Geniza Lab

Recto: Legal query sent to Maimonides along with his autograph responsum. This was published by Goitein as well as Blau, Maimonides Responsa, no. 283. Verso: Draft of a long dirge in Hebrew, in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, upon the death of three prominent members of the Jewish community: the rabbis Shemuel, Shelomo and Yiṣḥaq. These three figures were identified by M. A. Friedman as the judges in Maimonides’ court, see Friedman, India Book IVA, pp. 36–37. Shemuel is Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi, who died in 1203. (Information in part from Amir Ashur's Fragments of the Month, April 2011, November 2016.)

Recto: a Hebrew piyyut in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. Overlying it and between the lines, in the same hand, some accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Items listed include cumin, tamarind, and tutty. Verso: remainder of the piyyut and a word copied twice in Arabic. ASE.

Book list in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. See T-S K3.41 for a similar booklist in his hand (possibly but not clearly a join).

Letter from Yedutun ha-Levi, likely to his brother Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. Little of the content remains apart from blessings and formulae. He reports that he already sent the tutty (zinc oxide) and that they "used them" and payed their price. On verso he says that the girl Fakhr (perhaps their sister or Moshe's wife) has strengthened knowing that Moshe is near. ASE.

Letter written, signed, and dated by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi in 1517 (1206 CE). It opens with a Hebrew poem congratulating the recipient on his son, and continues by imploring the distinguished recipient to send a letter acknowledging Moshe, who has already sent him seven letters before this one. ASE.

Upper part of a letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. He says he is doing well and thanks God for something having to do with his brother al-Shaykh Abu l-Ḥasan (see last line of recto). Verso also contains Arabic jottings. ASE.

Elegy by Yedutun ha-Levi for his brother Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, ed. Shulamit Elizur.

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyūb, to a family member in Fustat. Fragment: bottom only. He asks for news about the wife of his paternal uncle and hopes that the matter will be resolved soon and mentions getting 'his khaṭṭ on the fatwās,' whatever that means.

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212), probably in Qalyūb, to his father Abū Sahl Levi, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. This may be the largest letter of Moshe b. Levi's in the Geniza. Dating: Probably ca. 1190s. He opens with a complaint about the state of his income as a slaughterer. He asks his family members to go to the warehouse in Fustat and retrieve many goods for him. He also asks for several liturgical poems, including one specifically from his cousin (ibn khāl) Abū l-Khayr and some from Abū l-Munā the cantor. He offers to buy a garment for his mother. He wants his brother (probably Yedutun) to obtain a fatwā (responsum) on his behalf. The amir Sajjāʿ al-Dīn sends his regards. There may be references to illness at the end, but the text is difficult to decipher. ASE

Letter (right half) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi to a Kohen whose father is named Yehuda. The upper half consists of praises and blessings for the recipient and his son. Moshe then requests urgently that he send him wages or payment of some kind. In the margin he apologizes for his handwriting and style, because he wrote it in a hurry by the light of a lamp. ASE.