Geniza Lab

Letter from a certain Binyamin to a certain Ḥayyim, perhaps the son of Ḥananel b. Shemuel. Dating: Middle of the 13th century, during the time of David I Maimonides. "We are fortunate to possess a letter from the mid-thirteenth century describing a more extended version of the solitary retreat (khalwa). The letter, composed by one Benjamin to his friend, Ḥayyim, apparently the son of Ḥananel b. Samuel, sought to calm the worried son’s mind over the “journey” undertaken by his father. Eliyahu Ashtor, who published the letter, interpreted this journey as a lengthy business trip. More recently, Paul Fenton has conclusively argued in favor of a pietist interpretation of the letter. The letter is the only direct confirmation that the pietists of Egypt practiced the forty-day retreat known among contemporary Sufis." The complete letter, including the full valediction, was translated into French by Fenton, Deux Traités, pp.63–65. (Information from Russ-Fishbane, Judaism, Sufism, and the Pietists of Medieval Egypt, pp.115–18.)

Business letter in Ladino from Yehudah Fariente to Yehudah Gatenio, dated Kislev 167 (= 5567) of the Era of Creation (= 1807 CE). Mentions people including Shelomo Barukh, Abraham Crispin, Isaac de Quriel, Musṭafa and the writer’s wife Palonba. (Information from CUDL)

Business letter dating to around 1800 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a 16th-century letter from David Badūssī in Būlāq, who was a teacher in Jerusalem, to Abraham סורג, philanthropist in Egypt, seeking financial assistance. (Information from CUDL)

Letter asking for financial help, sent from Jerusalem to Bilbays and signed by Yosef b. Gershon and Jehiel Sarfati (the Frenchman).

Letter from a woman named Raḥla Naʿmīṣ, dated Shevaṭ 162 (= 5562) of the Era of Creation (= 1802 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Moses גליפאפה, in Venice, to his teacher Shemuʾel ben Sīd, in Egypt. In Hebrew. Dating: Late 17th century (per CUDL) or early 17th century (per Avraham David, based on a potential reference to the same events in a pinqas entry from the community of Mantua dated 31 January 1616 CE). The letter concerns the ransoming of ten Jewish captives, some of whom were taken in Rome, who are being held in Palermo. Mentions Seʿadya Dārūqīs of Venice, Avraham of Egypt, and Refaʾel of Rome. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya. End of 1025 / 1026. Concerning the Fatimids' army that is coming from Egypt against the bedouins.The letter's main issue is the serious disagreement in Fustat concerning Efrayim b. Shemarya, which some people want to remove from his position, for Shemuel b. Avtalyon. Shelomo suggests Efrayim to restrain his emotions so he will not help his opponents with his actions. (information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, pp. 116-119). VMR

Letter from Saadya b. Natan Ha-Kohen, Jerusalem, to Mevorakh b. Saadya, Fustat, approximately 1070.

Letter from Shimʿon b. Shaʾul b. Yisraʾel ha-Ṭulayṭulī, in Jerusalem, to his sister Ballūṭa in Toledo. The writer (a Rabbanite) relays two years of news about Qaraites and fellow Andalusians in Jerusalem, as well as family news. He conveys the distress he felt upon hearing of the epidemic (wabā') and unrest (tashwīsh) in the environs of Toledo. One theme of the letter is their father's health. "Our father is in a state that one would wish only for one's enemies. He has become paralyzed (mabṭūl), blind (aʿmā), and feeble-minded (madkhūl al-dhihn), and suffers much (mumtaḥin). The bearers of this letter will tell you about him and about my care for him. He does not lack a thing, for he is well served (makhdūm) and cared for (maḥfūẓ). I do not rely on anyone else to concern themselves with him. My bed adjoins his; I get up several times every night to cover him and to turn him, since he is not able to do any of these things alone (idh lā yamlik min nafsihi shay'). May God, the exalted, reward him for his sufferings." Med Soc III, p. 241. Later in the letter, Shimʿon tells Ballūṭa that she need not concern herself with sending the turban that had been requested, "for, woe is me, he no longer has the wherewithal to leave the door of the house. He used to devote himself (wādhāb should be read as wāẓāb) to the Mount of Olives and to God's Temple for as long as he was able and [the strength] was in him, may God reward him." (Gil's translation diverges significantly from this.) A second theme of the letter is the story of a fellow Toledan, Ibrāhīm b. Fadānj, and his wife, who arrived two years earlier after having been taken captive in Byzantium and redeemed in Ramle. For a detailed analysis of their case—involving multiple changes of allegiance between the Qaraite and Rabbanite communities, and the writer's role in aiding them—see Rustow, "Karaites Real and Imagined" (2007), 43–47.

Letter to the head of the Academy, Avraham b. Mazhir, from [Natan] b. Shemuel ha-Haver. Dated Marheshvan 1453 sel. (October 1141).

Letter from Salim b. Harun to Avraham Maimonides concerning financial issues relating to the children of his late brother Farah b. Harun al-Janawi, who were under his care after the death of their mother. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:303-4, 494) EMS

Letter to Anatoli b. Yosef to remind him of a donation promised by his congregation for the repair of a synagogue. Sent by Menahem and dated Kislev 1212 A.D.

Letter from Yosef b. Menashshe, in Ashqelon, to Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Talmid, in Fustat. In Arabic script. Dating: 1085 CE. The writer describes the conditions in Ascalon against the background of the Turcoman/Seljuk invasions, and how he traveled from Ascalon to Jerusalem and visited his abandoned house to recover some books, but only found dafātir and maṣāḥif that had been destroyed by the damp. The girl, al-Jawziyya, whom he had wanted to marry in Ascalon, had become engaged to somebody else. There ensued a legal struggle which involved an official titled Sitr al-Dawla, apparently Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Ma'mūn Yaḥyā Ibn Kātib al-Baṭā'iḥī, who became the vizier in Egypt following al-Afḍal. At the time of the present letter, he was evidently the Fatimid governor in Ascalon. His son Jamāl al-Mullk (Mūsā) is also mentioned, who later became the general of the Fatimid army in Palestine and who lived in Ascalon. (Information from Aodeh) ASE

Letter 3 of 4 of Letters Miscellany, a collection of letters representing both sides of the calendar controversy. Letter 3 responds to a letter from the Palestinian Head of the Academy. It responds, point by point, to what ‘the Head of the Academy has written’. The Letter is clearly Babylonian, and written sometime in the year 1233 SE, i.e. 921/2 CE. Letter 3 identifies strongly with Babylonia, and draws so heavily on local Babylonian traditions, including testimonies from older members of the academies. The mildness of the tone of this letter casts doubt on a dating as late as July 922 CE, when the controversy had soured and the relationship between Babylonians and Palestinians had completely broken down. Letter 3 is famed for its account of a meeting that allegedly took place, many years before the controversy, between Palestinians and Babylonians, at which the Babylonians learnt the secret of the calendar calculation (fol. 5r:21-5v12). The Letter goes on to defend the Babylonians’ calendar decision of 921 CE (fol.5v:15 – 6r11) and their use of the Four Gates (fol.6r:11-13). It refutes ben Meir’s application of the rule of 641-642 in 921 CE, on the basis of the earlier version of the rule which our Letter suggests is more authentic (fol.6r:13 – 6v:3). However, it then refutes even this earlier version, on the basis of the Four Gates (fol.6v:3 – 6v:12). The author claims to have checked and found that in past years, for example in 913/4 CE, the rule of 641-642 was never used by the Palestinians (fol.6v:12-21).

Letter 2 of 4 of Letters Miscellany, a collection of letters representing both sides of the calendar controversy. Letter 2, of which only one folio is preserved, is a pro-Babylonian response to a Palestinian polemic on the calendar of 921/2 and on the Four Gates. The folio begins with the end of the end of the refutation of the Palestinians’ second argument. The Palestinians were arguing that the Four Gates are incomplete because they only account for four days of the week (the days on which the New Year is allowed to fall). Our letter responds that the Four Gates actually covers the full week because every period of time ends where the next one begins (fol.4r:1-5). The third argument concerns the rule of 641-642 parts. Our author misinterprets the rule as applying equally to Nisan and to Tishri, which enables him to refute it easily (fol.4r:5-14). Interjected here is a misplaced element of text that actually belongs to before the beginning of our folio. After the end of the misplaced text, the text resumes with the third argument (fol.4v:19-21).

Mann added further a fourth element, T-S 13K2 fol.6r (in my edition, LMisc ‘folio x’). This small fragment includes an excipit, a date, and a signature; the name of the signature is ‘Saadya son of Joseph’. Without much argument or justification, Mann claimed that this fragment belonged to the end of (my) Letter 1, i.e. to the end of the three texts of Bornstein. Part of Letters Miscellany.

Beautiful letter of introduction. In a mixture of Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Dated: Tishrei 1343 Seleucid, which is September/October 1031 CE. Written by a high dignitary in Iraq on behalf of a man traveling to Syria and Egypt, containing a veritable sermon on the meritoriousness of hospitality. Large letters, wide space between the lines; ends with the motto "yeshuʿa" (the same as that of Daniel b. ʿAzarya). (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 29.)

Letter from Hayyim b. 'Ammar (Gil) or Zakkar b. 'Ammar (Ben-Sasson), Palermo, to Yūsuf b. Mūsā Tāhartī in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1069 (Gil).The writer writes how two ships had sunk together with their merchants and goods. He also describes doing business both with Jewish and Muslim merchants from Sicily and mentions Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ and the ʿushr tax imposed in Sicily on imported goods. (Information from Gil and Ben-Sasson)

Beginning of a circular letter by Nisi b. Shemuel, head of a congregation (of Rabbanites? Palestinians? Babylonians? Karaites?) to all Israel, emphasizing the duty to act like zealots of the type of Phineas and Eliyyahu in religious matters. (Information from Goitein's index cards)