Geniza Lab

Formularies for letters addressed to notables in Judaeo-Arabic, along with a few verses of Judaeo-Arabic poetry. Followed by a copy(?) of a letter of appointment(?) of Yoshiyyahu as the exilarch (Rosh Galuyot "of France and Sefarad and Ashkenaz and Maday and Persia and Greece"). AA. ASE.

Letter addressed to Yeshuʿa b. Shabbetay. Fragment: upper part of recto. The sender’s name is not preserved. Very little non-formulaic content is preserved. The sender reports that his mother is worried about something (presumably the well-being of the addressee). (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter from Shemuel Gaon b. Hofni to the community in Qayrawan. Around 1008. The writer assumes that the donations to the Babylon Yeshivas ended up in the Yeshiva of Pumbedita. The writer chooses Yosef b. Berekhya to be in charge of sending the money, after the passing of Ta’akov b. Nissim. He details Yosef’s virtues in his knowledge of the Torah, and his commentaries to the Torah, Mishna, and Talmud. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #54) VMR

Letter addressed to a community. In Hebrew and Aramaic. Dating: Probably 11th century. The addressees are instructed to honor, assist, and raise money for (or hire as a communal official?) a certain person (presumably the bearer). The letter refers to (purchasing?) a work on slaughter by Yosef b. Ḥizqiyya (the 11th-century Nasi). On verso there is Psalm 91 and a jotting in Judaeo-Arabic that says "Umm Yūsuf and her sister." AA. ASE.

Recto: Letter from Yefet b. David, Tyre, to his father, David b. Shekhanya, Fustat, informing him of his arrival in Tyre and expressing his disappointment at finding only two letters waiting for him. Greetings are sent to various family members. Dated ca. 1007 or 1010 CE. Verso: Address in Arabic along with a draft of a document in a different hand. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yeḥezqel b. Netanel, in Qalyūb, to his brother Ḥalfon b. Netanel, in Alexandria. Dated: Friday, 7 Shevaṭ [4900 AM], which is 29 December 1139 CE. Written on a reused state document in Arabic script. (Information from India Book 4; Hebrew description below.)

Letter from Eliyyahu ha-Kohen b. Shelomo Gaon to the trustee of a Yeshiva in an unidentified place, approximately 1055.

Letter from a scholar from Ramla (who had lived for twenty years in Baghdad) to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1095. Seems like a part of a regular correspondence between the two. Nahray was blind at that time and needed someone to read him the letter. Mentions the book by the Gaon Aharon b. Yosef (Khalaf b. Sarjado) and one of Shemuel b. Hofni’s grandsons. The writer asks Nahray to find a few products in Fustat, including indigo, pepper, arsenic, ammonia water and more. Between his request for funds due to him and his discussion of an ongoing divorce, he interposes the line, “for I am a lump of flesh waiting to die,” continuing later that “I am in need of mercy, my strength is fading” — a common rhetorical strategy for gaining the sympathy of one's correspondent. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #85) VMR, revised following the analysis of old age (and complaints about old age) in the seminar paper of Jake Brzowsky ('21), Fall 2018. Same writer: T-S 24.46, T-S 12.780, ENA 2594.12.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The sender is in Fustat, writing with four days remaining in the month of Tamuz. Dating: Likely 12th or early 13th century. The first 13 lines are formulaic greetings. He then informs the addressee that Abū l-Faraj Hibatallāh has started to study Mishna and Talmud with him. He effusively praises Abū l-Faraj's intelligence, diligence, and desire for knowledge ("which has filled my heart with joy"). The sender wants the addressee to help this young man "gain learning in a state of purity." He cites a talmudic saying, but the letter is damaged here. When the text resumes, he is discussing the rabbis' commentary on Jeremiah 29:6 (וְאֶת בְּנוֹתֵיכֶם תְּנוּ לַאֲנָשִׁים) and urging the addressee to fulfill this commandment—so maybe this is a letter on behalf of Abu l-Faraj seeking the addressee's daughter's hand in marriage. He then mentions the love between himself and Ibn al-Kuttābī. He concludes with greetings, including from his son Abū Saʿd. The lack of address combined with the fact that this was written in Fustat suggests that it was never sent. AA. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 13th century or later. The paper is well-preserved, but almost all of the text is extremely faded; might be legible with multispectral imaging. The margin of recto mentions the holidays of Tishrei, the sender's embarrassment among certain people (wa-ṣirtu nastaḥiyy min banī. . . ), several learned quotations, and some business matters. The address is partially written in Arabic script; the sender's name may be [...] b. Ḥassūn. AA. ASE.

Letter from the judge Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen (dated documents 1125-50), in Fustat, to his cousin Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli, in a provincial town. In Judaeo-Arabic. He opens with a description of the illness of his wife (Ṭoviyya's sister). She is still very sick. She can lie down and sit up by herself, and she can walk 10 steps with great effort if she is assisted. They are sparing no efforts and giving her all the medicines that are prescribed her. "As for other matters": Natan asks Ṭoviyya to assist a man from a good family from ʿAkkā who had lived in the Egyptian countryside but was 'deported' to Fustat. Being without subsistence there, he tried again to go out to the Rīf, and he asked Natan to write to Ṭoviyya on his behalf. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) ASE

Recto: the end of a calligraphically-written letter with many signatories, including Sahl b. Mevasser and ʿAmram b. Shabbat. Possibly a letter of introduction, but only the closing blessings are preserved. Verso: Hebrew text, very badly worn and faded. There are many biblical allusions and references to Egypt. Possibly a sermon. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a scribe. In Judaeo-Arabic. He reports that after much travail he has finally completed a Torah codex (muṣḥaf) "in the name of the Nagid." This muṣḥaf has no peer, except for the one which he had written for the addressee himself. He had been working on it for many nights. Abū l-Munajjā will deliver it together with letters, and the addressee is asked to give it personally to the Nagid. (Information from Goitein's note card.)

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria, to Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm (a.k.a. ʿIwāḍ) b. Ḥananel, Fustat. Abū l-Khayr became ill following ʿIwāḍ's departure, and his mother suffered greatly on his account. He then improved. Nahray himself developed an abscess on his left hip. He too recovered, but the remnants of the illness are still with him. He was not able to go about his work until the present moment. The rest of the letter deals with business matters. ASE.

Letter from Salāma b. Nissim b. Isḥāq al-Barqi, from Busir, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, around 1053. The writer is in Busir for the business of Nahray and the Tahirti family, especially Barhun b. Musa ha-Tahirti and Marduk b. Musa. He needs to buy flax in the villages, as well as wheat. They had instructed him how and what to buy. He complains about the quality of the dinars that they gave him. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #640) VMR

Letter from Yosef b. Musa al-Tahirti, probably from Mahdiyya, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1057. Deals with selling goods and their prices, especially pepper and silk. Also mentions the condition of Yisrael b.Natan, Nahray’s cousin. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #365) VMR

On recto a poem. On verso a letter in another hand. Barely legible. AA

On recto a poem. On verso a letter in another hand. Barely legible

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda very early in his public career, when he was Av Bet Din, to a notable in Fustat, ca. 1025. He signs: Shelomo Av ha-Yeshiva birabbi Yehuda, and surrounds his name with tiny letters spelling out ‘And I am a worm and not a man’ (Psalms 22:7). The letter was carried by his son Avraham (לידו מיד חמוד), and he is seeking help for the community of Jerusalem, many of whom have died in a plague (נאספו בדבר אשר נפל בעיר). (Information from CUDL)

Letter to Araḥ b. Natan ha-Sar and the Seventh in the Congregation of Righteousness (השביעי בחבורת הצדק) (ca. beginning of the 12th century) thanking him for his letter. Greetings are sent to Efrayim and his brother Netanel, and to Berakhot. Most of the letter is in Hebrew (with one phrase in Aramaic), and the continuation in the right-hand margin is in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's note card.