Geniza Lab

Letter from Netanel b. Ḥalfon to Moshe Maimonides. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 1 Nisan 1485 Seleucid, which is 1174 CE. Describing the plight of the bearer Yeshuʿa and requesting charity on his behalf. Praising Mamionides' munificence, prays that God will make him into a "malja' li-kull malhūf wa-satr li-kull makshūf (the one who 'covers' all the 'uncovered') wa-ahl li-kull maʿrūf." Ed. Israel Lévi, Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums 69 (1925), 375–77, cf. Med. Soc., 2: 498, App. C 82a (1174). Information in part from Cohen, Poverty and Charity, p. 43. The sender is likely identical with the sender of T-S NS J384 + T-S AS 151.33, an earlier letter.

Letter addressed to an important person (perhaps Eliyyahu ha-Kohen Av Bet Din, who is greeted 3 lines from the bottom). In Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Only the right side is preserved, so the story is difficult to figure out, but the letter is a recommendation or request for help for a man with a good reputation and something to do with Alexandria and a marriage.

Letter of recommendation for charity for the judge Avraham b. Yosef. The addressee is on a boat and about to set out for a voyage. The poor scholar likely carried this note with him to the boat. The addressee and his companions on the boat are all asked to contribute, and it is suggested that this good deed will increase the likelihood of a safe trip. (Information from Goitein's notes.)

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 of recommendation sent by seven elders of the Jewish community in Minyat Zifta to the Nagid Avraham Maimonides, recommending Moshe, the son of a previous judge named Perahya, for appointment or confirmation, and describing his rival as the very opposite of the proposed candidate in every respect. Dated Tevet1531/ December 1219- January 1220. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 44; V, p. 199.) Alternate description: "Ruling from the Bet Din of Minyat Ziftā, addressed to the Nagid Abraham Maimonides, dated Ṭevet 1531 (= 1219-1220 CE). Despite vehement opposition from other parties in the town, Moses b. Peraḥya is cleared of charges against him and his appointment is recommended. Moses is reported to be 'extremely modest, bashful, humble, taciturn, forbearing, and inexperienced in trouble-making'. Signed by Ṣedaqa b. Šela, Solomon b. Benjamin, Solomon b. Yefet, Yefet b. Isaiah ha-Levi, Moses b. Ṭahor ha-Kohen, Moses b. Yefet, Ḥalfon b. Obadiah, and Judah b. [...]." (Information from CUDL)

Recto: fragment of a recommendation letter from Daniel b. Azarya to Eli ha-Ḥaver b. Amram, Fustat. The name of the person who is recommended is unknown but it seems he belonged to one of the Israeli Gaon families. (Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, 688-689, Doc. #372) . VMR

Letter by Shemuel b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Sefaradi to [Shemarya] b. Elḥanan. In Hebrew. Dating: Early 11th century, probably. Letter of recommendation for a proselyte of noble descent whom he met in Damascus and later in Jerusalem and who was in danger because of the powerful Christian scribes. Edited with extensive commentary (and speculative identifications) by Golb, “A Study of a Proselyte to Judaism Who Fled to Egypt at the Beginning of the Eleventh Century," Sefunot 8 (1964).

Letter of recommendation for a poor woman.

Recto: Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to his father Eliyyahu the Judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. Recommending the bearer, Dā'ūd of Banhā, who is chronically in arrears for the capitation tax (ʿalayhi jawālī muzmina). Rabbenu Menaḥem has already helped him by writing a recommendation for him to the Nagid Avraham. At the end of this letter, Shelomo asks for copies of certain books from the Mishneh Torah. Verso: Shelomo continues, now writing on his own behalf. He asks his father to try to make sure that Shelomo is not sent to a place that is far away, because Shelomo is in a terrible state of isolation and ghurba and he could die any day, and then his father would regret having let him be sent away. ASE.

Letter from Khayr b. Yūsuf Ibn S[...] to Abū l-Ḥasan Mevorakh, in Fustat. The letter is to be delivered to Fusṭāṭ, al-Murabbaʿa, the shop of Abū ʿAlī b. Abū l-Ḥasan. The letter is in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. Opens with blessings for the addressee's sons Abū ʿAlī Yefet and Abū l-Makārim Nadiv. Conveys congratulations for the holiday. The sender ran into his cousin (ibn ʿamm) Yūsuf—the bearer of the present letter—on Saturday and was very distressed on his account. There is a postscript on verso in a different hand: "The bearer of this letter, Abū Shahwān, is our neighbor, and we are distressed on his account." The addressee is instructed to give him a dinar's worth of saffron and a dinar's worth of "qarāṭīs."

Letter of recommendation from Yosef ha-[...] b. Seʿadya ha-Bavli addressed to the communities of Sūra(?) and Qaryat Ismāʿīl(?). Written in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The bearer is a learned man "who has captives" whom he is trying to redeem. The addressees are asked to give him money. The Qaraite community (?וגמאעה אלקראיי) is specifically named.

Letter from Avraham ha-Reviʿi b. Shemuel ha-Shelishi, probably in Ramla, to Shelomo b. Yehuda, in Jerusalem. In Hebrew. Dating: Ca. 1040 CE. The letter is also signed by the physician ʿAmram b. Aharon ha-Kohen. (There was a liturgical poet by the name of Shemuel ha-Shelishi ("the Third") whose works survived in the Geniza and who lived around 1000, so this could well be his son.) The bearer of the letter is Moshe b. Mevasser. The senders ask the addressee to ensure that he receives the full third of his father's inheritance that is due to him; there are 3 brothers (including a Natan b. Mevasser), and none is the firstborn. Shelomo b. Yehuda writes about the same case in T-S 20.178. There is also a request "to obtain a little kohl for me to remove the whiteness from the eye of my little daughter," and a request for emblic (amlaj). There may be a reference to the controversy with Natan b. Avraham. (Information in part from Gil.) MR. ASE.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Aharon Sijilmāsī, in ʿAydhāb, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. Dating: 25 Iyyar [4900] AM, which is 14 May 1140 CE. Yiṣḥaq b. Aharon Sijilmāsī wrote this letter from ʿAydhāb nearly 4 months after he departed from Fustat to Aden, as described in document ח65 (where he is called Abū Isḥāq Sijilmāsī). He stayed in ʿAydhāb for a time before traveling further south (he wrote this letter after boarding the ship in ʿAydhāb). In the interim he already sent one letter to Ḥalfon and received one letter in response. The present letter asks Ḥalfon to help the bearer, a fellow man of Sijilmāsa, with some mercantile matters. Yiṣḥaq also reports on (and curses) two Jews who reported him to the government in ʿAydhāb, claiming that he cheated on customs dues for some coral. One of the accusers later drowned. On verso there are also several lines of piyyuṭ. (Information from India Book 4; Hebrew description below.)

Letter addressed to the Nagid. In Judaeo-Arabic. Recommending the bearer, Yisra'el ha-Ḥazzan, for charity.

Letter addressed to Rabbenu Ḥayyim. Letter of recommendation for the bearer, the nephew of the Kohen Abū l-ʿIzz(?). Small fragment. Verso is filled with Hebrew jottings as well as the name (of the addressee?): Moshe b. [...] ha-Melammed.

Letter of recommendation on behalf of a proselyte. The conversion took place by the time of R. Menahem (b. Sasson?) and the proslyte was imersed. Also mentioned Yehuda ha-sar ha-gadol

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to al-Ḥedvat. Handwriting of Avraham Maimonides. Letter of recommendation for the poor man al-Shaykh al-Kohen al-Talmid Abū l-Riḍā.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Only the upper right corner is preserved. Recommends the bearer for charity and mentions the Nagid. Might also mention Yemen. The name Abū Saʿīd ha-Levi appears at the bottom of the right marginal text.

Verso: Letter addressed to ha-Kohen ha-Parnas. In Judaeo-Arabic. This is a recommendation letter or a request to help the bearer, a young man from Damascus. Evidently something bad happened to the bearer with the Ghuzz. He wants to travel but doesn't have money. AA. ASE.

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. Reminding the addressees to give the money to a certain poor man that they had promised to give.