Geniza Lab

Letter from the judge Avraham b. [Mevorakh] ha-Kohen, the head of the Jewish community in al-Maḥalla, to the Nagid/Raʾīs al-Yahūd Mevorakh b. Seʿadya. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script (including with Mevorakh's title אלוף הבינות spelled out الوف هبينوت). Dating: 1094–95 CE. Avraham congratulates the Nagid Mevorakh on his return to power (in 1094 CE) and reports that the rent for the synagogue—a government building rented to the community—had been raised by two dinars by a Jewish tax farmer leasing the building for the government. Abū Saʿīd Khalaf and Abū l-Faḍl Yakhīn, the ghulām of the Nagid, are also mentioned. On verso the remainder of the letter is followed by a list of books in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli, with a note stating ‘owed to me by Abū Saʿd’. (Information from CUDL and Mediterranean Society, I, 379.)

Letter of appeal for charity. In a mixture of Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew, in a crude hand. (Information from CUDL.)

Letter sent from Alexandria to Avraham ha-Rav ha-Sefaradi. (Perhaps the same Avraham ha-Sefaradi as in ENA 2558.13, who corresponded with the Nagid Yehoshuaʿ Maimonides in the first half of the 14th century.) In Hebrew. The sender conveys the plight of a woman who is his neighbor, presumably urging Avraham to intercede. This woman comes from a distinguished, educated, and wealthy family from Barcelona. After she had been a widow for 12 years, a man named Yosef arrived from "the city of Castile" (Toledo? or does it just mean "one of the cities of Castile"?). He said that he was a great sage and physician, and the widow's parents delightedly took him as their son-in-law. It turned out that he was a liar, a fraud, an ignoramus, and a great heretic ("Who commanded us to wear tzitzit? Who commanded us to put on tefillin? God did not command these things.") Her parents are inconsolable; she is their only child. The husband has already swindled them out of 500 pieces of silver. He does not even give her food to eat. The pair have since gone to Fustat. ASE.

Letter from a man, in Damascus, to his father, perhaps in Fustat. The sender expresses his longing and desperation in this foreign land, especially after the departure of Manṣūr ("the world closed itself in on me... I cry... and wish my soul would leave, but it does not"). He reports that he is revered, because he has successfully humiliated all the competing cantors, and now nobody dares to chant in his presence. (The father seems to be a cantor as well.) His father was upset that he entered the service of "someone like the ghulām"; Manṣūr will explain everything when he arrives. He was unable to send some of the goods for his brother; Ibn Abū l-Zakkār may have told him not to trust a potential bearer. He has sent with Manṣūr a mould of cheese worth 2.5 dirhams, and he has equipped Manṣūr with funds to keep the cheese well-oiled en route lest it dry out. He complains about the lack of sustenance in Damascus. He claims to fast most days out of sorrow/longing, and he repeatedly asks for prayers. He is worried that his enemies will gain the upper hand over him (he may have seen this in a dream? Verso, line 8). He describes the hospitality of his paternal uncles and their children and his maternal aunt. He asks for news of potential fiancees back home—his cousin (bint ʿamm) and Nabaʾ—since the locals in Damascus are trying to set him up with a local woman. He emphasizes that he would never get married with his father absent. He alludes to a period of a year when he had a falling-out with his father, a rift which is now healed (this may explain some of the over-the-top language of longing in this letter). He asks for some aqwāl, which should be sent to the house of the Nezer along with instructions to forward them to Aleppo should the son have traveled already. He concludes by warning his father to seal all of his future letters—"and not with a heavy seal." (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Family letter addressed to Bū l-Ṭāḥir. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender plans to leave for al-Maḥalla after the holiday to retrieve some money from a dyer. He hopes to bring the blanket (malḥafa) of Sitt Suʿūd with him. He has been able to find a boat to travel in, on account of some bad thing happening with the fleet (al-usṭūl)—could the navy be commandeering (masakū) Nile boats? He instructs the children to be nice to each other, and whatever money they need, the sender will reimburse the addressee. Regards to various people, including Sitt al-Niʿam; Sitt Suʿūd; Sitt ʿAbīd; Sitt Masʿūd; and Sitt al-Khayr. Written in the last decade of Tishrei (the year is not given). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Memorandum from Yosef b. Avraham to Ishaq Nafusi. Aden, 1130s.

Letter from [Hi]llel b. Yeshuʿa to Shela b. Bū l-Khayr ha-Kohen. In Hebrew. Dating: Late, probably no earlier than 14th century. The sender had left the addressee (and someone named Yosef?) in charge of his property in Jerusalem, so that it would be ready for him upon his return, or if he wished to send something there. The purpose of this letter is to chastise the addressee, who has apparently violated the terms of the arrangement. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably early 13th century. Might be from a family member of Sitt Ghazāl to Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (cf. Bodl. MS heb. c 28/64 + CUL Or.1080 J125 + DK 357 and ENA 2808.36). "You write to me that you are in distress from her character (akhlāq). I want you to write to me and tell me exactly what the problem is, because I don't know what the problem is. Tell me what it is so that I can take care of it for you... for you are dear to me, greater than my brother and like my father in nobility. Whatever good you treat her with, God will reward you for it and you will earn reward." Greetings to 'the dear sister,' to Isḥāq and his wife, to al-Ḥedvat (cf. ENA NS 53.5, ENA NS 58.14, T-S NS J420, T-S NS J76), Bū Saʿd, others, and Bū l-Faraj al-Makīn b. Bū l-Zakkār(?). On verso there is a calendar.

Three different text blocks. (1) Recto: qinnot. (2) Note in Judaeo-Arabic possibly in the same hand as the qinnot. Abū l-ʿAlāʾ tells "my rabbi and teacher" that he sent this quire as soon as he received his letter, but the bearer was delayed. (3) Hebrew poetry/piyyuṭ in the hand of Yehuda b. Ṭoviyyahu (muqaddam of Bilbays, late 12th and early 13th century). So Yehuda was probably the addressee of the note.

Appeal from the Jewish communal administration in Cairo to Egyptian Jews calling them to fast for a day in the month (Sivan) in remembrance of the events that occurred to the Jews of Ukraine in the 1648CE, September 15 1921CE – Museum of Islamic Art – in Judeo-Arabic in Rashi script. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 37). A full scan and an edition of this document is available in: Ḥasan and Sarrāj, Al-Janiza wa-l-maʿābid al-Yahūdiyya fī Miṣr, 147-152. Although the MIAC catalogue refers to the communal authority in general terms, it is crucial to note that in the document itself the institution making this appeal is the Beit Dīn Miṣr/בית דין מצר. MCD.

Personal letter from the head of the Babylonian community in Jerusalem (Adath HaBablim) to Mr. Yiṣḥaq Mordechai [Gabbay] seeking an explanation for why he has not been writing letters and similarly about items sent to Alexandria that have not arrived – 13 Iyyar 1922CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 10) – in Judeo-Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 52). This may be the same Isḥak Mordechai mentioned in MIAC 212. An original scan of the typewritten letter and Arabic-script edition of it appear in Al-Janiza wa-l-maʿābid al-Yahūdiyya fī Miṣr (pp. 166-169). Although the letter sender's name is not included in the MIAC catalogue it is mostly legible in the scan as "Eliyyāhū Menaḥem Shemuel Zofiēl[?]." A portion of the letterhead is in English and states "Registered by the Jerusalem Govern. under act 3939/239." MCD.

Letter from Monsieur Yosef Raḥmīn and Atūrī in the Nile textile company to the Jewish charitable society of Ḥeberāt Māzūn containing a check with the amount for six months of participation 23 April 1953CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 100) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 56). MCD.

Letter from the mayor of Likrik[?] regarding the eligbility of a person named Shemuʾel who has been residing in the city for forty-seven years – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 101) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 63). MCD.

Translation of a letter delivered by Kẖawaja Nissim ʿAsīf in March 1952 for welcoming the chief rabbi of the Jews in Cairo [R. Ḥayyim Naḥūm Effendi?] in praise of the role he played in the political sphere and the religious sphere and in the history of the Turkish revival and the Lausanne Conference – in the era of King Fu'ād, and Yosef Aslan Cattawi Pasha was heading the committee of the Jewish community – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 104) in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 34). MCD.

Announcement from the educational committee about the morning and evening classes for the summer of 1953, and a chart naming the teachers and the children who will be studying and the meeting times – (number 108) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa. ed. Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 30). MCD.

Letter – undated – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 109) – in Hebrew. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 54). MCD.

Invitation from the union of Jewish religious institutions of Egypt to the president of the Yeshiva Ahava VeAhva for participating in the collective and it is equal to 10% of the income of the association – 23 September 1946CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 110) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 46). MCD.

Card invitation for the celebration of "the blessed bestowal" in the national club at the Jelal Pasha building at Tawfīkīya on Sunday 25 May at five – 18 May 1906CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 115) – in French. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 49). MCD.

Personal letter from Jerusalem – February 6 1953CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 118) – in Judeo-Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 57). MCD.

Announcement from a kosher butcher under the management of Alshomir Rafle Dāūd advertising the sale of kosher meats in bulk – undated – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 119) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 48). MCD.