Geniza Lab

Letter (fragment) from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Yaʿaqov ha-Ḥaver b. Yosef. Apparently end of 1025 or beginning of 1026.

Letter from Moshe b. Elʿazar the teacher (ha-Melammed) to Elʿazar the scholar (ha-Talmid). In Hebrew (for the introduction and address) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body). The writer excuses himself for not having written earlier because of illnesses. Probably there is an epidemic: amrāḍ wa-awjāʿ wa-mawt. He reports that al-Ḥamishi ('the Fifth') died, but the addressee's family is well. They have moved to a new location. Abū l-Maʿānī al-Kohen sends regards. The writer begs indulgence "for the magnitude of my ignorance, for I wrote this (letter) after drinking the medicine. I am sick. I did not know what/how to write [...]. I know that you will not blame me for this." It is not completely clear what lapse he is referring to. Perhaps the lapse of having written God's name incorrectly (פאללל) and crossing it out in the previous line. Information in part from Goitein's index cards. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to the Nagid Moshe b. Netanʾel. This is enigmatic, since there is no known Nagid named Moshe b. Netanʾel outside of this letter. Friedman argues that the addressee must be Moshe b. Netanʾel ha-Levi (otherwise known to have held the title Gaʾon) and that this letter must have been written after the death of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya (d. ca. 1159) by one of his supporters, expressing fealty and the rightful title of Moshe b. Netanʾel ha-Levi to the title of Nagid. The sender calls Moshe (and/or his ancestors?) “one of the pegs on which a person must hang himself (an yataʿallaqa bi-hā),” a translation of the maxim from the Talmud Yerushalmi “Fortunate is he whose ancestors earned merit for him, for he has a peg (yated) on which to hang himself (lehitalot).” (Information from M. A. Friedman's article on Zuta, p. 482.)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. For the community's expenses on the synagogue quarter. Dated: 427 AH, which is 1035/36 CE. (A previous PGP entry said 1427 Seleucid = 1115/16 CE.) On verso there are further (related) accounts mainly in Arabic script but with some Judaeo-Arabic at the bottom. These are dated 429 AH, which is 1037/38 CE. Apparently edited in Ora Vaza Molad's MA Thesis, pp. 108–98.

Letter sent from Fustat by Barhun b. Salih al-Tahirti to his cousin Barhun b. Musa. The letter deals with business dealing with Muslims and the collection of debts. Dated ca. 1053. (Information from Gil)

Communal letter of some kind. In Hebrew. Dated: End of Iyyar 5791 AM, which is 1031 CE. Approximately 18 signatures are preserved, including that of Menuḥa ha-Kohen b. Yosef (who appears in T-S 12.427 and who also signed T-S 13J1.7 and ENA 2556.8). Information in part from Friedman, "Polygamy — New Information from the Genizah" Tarbiz 43 (1973), p. 168 and from Goitein, Med Soc II, p. 571, n. 42.

Letter of appeal for charity. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Long, well-written, well-preserved.

Letter from Yosef ha-Kohen and Shelomo ha-Shofeṭ and 'the two congregations' of Fustat addressed to an unknown community (aḥeinu anshei [the fragment ends here]). In Hebrew.

Letter from the lepers of Tiberias. Fragment. Written by Hillel b. Yoshua. (Gil)

Letter from Yisrael ha-Kohen Gaon b. Shemuel. April 1019, in the handwriting of Israel ha-Kohen b. Shemuel b. Hofni. The letter is addressed to one of the most important members in the community. The addressee and the community/place are unknown. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #62) VMR

Letter addressed to Moshe b. Ghālib ha-Kohen. Dating: Probably 11th or 12th century. Discusses the education of 'the children of the community' (awlād al-ṣibbur). Only the upper part of the letter is preserved here.

Bill of release. 12 th centurty

Letter from Yehuda b. Ṭoviyyahu, probably in Bilbays, to Yiṣḥaq b. Yehuda, probably in Fustat. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Apparently putting in a good word for an orphaned youth (al-ṣabiyy al-yetom) who is poor and owes the capitation tax. There are also several mentions of "the elders in a partnership" (with the addressee?).

Letter to the community of Damsis from Avraham Hakohen, recommending a ertain person. Letter from the Nasi is mentioned and also mentioned Abu Ishaq

Letter from Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī, in Trapani, Sicily (Gil prefers to read אטראבנש in line 2 over Goitein's and Ben-Sasson's אטראבלש), to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1053 CE. The top line of the recto is partially torn away, as is the writing on more than three quarters of the text of the top margin. The writer spent the winter and the summer in Tripoli (Libya) and and in Sicily. Some of the family members are in the Maghrib, and they are caught up in a mess of an unclear nature. Mentions the textile trade with Sicily; the procurement of flax in Egypt; and other business matters.

Letter drafts from Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, in Alexandria. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1139 CE. This fragment contains three different drafts of letters. The first draft is partial and appears to be an incomplete version of the second draft. This is a letter addressed to an unnamed Jewish courtier in Fustat. The third draft is likely addressed to the Head of the Jews, probably the new Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. In this letter, Ḥalfon apologizes for not having presented himself in person or having written earlier. He blames this on his wretched condition in the wake of his illnesses (v16–18) and the tribulations of his four-year journey to the Maghrib and to al-Andalus. In particular, he has been shaken by the deaths of his brother and the death of 'our diadem and crown and master and head' (v19–21); Goitein concludes that the references are to Ḥalfon's brother ʿEli and to the head of the Yeshiva, Maṣliah Gaon. Presumably, Ḥalfon wrote these drafts during the period he spent in Alexandria upon his return from the West to Egypt in April 1139 CE. "God knows how I wrote this, with a downcast heart and trembling fingers." Description based on India Book 4, #58. ASE.

Letter sent by Yiṣḥaq b. Barhun to Ismail b. Farah. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 518 and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Yehuda ha-Levi, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: After the middle of September 1140 CE. In Judaeo-Arabic. He mentions the exaggerated honors that the Jews of Alexandria honored him with, especially Aharon Ibn al-ʿAmmānī. He felt the need to show outwardly (“טאהר”) that he received them kindly, but that they embarrassed him because he did not leave Spain on his way to Israel, but wanted, in his hidden intention ('באטן') to be alone, and he saw death before his eyes. The poet asked Ḥalfon to write a letter of thanks to the judge, whose sending would prove how much the guest appreciated the efforts of his benefactor. In the continuation, he responds to Ḥalfon’s "depression and sadness of heart," mentioned in IV, 92. Yehuda ha-Levi explains that this is a natural response to Ḥalfon's grief for the death of his brother ʿEli. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)

Letter from Labrāṭ b. Moshe b. Sughmār, in Sūsa, to his younger brother Abū Zekharya Yehuda b. Moshe, in Fustat. Dating: August 1056 (Gil). This long letter alludes to dire events that took place in North Africa and Sicily, including the invasion of the Bedouins, the destruction of Qayrawān and the siege of Sūsa. The letter also conveys family news about the Banū Sughmār. Labrāṭ opens saying that death is now preferable to life (r3–6). Their mother had recently died (r9–10); Labrāṭ sends a rebuke to a certain Avraham for failing to send him a letter of condolence (v1–2). "I am at this time exhausted (or muddled, multāth), confused and doubtful. By my father, I don't know what I'm writing because my mind is preoccupied. May the end be good, God willing" (r15–16). Labrāṭ congratulates on his brother on his marriage to a woman from a notable family in Fustat. He asks his brother to convey congratulations to Abū l-Khayr, the new brother-in-law, "because I have no heart and no mind," i.e., Labrāṭ is too depressed to write himself (r30–36). He uses the same excuse for his failure to maintain his correspondence with "al-rav al-ajall," the most exalted teacher (v5). "I write these lines overcome by tears" due to his separation from his brother and lack of close confidants in Sūsa (r36–37). Labrāṭ plans to travel soon, whether to east or to west. If the addressee wishes to travel, he should come to al-Mahdiyya or alternatively go to the Rīf and acquire goods for the two of them. "But in this time I have no sure opinion (ra'y)—the decision is yours" (v15–17). The other parts of the letter consist of business affairs and greetings to people in Egypt. Among the business affairs are reports on shipping, including the following: "You mentioned that you loaded three (loads of freight) onto the qārib of Mufarrij and one onto the qārib of Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ," and the former reached Tripoli (r17–18); later in the letter, he adds: "Just now a letter arrived from my lord Abī l-Faḍl Yūsuf b. Khalfa mentioning that the small (laṭīf) ship of Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ has also reached Tripoli" (v20–21). (Information in part from Gil.) ASE and MR

Letter from Avraham Maimonides to Ḥayyim b. Ḥananel. An autograph. A previous description called this "Three drafts of a letter sent by Shelomo to Hayyim." Published by P. B. Fenton, ‘A Judeo-Arabic Commentary on the Hafṭārōt by Ḥanan’ēl ben Šěmū’ēl (?), Abraham Maimonides’ Father-in-Law’, Maimonidean Studies, 1 (1990), pp. 27–56