Geniza Lab

Business letter from the North African merchant Benāya b. Mūsā (Alexandria) to Shelomo b. Mevorakh (Fustat), containing inter alia information about the movement of ships and referring to several India traders. Benāya b. Mūsā asks his correspondent to intercede on his behalf with head of the Jews Mevorakh b. Saʿadya, seeking the latter’s assistance in arbitrating a dispute to which the merchant’s son was a party. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, pp. 238n96 and 250-251.)

Recto: Letter from an unidentified distinguished man to a judge or communal leader. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender's hand might be known (resembles T-S Misc.28.88, another "mice ate my stuff" letter). Dated: Thursday, 29 Tishrei [4849] AM, which is 1088 CE. But there is a difficulty with this precise date, because 29 Tishrei was actually a Tuesday and because a note on verso states that the letter was received "in the first decade of Tishrei." Based in part on the information from verso, we can deduce that the letter concerns a dispute over a dilapidated wall between the sender's property and that of his neighbor Abū Saʿd. The sender is distressed because some of his key evidence "was in the document which was eaten by the mice." He asks the addressee to try to dig up any documentation that will support his case. His legal adversary has refused to accept testimony except from certified trustworthy witnesses (al-thiqāt). The sender complains about a long history of having to sink money into this house on account of his neighbor. He asks the addressee to treat the house just as he would treat his own house and not to neglect this matter. At the end, he briefly mentions other business matter, including an unpaid suftaja. Verso: The response from two judges, Yeshuʿa b. Avraham and [Sal?]mān b. Elʿazar. They have drawn a box around the response and signed their names at the top of the note. Outside of the box, there appears the date already mentioned: first decade of Tishrei 4349 AM, which is 1088 CE. They address the original sender with respectful terms and explain that the dilapidated wall must be fixed. Its benefit is shared between the two houses, while its base is located on the ground owned by Abū Saʿd. They do not explain the legal consequences of these facts; maybe they simply consulted the court's own records and are providing factual evidence to be used in the ongoing litigation. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) ASE

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer reports on attending synagogue on Shabbat and hearing the end of the Torah reading, and then the congregation began reading Lamentations. When they reached the second chapter (איכה יעיב באפו), the writer tried to pull up a chair to see better, which caused a scuffle involving Ibn al-Maghribī and Ḥayyūn and Makārim b. al-[...]. Two more people are mentioned later on: [...] al-Qāhirī and Ibn al-ʿAnbarī. Someone said, "You don't know how to recite! Give me the muṣḥaf." The fragment becomes damaged and difficult to read around here, but it seems everyone made peace (wa-baʿd iṣṭalaḥū wa-ṣallaynā). On verso, there are many greetings: to the venerable father, to the mother Sitt R[ayḥān?], al-Shaykh al-Sadīd Abū Zikrī and the ṣaghīra. The writer may be Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, or at least someone of the family. ASE.

Account written by a person admonishing another in Hebrew script but in colloquial Egyptian "the people are saying that he worked four months and that he is right but he is a smartmouth about his health and very generous in [saying] 'he worked well'") undated – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 272). (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 63). MCD.

Letter from Shela b. Mevasser b. Naḥum, a judge of Alexandria, to Abū al-Ḥasan Surūr b. Ḥayyim in Fustat, dealing with family and public matters. The letter contains clues about the dispute between Shela and Mevorakh b. Saadya and reflects Shela’s conception of his role as a community leader. (Information from Frenkel, The Compassionate and Benevolent, p. 514; S. D. Goitein, Index cards.)