Geniza Lab

Recto, with the address on verso: Letter from Abū ʿAlī, apparently in Fustat, to Abū l-ʿIzz al-Sharābī, also in Fustat, specifically Sūq al-Kabīr. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. This Abū l-ʿIzz may be the person known to us from various documents from Avraham Maimonides' circle. The sender reports that 'the mother' and Yūsuf arrived safely in Fustat some time ago. He has sent a maqṭaʿ cloth with Qāsim the blind (al-ḍarīr). The sender has sent previous letters asking for the news of al-shaykh al-mukarram Abū l-ʿ[. . .] and his wife and the rest of the family and friends. The jars (jirār) have not arrived; the addressee must send 100 jars quickly with any acquaintance of al-shaykh al-mukarram. Goitein's index card adds that the mother's journey was strenuous. He also says there is an "almost identical letter in..."—but he did not fill in the shelfmark. Verso: Response from Abū l-ʿIzz to Abū ʿAlī. In Judaeo-Arabic, headed by a basmala and tarjama in Arabic script. The Hebrew-script handwriting and orthography are quite rudimentary. He says that he has purchased the jars and makes excuses about why he has not been able to send them yet. He, too, says that he has sent several letters without receiving any response, including two letters tied together with a string, one from himself and one from Abū l-Ḥasan b. Qanṭūr (or Ḥanẓūl?) in which he mentioned something about three people. Greetings to the mother. AA. ASE.

Incomplete letter to Moses Maimonides congratulating him on becoming the Head of the Jews of Egypt. The name of the sender is not preserved; Friedländer conjectured that the letter was written by Yosef Ibn ʿAqnīn. The sender is concerned that the new duties will keep Maimonides from writing books. (Information from Friedländer, Ein Gratulationsbrief an Maimonides, in Cohen, & Cohen, Hermann. (1912). Judaica : Festschrift zu Hermann Cohens siebzigstem geburtstage. Berlin: Verlag von Bruno Cassirer, p. 257-261.)

Recto: Letter from Moshe b. Ḥalfon b. Y[...], probably in Yemen, to a judge (who had a son named Netanel), probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1168–1204, based on Maimonides' years in Egypt. The sender asks the addressee to ask Moshe Maimonides to issue a decision in a case between the sender and a judge (dayyān). The sender apologizes for sending two copies of this letter—he did so because of the vicissitudes of the journey. He sends regards to various people, including probably Munajjā al-Kohen. Verso: Postscript containing a similar request from Yaḥyā b. Muqbil, asking the addressee to obtain Maimonides' decision for him and send it together with the decision for Moshe b. Ḥalfon. Underneath is another postscript, apparently containing only a greeting. Goitein suggests convincingly that this letter was sent from Yemen, on the basis of the style, the script, the names, and the fact that two copies were sent. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Hayya Gaʾon (d. 1038), in Baghdad, to the brothers Avraham and Tanḥum b. Yaʿqov of Fez, in Fustat (possibly to be forwarded to Fez). In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, with the address written also in Arabic script (where the addressees are called Ibrāhīm and Yaḥyā Tanḥum b. Yaʿqūb). Apparently in the handwriting of Hayya Gaʾon himself. The addressees also appear in T-S 13F2 (left margin of recto at 90 degrees), which preserves legal queries that they submitted to Hayya's father Sherira b. Ḥanina Gaʾon. Dated: 26 Adar 1318 Seleucid = 16 February 1007 CE. (Gil reads 19 Adar = 9 February.) Hayya has sent this letter with Abū l-Ṭayyib ʿImrān b. Hillel ha-Levi and has enclosed responsa for the addressees' queries. He had received a letter from Abū l-Faraj Aluf (=Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Ibn ʿAwkal) seeking a response to another legal query which never arrived. Ibn ʿAwkal also informed him in that letter of the death of Abū Yūsuf Yaʿaqov b. Nissim Ibn Shāhīn of Qayrawān. "This was one of the most distressing disasters and blows that we have suffered… and I eulogized him in our meetings and gatherings, and the community wept over him… This was a sorrow added to the sorrow over the demise of our diadem, the Gaʾon our father (=Sherira, who died approximately 5 months before this letter was written)." Ibn ʿAwkal also reported that Khallūf b. Yosef had sent 70 dinars for the yeshiva from Aghmāt (near Marrakesh), but these have not arrived, and the addressees are urged to look into the matter. Hayya asks the addressees to support the Yeshiva, as his own house and those of his family and followers have fallen into disrepair. Hayya asks the brothers for advice about whom he should rely upon in Qayrawān now that Ibn Shāhīn is dead. (Information in part from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #38 and VMR; https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/genizah-fragments/posts/throwback-thursday-study-babylonian-jewry; and Jennifer Grayson's dissertation, p. 82.)

Letter in the hand of Moses Maimonides containing instructions for a local judge on how to retrieve the assets of a murdered merchant who left his brothers as heirs. One of the brothers brought the letters of the local judge to Moses Maimonides. (Information from Goitein's indexcards)

Literary letter/epistle. It is not clear that the descriptions on Goitein's index card apply to this fragment.

Fragment of a letter from Isma’il b. Barhun al-Tahirti to a relative (probably his sister’ son, his nephew). The writer protects and supports one of his brothers. Asks his relative to buy him shoes, probably in Fustat. Mentions his brothers Salah and Yishaq. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #123) VMR

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Arranged in an unusual format with breaks between paragraphs. The teacher ʿIwaḍ tried to sell the Masoret but couldn't find a buyer. As for the physician al-Ḥakīm al-Naṣīr(?), the sender told him about Sayyidnā's request concerning Kitāb al-Taṣrīf fī Istiʿmāl al-Adwiya (perhaps a volume of al-Zahrāwī's magnum opus?). The physician was abashed and said that he has had a most pressing need for it lately so has been unable to fulfill the request. The next paragraph is extremely vague: "as for the person who had the matter, he sent me a messenger concerning doing the thing. . . ." The portion of the letter on verso mentions the mizmorim and a scene that took place when the sender walked in on somebody in the majlis where he prays, as he was wearing a ṭallit and praying. That man's son appeared and seems to have rebuked the sender. The letter then mentions 'the house where the Torah scroll is.' And another person mentions Ben Sarjado/Sargado and the numbers 8 and 4. The document needs further examination to make sense of all this. ASE

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to a certain Avraham, c/o the shop of Abū l-Ḥasan al-Ṣā'igh, in Fustat. The sender asks the addressee to send two cubits of malā'is(?) with the muleteer (al-mukārī). It seems that the sender will send the price back with him. “If Ibn ʿAmmār arrives, inquire from him about the news of my paternal uncle. For a man named ʿAṭṭāf b. Maḥmūd Ibn Sākin arrived and reported that my uncle with a group of […] merchants arrived in Java . . . . . from Java to . . the land(s), and [that] they are well, may God reunite us quickly, God willing.” ASE

Fragment of a letter from Nehemya ha-Kohen, the Pumbedita Gaon, to one of the heads of the Babylonian community in Fustat, probably 963. Mentions an internal disagreement among the members of the community in Fustat about the cantor (hazzan). The main part of the letter concerns the Gaon’s desire to renew the community’s support for the Yeshiva. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 2, #18) VMR

Rescript of the judges of the court appointed by the Nagid Mevorakh to the community of al-Mahalla, advising the community in strongest terms to take back their judge who had left. Dated ca. 1105. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 193, 561; V, 49, 519, 542 and from Cohen)

Rescript of the judges of the court appointed by the Nagid Mevorakh to the community of al-Mahalla, advising the community in strongest terms to take back their judge who had left. Dated ca. 1105. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 193, 561; V, 49, 519, 542 and from Cohen)

Business letter from Yisrael b. Yūsuf, in Qayrawan, to Abū Sahl Menashshe b. David, in Fustat. The writer describes how the Rav (the highest authority in the Ifrīqiyan Jewish community) had visited him often during his illness, especially on Sabbaths when it was particularly welcome. Yisrael further tells his associate, “I regretted that you did not charge me with buying things for your boys and the inhabitants of your house [wife], for I am most happy to carry out such orders for you.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:110, 280, 537, 584) EMS

Letter from Shemuel b. Hofni to the community of Qayrawan. Dated ca. 1008 CE. In it Shemuel reminds the community that the academies of Sura and Pumbeditha had made peace before the death of Sherira Gaon, and that Sherira’s son, Khai, is now Samuel’s son-in-law. (Information from CUDL) Only T-S 12.99 is edited in comparison with manuscript.

Part of a rhymed letter. In the top right-hand corner is a note of the name Shemarya the teacher. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: poetic letter with an acrostic spelling ‘Ḥalfon ben Mevoraḵ (מבוכר), Saʿadya ha-Mumḥe’. Evidently a line is in the wrong sequence in the poem, which should have given the acrostic מבורכ, i.e. Mevoraḵ. Written in inverted letters are 5 lines of a poem that was the original text on the page. Verso: two poems, one written inverted. One poem has an acrostic Mevasser (מבסר) ben Mevoraḵ Saʿadya. Information from CUDL. Previous description: "Letter that is a muleteer recommendation written between 1031 and 1035. In l. 4, the muleteer Faraj is also mentioned as charged with fetching parts of a Bible manuscript. Cf. T-S NS 320.7, T-S 8J15.25 and T-S 12.655. (Goitein, Med Soc IV, p. 448 = ix, D, n. 19.)." Goitein must have had a different shelfmark in mind.

Recto: part of a rhymed letter. Verso: accounts with Coptic numerals. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a rhymed letter addressed to an individual. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Saʿadya b. Berakhot ha-Melammed to Berakhot ha-Nadiv. Opens with a long Hebrew poem (24 lines of excuses) and continues with 8 lines of Hebrew rhymed prose. Finally, in Judaeo-Arabic, he asks for an interview. (Information from Goitein's index card). VMR

Letter from Yoshiyyahu, grandson of Yoshiyyahu Gaon, to Avraham b. Hajay, Fustat, approximately 1030. Yoshiyyahu is a scribe and copyist, apparently assisted by another (a Byzantine). Here he writes about expecting a shipment of empty quires, and he also requests ink.