Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Not complete. Dated: 8 Tammuz יֿהֿ אֿבֿ כֿֿשֿ, which may be 5338 AM, which is 1578 CE. The writer is surely a Qaraite, since he refers to 'the damned bastards' of the בני משנה, that is, the Rabbanites. The letter contains a detailed description of a legal case. "They took the four fatwās/responsa and me to the Shāfiʿī (Muslim) judge. . . he is very important, and they showed him the fatwā of the Shafiʿī (jurisconsult?) and said, 'Judge this Jew. . .'" It seems that the writer had a Rabbanite enemy seeking his downfall, but the enemy failed and the writer triumphed. There are several lines praising God for His goodness and calling down curses on enemies and schemers and anyone who has pity on a Rabbanite—"may he taste his medicine." The letter concludes with various greetings. ASE.

Letter from a Qaraite, in Jerusalem, to al-Shaykh al-Rashīd Hārūn Ibn Saghīr, in Cairo. To be read to the whole Qaraite community. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, probably no earlier than 15th century. Very similar format to many of the Firkovich letters. The writer complains of great trials suffered ever since arriving in Jerusalem "on account of the ḥabash (Ethiopians?)." He clarifies that the conflict is about Ibrāhīm and Sulaymān who both insist on marrying Rivqa who 'belongs to' (? btāʿ) al-Shaykh al-Najīb Shimʿon. They had decided to marry her to Avraham, but she insisted that she would only marry Sulaymān, and Avraham said that he would kill someone if he didn't get to marry her. They feared something ('al-amākin' = the places?) and prevented her from entering either Sulaymān's or Avraham's house or from leaving her own house without a female escort. The story continues for much longer, becoming ever more convoluted and involving the Rabbanites and Islamic courts and a forged ketubba. Needs further examination.

Letter from the Qaraite community of Fustat/Cairo to the Qaraite community of Istanbul. In Hebrew. Dating: Ottoman-era. The purpose of the letter is to request financial aid in repaying a large debt that was imposed on the Qaraite community of Fustat/Cairo. The writers explain that it all began when a Qaraite named Shelomo Gibor arrived from Istanbul together with a Rabbanite youth. The Qaraite community endeavored to help him, but Shelomo wound up staying in the Rabbanite quarter and refused their offers of assistance. He fell sick and died. There ensued a terrible conflict between the Rabbanite and Qaraite communities, in which it seems the Rabbanites went to the local Muslim authorities ('the Chelebi' and 'the Judge'), insisted that the deceased Shelomo was not of their party, and said bad things about the Qaraites.The authorities sent 'two great eunuchs' to despoil the Qaraite neighborhood; it was decided that the Qaraites owed 30,000 esedi gurush; the synagogue was plundered and two of the best houses were confiscated and turned over to the Rabbanites. There is still an outstanding debt of 1,600 esedi gurush, accumulating interest every month. The Istanbul community is asked to help. There is a postscript about an apostate woman, the wife of Avishay, who showed up with her son Muṣṭafā; these two, it seems, caused a stir when they claimed that the man (Shelomo?) who was buried by the Qaraites had actually apostasized, and they were wrong to have buried him among Jews. ASE.

Literary work (the writer calls it a "dīwān") that preserves copies of two letters. The first: A letter from a Qaraite authority to David b. Moshe, the Rabbanite judge in Alexandria. In Hebrew. The scribe introduces the letter by explaining that it was a response to the Rabbanite judge's criticism of the matter of "expenses and fines" (? al-kulaf wa-l-maghārim), apparently reviving an ancient controversy, and that the writer did not intend to disparage the Rabbanites but only to urge the addressee to remember that the two sects are a single people. Indeed, the letter does exactly this, and it also contains veiled threats ("if my desire were to take revenge. . .") behind this overture to reconciliation. The next page (the fragment is a bifolium and any number of pages from the original work could be missing here) appears to be the end of the second letter. The second: A letter is from Moshe b. Shemuel ha-Rofe to Yehuda ha-Melammed. Written in metrical Hebrew poetry. There is a postscript in Judaeo-Arabic in which the writer apologizes for two instances of inaccurate vocalization (גחלים and עצי) which were necessary to fit the meter. The scribe adds that the response to this letter from Yehuda ha-Melammed may be found in the last chapter of the volume.

Non-Geniza. Legal document. Agreement between the Qaraite and Rabbanite congregations in Lithuania (specifically Samogitia?) concerning taxation. Dated: 1654 CE.

Letter to Eliyya Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ottoman-era. Recto consists of greetings. On verso the writer relates various types of bad news (violence, financial losses) inolving relations with the Rabbanites and with the local Ottoman rulers (al-Chelebi, Kaykhiya al-Basha/Kaykhiya al-Shāwīshīyya, Turjumān al-Bāsha). Needs examination

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Dating: ca. 1224 CE (this date is mentioned in the text of the letter). Contains a fascinating and long-winded tale about contradictory testimonies regarding whether a woman's husband (ʿAbd al-Khāliq) gave her a conditional divorce before he traveled to Egypt; on the strength of this, certain people drew up a get for her and now she's engaged to someone else; the writer is upset about this and wants the addressee to weigh in, partly because the witnesses are contradicting their own past statements/behaviors, and in part because of how it will look to the Rabbanites ('the Qaraites have already become a חרפה וקלסה'). Merits further examination. ASE.

Letter from David Ḥazzan, in Jerusalem, to Eliyya Levi, in Fustat/Cairo. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer describes the difficult financial state of himself and of the Qaraites in Jerusalem, and how "we are in the fire from [the Rabbanites'] oppression." He mentions that he got sick and nearly died, recovered, relapsed and nearly died, and recovered again. Also mentions Gaza. Needs examination.

Letter from the Qaraite community of Jerusalem to the Qaraite community of Damascus. The scribe is Meir Rofe Tawrīzī, and the letter is also signed by Mordekhai Hillel and ʿAbd al-Raḥīm. Written in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Unknown, but possibly the 1580s CE based on the mention of the sanjak named Abū Sayfayn, known from other sources to have been the administrator of the sanjak of Nablus under Sinan Pasha. The letter is a vivid account of the dire circumstances and persecutions in Jerusalem. The writers mention that the Rabbanites were in fact oppressed even more, but they subsequently turned on the Qaraites. The writers need assistance, and they write that they are seeking it from Damascus because the community of Fustat/Cairo "is not to be turned to," it seems due to troubles of their own. Needs further examination.