Geniza Lab

Letter from Yiṣḥaq ha-Kohen b. Aharon to Moshe b. Maṣliaḥ. In Judaeo-Arabic. He reports that he has arrived safely after a terrible Nile voyage when the boat sprang a leak and everyone almost drowned. The silk has been selling well, but not the garments. He tells the addressee to look after the children. Abū Isḥāq is doing well. He reminds the addressee to have the craftsman (? spelled both sāniʿ and ṣāniʿ here) do something. He offers to send some flax for this purpose. Regards to Sitt al-Gharb, Sitt al-Banāt, and Sitt al-Nās.

Either one letter with both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic components or two different letters. In the main, Judaeo-Arabic text, the writer greets al-Ḥakīm and Shaykh al-Makīn (sic) and his wife and Faḍl and the community and the neighbors, and reports that ʿAfīf sends regards. The text of the letter is quite faded but mostly has to do with silver coins (al-fulūs alladhī qult lī ʿalayhum) and the arrival and departure (?) of a boat. The Judaeo-Arabic text on verso is difficult to read but appears to mention Jujar. The Arabic text on verso is also faded. It includes the phrase "I arrived home from [...]" and "the 12th of the month of [...]." ASE.

Recto: The bottom few lines of a business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Verso: In a different hand, instructions for what to load onto the boat: 23 burniyyas and a quffa of gum and a quffa of [it cuts off here].

Letter from Avraham Ibn Miṣbāḥ, in Alexandria to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. Written in the hand of Avraham ha-Melammed b. Yefet. "I arrived in Alexandria with Manṣūr b. Simḥa ha-Kohen and found all the {orphan} children sick (marḍā tālifīn). They had taken on my account one dinar (?), and Manṣūr paid me 5 dinars." For some reason the money for the orphans has come out of the writer's account. The writer himself is in difficult straits; a judge wept when he heard the tale. He brought with him a letter of recommendation to show to Abū Surūr al-Kohen and somebody else, but they did not give him a response to the letter. Avraham reports that the orphans are praying on behalf of Eliyyahu that he will be rewarded for his good deeds with them. He does not have anything left of the 5 dinars, because he bought two thawbs and a blanket and the rest went to syrups (probably for the sick orphans). Eliyyahu is his patron; he repeatedly praises his generosity and reports how he praised him to various people in Alexandria. The writer has been waiting around in Alexandria for various officials to help him, and in the interim receives bread from the public distribution. He wants Eliyyahu to read this very letter to somebody else who will hopefully come to his aid. Some parts of the letter are quite difficult; merits further examination. Join: Oded Zinger. ASE.

Letter from a young man named Sibāʿ, in Alexandria, to his mother, in Fustat, but addressed to his brother Abū l-Najm. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Possibly early 13th century, if Abū Saʿīd b. Thābit al-Ḥazzān mentioned at the end is identical with the brother of Meir b. Yakhin (aka Bū l-Majd b. Thābit). The letter describes the troubles the writer encountered from a capitation tax official on his travels in a Nile boat and saying he had arrived safely in Alexandria. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 299, 300.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from a craftsman to ʿAbd al-Laṭīf, second half of the 15th century.

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary hand. The spellings are closer to classical Arabic than usual (e.g. שיא for شيء). The two folios were originally two folios (i.e. not a single folio that was torn in half), because the recto of folio 2 is the direct continuation of the verso of folio 1. The writer is a merchant who lists a number of materia medica (he calls them 'akhbār ʿiṭriyya'). The part of the letter that Goitein typed is the middle portion relating the harrowing events that befell the writer on a boat journey. The writer was attacked in the dead of night and his belt (himyān) was tied around his neck. He cried for help to the Muslims around him, and Muḥammad al-Najjār al-Ishbīlī set him free.

Letter from a father who has traveled away to his son at home. In Judaeo-Arabic and some Hebrew. Rudimentary hand and orthography, with many colloquialisms. The sender is worried about Abū Isḥāq. He gives detailed instructions about business transactions involving wheat, gallnuts, and perhaps a fruit harvest (qiṭf, last line of recto). The instructions involve Ibn al-Tājir and Nuṣayr. The sender has been stuck in al-Minya for 8 days; it seems that the boat is stuck in the mud. Regards to al-Shaykh al-Neʾeman, Elʿazar(?), and his cousin (ibn ʿamm) and his female cousin (bint ʿamm) Zahra. He adds in a postscript: “I ran into the son of Wazīra(?) in a boat (not my boat). I said, “Where to?” He said, “Running away from my father and mother.” I said, “Go back!” He said, “Leave me alone(?). I will not ‘drown myself’ (by returning?). He said, “They don’t let me have anything (as long as) I am near/with them. (Or maybe: I am in debt to them?)” I kept trying to turn him back, but I couldn’t… I gave him a rebuke (ʿiẓa), and he didn’t respond(?) and went to Bahnasa to stay with Abū Saʿid. He is in good health, so reassure [his father] about him.” ASE