "Whenever I beat him, I do so excessively; but as soon as I begin, the mistress rushes along and, after having hit him four or five times, releases him. Had it not been for his illness, I would have killed him with beating, although as a poorly clothed newcomer, he is entitled to some consideration." The teacher wants the pupil's family to discipline him in the same manner at home. Verso: Reply of a family member to the teacher's letter on recto. The writer thanks the teacher for his efforts and emphasizes that they spare no pains in trying to educate the boy. He encourages the teacher to keep writing, as perhaps the notes will scare the boy into behaving well. ASE.

Letter from Yaʿaqov to his father. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer had not received a letter from the addressee for some time (arjū shughl khayr). It seems he heard bad news about the addressee from the ghulām of [...] and was very worried. Someone else came down with a terrible illness (maraḍa maraḍ shadīd), but he is now in good health. This person cried out (yastaghīth) "sīdi, sīdi!" all day long. The writer mentions Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllān. A third person was sick for 20 days with a fever, but he too is better now. It appears that the father began his response on verso. ASE.

Brief letter from a person in dire straits suffering from illness and lack of clothing, and unable to buy anything to eat for the upcoming holiday. (Information from Goitein's index cards.)

Personal letter giving condolences on the occasion of the death of a little girl (presumably the daughter of the recipient) and reporting family news. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 97, 374; V, pp. 110, 536.) Also: "The daughter of Futūḥ al-Shamshūrī says that the wife of my paternal uncle fasts for her son because of his illness. But he has no illness (maraḍ) and nothing wrong with him (ba's), only his body is covered with little scabs (ḥuṣayfāt)." Dating: Probably early 13th century, based on the mention of Abū l-Futūḥ al-Shamshūrī in a letter by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu: Moss. VII,170.1. This letter also mentions the faqīh Jamāl al-Dīn, presumably the same as in Bodl. MS heb. c 28/64.

Letter from an unknown writer, probably in Alexandria, to Abū l-Khayr (?) b. Yūsuf, in Fustat, care of Abū l-Ḥasan al-Yahūdī al-Ṣā'igh in the market of the goldsmiths. The letter is in Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. The writer is furious that the addressee traveled to Fustat, leaving behind debts in Alexandria and abandoning his wife and children, "may God not reward you," and repeatedly demands that he return immediately. The writer reports that the female slave left for al-Maḥalla 10 days ago, and a terrible rumor reached them that she is either critically ill (marīḍa ʿalā khuṭṭa) or dead. The addressee's wife is also "sick in her knee"; she had a fall, and now cannot sit up or stand up. The writer sends regards to many people including the addressee's sister and her children; Abū Naṣr and his son Salmān (?); and the old woman asks after her daughter. The addressee's other sister, Sitt Riyāḍ, his mother, and everyone in the house ask after the addressee's sister. ASE.