Geniza Lab

Letter fragment from the lepers of Tiberias to Faraj b. Avraham, probably in Ramla, approximately 1030.

Recto: Letter opening to Joseph the Nagid (יהוסף, probably the Nagid Joseph b. Samuel, from the second half of the 11th century CE). Only extensive opening greetings are preserved. Verso: Commentary in Judeao-Arabic on Psalms. The text on verso is in a different hand and much less neatly written. Information from 2018 Genizah Research Unit catalog. The text on verso appears to be instructions for when to invoke certain Psalms for various needs: against an enemy (Psalm 2), for example, or for a headache. ASE.

Second leaf of a letter from an unidentified merchant, probably in Alexandria. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated 1052 by Gil and 1066/67 by Goitein (in Mediterranean Society, II, p. 534). Addressed to the sender's brother, saying that the sender is trying to put an end to a dispute between the Muslim indigo merchants with the aid of a respected Muslim man and a law expert. Mentions the invasion of the Banū Qurra and "the slaves" into Giza. Community members tried to collect money with the Qaraites, but they did not show up to the meeting. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #816.) VMR. Almost certainly the same sender (but probably not the same letter) as CUL Or.1080 J268. ASE

Letter from Saʿīd b. Marḥab, in Aden, to Shelomo b. Yehuda ha-Kohen, probably in Fustat. Dating: Mid-12th century. In Hebrew (for the long, eloquent introduction) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body). Discusses various mercantile, legal, and communal matters. Awaits examination. (Information in part from India Book VI, 51.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda, in Jerusalem, to Sahlān b. Avraham, in Fustat. In Hebrew. Dating: 1029 CE. "Here is a description of old age in the hand of Solomon b. Judah Gaon, the president of the Jerusalem yeshiva and official head of the Jews of the Fatimid empire, written nineteen years before his death. The time was excruciating for him: things in the yeshiva and the community at large did not go according to his wishes. Abraham b. Sahlan, a leader of Egyptian Jewry, Solomon's 'peer,' with whom he had probably studied many years before, had just died, and his own son was on his way to Aleppo in northern Syria, a voyage fraught with danger. . . . But old age, like life in general, has its ups and downs: the rich correspondence of the Gaon shows him as being active in affairs and rich in style during the long years following the passage translated above, although a premonition of death is certainly felt in it. 'I am a descending sun, soon to set. My soul is very much depressed since my peer passed away, may he rest in Eden. I ask God only to keep me alive through this year so that people should not say: "Both died within one year." Take notice, my dear, that I am going about like a shadow [cf. Psalms 39:7]. I have no authority (reshut), only the title. My strength is gone, my knee is feeble, and my foot staggers. My eyes are dim, and, when I write, it is as if I was learning it, sometimes the lines are straight and sometimes crooked, and so is my style, because my mind is disturbed since the day my beloved [son] traveled to Aleppo to fetch some goods he had left there. I pray to God to bring him back in safety "before I depart and be no more" [Psalms 39:14]'" (Goitein, Med Soc, V, p. 120, translating lines 19–25).

Letter from Mūsā b. al-Mughanī to Yosef Raʾs al-kull b. ʿAwkal, spring 1011.

Letter from Zekharya b. Ya’aqov b. al-Shama, from Tripoli (Libya), to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Early August 1062. The writer complains about the accusations against him and mentions shipments of goods, including textiles, olives, oil, and beads. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #668) VMR

Letter from Hillel Ha-Ḥaver b. Yeshuʿa Ha-Hazzan, Tiberias, probably to Efrayim b. Shemarya, Fustat, approximately 1050.

Letter from Yosef b. Yaʿaqov al-Atrablusi, Qayrawan, to Yosef b. 'Awkal.

Letter from the merchant Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef, in Qayrawān, to Ismāʿīl b. Barhūn al-Tāhirtī, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1020 CE (Gil) or 1022 CE (Goitein). Asking him to assist his brother-in-law ʿAyyāsh b. Nissim, who was supposed to conduct business on Abū Zikrī's behalf in Egypt. Abū Zikrī mentions the honors (including a dove-colored mule and robes of honor) bestowed upon him and upon the addressee's brother by "the Illustrious Lady" (al-Sayyida al-Jalīla), i.e., Umm Mallāl, the aunt of the Zīrid sultan al-Muʿizz b. Bādīs, who ruled the country in the early years of his reign until her death in October 1023 CE. (Information from Gil, Goitein, Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 190, 560, and Goitein's attached translation in Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders.)

Recto: Letter in Arabic, probably the end. Verso: Commentary, heavily philosophical, on biblical verses. ASE.

Letter from Yusuf b. Musa al-Tahirti, probably from Mahdiyya, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, regarding shipments of goods. Fall 1063. The writer describes difficulties in selling and mentions various goods, including carthamus, camphor, sugar, resin, crocus, indigo, wheat, wool, wood, ruby, beads, pearls, oil and more. Yusuf also discusses trading with Spain and the Maghreb, even though the roads are dangerous, and notes the passing of his brother, Barhun b. Musa. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #374) VMR

Letter from Mūsā b. Yiṣḥaq b. Ḥisda, in a city in middle Egypt, to Yosef b. ʿAwkal. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 11th century. The covering that the addressee sent for Avraham (who is sick) is too light and cheap. He is asked to send another one, but heavy this time (v11–13).

Letter fragment from Isḥāq b. Khalaf, probably from Alexandria, to David b. Shaʿya, probably in Fustat. Around 1060. Mentions the arrival of Byzantine and Andalusī merchants, as well as the ships of Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ and Ibn Shiblūn, shipments of textiles, and a deal in Byzantine quarter-dinars. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #738) VMR

Respectful note to Eliyyahu the Raṣuy of both Yeshivot, informing him of the writer's safe arrival, and how the first thing he did was to report to the house of the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya. Along with Mevorakh's usual impressive titulature, he is styled "sar ha-sarim" and "deputy of the king of Egypt" (I.e. the vizier al-Afḍal). "Quite likely, at the time of Mevorakh's restoration, al-Afḍal honored him with the high-sounding Arabic title, ra'īs al-ru'asā', held by the Coptic patriarch, and the Jews, taking cognizance of their leaders exalted status in the government, translated it into its Hebrew equivalent, sar ha-sarim." Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, p. 221. ASE.

Letter from הדוד(?) addressed to a certain Ṭahor. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1220 CE, based on the mention of Eliyyahu the Judge and Avraham Maimonides (sayyidnā al-Nagid). The letter was dictated, as it was nighttime and the sender could not see. Concerning a quarter of a house, 40 dirhams, Barakāt b. Bū ʿUmar, the addressee's son Ibrāhīm, a Nasi, and an Abū l-Ḥasan. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter in Hebrew giving a detailed account of a dispute, apparently in the Muslim courts, regarding the flax trade, a legal document, and the validity of its witnesses. Protagonists include Naḥman, his son-in-law Sulaymān b. Ḥasan b. Rabīʿ, someone's son (perhaps Sulaymān's), and Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. al-Qāsim known as al-Kāmilī. The writer's group received a power of attorney (ketav ha-harsha'ah), and the authorized person went to the official (ha-paqid) who gave an order to do something with the flax. There follows a lengthy description of arguments over whom to give what money to and which documents can be trusted and whose signatures. After all this talk and trouble, "they could not save even a penny from his hand. Now you should come, and there is nothing to it except that he should come and take his money, or . . . he should draw up a sheṭar for the Ishamelites... all of the Ishmaelite elders..." The location of the events and protagonists is uncertain but may be named somewhere in the letter. The writer may refer to an official who is in Sinai (?! הפקיד שבסיני). There is also a question of long distance flax shipping, as highway robbers are mentioned. ASE.

Letter from Ṭoviya b. ʿEli, probably in a provincial town, to his cousin Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, probably in Fustat. Dating: 1122–50, based on the addressee's dated documents. Ṭoviya opens by expressing concern for his sister who is sick (as in T-S 12.298). Either Ṭoviya or somebody else in his household was ill with a fever, and is now feeling better. Recto is devoted to an intricate tale of levirate marriage (which merits further examination). Ṭoviya seeks Natan's advice and asks him to consult a legal authority regarding the matter. He asks for a bible (muṣḥaf), a loan of a parchment scroll (גביל = גויל), and several piyyutim. He concludes (starting in v13, middle of the line) with an account of the mysterious illness of his wife, whose name may be Bahā' (although בהא is an extremely common word, "in it" or "in her" does not seem to fit here). Natan must be somewhat familiar already with the illness. Ṭoviya here describes the 'tremor' (? rajīf) of her face, and the 'fever chill' (bard ḥummā) that makes her 'shake' (nāfiḍ kathīr) from her waist to her head. Ṭoviya asks Natan to obtain a prescription from a good physician. See Bodl. MS heb. d.66/141 (which contains the most detailed description) and T-S 13J25.15 (in which she is starting to feel better) for the next two installments in the story of his wife's illness. Information in part from Goitein's index cards. ASE.

Letter from Yosef b. Avraham in Aden to Avraham b. Yiju. Goitein thought that the letter was sent to Zabbid, a coastal town in southwestern Yemen. Friedman claims that Ibn Yiju was still in Yemen and understands the reference to Zabbid differently. Goitein dates the letter to 1150, while Friedman to 1148-9. The letter contains many commercial details.

Letter from Yosef b. Avraham, in Aden to Ben Yiju, in Zabīd (Yemen).