Geniza Lab

Recto: the first couple lines of a draft of an Arabic letter. Verso: Hebrew blessings for somebody in large letters.

Recto: Form letter of recommendation for charity. In Hebrew. Yemeni hand? Filled in with the name of Yaḥyā b. Sulaymān. Dating: Late, probably 17th–19th century. Verso: a legal query and its responsum.

Letter from Daniel ha-Levi, in Damascus, to someone important named Natan. Late. In Hebrew. The letter has to do with a man named Binyamin Fā'ina (? פאינה) who moved to Egypt some years ago. Rumors returned that he had converted to Christianity (or were Muslims also referred to as 'arelim?). His parents were very worried until he wrote to assure them that he was living in peace and tranquility. Daniel asks Natan to send this Binyamin back home to his parents so that they can be even more reassured. Binyamin's parents are related to the writer; the mother is the daughter of the late rabbi Yosef Kannawi (? כנאוי). BL OR 5561B.23 is the envelope/address. ASE.

Letter of recommendation. Late. In Hebrew, with some Aramaic and Judaeo-Arabic. The bearer Saʿīd b. Manṣūr the Yemeni is from a good family and has had to abandon his wife and children, traveling in search of charity and a living.

Letter of appeal. Above, 13 lines of Hebrew blessings in large letters (perhaps a template purchased already filled out). Below, 6 lines of Judaeo-Arabic begging for help from the recipient in smaller letters.

Letter from an unidentified Nagid to R. Aהraham regarding an insubordinate cantor. Given this shelfmark's prior identification as late and Dotan Arad's attribution of the letter to a Nagid, it likely dates to the 14th-early 16th centuries (no later than 1517CE). Date: 14th c, 15th c, 16th c. MCD.

Late Hebrew letter from Jerusalem, from a pious man who recently settled there and does not like what he sees. He opens with describing how much he was upset by not having the recipient with him—possibly on the journey, possibly when he gave a sermon and the people didn't like it. He heard that the recipient was in trouble with a debtor who falsified the sum that was owed, but thankfully the king came to the aid of the recipient. He then describes how joyful it was to finally arrive in the Holy Land. Except that due to our sins, there are a lot of evils to report. There is no justice and the laws of Israel are scorned. Furthermore, people have wicked tongues, "they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood" (Jeremiah 9:2). Furthermore, Jews charge each other interest, which will be the reason for the destruction of the wealth of all of Israel. Furthermore, in line 19, he may refer to the people's use of impious amulets and healing charms. ASE.

Recto and verso: Letter(s) in Arabic script with wide space between the lines. (It is not immediately clear if recto and verso are from the same letter or not.) The text on recto has some unusual features. There is a line in larger script above (a motto? a name?). There is then a word with a horizontal bar spanning an entire line (wa-kutiba?), and the next line is tricky to make out. Then the letter begins (waṣala kitābuka yā shaykhī...). In the left margin at 90 degrees there are the remnants of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Verso: Letter from an official (motto: yeshaʿ yuḥash). In Hebrew. Written between the lines of the Arabic document. Evidently a response to a letter soliciting funds for a crisis: "Your (pl.) letter was received... it wounded the hearts... and the matter was copied(?) to the elders and dignitaries... they were very distressed and did what was in their power... especially Abū l-Ḥasan Yefet b. Ḥayyim... but they (the elders) could not do more than what they did..." (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Letter by Sherira Gaon and Hayye Gaon in the hand of a professional scribe. Originally written in ca. 1005. Sent to Fustat to an aluf, probably Avraham b. Sahlān. Mentions Shemarya b. Elḥanan and his son Elḥanan. Mentions “the son of the deceased ruler,” probably al-Ḥākim. Refers to distress and persecutions that the writers suffered, and hints at a controversy in Fustat. Expresses thanks for a delivery of parcels (probably containing halakhic queries and money) that had reached the yeshiva with the assistance of Yaʿaqov b. ʿAwkal. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 96.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The sender asks the recipient to represent him in kissing the ground before the Nagid (Sayyidnā Rayyis al-Zaman wa-Qudwat al-Inas). He asks for news of R. Eliyyahu and his son and what passed between the 'brother' and the Nagid with regard to the matter of the Rav and with regard to the previous letters. He also asks for news of the Nasi. The letter concludes with "your slave Abū Zikrī and his children apologize for not having departed to serve the master." ASE.

Letter from Efrayim b. Ismaʿīl al-Jawharī (Alexandria) to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. ʿAwkal (Fustat). Provides information about goods, mainly fabrics, that came from the Maghreb to Alexandria and about their transfer to Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 543.)

Mercantile letter from the Ibn ʿAwkal dossier. Dating: early 11th century. Includes great complaints about bad treatment by addressee. (Information from Goitein's index card.) Ed. Gil, תרבות וחברה בתולדות ישראל בימי-הביניים: קובץ מאמרים לזכרו של חיים הלל בן-ששון - עורכים: בונפיל, ראובן;בן-ששון, מנחם;הקר, יוסף.

Family letter. In Arabic script. Maybe from a man in serious trouble with his wife, writing to his son who appeased or reached a settlement with her (ṣālaḥta sittak). The sender calls her a ḥānitha (oathbreaker) and a saḥḥāqa (literally "tribadist" but usually meaning "lesbian" - see Pernilla Myrne, Female Sexuality in the Early Medieval Islamic World, p. 146). The sender concludes by threatening to kill himself or do something violent to her unless they “set him free,” and if he acts rashly it will be the addressee’s fault:قد صالحت ستك بالله عليك اطلق سراحي ولك في ذلك الاجر من الله الا [[قلتل]] قتلت روحي او اعمل بها مصيبة وتكون المطالب باثمي. Merits further examination. ASE.

Letter of condolence on the death of a woman. From an unidentified sender, probably in Qūṣ, to Abū l-Karam and his son Abū Isḥāq b. al-[...], in Fustat. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. The sender was staying in the funduq of Ibn al-Muṭiyy (בן אלמטי) in Qūṣ. There is also a deceased man, as the sender writes in the margin of recto that "your letters distract me from reading the letters of the deceased man (al-marḥūm)." Verso contains greetings to and from various people, including to Fakhr al-Dawla. In the margin of verso, he asks the addressee to forward a letter to the wife (? ṣāḥiba) of Ibrāhīm b. Amīn al-Mulk, one of the Yemeni traders "who burned in the ill-omened funduq." ASE

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. This is a long, dense, and well-preserved mercantile letter. Needs examination. (Information in part from Goitein's note card)

Excerpt of letter from Eli Ha-Kohen b. Ezekiel, Jerusalem, to the Ḥaver in Fustat, probably Eli b. Amram, ca. 1060.

On recto, the bottom of a letter (official letter? formulary?) in Arabic script. The writer thanks the addressee in the concluding lines quoting two verses of poetry that are commonly quoted to express gratitude - ولو أنني أوتيت كل بلاغة*وأفنيت بحر النطق في النظم والنثر لما كنت بعد القول إلا مقصرا*ومعترفا بالعجز عن واجب الشكر On verso, two lines of poetry in Arabic script headed by a basmala on the theme of love for the addressee. Needs further examination.

Letter in elegant Arabic script and style. "Waṣala kitābukā muwaddiʿan(?) min jawāhiri alfāẓihī wa-sharīf khiṭāb mā anʿama fī.... wa-hāja lāʿiju ishtiyāqī wa-lawʿatī..." The continuation seems to be praising the eloquence of the addressee, and it may cite a line or two poetry at the bottom. Needs examination.

Letter from Ḥananel (حاننال), it seems in Tyre (recto, l. 3), to an unidentified addressee, in Fustat. In Arabic script. A vertical strip from the left side of the letter is missing. The sender mentions the arrival of a suftaja (money order) against Abū l-Faraj Mūsā; mentions Abū l-Faḍl Kātib al-Jaysh (in Tyre?); and around here the thread becomes difficult to follow. Needs further examination. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)