Geniza Lab

Letter from Yiṣḥaq bayt ʿAṭṭān, in Syracuse, to Moshe b. Yehuda, in Alexandria. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Last quarter of the 15th century. Contains a colorful tale of the writer's voyage. His ship was taking on too much water, so they had to stop in Rhodes. He and his party stayed there for a couple months before resuming the journey. They landed in מדון/MDWN, probably Methoni (aka Modone) in Messenia, to do business in bread and wine. The locals were about to steal the boat, so they took off in a hurry and abandoned their companion R. Ṣuriel who was still in town. Then the purpose of the letter: it is a letter of introduction ("a benefit for you and for him") for the Catalan Messer Bernard Lo Azina (לו אזינה), "a good Christian," who is bringing 500 kosher cheeses the writer saw him purchase, along with a hekhsher letter from the local judge. There are several curious linguistic aspects, too, including באש for "in order to."

Diwan of the poetry of Yiṣḥaq b Khalfūn (active around 1000). There is a poem addressed to Abū l-Faraj Yehoshuaʿ Ibn al-Qamūdī; a poem addressed to Shemuel Ibn al-Lebdī (hence Goitein's inclusion of this fragment in the 'India Book'); a poem addressed to Abū Sulaymān, complaining about the delay of the response to his panegyric from Menashshe b. Ibrāhīm al-Qazzāz; a poem that he sent together with a Purim present; poems on generic themes (parting, elegy, praise); and a poem that he wrote to a friend who gave him some cheese instead of the wine that he had asked for. The identification of the poet was made by Schirmann. (Information in part from Goitein and Friedman, India Traders.) ASE

Family letter from Sālim to Bū Manṣūr b. Sukkarī (or Zikrī?) in Alexandria reporting that the Rūmī cheese had arrived and that the writer had sent the pottery (or clay pipes, fukhkhār) desired. Greetings to Mother and both grandparents. The address is in Arabic script on verso. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter sent from Acre shortly after it was taken by the Crusaders in 1104, in which a merchant describes to his parents the terrors of the war, as well as the usefulness of his servant in such a situation. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 132)

Letter from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides (d. 1355) to Fustat against improper competition in the making of cheese. Information from Goitein's index card.

Legal document. In Arabic script in a nice hand. Yehuda b. Ibrāhīm the Jew attests that he has received 15 rounds (aqrāṣ) of Levantine cheese (al-jubn al-Shāmī)from Ibrāhīm b. [...]. Dated likely late Mamlūk or early Ottoman.

Letter from Yeshua b. Ismaʿīl al-Makhmūrī from Alexandria, probably to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1056. In the handwriting of Yeshua b. Isma’il, with an addition in the handwriting of Musa b. Abi al-Hayy Khalila. Information about transferring money, including money that was hidden in a book cover. Also mentions different goods: lead, almonds, cloth, wood, camphor, cheese, Bible codices, flax, and incense. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #311)

Letter from a man, in Damascus, to his father, perhaps in Fustat. The sender expresses his longing and desperation in this foreign land, especially after the departure of Manṣūr ("the world closed itself in on me... I cry... and wish my soul would leave, but it does not"). He reports that he is revered, because he has successfully humiliated all the competing cantors, and now nobody dares to chant in his presence. (The father seems to be a cantor as well.) His father was upset that he entered the service of "someone like the ghulām"; Manṣūr will explain everything when he arrives. He was unable to send some of the goods for his brother; Ibn Abū l-Zakkār may have told him not to trust a potential bearer. He has sent with Manṣūr a mould of cheese worth 2.5 dirhams, and he has equipped Manṣūr with funds to keep the cheese well-oiled en route lest it dry out. He complains about the lack of sustenance in Damascus. He claims to fast most days out of sorrow/longing, and he repeatedly asks for prayers. He is worried that his enemies will gain the upper hand over him (he may have seen this in a dream? Verso, line 8). He describes the hospitality of his paternal uncles and their children and his maternal aunt. He asks for news of potential fiancees back home—his cousin (bint ʿamm) and Nabaʾ—since the locals in Damascus are trying to set him up with a local woman. He emphasizes that he would never get married with his father absent. He alludes to a period of a year when he had a falling-out with his father, a rift which is now healed (this may explain some of the over-the-top language of longing in this letter). He asks for some aqwāl, which should be sent to the house of the Nezer along with instructions to forward them to Aleppo should the son have traveled already. He concludes by warning his father to seal all of his future letters—"and not with a heavy seal." (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Announcement from the store of Maʿtuq Ḥayyim about kosher cheese for Passover under religious supervision, urging Jews to make their orders before the rush – undated – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 151) – in Arabic and Hebrew. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 47). MCD.

Two legal records in a court register. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Thursday, 14 Kislev 143[9] Seleucid, which is 1127/28 CE, under the reshut of [Maṣliaḥ] ha-Kohen Rosh Yeshivat [Gaon Yaʿaqov]. Both records are each signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya and Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo; one of them is also signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. One record contains an interesting testimony from Nissim b. Shemuel (ZL) who went out to the countryside as part of a group in order to supervise the production of water buffalo cheese. He gives a fairly detailed description of the cheese-making process (rennets and all). A Copt apprehended them and confiscated the shipment in the name of the state until the 'Rayyis' pulled some strings (faḍḍala ʿalaynā) and sent Abū l-Majd the brother of Abū Yūsuf(?) to liberate it. The purpose of the testimony may be to account for the number of moulds of cheese (650) and their whereabouts; it seems that 1 is in Bīr [...] and 8 are in Minya. Every mould has a seal on it. The second legal record does not appear to be related, but it still needs examination. The man giving the testimony about the cheese, Nissim b. Shemuel, also signed T-S 12.561 (dated 143[.] Seleucid) together with Ḥalfon b. Menashshe; at that time, his father was still alive. ASE

Fragment of a letter (written by Ṣedaqa Nes), to the head of the exile, Natan ha-Kohen Sholal (d. 1502) in Cairo (the penultimate Nagid), concerning a fraudulent cheese seller who was fined by Yosef ha-Nagid, a predecessor of Natan, for selling non-kosher cheese as if it was kosher. Also mentions Samuel and his brother Isaac, the Persians, and Moshe Abū Shaʿra. (Information from CUDL; see also Goitein's index cards.) Earlier description for CUL Or.1080 J174: Confidential letter sent from Jerusalem by Yiṣḥaq to his brother in Cairo. In Hebrew. Dating: Late. The writer complains that a certain Yaʿaqov with the help of a certain non-Jew has stolen a portion of his money, which belonged to Yiṣḥaq's brother, and promises to send the remainder of the money by a messenger or bring it to Cairo himself. (Information from Goitein's index cards.)

Certificate for Natan b. Shemarya concerning his cheese. Signed by Menashshe b. Yiṣḥaq. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter written in a beautiful hand, requesting that the bearer receive help in selling his cheese, which was prepared in the prescribed manner. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Certification of ritual purity of a cheese shipment is signed by Judge Eliyyahu in 1241.

Legal document. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Last decade of Kislev 5004 AM, which is December 1243 CE. Certificate of the purity of 180 moulds of cheese shipped from Messina for Abū l-Ḥasan b. Ṣedaqa. Signed by Yehuda ha-Melammed b. Aharon ha-Rofe and Yosef b. Simḥa ha-Kohen. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Note describing that money for cheese had not arrived, and may be lost on both sides. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: Mamluk period (1250–1517), per Goitein. This document preserves a partnership agreement between two teachers, Raḍī b. ‘Abd al-‘Azīz b. Raḍī and Yeshu‘a Dukhān, in the manufacture and sale of cheese and other dairy products, for an unspecified fixed period. Each partner contributes both labor and capital: Raḍī is to be responsible for manufacture in the cheesemaking courtyard, bringing fifty qintār of halloumi cheese to the partnership. Yeshu‘a is to be responsible for sales, remaining in the shop and investing 1,000 silver half-dirhems, to be brought by Yeshu‘a in payments according to a schedule (see lines 10-12). Raḍī is to keep accounts. Profits and losses are to be divided equally, including rent for both the shop and the courtyard. Line 13 refers to the trustworthiness of the partners, important in this case since the two partners will not be working side by side. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 188)

Certificate of kashrut. Location: Alexandria. Dated: First decade of Tammuz 502[.] AM, which is 1260–69 CE. Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū l-Karam b. Bū l-Barakāt purchases 97 moulds (qālib) of Sicilian (Rūmī Siqillī) cheese from Jewish merchants who have arrived in Alexandria. The cheese has a seal on it, and reliable witnesses testify that it is kosher (lā rayba fīhi, a phrase borrowed from Quran 2:2). Witnesses: Yehuda b. Aharon Ibn al-ʿAmmānī; the teacher Yefet b. Yosef ha-Melammed. Cf. T-S 13J4.8 for a very similar document from 1243 CE (signed by the same Yehuda).

Short letter from Avraham b. Natan Av ha-Yeshiva ("the head of the (Palestinian) Academy") to an unknown recipient (called only Rabbenu). In Judaeo-Arabic. Acknowledging the receipt of a large consignment of "kaysī" cheese and the corresponding heksher (certificate of kashrut) brought by Ṣadaqa b. Shemarya. According to Goitein's notes, the sender "at that time" was the Jewish Chief Justice of Cairo, and he is writing to his colleagues in Fustat. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Furaji ha-Kohen appears before the court in Alexandria and declares that he sold to Bu al-Faraj b. Barakat 160 pounds of Sicilian Kosher cheese. Since he wishes now to sell the cheese in the Egyptian country-side, the court issues him a certificate about the information supplied to them by him. Dated Marheshvan 4975/ October 1214. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, 251)