Geniza Lab

Recto: Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat. Partial translation from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:271: "I am sending you with the bearer of this letter 15 dirhems. Please buy for me 1¼ pounds of emblic (amlaj) [“Indian gooseberry,” see above], approximately for 4¼ dirhems or less; 2½ pounds of deep-red rose water (mā' ward), approximately ¾ d.; A fuqqā‘a (bottle of potions), approximately ½ d. or less; 1 pound eye powder, well made, on special order, approximately 2 d. or less; 1 miswāk (tooth-cleaning twig), approximately 2 d.; 1 pound antimony, approximately 3¼ or 3½ d. or less; 2½ pounds cosmetic cream (mathāth), approximately 2¼ d.or less. The writer also sends three drafts of dirges (qinnot) and asks his brother Abū l-Ḥasan (Yedutun ha-Levi) to correct them. Verso: Petition draft in Arabic script to the Amir Sharaf al-Dawla (?). The handwriting is that of Moshe b. Levi (compare ENA NS 68.11). Lines 8-15 are the substance of the petition (وينهي انه قد اشتهى...), which requires further examination. The writer (perhaps Moshe) seems to repeat several times his desire to come to the great city. ASE.

Rhymed opening of letter to "the honorable Gaon, our teacher and leader." Excellent script, large space between the lines. JP

Letter fragment probably from ʿEli b. Hillel to his brother-in-law Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (identification is tentative, based on comparison with T-S 13J19.5). In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions an item of iron and two rings. The writer is preoccupied on account of the illness of the addressee's wife and has taken a vow to fast. If the identifications are correct, the sick woman is probably his sister (Ḥalfon's wife) Sitt al-Fakhr. VMR. ASE.

Letter to the Gaon Sar Shalom ha-Levi, head of the Palestinian yeshiva (in office ca. 1170–71 and 1173–95), in which the muqaddam of Qalyub (the handwriting is that of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi) excuses himself from appearing in person on account of his illness. He certifies that there was no civil or religious impediment to the marriage of the girl called Ama'im, daughter of Abu 'l-Ḥasan. The Gaon ordered an inquiry because the family had moved from one place to another, the girl's sister was married to a freedman, and her brother had moved from Qalyub to the Manufiyya district, where he embraced Islam. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 301, 591; III, p. 81; V, pp. 108, 110) VMR

Letter with a special request from the addressee to report about his illness. [An assumption that he was ill after not having heard from him for longer than usual]. VMR (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 103, 109-110, 535, 536)

Letter from a woman, in al-Mahdiyya, to her mother (Av)Dukia al-Rumiyya and to her sister Rini, in Alexandria. Scribed by Kalev al-Sofer. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer had a married daughter as well as a son who had been away for eight years. "I am working as a maid in every house, and my strength has weakened." She also mentions her sons Ibrāhīm and Moshe. VMR. Information in part from CUDL

Letter from Walad al-Nezer (i.e. Mevorakh b. Nathan b. Shemuel) to the notable Netanel b. Avraham, a physician living in the Rif (and muqaddam of al-Mahallah, see 10J20.21), recommending ha-Hazzan Abu l-Bayan Moshe b. ha-Hazzan al-Ahuv who traveled to the Rif in order to collect money for his capitation tax. The young man is recommended as one growing up among the hazzanim in the time of Sar Shalom - may his name live forever - and in our own time. Information from Goitein's note card and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:389-90, 612. EMS. ASE.

Letter in which the writer complains of things that have been worrying him, saying he didn't know they would continue as they did.

Letter from a family member to Abū l-Ḥasan b. Makhlūf, in Fustat (c/o the shop of the dayyān). In Judaeo-Arabic. Discussing money problems and an inability to pay the capitation tax. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 390, 612, and Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Awad b. Hanan'el in Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat, in which the writer complains of hardships he has endured, and asks for details about prices of goods in Fustat, ca. 1045-1096.

Letter from a man of high standing to the Nagid Shemuel (in office 1140-1159), dealing with a case of clothing, and a man who had been forced to sell his female slave. She was now living with the man's sister, and he continued to spend most of his time with her. Verso: Account fragment in Arabic script with Coptic numerals.

Letter from Abū Zikrī (b. Eliyyahu) to someone he addresses as "father." In rhymed, Judaeo-Arabic prose. Abū Zikrī is sick and hopes that God will send a swift recovery so that he can see the addressee in person. He complains that the addressee has not written and asks for an autograph response. The letter was sent with al-Shaykh al-Kohen Abū l-Fakhr. (Information from Goitein's index cards; Goitein did not think the recipient was actually his father but does not explain why.)

Letter in Arabic script conveying a request not to keep back a man who is 'one of the peasants of my brother' (wa-huwa min fallāḥīn akhī), who was was dāmin al-dukkān, and wanted to travel to his place, Kalabshā (in Nubia, near Aswān). (Information from Goitein's index card and Marina Rustow.)

Letter of business from 'Ayyash b. Sadaqa probably in Fustat to Nahray b. Nissim, probably in Busir. Mentions flax. The letter is poorly preserved. (Information from Gil)

Letter from Ṭoviyya ha-Kohen b. Judah b. Ṭoviyyahu, a recently appointed judge in al-Mahalla and Sammanūd, to Shemuel the cantor, praising the community for their regular attendance at the synagogue service and for coming to him rather than going to the Muslim court to solve their legal problems. (See also Mediterranean Society, II, 193, 203, 401, 563, 401, and V, 603, and Goitein's index cards)

Letter of condolence from David b. Daniel to Abu'l Muna.

Letter draft. In Hebrew. Abandoned after the introduction. Addressed to Aharon (identified by Scheiber as Aharon b. Yeshuʿa Ibn al-ʿAmmānī) and conveying blessings to his father and his son. Congratulations on his new book (sefer/dīwān) of poems. (Information from Scheiber and Goitein's index card) VMR

Letter addressed to Yosef ha-Kohen Segan ha-Kohanim. In Hebrew. Containing greetings and an apparent request for charity. The letter is written in the same hand as T-S 10J17.27 and T-S 10J17.29–30. (Information from Gotein's index cards.) Join: Oded Zinger.

Letter addressed to Yosef ha-Kohen. Contains initial greetings, a request for assistance, a congratulations on recovering from an illness, and wishes for the forthcoming high holidays. This letter is written in the same hand as T-S 10 J17 fs. 27-28 and T-S 10 J17 f. 30 (Goitein). (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (active 1190s–1212 CE), in Qalyūb, to a family member in Fustat. Moshe requests a silver mirwad (stick for applying kohl) that is in the possession of Ibn Yaʿaqov, and he will send the price. He had sent with the bearer a load of lāsīn silk for Abū l-Riḍā the son of Sitt Ziyāda, who is to pay 2.5 dirhams. He wants to know if they have received the silver from Saʿāda the female slave of Ṭāḥir b. al-Ghuzzī and to purchase with it all the goods that Moshe had already told his mother about, viz., polypodium (? אשתיואן); Iraqi incense; frankincense; white mastic. He has sent another letter with the bearer of the letter for Ibn al-Ṭaffāl. He mentions Ibn al-Nuʿmān in the last couple lines. On recto there is a taqbīl clause and three lines of Arabic script in a chancery hand from a presumably Ayyubid government report (see separate entry). ASE.