Geniza Lab

Letter from Saʿīd b. Marḥab on behalf of the court, in Aden, to the druggist Hillel b. Naḥman (aka Sayyid al-Kull), in Fustat. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Adar I [1]467 Seleucid, which is January 25–February 23, 1156 CE. The letter gives a uniquely detailed report on a shipwreck, as the addressee's son-in-law Hiba b. Abū Saʿd was on board, and the addressee had requested verification of his death and details about the retrieval of his possessions. The sender devotes the entire letter to the former and adds only one brief sentence in the margin of verso, about the possessions, which were confiscated by the sultan. The ship belonged to the Nagid Ḥalfon b. Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan. Most of the cargo on the ship belonged to him, though every Jewish trader in Aden had some cargo on it. There were only four Jews on board. It was called the Kūlamī ship as it set out for Kūlam aka Kollam aka Quilon on the Malabar Coast. The court of Aden here presents all of the available evidence for the shipwreck: eyewitness accounts, secondhand reports, and legal pronouncements. The main source of the information that the ship sank came from the Barībatanī ship which sailed together with it, i.e., the ship for Valapattanam aka Valarapattanam aka Balyapattanam, a port five miles from Cannanore aka Kannur, which is north of Kollam. During the rest of that year and the following year, travelers arrived in Aden coming from all over India, from East Africa ("the land of the Zanj"), from Somalia ("the inland region of Berbera"), from Abyssinia and its provinces, and from the south Arabian regions of Ashḥār and Qamar, and the accounts of all travelers were consistent with the Kūlamī ship having been wrecked. The court in Aden had ruled that the evidence was sufficient to free Sitt al-Ahl, the daughter of Hillel b. Naḥman, from being an ʿaguna, but they defer to the authorities in Egypt, as this was a lenient and tenuous ruling. The sender of this letter, Saʿīd b. Marḥab, is incidentally the earliest known Yemeni Jewish poet. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Traders; see analysis and translation there for further details.)

Letter from a European Jew whose ship sank en route on his way to fulfill a vow to visit Jerusalem, and lost all his belongings by jettisoning. The writer’s appeal to the congregation, written in Hebrew on a piece of vellum, describes his multi-faceted journeys: first to Alexandria, where the Muslims tried to collect the capitation tax from him, and secondly, to (likely) Fustat after being rescued by a Jew and where he was currently hiding out after being harassed by the tax collector and fearing imprisonment. (Mark Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, 120; and S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 1:323, 483) EMS

Letter. One of the small handful of Judaeo-Arabic papyri. Labeled "papyrus I" in the classification of Blau and Hopkins. Dating: Probably 9th century or earlier. Unlikely to have come from the Cairo Geniza; it is possible that most or all of these documents derive from a commercial circle in Ushmūn. This is a letter from Ḥusayn b. Suwayd to his business partner Abū Yaʿqūb Isḥāq b. Ṣadaqa. (Same sender and addressee as Judaeo-Arabic papyrus XIII.) It deals entirely with shipments of garments and payments. (Information from Blau and Hopkins, and from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 282.)

Recto and verso: Letter. One of the small handful of Judaeo-Arabic papyri. Labeled "papyrus II" in the classification of Blau and Hopkins. Dating: Probably 9th century or earlier. Unlikely to have come from the Cairo Geniza; it is possible that most or all of these documents derive from a commercial circle in Ushmūn. This document is by far the most extensive and well-preserved Judaeo-Arabic papyrus known (at least this was true in 1987). It is also the first to have been discussed in print (in 1886/87). This is a letter from Yaʿaqov b. Yosef possibly to somebody named Yom Ṭov and/or to [Yose]f b. Menaḥem Shuqayr in the Jews' Market (Sūq al-Yahūd), possibly in Ḥawz Shuqayr ("the precinct of Shuqayr"). The addressee may be the father of the sender. The letter discusses numerous shipments of textiles and money. (Information in part from Blau and Hopkins and from Gil.)

Verso: Document(s) occupying the verso of one of the small handful of Judaeo-Arabic papyri. Labeled "papyrus III" in the classification of Blau and Hopkins. Dating: Probably 9th century or earlier. Unlikely to have come from the Cairo Geniza; it is possible that most or all of these documents derive from a commercial circle in Ushmūn. There are 5 distinct sections in addition to the address of the letter from recto. It seems that these sections are epistolary experiments, at least in part relating to the complete letter on recto. Some of them may be drafts of a response from the addressee of the letter on recto. (Information from Blau and Hopkins.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to "the one I am angry at," viz., his father-in-law Abu l-Faraj in Alexandria. Shelomo is upset at the lack of letters. He also wants Abu l-Faraj to discipline Abu l-‘Izz (presumably Abu l-Faraj’s son of the same name), whom Shelomo claims is a drunk and a debtor and a disgrace. Abu l-Faraj should command Abu l-‘Izz to stop associating with friends who are a bad influence on him. Abu l-‘Izz borrowed 20 dirhems from Shelomo but now claims that he owes only 16. But this is no matter, Shelomo writes self-pityingly, because he recently lost nearly 250 dirhems on expenses for his daughter who died at 3 months of age. Discussed in Krakowski, Coming of Age in Medieval Egypt, Princeton University Press (2018), p. 254.

Informal note from Ibn al-Ḥarizi (apparently the famous Spanish Hebrew-language poet Yehuda al-Ḥarizi) to Eliyyahu the Judge. Dating: Before 1225 CE and probably after ca. 1215 CE. (Our main source for the biography of al-Ḥarizi is Ibn al-Shaʿʿār al-Mawṣilī, whose section on al-Ḥarizi has been published and discussed by Yosef Sadan in Peʿamim 68.) In Judaeo-Arabic, with many crossed-out phrases and interlinear corrections. He had intended to travel by sea from Alexandria to ʿAkkā in Palestine, but he is preoccupied on account of his books and effects worth 7 dinars that he has left in Alexandria and cannot bring with him. He fears they will be damaged if he has them sent with a muleteer. He has been forced to do something himself (travel with them? travel without them? the preposition "ʿan" is confusing here). He wants Eliyyahu to ask Ṣadaqa the Jew to help him, or at least stay in his place "until I return from Alexandria." He also fears that the goods won't reach him if he goes ahead to Bilbays (spelled בולביס) east of Cairo and waits for them. He says there is no need for Eliyyahu to come resolve the matter himself. He sends regards to al-Rayyis al-Muhadhdhab. On recto there is Hebrew poetry in a different hand, at least one poem by Yehuda ha-Levi. (Al-Ḥarizi tore up the literary text in order to get a blank page for his letter). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.) This letter was edited by Blau and Yahlom in Masʿe Yehuda (2002), 271–75. A note in Goitein and Friedman, India Book II, p. 459 n. 8 (and English edition p. 521 n. 8) indicates that there is some disagreement about the interpretation of the letter (or at least its opening). ASE

Letter from the community of Gaza to the court in Fustat, the second quarter of the eleventh century.

Petition from the Mamluk period. [Described on the paper wrapper as: "Un esclave mamelouk demandant à son ancienne maitresse de retourner dans sa première maison" ; on a separate small piece of paper : "A mamlouk (slave) asking his ancient mistress to return him to her house. She has sold him to a man whose house is dirty and hot."].

Letter mentioning real estate and rent in Cairo, the writer's son, qarārīṭ (carats). Folded once vertically then rolled and folded horizontally. Wormholes.

Letter in Arabic.

Decree of a Coptic official, dated 25 Baʾūnah (?) of the Coptic year 1392 (?).

Item 26 : Letter of praise addressed to a benefactor in the hopes of some financial reward. Oversize.

Letter. Arabic script.

Letter from Abu Yūsuf, in Fustat, to Abū Yūsuf Yaʿaqov ha-Ḥaver b. Yiṣḥaq, in Aleppo. In Hebrew. Information from FGP.

Letter draft probably from Efrayim b. Shemarya probably to the Palestinian Gaon Shelomo b. Yehuda. (Identifications are according to Bareket.) In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender defends himself against the accusations that he embezzles communal funds and corresponds with the exilarchs and the heads of the Iraqi yeshivas, including Hayya Gaon, glorifying himself with their letters to him and paying them more respect than he does to the Palestinian yeshivot. He insists that he he does not correspond with them—he just received a single letter from the exilarch and sent a single letter to Hayya. He also denies that he asked Hayya about eating meat after the fast (probably referring to the 9th of Av). He mentions various other people from the Egyptian community by name. He concludes with expressions of great deference and pleas not to believe the slander that he honors anyone more than he honors the Palestinian Gaon and the Palestinian yeshiva. NB: The Reinach Geniza manuscript is a single, large sheet of paper measuring 44cm x 46cm and containing 7 distinct blocks of text. Its current whereabouts are unknown, but it was published by Schwab with a facsimile in 1920: https://www.persee.fr/doc/rjuiv_0484-8616_1920_num_70_139_5266. (Information in part from Schwab and Bareket.) ASE

Letter from Shelomo Kohen b. Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Sijilmasi, in Fustat, to his father, most likely in Aden while on his return journey from India. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: January 1148 CE. Shelomo gives a detailed account of the Almohad invasions and persecutions in the West from 1145 to the present-day (on the day he wrote the letter, a messenger arrived with the news that Bejaia had fallen to the Almohads). He also gives a detailed description of his illness. "As for me, after having opened a shop, a great general depression (kasār) occurred. I was ill for nine months with tertiary fever (al-muthallatha) and fever of the liver (ḥummā l-kabd). Neither I, nor anyone else believed that I would recover from this. In the wake of the illness, difficulties in breathing (ḍīq nafas) befell me, which lasted two months. Had I not made up my mind to leave the business, I would have perished. At present, I do nothing, sitting partly in the qāʿa [workshop or Bible school] of Joseph and partly in the store of the Son of the Scholar. I study a good part of the night with him every night" (Goitein, Med Soc, V, p. 337). Shelomo concludes with a profuse expression of filial dedication: “Please, with the help of the Almighty, may the reply to this my letter be the sight of you, if God wills. Be not enticed by business so that you forget us. For—by my faith in Heaven—every additional day of your absence takes a year from our lives. Consider that the life of the son of man is nothing but light. You are our light. If you are not with us, how can we live?” (Goitein, Med. Soc., viii, C, 2, n. 125; translation slightly altered for clarity). Partial English translation by Goitein, Med Soc V, 59-61 and 107. Discussed in Miriam Frenkel, “Genizah Documents as Literary Products.” ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Recto is extremely damaged/faded, while verso is mostly legible. The hand may be known. Recto mentions ʿImrān; a woman; legal proceedings; corrupt judgments (al-dīn al-fāsid); a favor requested of the addressee; and Sayyidnā Sar ha-Sarim (generally the title of Sar Shalom ha-Levi, Head of the Jews for part of the period 1171–95 CE); and relief that the sender already received from Sar ha-Sarim. He might also mention his physical tribulations (from dust? a broken rib?): אני מקאץ אלגבאר מכסור אלגנב (last line). On verso he says that he lives peaceably with his neighbors; he plans to go to the woman (the wife or widow of Nissim?) and bring her and her children to make a legal declaration that they will repay the addressee the dinars that they owe him; everyone is in agreement with this plan. The original letter ends here with greetings and a yeshaʿ yiqrav. He adds a postscript to the effect that he has sent another letter to Sayyidnā, summarizing its contents or urging the addressee to intervene with Sayyidnā to make sure it gets acted upon. He complains about a certain "madman" (majnūn) to whose name he appends curses. The madman sowed discord between the sender and his sister and her children. He quotes Proverbs 6:19 (וּמְשַׁלֵּחַ מְדָנִים בֵּין אַחִים). He says that the addressee is already aware of 'what they did' with the widow, the daughter of Ḥasan(?) and with Dā'ūd and Yūsuf with an inheritance. He concludes by complaining once again about the madman. (Information in part from Amir Ashur via http://www5.kb.dk/manus/judsam/2009/sep/dsh/object44694/en/#kbOSD-0=page:4). ASE

Letter by Ḥusayn b. Suwayd to Yiṣḥaq b. Ṣadaqa. On papyrus. Unclear if this is written in Judaeo-Arabic or Arabic script, but probably the former. Erratic spelling and style. Requesting that the addressee send peeled grain (dashīsh) on wheat and ten dinars. Fustat and the Fayyūm are mentioned. Information from Goitein's note card. There do not seem to be images on FGP.

Geonic responsum about the calendar controversy of Ben Meir, dated 994–95 CE. It is attributed to Hayye Gaon. Preserved here is the second of two versions of this responsum, referring to the era of Creation, the epoch of the molad and tequfah, and the 19-year cycle. The first version is preserved in a secondary source, Abraham bar Ḥayya’s monograph on the Jewish calendar known as Sefer ha-'Ibbur (3:7), first published by Herschell Filipowski in 1851. Although these two versions share much in common, there are significant textual variations between them, and extensive passages that are unique to only one or the other version. Thus, this passage refers to the controversy of Ben Meir and is preserved only in the Cairo Geniza version. (Information from Sacha Stern, The Jewish Calendar Controversy)