Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, fragment containing right margin (angle parking) and right part of some lines. Mentions Ibrāhīm b. Ḥassūn al-Mahdawī.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, 12th c sefaradi hand, should be checked against Maimonides, Yehuda ha-Levi and other known quantities. The writer signs his name Yosef b. [...].

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, small fragment only.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to 'the father' Abū Sahl. The writer reports that a sick man is in dangerous condition (al-marīḍ ʿalā khaṭar (or conceivably ʿalā khuṭṭa)) and he requests help hiring transportation, possibly to Fuwwa. MR. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: late medieval (sefaradi-influenced hand), possibly 14th-15th century. Mostly consists of particularly flowery introductory praises.

Letter fragment (left side). In Judaeo-Arabic. Little of the subject matter remains; the writer may be requesting a favor.

Recto: court testimony, possibly a draft, in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, right half only. Verso: left half of a letter in Arabic script. Does not seem to be the Arabic script hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, which we know from other fragments.

Letter fragment from Faraḥ b. Yūsuf al-Qābisī. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Needs examination for content.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions: that Peraḥya's letter arrived with ʿAyyāsh; 17 dirhams; a woman (their mother?) praying for Peraḥya; a (capitation tax?) receipt (barāʾa) for 1/2 dinar; the addressee's preoccupation on account of a woman; Abū Saʿd; the government (al-ṣulṭān); and someone living in Fustat. The letter also deals with a fūṭa garment and some dirhams; something was intended for the addressee's mother. The crux of the matter is that the addressee should send something, because ʿAyyāsh says that he forgot that thing with Khiyār. There is also a qāḍī mentioned near the beginning of the letter. Yefet refers to "your mother and your sisters" and sends greetings to Abū Saʿīd (probably Ḥalfon) and Sitt Naʿīm. Join: Oded Zinger. Needs further examination now that the letter is complete.

Letter fragment (opening lines only). This part of the letter at least is in Hebrew.

Letter fragment in Hebrew addressed to ʿEli ha-Kohen. Little of the content remains.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Damsīs (recto) and Jūjar and Sammanūd (verso). There are also a few lines of Arabic script on verso.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Mentions the Rayyis, a tax (?mas), and Yosef ha-Kohen (in the address).

Letter addressed to several dignitaries and judges, including Aharon and Seʿadya. Small fragment (upper right corner). In Hebrew (for the introduction) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body). Moderately wide space between the lines. Informing them about something to do with the commercial dealings of Abū l-Riḍā.

Letter from a woman (ʿammat al-dayyān) to her brother-in-law. In Judaeo-Arabic. She asks him to deliver some goods or money and prevent(?) someone from traveling. Regards to Sitt Dhahab and the writer's sister.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Elegant hand. The writer inquires about whether the addressee's cousin (ibn ʿamma) will come.

Letter of appeal from a woman whose husband had abandoned her with Muslims. "In this fragmentary letter a woman bitterly describes her marital misfortunes. Her husband brought her and her eight year old daughter to live among non-Jews. He then abandoned them with no food or drink. She fell ill [with pleurisy—"itbarsamt"] and was forced to turn to her gentile neighbours for assistance. Her daughter died. Deserted, diseased and bereaved, she sought release from her marriage. She was advised, "Sell your hair and ransom yourself". The iftidā' or "ransom" divorce, which is referred to here, entailed the wife's renouncing her claim to the delayed mohar payment. The purport of the advice here seems to have been that even if she would be left completely destitute and would have to sell her hair for support, she should initiate divorce proceedings and ransom herself from the marriage. This reminds us of R. Akiba's instructions to a man who wanted to divorce his wife without paying her the full ketubah settlement: "Even if you have to sell the hair on your head, you must pay her her ketubah" (M. Ned. 9:5). In the present case the wife seems to have been reluctant to do this. She wanted assistance in accomplishing the divorce without losing what was due her as divorce settlement (ḥaqq). This document is described by Goitein, in Med. Soc. 3, 272. Goitein offers a different explanation of the advice given the woman to cut her hair, viz. by cutting her hair and sending it to the religious authorities, she would humiliate herself and thereby compel them to take action on her request to perform the ransom divorce. See the reference on p. 487, n. 136, for women of the court sending their hair to an important general. The fragment is in a poor state of preservation, and some of my readings are uncertain." Information, edition, and translation from Friedman, "Divorce Upon the Wife's Demand," p. 117f. See also Zinger, "She Aims to Harass Him," and "Long Distance Marriages" (note 57).

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment: right side only. Dating: Possibly first half of the 12th century, based on the reference to the merchant Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī (see Friedman, India Traders, p. 258, n. 1). The sender seems upset about the quality of a certain item that he bought from Yiṣḥaq. There is a matter of a deposit involving Khulayf b. Hārūn. He asks for news of Abū l-Ḥasan (and collection of the gold owed by him). The sender has sent a mat (? ḥaṣīr) with Ibn al-Dawāniqī. Regards to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllān, Khallūf al-Nafūsī, and Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī.

Original document: Accounts in very small Arabic script. Subsequent document: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to a woman. Written in the spaces around the original Arabic script. The writer reports on his meeting with the prospective groom of the addressee's daughter, in which they reached an agreement that the man would go to Bilbays and betroth (yuqaddis ʿalā) the woman (al-ṣughayyira) there and maintain her until Shavuʿot (al-ʿAnṣara), at which time the wedding will take place (yadkhulu baytahu). The early marriage payment is to be 5 dinars "with the conditions" (bi-l-shurūṭ: on this term see Ashur's dissertation, p. 217, n. 9) and the late marriage payment 20 dinars. Following the betrothal, the fiance's brother is going to take her to Cairo and rent her a house and maintain her until Shavuʿot when the marriage will take place. The writer warns the addressee 'not to let him come close' without paying the 5 dinars of the early marriage payment. He then suggests that there will be a second betrothal (taqdīs/qiddushin) ceremony in Cairo. He exhorts the addressee to be diligent in all this so that her daughter will obtain her livelihood/support. The letter becomes more difficult to understand around here. The writer mentions the army or army camp (al-ʿaskar) in connection with his own affairs. The letter is very faded in some places; this reading is provisional. Merits further examination. ASE.

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The same scribe left at least five other letters: see tag. In other letters, he writes to his father in Minyat Qā'id and is treated for a febrile disease by a physician named Ibn Ḥabīb. In this letter he mentions Abū l-Ḥasan (he has a brother of this name), discusses business matters, and mentions a bathhouse (ḥammām). Verso: Letter draft in Arabic script addressed to Abū Naṣr. Only the first two lines are present. Underneath, there is a line in Judaeo-Arabic (different hand than the letter on recto) that reads, "[my lett]er to you, and read it—O he who forgot me and whom I have not forgotten"; this is then transcribed into Arabic script. ASE.