Geniza Lab

Letter from Elḥanan b. Shemarya to the community of Malīj. He has received the petition (ruqʿa) of the Alexandrian woman whose divorced husband is not providing enough alimony. He is giving only two dāniqs, which is 1/3 dirham, when she needs at least 2/3 dirham. Elḥanan b. Shemarya orders the community of Malīj to assist her. Originally published in Abramson, Bamerkazim ubatefutsot bitqufat ha-Geonim (Hebrew), p. 116. See separate record for document on verso.

Recto: poetic letter in square script. Each line ends in the rhyme -let and is followed by a dot. Letters are extended to give a (mostly) neat left-hand margin. The final word of the last line is put in the middle of the page. No names preserved, but does address אדוני. Worman states that it was ‘sent by a son of Yehoshuaʿ the Ḥaver to Yehoshuaʿ’s brother’, but there is no trace of this in the fragment now. Verso: collection of halakhic rulings regarding marriage, which continues in the blank space under the letter on recto, overwriting the final word. (Information from CUDL)

Promissory note written by Yefet b. David, given by Moshe b. Shahariyar to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov on June 1007. (Information from Bareket)

Fragment from a report of a communal conflict which took place in the beginning of the thirteenth century, during the office of Judge (Dayan) R. Eliezer in Alexandria. A foreign preacher came to the community and won great popularity to the point that the local Dayan tried to interrupt his sermon. The end of the letter is missing. (Information from Frenkel)

Verso: Drafts of at least half a dozen letters and other texts in Arabic script. One letter (written between the lines of another one) is to the writer's maternal aunt (khālatī sayyidatī al-ʿazīza). This one contains only expressions of longing. The letter around it is addressed to a dignitary and may report that someone has been captured (qubiḍa ʿalā X jazāhu allāh), and may God expose the works of a certain group of dogs (jamāʿat al-kilāb). Another letter is to a dignitary titled Nāṣir al-Dīn, called "the friend of the caliph" (khalīl amīr al-muʾminīn). Another text block is the beginning of the muʿallaqa of Imruʾ al-Qays ("Qifā nabki...") Another text block, located in the margin at 90 degrees to the muʿallaqa, names one of the parties from the Judaeo-Arabic legal document on recto, or perhaps his brother: "...and the slave was employed with Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Sahlawayh b. Ḥusayn in the ṣināʿa (arsenal? manufacture?)." Dating: recto contains a legal document from 1057 CE, so this side is probably later. Merits further examination. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Late letter in Ladino written to Shemuʾel b. Soshan, dated 1st of Ḥeshvan. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yūsuf b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī, in Alexandria, probably to Barhūn b. Isḥāq, in al-Mahdiyya. The writer mentions details concerning goods from the Maghreb and expresses concern about the unfolding state of affairs there. (Information from Gil, Vol. 3, p. 189)

Letter from Yūsuf b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī, in al-Mahdiyya, to Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: August 3, 1063, based on Gil's assessment. The letter contains details about shipments of goods and about the route of ships from and to al-Mahdiyya, as well as a price list. It also mentions a lawsuit filed against Yeshuʿa by one of his Sicilian partners. Yūsuf opens with several lines of sympathy for Yeshuʿa's health problems. First, he was happy to learn of Yeshuʿa's recovery. Then, two letters came with news that he had gotten worse (mā intahā ilayhi ḥālak). Then, Yeshuʿa's own letters came with news of his recovery. (Information from Gil, vol. 3, p. 245, and from Ben-Sasson, p. 393.) ASE

Long fragment of a letter, written in large letters, starting with praise for a judge, but later complaining about something. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Nissim b. Yiṣḥaq al-Tāhartī, in Sūsa, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1052 CE. The letter mentions the connections that Nahray has with the Tāhirtī family as well as business matters with two Muslims, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and his son Abū ʿAbdallāh (Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ,
s s
I. 39 and margin). It mentions also Nissim b. Ya'aqov, who leads a center of learning in Qayrawān. The writer respects Nahray and will try to get him the books that he wants. Nissim opens the letter by conveying his concern for Nahray's eye disease, and his happiness that Nahray's condition is better now than "when the doctors frightened you regarding it" (r4–6). Later, in the context of Nissim's troubles this winter, he conveys the news of a woman (identity unclear) who is very sick (recto, right margin). (Information in part from Gil, Kingdom, 3, pp. 319–24, #389)

Letter from Labrāṭ b. Moshe b. Sughmār, in al-Mahdiyya, to his brother Yehuda, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: January 9 (12 Shevat), 1058 CE (Gil) or 1061 CE (Ben-Sasson). Labrāṭ congratulates Yehuda on the birth of his firstborn son. There may be a prayer for God to protect the infant from the evil eye (r11–12; the first letter of the word is smudged; Gil reads al-ḍaw' rather than al-sū'; neither one is strictly grammatical). Labrāṭ heard from Zakkār that the infant was a girl and was only reassured when Yehuda's letter arrived with the news that it was a boy. Labrāṭ keeps the blessed letter with him and kisses it and puts it before his eyes; he gave it to his sister this week but made her promise to return it (r4–18). Labrāṭ continues with business affairs. There is an elaborate response to what Yehuda said about the pain Labrāṭ caused him by rebuking him about a business decision taken by Yehuda. Labrāṭ only wrote anything because it concerned somebody else's merchandise. As for what is owed to him by Yehuda, what are 20 dinars next to their relationship, which is worth the whole world? If Yehuda was agitated by Labrāṭ's rebuke, Labrāṭ is now agitated by Yehuda's response. Furthermore, this sum is nothing compared to what they already lost in Qayrawān. As the proverb goes, "If nothing is left of your provisions except a single cake, you might as well throw it into the sea" (r18–32). The letter continues with matters of trade between Ifrīqiyya, Sicily, and Egypt. Numerous people are mentioned: the Nagid, Nissim, Abū Hārūn, Ḥayyim b. ʿAmmār, the boy of Ḥassūn, Ḥassūn b. Mūsā, Yehuda b. Mūsā, Abū ʿAbd Allāh, the notables of Qayrawān and al-Mahdiyya, Isḥāq b. Bar[hūn?], and Yosef b. Eli al-Kohen. People who came from Palermo said that Zakkār was sick but then recovered (r33–57). Labrāṭ is delighted to hear that Yehuda has been studying Torah, Mishna, and Talmud with 'the Rav' (r58 and margin). Verso consists mainly of greetings. Labrāṭ is surprised at Yehuda's rebuke for Nissim's failure to send him letters. (Gil identifies this man with Nissim b. Moshe ha-Shelishi.) Nissim hasn't even written to Labrāṭ, who is two hours away from him. "He is dying, and he should write you a letter?" (v11–13). Nissim redeemed a Bible codex which belongs to Labrāṭ and Yehuda, and which had been plundered in one of the wars of Ifrīqiyya. Labrāṭ now wishes to make arrangements to reimburse Nissim and get it back (v13–17, 23–24). Labrāṭ concludes with the bad news of Ifrīqiyya, Sicily, and al-Andalus (v35–40). The price of wheat has skyrocketed this summer; Qayrawān is a ruin; the Bedouins are waging war on each other; people are worried about Sicily this year, for the Franks have attacked with a great army; they ('Franks') have also invaded al-Andalus this year and destroyed many of its villages, killed many people, and imposed taxes on all the areas they conquered. (Information in part from Gil, vol. 4, p. 36; Ben-Sasson, p. 36.) ASE.

Letter from the lepers of Tiberias to Shemuel b. Ezra (Jerusalem?), approximately 1030.

In the form of a legal document (see lines 3-4), a fragment of a petition to a Nagid from a small town, signed by twenty-six persons in different hands, of whom seven were opposed and three were out of town. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 62; V, p. 118)

Letter in Hebrew by the muqaddam (head) of the community of Minyat Zifta, announcing that he had excommunicated a debtor according to an instruction by the Nagid. The Nagid had previously arranged for the debtor to repay part of what was owed to his creditors, but he reneged on his agreement and an excommunication was about to be enacted against him as per the Nagid’s instructions. The muqaddam, however, asks for a respite of one or two months for the debtor. Ca. 14th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, 465 and CUDL)

Letter from David Kohen to the Nagid R. Natan Sholal, the penultimate Nagid of Egypt. Dating: end of the 15th century.

Letter fragment reporting about a dignitary in prison from whom a declaration was taken to be given both in a Jewish and a Muslim court. Possibly dated to the 11th century. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in which a Naib of Alexandria in the days of Saladin reports to the Nagid of Alexandria of two cases he took care of. The first a case of a Jew who publicly offended the religion and was punished by the Muslim authorities. After deliberating whether to bring the case to the qadi or the wali, the writer sent a secret message to the muhtasib (to whom he was not personally known) asking that the offender be lightly punished. The muhtasib then had the offender brought before the wali, who ruled that the man should be publicly flogged. He was then dragged around Qamra, a Jewish quarter of Alexandria, while the wali's messengers announced his crimes against religion to the public.The second the matter of two brothers who pressured, through threats and blackmail, the previous fiance of one of them not to engage to someone else. The letter reflects the organization of authority and management in the city. (Information from Frenkel and CUDL)

Partly preserved calligraphic letter, reporting about the recipient's sheep, colocasia and other products. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 440)

Letter from Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef to the fifth in the Yeshiva, probably 1064. The writer strongly advises against travel to a distant land (possibly Germany) that would take 3 years to reach, and warns that the Jewish scholars in that place were no better than local scholars. Moreover, they speak a barbaric language and have rude manners. The local Jewish community also limited traveling businessmen to a stay of no more than one month (ḥerem ha-yishuv). (Information from CUDL)

Incomplete calligraphic letter. The writer expresses grief over the death of his brother, Abu al-Faraj b. Yosef, who was perhaps an employee of the addressee's father, and requests details about the deathbed declaration. (Information from Goitein's index cards)