Geniza Lab

Letter from a husband, probably a merchant belonging to the elite, to his wife of a second marriage. In Judaeo-Arabic. He expresses his yearning and describes his depressed state in great detail, seeking to refute her assumption that he is remaining away because life is good for him. He alludes to his "many illnesses and sundry pains" but doesn't go into them to spare her. He received her letter about her "sickness of heart which brings the sickness of the body," but chides her for writing about such things, because he is not the kind of man who needs to be aroused to "tenderness and compassion." ASE

Letter from a son to his mother describing the events of his journey from Alexandria to Fustat and mentioning the illness of his uncle. Much damaged. The travelers stayed with Yusuf in Fuwwa Manṣūra, who is infirm and weak of sight ("May God establish his health and illuminate his sight" etc.). Somebody in the party had an earache, but recovered ("entered the bath") in Fuwwa. On the torn portion at the bottom, the writer cryptically mentions walking barefoot and that his "liver was in the red fire... after the shaking and the weariness...." (Information from Goitein's note card) ASE

Esther writes to her parents in law after having returned from Safed to Cairo, describing how she learned certain needle work and expressing thanks to the lady who taught her. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter to Abū l-Ḥusayn b. Abū l-Khayr al-ʿAkkāwī, Fustat, from his uncle (khāl) Ṣadoq b. Namir he-Ḥaver, Tiberias. "The imprisonment (and torture) of defaulting debtors was common practice. The letter here tells about the imprisonment of the wives and children of absconding debtors, who owed money to Eschiva (Echive), the countess of Tiberias and wife of the renowned Raymond III of Tripoli. One wonders for what services Jews could owe considerable sums to the countess so that they had to flee to Egypt in order to try to collect there funds for repayment. The most likely assumption is that the services were the same as those found so often as a source of disaster in the relations with the Muslim government, namely: tax farming, see Med Soc II, 361–63. Raymond, who is referred to in this letter, returned from Muslim captivity in 1173/74, and Eschiva remained ruler over Tiberias until it was taken by Saladin in 1187. Thus the letter must have been written sometime in between these two dates." Goitein, Nachlass material. This document is also mentioned, considering the perspective of the addressee's wife, in Ashur, Engagement and Betrothal Documents, p. 116, no. 121. VMR. ASE.

Letter, detailed, sent from Tripolitania, Libya, by a man to his brother who had settled many years before in Alexandria. Dated August 1089. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Abū l-Bayān either to his father or to a distinguished elder. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. The father is titled "rayyis" (in the address). The rayyis Abū l-Bayān is mentioned in ll.6-7 and may be identical with the sender, which would mean that a scribe is writing on his behalf. The letter is very long and mentions numerous family and business matters. Sitt Ihtimām is still in the same state as when the addressee departed: one week sick, the next week healthy. Another woman ('sittnā') had a brief case of colic (qawlanj). Abū l-Riḍā is still "in the same state" (presumably sick). A woman called ṣāḥibat al-dār sent him 30 dirhams for 2 weeks, and some olive oil, then paid for another 2 weeks (this sentence is not clear). Abū l-Mufaḍḍal is doing something (mutaṣarrif fī nafsih) in the same way that he used to do. The people of Damietta and Tinnīs were apparently clamoring for the addressee's presence—the sender tries to dissuade him by asking if it is right for him to exhaust himself on the nights of holidays and sabbaths just to satisfy others and sicken himself. But Abū l-Mʿālī Ibn al-Qasqās came and reported that the addressee's arrival in Tinnīs and Damietta was a great success. There are repeated references to the addressee's factotum and slave (ʿabd, khādim) Abū l-Ḥusayn. When the addressee's letter arrived about obtaining a (tax?) receipt (wuṣūl), Abū l-Ḥusayn went to the son of the Ṣāḥib al-Dīwān, gave him the ruqʿa, and obtained the receipt, "and later, we will give it to the ḍāmin of the quarter." The sender paid 8 2/3 dinars to Abū Naṣr al-Kohen on that day. There follow detailed and lengthy reports on business transactions. People mentioned: Abū l-Riḍā, al-Ḥayawānī, Ismāʿīl, Kātib Ibn al-Saqīl(?), the sister of Abū Manṣūr, Abū l-Mufaḍḍal, Abū l-Munā, the brother of the craftsman (al-ṣāniʿ), Masʿūd, the wife of Saʿd al-Rakkābī(?), Abū Saʿd al-Ṣāʾigh, Ibn Futūḥ, Benaya, Dhakhīrat al-Mulk, and Sharaf al-Dawla. Some of the commodities (there are also many more which are difficult to read): household furnishings, sugar, clothing, honey, raisins, something which was locked up with an iron lock, something that needs to be weighed properly, maybe hemp, sheep (khirāf), and a packsaddle (bardhaʿa). Then he conveys regards from various people ("in both households"), Abū Isḥāq b. Pinḥas, Abū Ṭāhir, and the slave Abū l-Ḥusayn. There follows a report involving Dhakhīrat al-Mulk and Sharaf al-Dawla, at least in part about a Jewish baker from Jerusalem and his son, working in the market of Ḥabs Bunān in Fustat, who were cheating their customers with bad weights (arṭāl), and who were discovered and arrested. It seems that Abū l-Ḥusayn the addressee's slave interceded with Sharaf al-Dawla and used the addressee's influence to have them freed—but now the Jews are worried that this will tarnish their reputation among the gentiles. The sender reports that Abū l-Bayān has not ridden the mules; that he has purchased a new saddle for his donkey; and refers to the arrival of 'al-Shams.' There are three more postscripts in the upper margin, discussing further business matters, mentioning Cairo and Ibn al-Qāḍī, and saying that the khādim Abū l-Ḥasan has gone to Tinnīs with a power of attorney. ASE.

Letter likely from Yedutun ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Containing advice concerning the domestic affairs of the recipient. "This small piece of paper contains a short letter to a husband who fought with his wife, who was also his cousin (FBD). Apparently, the wife left the home for her fatherʼs house, and the husband is told that if he desires his wife, he ought to go to her father and accept what he has to say. Then the couple should give the marriage another chance for two months, without the wifeʼs father or mother entering into their house. If this does not work, he ought to divorce her immediately." Information from Zinger's dissertation, p. 343.

Letter from a woman in the countryside to her husband in Fustat. She refuses to join him there in the capital. The letter is to be delivered to the shop of Bū l-Majd in Sūq al-Barbar. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 178)

Letter to a father from his son, reporting business troubles he is having with his brother. The son requests a small loan from his father. Also mentions Abu'l-Tana. (Information from Goitein's index cards and CUDL)

Letter by a Karaite woman to three different family members. The language is opaque in many places. (1) To her mother, she opens with her sadness at her mother's departure. "Your love did not overcome [your desire to leave]." She then lists all the people who have died (mātū yā ummī māt. . .): the elderly Dāwudiyya (female descendant of David); the wife of al-Kāzarūnī who was the paternal aunt of the wife of Yehuda; the son of Ibrahim the Deaf—no one has been able to bury him for two days, "they say he is ḥashrī," probably meaning "without heirs" rather than "verminous" (see Lecker, "Customs Dues at the Time of Muhammad," al-Qantara, XXII, 2001, p. 33). (Unless the concentration of deaths means it was plague time, and some corpses were regarded as hazardous?) As for the writer's own news, she swears by the Sabbath day that she has had financial trouble with her landlord, who seems to have given her a loan and to have come on Friday to demand a payment. She had to pawn her daughter's ring. "Do not ask what trouble I had with Maʿānī yesterday. Tell him (the landlord?), 'He (Maʿānī?) is not hiding. It is just that he has had ophthalmia (ramad) for 20 days. Be patient. He will soon work and repay you in installments just like he took (the loan) in installments.'" The bottom of the letter may be missing. On verso, she addresses (2) Abū Manṣūr, and exhorts him, "Be diligent in your work, and everything will turn out well for you (yajīk kull shay' mustawī)." She makes some cryptic statements, which may mean, "As for what Umm Yehuda said, pay no mind. I have told you that the Rabbanite should pay the debt of the Samaritan on your behalf. This would be good luck and an end to the setbacks." (It is from this line that Goitein deduced that the writer was a Karaite.) She says she is working as hard as she can for the sake of "the dowry" (? al-mahr) and has already paid ʿUbayd a qadaḥ and a half of flour and some honey and two pieces of firewood and a qadaḥ of vetch (julubbān) and lye (? ghāsūl). She mentions an underfilled (? muṭaffafa) clay vessel (burniyya) and asks the addressees to send it back to her properly filled (lā tuṭaffūhā). Finally, she addresses (3) her brother Abū Thābit. "I have no counsel for you except that they are your guests. Do not be heartsick on your brother's account. Do not spurn (? tufqir) my advice, and you will overcome much misfortune (?). Do good deeds. He who digs the hole (al-zūbīya) falls in it. Do not lay a hand on him. . . You will regret it very much and say, 'That old woman (al-qaḥba) my sister was right.'" ASE.

Letter on the topic of friendship between two educated young men. In Judaeo-Arabic, possibly with influence from Judaeo-Persian in the iḍāfa constructions, as ציק אלצדר is spelled ציק יצדר and גמיע אלצביאן is spelled גמיע יצביאן. Goitein's translation: "I do not enjoy life without you. By God! Have compassion with my loneliness, weakness, and constrained heart, and, by God, satiate me with looks at you before I die. So, do not absent yourself longer than you have done. For things between you and me have not been like this before. Of all the young men who have been with you, not one of them has mentioned a word you might have said about me, which saddened my heart. So, as soon as you have read this letter, send me one, telling me how you are. And Peace." It is also entirely possible that this is a parent writing to a son. The tone is more admonitory than Goitein's discussion implies. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:285, 586, and CUDL) EMS. ASE.

Abu Said b. Abu al-Razi writes to his mother in profuse terms but addresses the letter to his brother Abu al-Barakat. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR On verso are also jottings in a different ink. (Information from CUDL)

Letter to the doctor Abu Zikri b. Eliyyahu to his brother Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (early 13th century). EMS (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yeḥiel b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Ṣarfati, in Jerusalem. In Hebrew. Dating: No earlier than 1221 CE, as that is the year Anatoli died. He sends greetings to the widow of Rabbi Anatoli of Marseilles (living in Alexandria) and to her daughter Esther and granddaughter, sending wishes to the latter to bear male children. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 462.) He also greets Yefet ha-Melammed ha-Ḥaver, possibly Yefet b. Shemuel who served in the court of Yeḥiel b. Elyaqim (see Shweka, "And Every Day They Make Quarrels," p. 35).

Letter to the mother of Abū Zikrī, Umm Abū Zikrī (אם אבו זכרי), who is also mother of the referenced Abū al-Barakat and wife of the judge Eliyyahu (per the address), in which the writer expresses thanks for the information she provided about the writer’s wife and children. The letter also mentions that Abū Zikrī came during the holiday of Purim and Abū al-Barakat read the scroll of Esther for the holiday. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS and VMR

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 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 a man troubled with private and public disasters, including business concerns and his wife’s illness, leading him to write that "Could I find death without sin, I would not hesitate" (cf. ENA 1822a.7 for the same expression). Mukhtār the Banker is also mentioned. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:245, 574) EMS

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 from Avraham b. Seʿadya he-Ḥaver the Hebronite to (his son-in-law?) Moshe b. Ghulayb in Cairo. Dating: beginning of the twelfth century. Avraham orders the addressee to look after the children so that they don't hurt themselves on the staircases. Mentions Abū l-Surūr and Moshe ha-Kohen, his son Bayān, his sister Sitt al-[...] and Umm Abū l-Bayān. (Information from CUDL and Goitein, Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 74.) Join: Oded Zinger.