Geniza Lab

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. Handwriting of Avraham Maimonides. Addressed to al-Shaykh al-Melammed Tamīm(?). Telling him to ask (yataqaḍḍā ilā) Maḥāsin al-Ṭabīb to attend the court case (muḥākama) of Abū l-Majd al-Ḥazzan (probably Meir b. Yakhin). ASE.

Letter from Saʿīd, in Alexandria, to his brother Bū l-Majd Meir b. Yakhin the cantor, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary hand and phonetic spellings throughout, including the use of the alif-lam ligature as a lam-alif. Dating: First quarter of the 13th century. Saʿīd complains about the lack of letters from Meir and reminds him that their mother is critically ill (marīḍa ʿalā khuṭṭa), and that she is only sick on account of the fact that she will not see Meir before she dies (mā maraḍhā illā sababak alladhī mā tarāk min qabl an tamūt). Saʿīd inquires about the clay vessel (burniyya) he had sent containing medicines (or ink for the inkwell? this part requires further decipherment). He has heard that Meir's daughter's daughter has died, and he sends his wishes that she be replaced with a boy. He continues, insensitively, "My wife has given birth to a daughter." Then, "Do not ask about my illness, which you know about." The economy is bad in Alexandria and prices are high (bread is five dirhams). Bū Saʿīd the son of the Qa[ḍī?] has died, and Ibn Ghulayb is likewise ill. Saʿīd sends his regards to Meir's wife. Their other brother (Hilāl), Maʿānī, and Maḥāsin and his son Abū l-Najm all send their regards. ASE.

Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic letter, probably from Yehuda b. al-ʿAmmāni to Me'ir b. Yakhin, mentioning the latter's brothers Hilāl and Saʿīd.

Letter from Saʿīd, probably in Alexandria, to his brother Bū l-Majd Meir b. Yakhin, probably in Fustat. Dating: early 13th century. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary handwriting and spellings. The main purpose of the letter is for the writer to convey his distress when he heard that Meir was sick (tawajjaʿta). ASE

Letter dated 25 Tishrei 1212 (4973) from Yehuda b. al-Ammani, a cantor, schoolmaster, and clerk in Alexandria, to Abu l-Majd Meir b. Yakhin, a senior colleague in Fustat. Recapitulating previous communication between the two (cf. T-S 13J21.25 written four years earlier), Yehuda notes with frustration that the addressee asked him to send dirges for the deceased, and so he sent him about thirty, and the addressee had replied that he had them all with the exception of two or three. Yehuda advises the addressee to advise him of the first lines of the poems so that there would not be unnecessary duplication (Med Soc V:179, 556.) Almost all of the letter deals with this topic and with the vicissitudes of mail delivery, since many letters both from Yehuda and from Abu l-Majd's brother Abu l-Najm Hilal were either delayed or never arrived at all. Starting on line 16 of verso, Yehuda writes, "On the night that I wrote this letter, seven great and learned rabbis arrived, and behind them 100 people—men, women, and children—asking for bread. This is apart from the 41(?) beggars we already have in the city [Alexandria], and most of the congregation has been exhausted by poverty." Along with other family news, Yehuda writes, "Your brother Sa'id quarreled with his wife and traveled, and no one knows where he traveled. A roof fell on his wife, but she was saved from death." EMS. ASE.

Letter from Abū l-Majd, in Fustat, to Barakāt b. Hārūn Ibn al-Kūzī, in Alexandria, sent via the shop of Maḥāsin al-Ḥarīrī. Dated: Ramaḍān, 620 AH, which is October 1223 CE. Abū l-Majd complains of the difficult times and his illness, and the problems of selling a sick female slave who actively resists being sold (recto, margin). Part of his haste to sell her is that he was denounced to the government (ghamazū ʿalayyā l-dīwān) and lost 52 dirhams, evidently taxes related to the slave. (Cf. ENA NS 77.254, an outline for a deed of sale of a slave, where "if someone tattles to the government" is a specific eventuality that is addressed.) Abū l-Majd asks Barakāt to come to Fustat and try to sell her. If it weren't for the bitter cold, Meir himself would come with her to Alexandria. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Legal document. Bū l-Majd b. Thābit, known as Meir b. Yakhin, appoints his brother Hilāl/Hillel as his attorney for all his claims and in particular those resulting from the estate of his deceased wife Sitt al-Dār bt. Bū l-Faḍl. Information from Goitein’s index card.