Geniza Lab

Letter from Jalāl al-Dawla, in Fustat, to Shelomo ha-Nasi b. Yishay, in Bilbays. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1240 CE. The writer describes the difficult economic state of his group staying in Egypt and says that they intend to go back to Mosul. As part of a litany of complaints, he mentions that he has been sick many times and nearly died (v25–26). His sicknesses also feature in T-S 12.654 and T-S NS 321.93. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, II, pp. 264f.) ASE

Letter. The writer explains how a certificate written some hundreds of years earlier was found again after it had been missing for a long time. This certificate was a description of the state of the qodesh and its properties at the time. A section of it, referring to the appointment of Yeshayahu ha-Levi as general administrator of the qodesh, is copied by the writer of this letter; it was printed above Document #49 (T-S 16.63 verso, section a). Besides, the document contains valuable evidence about the second appointment of David Maimondes' grandson, as Nagid. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp.479 #145).

Letter from Simḥa Kohen, probably in Alexandria, to Abū l-Manṣūr. Dating: ca. 1205 CE. The writer complains about the extortions of a tax farmer who claimed that many people had executed the transfers of the ownership of their houses before a Jewish court without registering them with the government. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 90, 365). See also Goitein notes and index card linked below.

Letter to Shelomo ha-Nasi concerning destruction of houses and oppression of his mother's brother in Mosul (May 16, 1237). Context is likely the Mongol invasion. Cf. Bodl. MS Heb. a 3/24 (PGPID 502).

Letter addressed to Hodaya b. Yishai the Exilarch from Damascus who visited Egypt in the 1230s to solicit money from the communities there and overstayed his welcome. This letter mentions that Hodaya's brother (probably Shelomo b. Yishai) had visited the community from which the letter was sent. From other documents we know that Hodaya spent a lot of time in Alexandria, and this letter may have been sent to him there. Verso: Letter in Arabic with pen trials written between the lines. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. Copy of a divorce settlement, dated 11th Adar I 4973 (= 1213 CE), from Alexandria, in which Yeshuʿa b. Yosef b. Raṣon Tinnīsī (i.e. linen merchant), declares that he is bankrupt and thus unable to pay the second instalment, thirty dinars, that is still outstanding from the original marriage contract, to his wife, Sitt al-Kull bat Solomon b. Zechariah. The debt is divided into fifteen-dirham 'of good silver' monthly payments, but if he is unable to pay this amount, he must give half of his wage day-by-day instead. Other stipulations forbid Yeshuʿa from leaving Alexandria for four years and from ever remarrying his first wife, and instruct him to sell his clothes and to give the proceeds to Sitt al-Kull. There is also a continuation of the text of the letter from the verso. Verso: Letter, predating the legal document (i.e. prior to 1213 CE), from a certain Beraḵot, who appears to have written the legal document. The name of the recipient has been carefully rubbed out. There is also a continuation of the legal document from the recto. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card)

Letter from Daniel Bavli b. Saadia, regarding a stranded Nasi, perhaps Yoshiyyahu b. Yishai, 1211 CE. Greetings are sent to various people, including Ḥananel, his brother Shelomo (i.e. the sons of Shemuel) and their sons, Avraham, Yosef and his son Yitzkhak, Shemarya, David, Yechezkel, Yeḥiʾel and his son. Mentions Meir (perhaps the son of Baruk from France), Yefet, Eliyahu, Kalev ha-Kohen, Saʿadya and his sons, Eliyahu, who is from Alexandria, and Elʿazar. A marginal note mentions a certain Yehuda. Verso: An ethical piece, a Midrashic passage. (Information from CUDL)

Deposition in court on a compound of the Qodesh ca. 1230. Judge Yehi'el b. Elyaqim and Netaniel b. Yeshu'a bear witness that a tabaqa and a tarima connected to a compound of the qodesh are part of that compound. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 452 #135)

Legal document from the time of Avraham Maimonides (1205-1237) regarding a debt of 96 dirhams. Written by Shlomo b. Eliyyahu. AA

Legal document concerning the community in Alexandria sending a sum of money to help repair an old synagogue in Jerusalem. There are five signatures on the document. Dated 4971 of the Era of Creation (= 1211 CE). (S. D. Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, 334-335) VMR

Text of a will, Fustat, 1250, as well as a draft of a letter to Abu l-Ḥasan, a judge in Bilbays. At the top of the page some books of Hayy Gaʾon are mentioned, which are in the possession of the Nasi. (Information from CUDL)

Bill of divorce. Incomplete. Location: Fustat. Dated: Monday, 9 Ṭevet 1562 Seleucid, which is December 1250 CE. Husband: Avraham b. David ha-Kohen of the city of מדכסר(?).

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: ca. 1210s. Location: Fustat. This fragment preserves the right side of a partnership agreement between Ibrahīm b. Mūsā al-Māyurkī ("from Mallorca") and another Ibrahīm b. Mūsā, whose origin isn't preserved in the text. Both would contribute both financial capital and labor. Funds are brought out into a single purse, suggesting that the act of qinyan effected the partnership. Both partners are to engage in trade. The division of profit and loss is not preserved, but line 10 hints that profits and losses were to be divided equally between the two partners. Line 11 affirms the partners' mandate to "avoid betrayal and indolence and neglect", suggesting this may have been a long-distance trading partnership. The partners promise "ethical and honorable", perhaps because certain norms of behavior are expected of the partners. This does not release the partners from the "oath of partners", though, so legal recourse for misappropriation or negligence remains possible. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 185-186) Probably in the hand of the same scribe, some bearing the signature of the same witness, and some cut in half vertically like this document: T-S 13J3.25 (dated 1215), T-S 13J3.27 (dated 1218), T-S NS 226.12 (dated 1217/18 CE), MS 8254, fol. 17a (dated 1216), T-S NS J242 (dated 1214), ENA 2727.23a, and T-S 13J22.18. Another Ḥalfon b. Elʿazar ha-Kohen document: T-S 247. EMS. ASE.

Recto: Memorial list (ancestry tree) of Maimonides’ wife’s ancestors. Written in 13th century handwriting (Goitein). Verso: List mentioning Netan'el, his son Berakhot and grandson Menakhem, and Netan'el’s brother Ya'aqov, and (probably Ya'aqov's son) Yosef. (Information from CUDL)

Letter to Simha from Eliyyahu in which he notes that he left from Fustat and arrived in Alexandria on Friday, and further states that “our hearts are anxious about the girl (sabiya) and her daughter.” 13th century. EMS

Letter from Ishaq ‘Ammani in which he praises the recipient El'azar ha-Levi ha-Sar and his success with Yoshiyyahu ha-Nasi Nasi ha-Jalut. Also mentions Ishaq Kattan Ammani. C. 13th century. EMS and VMR

Letter from Yefet b. Ḥalfon to Eliyyahu the judge, requesting him to obtain a legal decision (fatwa) from the Nagid Avraham and to pass it on to Yefet; he also sends greeting to Yehi'el the judge. EMS

Letter from Ibrahim b. Miṣbāḥ to Eliyyahu the Judge (spelled אליהוא). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: early 13th century. The sender had previously sent with the bearer Ismāʿīl a legal query (fatwā) and other documents (masāṭir). Evidently Eliyyahu brought these to Avraham Maimonides (Sayyidnā al-Rayyis), who wrote his response at the bottom of the query but who did not sign the masṭūr or the pisqei din. The sender now asks Eliyyahu to get Avraham to write his signature on these documents. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

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 from Yeshuʿa ha-Melammed b. Avraham, in Minyat Zifta, to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1236 CE (Iyyar 4800+196 = 4996 AM, line 16). The writer reports that the income from the ‘quppa’ was used as a school fee for poor children. Goitein also makes note of the greeting for an old man in precarious health in a high position: "May God not wound Israel through him" (line 4), i.e., may God not wound Israel by causing him illness or death. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:105-6, 515, 544.) EMS. ASE.