Geniza Lab

Biofolium of piyyutim signed by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (found by Amir Ashur).

A much damaged letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, probably writing from Qalyub, to a family member, probably his father in Fustat. He has sent some money with the bearer and gives very detailed instructions for the drugs to be bought with it--including from which stall and which vendor--such as pomegranate seeds from al-Mahallah and a rhubarb-barberry concoction. On verso he asks his family to send him something that has to do with R. Moshe, plausibly a fatwa that he had sent for Maimonides to answer (such as T-S 10K8.3 + T-S 8K13.8, in his handwriting); or it is just someone else named R. Moshe. He brings up a man named Isma'il from al-Mahallah, known as Ibn al-Mu'allim; at the end he encourages the recipient to treat this Isma'il well, because he is poor and a stranger and from a good family. Isma'il has a notebook stashed with a man named Ibn al-[[rubbed out]], and the recipient is meant to retrieve it and find the chapters having to do with love [spells?]. The recipient is then to "do them" to various women in the family of Moshe's paternal uncle (so the brother of the likely recipient) including the uncle's wife, his mother, and her daughter (=Moshe's wife?). This reading is uncertain. But other letters of Moshe survive about his sometimes problematic relationship with his wife and also about domestic problems in his paternal uncle's family. Perhaps this is a novel effort to bring peace to the family (and/or try to make his wife desire him). ASE

Recto: Fragment (lower left corner) of a Judaeo-Arabic legal document involving division of money between Abū l-Faḍl, Yaʿaqov, and Abū l-Ḥasan. Verso: Fragment (lower left corner) of a page of piyyutim. Both sides are probably in the handwriting of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi.

Consecutive bifolia on the calendar in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi spanning the years 1204-07 and 1209–09 respectively.

Recto: letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, presumably in Qalyub, to his father, presumably in Fustat, late 12th century or early 13th. "If you have met with that woman [the matchmaker, judging by the response]... tell me everything she said." Also exhorts his father to update him on the apartment and the broad shawl and an ambergris seal (?). Verso: letter from Levi aka Abu Sahl to his son Moshe suggesting to him a choice among four prospective brides, one of them a divorcee: the daughter of al-[...]abiyah, or the daughter of Hibah the glassmaker the in-law of 'Imran b. al-Marjani, or the woman who was divorced by Ibn al-Habbar (the ink seller), or the daughter of Abu Sa'd al-Levi. He also requests a bundle of firewood for 4 or 5 dirhems for the holiday (lines 11-14) and mentions that Moshe's mother has gone away to "you know where" (lines 3-5) and writes something about the broad shawl, perhaps that he already sent it on Friday (lines 15-16). Information in part from Goitein's index cards. Identification based on distinctive handwriting and phrases; several other fragments survive with Moshe's letter on one side and Levi's on the other. ASE.

Recto: calligraphic note (complete) to Abu 'Imran regarding the binding of a book. Also mentions the color of the silk. As for a certain person coming to see the writer, he strongly discourages it. He refuses to see him at all. This person suggested something that his ears have never heard the like of. The identities of the people are not clear because of the allusiveness. Information from Goitein's note card. Verso: longer letter in the handwriting of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (and signed Musa) to a respected personage involving book business. R. Anatoli seems to have reneged on various promises, and his bad behavior became public knowledge. R. Anatoli said he would only give the Commentary and Masekhet Niddah. Moshe said to him, "But the buyer already [paid to] bind them!" He said, "I'll pay the price of the binding." The convoluted story goes on. The color of silk is mentioned -- so recto and verso must be related, though it is not clear exactly how. The writer is sitting in his house awaiting instructions. ASE.

BL OR 5563D.17 and BL OR 5563D.18 consist of three pages from a treatise on shehitah, probably in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. In the same, albeit sloppier, hand there are accounts in the margins of all three pages. The fourth page (verso of BL OR 5563D.18) is purely accounts, including expenses for food in Fustat and Qalyub, and at the bottom of the page, the costs for renting camels and donkeys. ASE.

The upper part of a short Judaeo-Arabic letter in the handwriting of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. Written shortly before Hannukah. Moshe asks the recipient, probably a family member, to send him lamps for the holiday because he has none. He also asks to know if the kerchief pleased them, and they should hurry up and buy... It cuts off here. ASE.

On recto there is a list of medical books in Judaeo-Arabic. Respectively on the non-naturals, colic, and diet (אלאשיא אלכארגה ען אלטביעיה, רסאלה פי אלקולנג, אלאגדיה). There are numbers underneath each, perhaps prices. There is then a poem (qaṣīd) in Hebrew. On verso there is a different book list in different handwriting, this one clearly business accounts. It *may* be in the handwriting of Abū l-Bayān Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, and Abū l-Faḍl Ibn Bayān who appears in line 2 *may* be his son. Other people mentioned are Ibn al-Dayyān, Abū l-Thanā', Ibn al-Mashmiaʿ(?), Abū Saʿīd al-Ṭabīb, and Abū l-Faraj b. Abū l-Riḍā.

Literary work on the calendar, in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. Bodl. MS heb. f 102/36 and Bodl. MS heb. f 102/38–39 may be in Moshe's handwriting as well (and Bodl. MS heb. f 102/32–35, also calendrical, is in the hand of his brother Yedutun).

Letter probably from Yedutun ha-Levi, in Fustat, to his brother Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyūb. (Identification is tentative, based on handwriting and typical phrases and names.) Someone, possibly ʿImrān (but not their paternal uncle of the same name), recently died in or around the addressee's location. The 'kabīra' (old woman?) has arrived back safely. Abū Zikrī (=Sar Shalom??) is making a big fuss and swearing that he saw Moshe in Cairo on Wednesday with two baskets of apricots. Yedutun complains about how everyone repays him with ingratitude, and he seems to refer to his activities as a physician (although Goitein read יטבהם in line 9 as יכצהם). Yedutun had to swear to Abū Zikrī that he must have been mistaken about seeing Moshe in Cairo and that Moshe doesn't know Ben Shaʿya either. Abū Zikrī apparently gave an exceedingly long sermon (דראש) on Shabbat. Tāhir is asking about Moshe's news and wants him to know that the new wālī is a relative of the old wālī, and he will take revenge on people who defy him (or defied his predecessor?), so Moshe should watch out. Moshe should also pass on Yedutun's prescription to Yaḥyā al-Khuḍarī, because Yedutun owes him a favor. He is very sad about ʿImrān and can't even eat bread (a standard phrase to express grief). He asks Moshe to pass on condolencees to ʿImrān's brother. And if Moshe wants the family to come visit him at the end of the month, he should let them know with a day's notice. Previous description: Warm letter by a man in Fustat to his brother in the countryside, mentioning an old woman, probably the bearer of a message, best not confided to paper. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 338). ASE

Bill of sale dated December 481/1088 (original document), in which Khulayf b. 'Ubayd b. 'Ali sells a house to Harun b. Khulayf b. Harun, the perfumer, a Jew. There are two addenda on verso written a century after the original. Above, Abu Sahl b. Ibrahim makes a gift of the house to his son Abu l-Ḥasan the physician; below, Musa b. Abu Sahl rents part of it from his brother Abu l-Ḥasan. (Goitein, Med Soc, III:479.) ASE.

Legal document in Arabic script. Likely a deed of sale, as there are extensive descriptions of a property. On verso there are witness statements. One mentions Mūsā b. Abū Sahl al-Ḥazzān(?); the other mentions ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm. There is a date given (but no year?): the middle of Av, corresponding to the 15th of Shaʿbān. ASE

Autobiographical maqāma by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, ed. Schirmann. Discussed by Amir Ashur here: https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/taylor-schechter-genizah-research-unit/fragment-month/fragment-month-8#_ftn2.

Half of a letter (left side of recto, right side of verso) from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. He mentions missing them during the holiday; arrangements with garments and silver; Menashshe, Shemaryah, the Rayyis; praying for his family to have success in something; that he is doing just fine; Abu l-Yusr is critically ill. ASE.

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, addressed to his father, the cantor Abu Sahl (Levi) in Fustat. Moshe reports on the receipt of variou sgoods. He asks if a woman in the family ('al-kabirah') wants him to buy a certain fabric from Abu l-Yusr. He complains that the only letter he has received recently is one in which his brother told him not to be a silly fool, and he is very upset because he doesn't know what he did to deserve that. Moshe sent with the bearer of the letter some piyyutim ("yotzer"s) for Rosh Hashanah; he had previously requested the "mizmor" for Rosh Hashana but no longer needs it because he found it. He says, "Let me know if Abu l-Khayr arrives." He is upset that his brother had promised to come spend Shabbat with him, but he did not come. He sends regards to his paternal uncles 'Imran and Bayan and reiterates that he needs to know if 'al-kabirah' wants the fabric. Verso contains the address (in Arabic) and Psalm 98 in the handwriting of Abu Sahl Levi (the letter's addressee). See also Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 221, 569. ASE.

Recto: Legal deed. Location: Qalyūb. Dated: Tuesday, 7 Adar 1505 Seleucid, which is 1194 CE, under the authority of the Gaon Sar Shalom ha-Levi. In the handwriting of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. Moshe later cut it very neatly down the middle, yielding ENA 2558.18 and T-S 13J7.12, and wrote a family letter on the verso of each half. The deed concerns the dissolution of a partnership in a house and in a store between Khalaf and Abū l-Faḍl, the sons of Hilāl. It seems that Khalaf retained the store, while Abū l-Faḍl bought out Khalaf's half of the house for 16.5 dinars. (See also Eliyyahu Ashtor, “The Number of Jews in Medieval Egypt,” JJS (1968), 13; Jacob Mann, Jews in Egypt and Palestine under the Fatimid Caliphs, 2:294. An earlier description said the document was dated 1481 Seleucid, but this must refer to a different document, because the date was previously missing.)

Verso: Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyūb, probably to his father Abū Sahl Levi, in Fustat. He was very sad and wept the night after an elder female family member (al-kabīra) left him and returned to Fustat. He urges his mother to 'do the things that you told her to do for me' without delay. He requests more tutty; אנבר(?); and golden gum-senegal (? קאקיאס דהבי). The addressee is to get from Maḥfūẓ all that he owes to Moshe. As for Dammūh, he suggests that the family members go there first and he try to catch up with them on Sunday, or alternatively he'll try to come to them on Thursday and they can all go to Dammūh together. Note that Moshe cut up ENA 2558.18 + T-S 13J7.12, a legal document dated 1194 CE, and reused the versos of both fragments for letters.

Recto: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from "your brother Musa" (Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi) asking the recipent to sell for him the Mishnah and Hilkhot Shehitah and send him the money with the bearer. He also wants to buy the codices of the Torah copied by Abu Sahl the Qaraite that he had seen in the addressee's possession. He sends greetings to one of the women of the family ('al-kabirah'). Verso: the response, from "your brother Yosef b. Hillel." Yosef reports that 32 dirhams were spent on the copies made by Abu Sahl the Qaraite, but he (presumably Abu Sahl) has not yet sold them because he is asking for 60 dirhams. However, Yosef has in his possession 4.5 books (of the Torah? Mishnah?) which fetched 23 dirhams. As for the copies belonging to Moshe, Yosef has not yet been able to sell them for the price that Moshe specified, so he tells him to be patient. ASE.

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyūb, to his family, in Fustat. Moshe congratulates his brother Bū Isḥāq on the fertility of his livestock but wants him to prepare the honey and flour and prepare a cake named ʿaṣīda that Moshe will enjoy when he comes on Sunday. Al-Shaykh al-Yesod also congratulates Bū Isḥāq and adds, cryptically, "May the end turn out well, and God willing we will see from it what was seen from the female donkey of our master al-Ḥāfiẓ." Moshe mentions the silver belonging (or owed) to Farrūj. He invites his brother Abū l-Ḥasan (Yedutun) to come out and spend Shabbat with him in Qalyūb, and they will return together to Fustat on Sunday. He also mentions silver, a donkey that has given birth, and a turban (radda). He asks the addressee to obtain the response to a fatwā that Moshe had previously sent. ASE.