Geniza Lab

Fragment of a letter from Abū ʿAli b. al-Dimyāṭī to his brother Abu Saʿīd b. Hibat Allah (Ḥalfon b. Netanel). The writer mentions the silk trade, describes his joy when he learned that Ḥalfon recovered after taking a medicine, and invites him to visit him in Fustat. Transcription from Goitein’s handwritten notes.

Letter relating the affairs of a teacher and scribe who had been offered a contract by the community to teach for 20 dirhams a week and asking the addressee to join him in copying books. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 559, and Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Yefet to Abū l-Barakāt the physician, in Fustat (bāb qaṣr al-shamʿ). which the writer alludes to some bad news ("ever since I heard the news, I have fasted in the daytime and prostrated in bed") and urges the addressee to keep him informed.

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (Barakāt al-Muʿallim) to al-Shaykh al-Rashīd ('the father'—evidently an elder relative). The note accompanies a gift of wine for a banquet in honor of finishing the study of Talmudic tractate (seliq). Shelomo asks him five times not to put him to shame by paying or by sending him a return present. In any case, he did not drink wine in this hot time, and the time of the grape pressing was near. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Joseph b. Jacob Kohen in Bilbays to Elijah the judge, complains about economic conditions there. Early 13th century. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a son to his father with detailed description of his illness and recovery. Same writer and recipient as T-S 13J21.13 (addressed to Minyat al-Qa'id) and T-S 13J21.14 and Stras. 4110/90 (see tag). His fever finally abated yesterday with the onset of diarrhea (or successful purging?), however a woman in the house is still feverish. He relates the details of the treatment that he received at the hands of Ibn Habib, which, as far as can be determined through the lacunae, involves oxymel mixed with hot water, and timing something for the fifth day and the seventh day but not during the crisis. Khatir has not yet arrived from Alexandria, as he was detained by the wedding of a relative. Join: Alan Elbaum. ASE.

Letter from a man to his sister Umm Bū l-ʿAlāʾ. Sent care of Eliyyahu the Judge. In the hand of a scribe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. The letter contains an extremely vivid account of the imprisonment and tortures to which he and Abū Saʿd were subjected. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 609; III, pp. 43, 432). Discussed in Esther-Miriam Wagner, "‘Only death remains for him’, T-S 10J7.4" (Fragment of the Month, May 2011). Same scribe as ENA NS 48.26 (likewise an account of torture). ASE.

Letter by a father to his son, complaining about the son's failure to visit the family, urging him to visit, and requesting a blanket and a box. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in Arabic script. Fragment. Includes phrases such as al-kutub bi-l-akhbār al-mutajaddida fī kull yawm . . .ʿiddat kutub . . . al-kitāb al-kabīr.

Letter sent to Avraham b. Salhun in Fustat from Masliah b. Moshe b. Salhun, with instructions to be delivered to him at the Market of the Druggists.

Letter by the leader of the Jewish community in a small town to Nagid Mevorakh b. Sadya (1094-1111) complaining about trouble he has had with legal cases brought before him and asking the recipient to assist the bearer of the letter, the slaveboy of the qadi. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 298-299 and Cohen, Self Government, p. 262)

Fragment of a letter consisting mostly of greetings.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Written on parchment. Dating: No earlier than 1425 CE, based on the mention of the currency ashrafī. Describing a convoluted affair involving the production and sale of books and Torah scrolls. Mentions many place names in Palestine and Syria, such as Gaza, Safed, Kafr Kanna, Kafr ʿAnan, and Damascus.

Business letter from David to Shemuel in Alexandria discussing among other matters the delay in delivery of a deposit sent forth by the addressee. Written in a late script. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in which Shelomo b. Eliyyahu asks his teacher, the judge R. Hananel, to inform his father Eliyyahu that he is very ill, suffering from weak eyesight, headache, and general weakness. He wishes to come for the holiday to Fustat rather than stay in the small town (Bilbays?) that resembles Sodom and Gomorrah and is devoid of worthy people. VMR; ASE.

Letter of condolence written by a man to his sister, Rayyisa, on the occasion of their mother's death. "If you cried for a thousand years, it would have no benefit except to sicken you, and no one would perish other than you. My sister, I ask you by God to have endurance, and for all that you endure, there will be a great reward. My sister, read Ecclesiastes, the word of Solomon, for he will counsel forbearance (taqwā) to you. I am sending you al-Faraj baʿd al-Shidda to occupy yourself with it. Know that I wrote this letter only after softening my eyes with tears for she whom I have lost. . . . . My sister, by God, I ask you not to make yourself perish for something that will not benefit you. Look at others who have lost their mother and father and children and who endure the judgment of God. . . . Occupy (shāghilī for shaghghilī) yourself so that you do not perish." (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 22 and Goitein, Hadassah Magazine.) ASE.

Letter from Mūsā to his maternal uncle Eliyyahu the Judge. Conveying flowery greetings for the New Year.

Beginning of a letter from Avraham b. Benjamim the Teacher written in high 'Torah' script and very artificial style, perhaps to a Nagid. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Hebrew letter in late script, pertaining to the relationship between Jews and Muslims. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

One of a pair of letters written by Umm Sitt al-Nās to family members when she had been thrown out of her husband's and mother-in-law's house. The match was identified by Oded Zinger. The other letter is CUL Or.1080 3.46, addressed to her brother Abu ʿUmar Ibn Sabra. The present letter is addressed to Abū l-Faḍl Ibn Sabra, whom Goitein identified as her maternal uncle and as Mevorakh b. Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq Ibn Sabra. She describes some of the background of her current situation: her mother-in-law (the addressee's sister) had long nursed enmity against her. At one point Umm Sitt al-Nās had to leave her own family's location and move in with the husband and mother-in-law. "First, we all moved into one house. Soon my mother-in-law began to work against me, isolating me from everyone and putting enmity against me into the heart of her son. The least she did was that she said to me: 'Go away and become like your notorious mother.'" Umm Sitt al-Nās then probably alludes to her mother (the sister of both the addressee and the mother-in-law) when she writes, "You remember well how everyone reacted to your sister Baqā'." A man—perhaps the writer's husband or perhaps her father-in-law (per Goitein)—then accused Umm Sitt al-Nās of adultery with her cousin (ibn ʿamm). Ultimately she was turned out of the house, "naked and lost." She has been staying with a widow who took her in, and she wishes to travel to her uncle and stay with him, as she has no one else to turn to. She requests 20 dirhams and a mantle (ridā') and a "women's cap" (? maʿraqa). Goitein speculated that she is suffering from "a grave palsy" (shallan adīda) but there is nothing in the context to suggest an illness, and adīdah is a much rarer word than the other possibility, urīduhu. Perhaps the sentence simply means that in the widow's house, she cannot even obtain a skein of yarn (this would also fit with her preoccupation with her lack of clothing). For more, see Goitein's translation and discussion in Med Soc III, and see CUL Or.1080 3.46.