Geniza Lab

Letter from an unidentified Torah scholar. Dating: Likely 11th century. The writer mentions the city of Fez and people who have become affluent and are honoring him ('and the station of the Torah'). He very happily reports on the birth of a son to him—"may God keep him alive and preserve him and send him a speedy recovery(!)"—whom he named after his late father. The letter may be addressed to a woman, based on the verb endings in the margin of recto, but this part is difficult to read. On verso, it seems that the writer's brother had died without offspring. He prays that God will keep his son alive so that he can 'toil over him like my father toiled over me.' There seem to be blessings for a female family member around here (wa-razaqakum tanẓurū awlād awlādhā). The writer says he is always praying for the addressee during Birkat Kohanim. He greets Abū l-Khayr Ṣadaqa ha-Levi and his two sons Moshe and Yeshuʿa.

Legal document. Apprenticeship agreement. Dated: Thursday, 25 Tishri 1339 (September 1027). Location: Fustat. Written in the hand of Yefet b. David. Bishr b. Efrayim apprentices his son Yosef to the weaver Barhūn b. Yiḥye for a period of four months, for which Yosef is to be paid 15 dirhams a month. By the end of this period, Yosef should have gained competence in working the loom; if not, the apprenticeship is to be renewed for an additional four months and his wage is to be raised to that of an ordinary worker. Barhūn promises to feed Yosef for the entire period, subtracting the cost of maintenance from his wages. He also promises that Yosef will learn the craft. Yosef must have been quite young since it is his father rather than he who makes the contract, but the parties clearly thought that Yosef’s acceptance and understanding of the terms of the contract to have been important, because the contract's conditions were read to him and he agreed with them. The agreement was executed in the court at the synagogue of the Palestinians and signed by Yefet b. David and Shelomo b. Ḥakīm. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 71-73)

Paper numbered as (2) and it seems that it is from a letter for a question regarding family and children, and a discussion on fasting, and the place of the child Rosa – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 63) – in Yiddish. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 49). MCD.

Letter from Ṣadoq b. Yoshiyya, in a border town somewhere in the Levant, to the judge Yosef b. Avraham, in Fustat. Dating: probably the beginning of 1100 CE. In this document Ṣadoq, known from Megillat Evyatar and formerly the third of the yeshiva, describes his disgruntlement at having to be in this location, where he went to liberate captive children held by Crusaders in Antioch, including a little girl from his own family, who has now been released. He is still endeavoring to free his son-in-law (שרנו אדירנו חתננו שר בית ישראל), whom Goitein identifies with Abū Saʿd the son of the Tustarī woman (mentioned as a Crusader captive in T-S 10J5.6 + T-S 20.113). Ṣadoq has also sent a letter to the Nagid (Mevorakh b. Seʿadya) reporting on his efforts for the captives. Verso contains the address and, written inverted in relation to the text on recto, 8 lines of pen exercises in a different hand. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. From the circle of the 13th-century Mosul Nasis. Extremely faded. The beginning and ending are missing. All of recto and part of verso are narrated as secondhand reports ("he said... he said... he said..."). Recto is a horrifying account of the Mongol (Tatar/תתר) invasion (cf. Bodl. MS heb. a 3/24 and T-S 20.128, belonging to the same circle of Mosul Nasis and possibly from the same sender). The Mongols entered the narrator's city on Simḥat Torah and plundered it, taking captive al-Nasi al-Fakhr, his wife Sitt al-Ruʾasāʾ, his brothers, his sister, and his 2-year-old son. Thousands of men, women, and children fled. By the time they reached Wādī ʿUmayr, the women were exhausted from carrying their children. The Mongols tore the children away—including the son of al-Fakhr and Sitt al-Ruʾasāʾ—and threw them on the ground as they cried out for their parents. When the letter resumes on verso, the sender (or the narrator of recto?) is describing his difficult economic circumstances wherever he has ended up (Syria? Bilbays? Fustat?). Everything that al-Nasi al-Fakhr had, clothing or otherwise, has been lost. Previously they were supported by the community or private donors ("kāna yaṣilunā mezonot") but now the people cannot spare any attention for them, even though they profess to love them. He mentions someone named Barakāt with the title al-Tifʾeret; a distinguished physician; and other notables who say that either the sender or the addressee should obtain a decree/rescript (tawqīʿ) and become the leader (muqaddam, ḥākim) of the community. There are a couple more faded lines, and the continuation is missing. ASE

Biblical passage (Leviticus 5:25-26) crudely written, probably from a child’s exercise, with Tiberian vowels and the divine name abbreviated to three yods. (Information from CUDL)