Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Very faded. The writer may mention being imprisoned (ḥabsī fī hādhihi l-muda), but this is uncertain without all the surrounding context.

Letter fragment (bottom half) in Judaeo-Arabic, addressed to an important person (perhaps Avraham Maimonides). Dated: Middle third of Elul 1541 Seleucid, which is 1230 CE. Opens with a mention of the ḥushshār (capitation tax collectors) of Alexandria and somebody they wanted to imprison. Mentions the noble congregation of Bilbays. Seems to be a letter of recommendation for a man in need. Verso: List of names, including Ibn al-Labbān Abū Saʿd; al-Rayyis Abū l-Riḍā Ibn al-Shelishi and his son; al-Rayyis Abū Manṣūr and David and Netanel and Yaʿaqov. There are also various jottings in Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, and Arabic script. Notably, the jottings include the five categories of sharīʿa rulings (aḥkām), but in Judaeo-Arabic: mafrūḍ (compulsory); manhiyy ʿanhu (forbidden); makrūh (discouraged); mustaḥabb (encouraged); mubāḥ (neutral).

List of prisoners imprisoned for nonpayment of the capitation tax. Fragmentary. twenty-four names preserved, with sums representing the amounts still due, to be provided by public or private charity. At least three people, the cantor Saʿdān, Ḥasan the Persian, and (Yaḥyā) the son of the Tiberian, recur in B 4–5 with the same sums. (Mubārak), the son of the female physician, also recurs in B 8 and 59." (Information from Goitein, Med. Soc. II, Appendix B, #58.)

Most of a long, very distressed letter from Menaḥem, writing in Fusṭāṭ/Cairo, to a business associate, whose family lives in Fustāṭ/Cairo and who has traveled. The details of the case are difficult to follow and merit deeper examination. Menaḥem's enemies have gotten the upper hand, and they are gloating to the utmost, and he has lost a great deal of money. In what remains of the letter, he first mentions the visit of Lu'lu' ("may the enemies of Israel perish"), who may be identical with al-Raqqī, to a prison (where Menaḥem had been held?). The entirety of the rest of the story has to do with the misdeeds of al-Raqqī and Ibn Kātib al-ʿArab, called "dogs" by the writer (they call him the same). The latter "stands in the middle of the markets [of Fusṭāṭ and Cairo] and hosts great gatherings (? maḥāfil), even greater than those of al-Raqqī. He said that I am his enemy and that I testified against him to the representative of the sultan" (r12–15, 29). Apparently the addressee normally has the ear of Ibn Kātib al-ʿArab, and so none of this would have happened if the addressee had not had to travel "for my sins" (r24–25). Menaḥem writes repeatedly that he is "in the fire" and that it would be better to be dead (r25–31, v21–25). His uncle (ʿamm) Abū l-Faraj is egging on al-Raqqī, standing in the market and "on the slaughterhouse" (?) and cursing Menaḥem and the addressee before the Jews and the Muslims. Abū l-Faraj is instructing al-Raqqī not to "appraise these pawns" (hādhihi l-ruhūnāt lā tuqawwimuhum) (does Menaḥem run a pawnshop?) (r32–36). The villainy of Abū l-Faraj goes deeper, for he "sits in the house with Yūsuf and his brothers and his children, dancing (raqṣ) and listening to music (ṭarab) (rm22–33). The installment of the story that continues on verso has to do with al-Raqqī's claim that he is owed 1000 nuqra (dirhams) by the addressee. Various legal documents and (false?) witnesses are produced (v1–15). Someone states, "This is how fortunes are lost because of slander" (v12). Menaḥem expands on his wretched state. He prays for God to command the "angel of my misfortunes" to relent. Every day ends with tears and with the melting of his liver, bit by bit (v19–32). He concludes by urging the addressee to come quickly and to seek aid from a powerful man ("kiss the feet for me of he whom you know," v33–34). He apologizes for the distressing matter contained in the letter (v35–37). R. David sends his regards and rebukes; R. Shelomo is well, recovering, back to his usual self; the addressee's wife and children are well (v37–40). In a postscript: "I heard that Muhadhdhab b. al-ʿŪdī is in critical condition and that wheat is expensive. May God have mercy." ASE

Court record. In Hebrew. Fragment (left half only). Location: Fustat. Dated: 21 Tevet 1[3]27 Seleucid, which is 1016 CE. In the time of Efrayim b. Shemarya (who might be called al-Ghazzī here). Relates the events of a rainy and muddy day in the marketplace of Qaṣr al-Shamʿ, when a merchant named ʿImrān b. Eliyya from Palermo, Sicily, complained to the police ("in the בי דואר that is called שרטה in the language of the Ishmaelites") that he had already waited a full month for a Jewish court to deal with his case, whereupon the head of the police apprehended the Jewish judge for a night. Witnesses: Yehuda b. Ḥadīd(?); [...] ha-Kohen b. Avraham; Shemuel ha-Kohen b. Ṭalyūn (aka Avṭalyon); and Yosef b. Binyamin. (Information in part from Goitein, Med Soc II, 321–22).

Letter in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Addressed to someone important, possibly the Nagid, and possibly specifically Maṣliaḥ Gaon (based on some flattering phrases that also appear in other letters to Maṣliaḥ). He is writing to seek help on behalf of a man named Isḥāq b. T[hābit?] who has been arrested.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. From several people, probably addressed to Sayyidnā al-Rayyis. The senders are currently being held in prison and it sounds like they are making their case to the addressee to exert himself to help them. They had evidently antagonized some man in a legal battle. This man then showed up drunk to a gathering and attacked them and insulted them and tried to smash jars of oil. When this didn't get him anywhere, he went to some government office (Dār al-Sulṭān) and cried out for help, "O Muslims! I do not say... the religion of Islam." They tried to appease him, but he said, "You 'wrote' (a contract?) in Muslim courts... I will take revenge on you!" The authorities responded to the ruckus by throwing everyone in prison. ASE

Deposition from Minyat Zifta, signed by five witnesses, in which two persons testify to the poverty of a man named Sulayman b. Ḥasan, who had been condemned to imprisonment for insolvency when his Jewish debtor had brought him before a Muslim court. Dated Sivan 1486/ June 1175. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 204)

Family letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Almost certainly from a woman, addressed to her cousin (ibn ʿamm). Goitein describes it as a "fragment of a family letter warning a young husband not to squander his wife’s trousseau." The relationships will take some work to figure out. The sender reports that a certain woman heard that her sister's husband is in prison. Referring to another man, "he and his wife are doing well." Then, "Please ask her husband to let her stay with us until she give birth, so that we can look after her, I and her sister. At this point, she inserts the threats—if the husband touches the dowry, she will send a petition/complaint to the Nagid informing him of everything. The sender has sent with Umm Hiba the bearer of the letter two shirts and two malʿabs (toys?). She has purchased garments for the woman and for her mother-in-law (apparently an effort to win her good graces so that she treats her daughter-in-law well, as he writes, "if I hear that she treats her well, God Almighty will reward her"). If the pregnant woman's own mother were not sick, she would have traveled to her. Regards to "the dear girl" and her children and her husband. "I have sent you 3 [...] for the children." מפרכה and her sister send regards. (Information in part from Oded Zinger.) ASE

Petition in Judaeo-Arabic to help Thābit al-Hazzan b. al-Munajjim, who was ill and had been imprisoned for two months for not paying his capitation tax. (Information from Goitein's note card)

Letter from Maymūn b. Khalfa, Palermo, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. 18 August 1056 (Gil). Describes the movement of goods and ships to and from Sicily. The government of Sicily imposed on Jewish merchants in Palermo a customs import duty (ʿushr), normally imposed only on foreign merchants, because resident Jews cooperated with their foreign partners and declared incoming goods as their property. A judge and other Jews were sent to prison. The writer reproaches Nahray for his dealings with a resident of the island, Sulaymān b. Shaʾul. Also mentions "the ships (plural!) of Abū ʿAbdallah Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ:

Letter to Judge Elijah from Alexandria containing a request to send back a man whose daughters were in prison-- see Goitein Nachlass material

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dating: Probably 1082 CE. The approximate time period is established by the mention of Yaʾir ha-Nadiv Peʾer ha-Qahal, who also appears in T-S 28.6 (1070s). This document is dated in the opening lines Thursday, 21 Elul, year not preserved. The last three lines indicate that the document was signed (although this copy doesn't appear to be signed) and given to the parties Saʿd and Yaʿaqov on Thursday, 4 Ḥeshvan [..]94. The full date at the top of the document is probably 21 Elul 1393 Seleucid, and the full date at the bottom of the document is probably 4 Ḥeshvan 1394 Seleucid. The case concerns Sahl b. Faraj al-Ghazzī and a sizeable sum of investment capital (over 45 dinars). He reports on his travels and misfortunes. Apparently someone named ʿImrān had him imprisoned by the government. When he got out, he used the rest of the money to purchase goods and travel to Tyre, but "the land was plundered, together with all of my goods, and I was wounded, and I returned to Fustat a 'drowned man.'" The local community helped him, especially Yaʾir ha-Nadiv. The rest of the document seems to detail his efforts to settle his accounts. On verso there is a Hebrew/Judaeo-Arabic glossary of Halakhot Gedolot. ASE

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The same scribe probably wrote ENA NS 69.20 and T-S AS 156.42, based on the handwriting similarity combined with the presence of the relatively uncommon blessing "min dār al-fanā' wa-l-shaqā' ilā dār al-naʿīm wa-l-baqā' (from the abode of perdition and woe to the abode of blessing and immortality)." In this letter he conveys his terrible distress ('the waters have reached the seat of breath') on account of imprisonment and lack and inability to buy food. He is evidently asking for money. Verso: Recipes in Arabic script. The first is for a laurel-based ophthalmic (ṣifat kuḥl al-sādhaj al-ḥāfiẓ) that strengthens the vision. The second is for a coolant (barūd) that the caliph al-Ma'mūn purportedly used to preserve health and strengthen eyesight. ASE.

Letter in Hebrew written on an irregular piece of vellum from prison. David appeals to Avraham ha-Sar to try to bring about his release from prison. David admits that he is not treated harshly by the jailers ("ha-goyim") but complains that his freedom of movement is restricted and that his diet is meager. The language is in an elevated register and full of learned references. Information from Mann, who suggests that the letter is no later than the 13th century and more likely the 12th.

Note from Yosef Tamish (? טמיש) to Namir. In Hebrew. The sender is in prison (שורתיים אלו להודיע לכה איך אני בבית הסוהר) and he has nobody to help him. He asks the addressee to join with Yiṣḥaq al-Ashqar and raise some money on his behalf. Dating: mid-16th century.) Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Moshe Maimonides to Abū l-Munā. Autograph. In Judaeo-Arabic. Abū l-Munā is asked to convey Moshe's gratitude to Najm [al]-Dīn on account of the benefaction he bestowed by helping a certain prisoner. Moshe cannot come in person to thank him.

Letter. Appeal written from prison by the son of Avraham to Yosef, Yiṣḥaq and Yehuda, sons of Menahem, in Hebrew. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter of appeal addressed to Shelomo ha-Nasi. The writer asks for assistance after having been arrested. He suffers severe poverty and illness and bedbugs (al-baqq). "May God spare you such a trial, and may God place all whom you hate in my situation."

Reuse: Letter sent to Shelomo ha-Nasi. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender asks him for help on account of his illness, poverty, and "hot bedbugs. May God never afflict our master with distress, and may he afflict my state on all those who hate you." On verso there is a postscript mentioning Alexandria and family members being left in prison. (Information in part from CUDL.)