Geniza Lab

Letter by Meir b. al-Hamadani to Maimonides, asking him to accept his son as his assistant for the study of medicine. He stresses that he dared to apply to him only because he had heard that Maimonides' nephew, who had worked under him thus far, now practiced elsewhere. He promises to pay Maimonides a higher honorarium than the former apprentice. Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 248. On verso there is a medical prescription (nuskha li-l-khayālāt) containing twelve ingredients, along with a record of four donations received in a pesiqa dated 1225/26 CE (1537 Seleucid). ASE.

Letter from the judge R. Hanan'el b. Shemuel to notable in Alexandria. AA

Letter from Moshe b. Peraḥya, the muqaddam of Minyat Ghamr, to a prominent scholar in the capital. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 1230s–40s (the last years of Avraham Maimonides or the first years of his son David). Identification of the sender (and dating) was made by Amir Ashur, based on handwriting. The sender explains that his rival in a nearby place was stirring up much publicity for himself and asking the recipient intervene for him with the head of the Jewish community as he requests that Minyat Zifta be restored to him in full and that he likes to retain also Malij , for which he has held letters of appointment for years. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 49 and V, 188, 192.) Compare T-S AS 157.86.

Esther writes to her parents in law after having returned from Safed to Cairo, describing how she learned certain needle work and expressing thanks to the lady who taught her. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

The Nagid R. Yehoshuaʿ warns against disqualified kosher butchers. Middle of the 14th century.

Letter. The hand and style resemble those of Abū Zikrī the son of Eliyyahu the Judge. In Judaeo-Arabic, high register, rhymed prose. The contents are very difficult and need further examination. The writer seems to be defending himself against a rebuke he received from the addressee. He mentions his mother several times as well as a woman in labor, but the latter might be proverbial ("I hear that a woman in labor (makhīḍa) when nothing happens becomes enraged (maghīẓa).") He conveys good wishes for the addressee's recovery from an illness (r23–25). ASE.

Commercial letter sent from Isaac and Joseph (probably in Babylonia) to Judah ha-Sar, mentioning a voyage to India and commodities including gold and silver slag (iqlīmiyā' tibriyya and fiḍḍiyya respectively). Information in part from CUDL. See also Goitein's notes below.

Letter from ʿAbd al-Raʾīs b. Makīn to a certain Yosef. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dealing with small business matters. Dating: maybe 14th–17th century. A woman expresses her longing for another woman named Sāda (or Sara). The mother and her daughter may be in Jerusalem. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Recto: Letter by Sherira Gaon to a correspondent in Fustat, complaining about Egypt and the West's neglect of the Yeshiva. Beginning and end are missing, but the letter should be dated to 962 CE, written while Sherira was still Av Bet Din in Pumbeditha. Verso: Under the title תרגום אפאטיר, there is a list of parashot and their corresponding haftarot, including for special sabbaths and festivals, with Judaeo-Arabic instructions. Written in a slightly clumsy hand with many deletions. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Shemuel b. Yehuda ha-Bavli to Berakhot ha-Khaver. Shemuel writes that after searching the book dealers of Egypt for rare titles, he learned in Alexandria that the Greeks had many schools with fine scholars, and so he has made up his mind to go on to Thebes and Salonika in Greece after Passover. First, however, he will come to Fustat to collect the books that he had ordered. Ca. 1130s CE. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Awad b. Hananel from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, ca. 1060. In the handwriting of Avraham b. Abi al-Hayy and concerning business matters, specifically a shipment of nuts that was send by the writer to Nahray, and a shipment of oil that Nahray sent to the writer. Also mentions several other goods, and an apartment belonging to Nahray in Alexandria, in which the writer lives. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 3, #567) VMR

Letter from Manṣūr Kohen to Eliyyahu the Judge. See tag for further letters by him. Awaiting further description - see Goitein's index card.

Later document: Petition/letter of recommendation from an unidentified sender, apparently in Fustat, to Yoshiyyahu Gaon. In Hebrew. Dating: Ca. 1020 CE. This is a letter on behalf of the brother of Daniel b. Sahl ha-Melammed, who sent Daniel a letter crying out about his harassment at the hands of somebody (Gil suggests this was a Fatimid military officer but does not explain why). This person claimed in Muslim courts that Daniel's brother was his slave, but "God forbid that a Jew should be a slave of a Gentile, all the more so of a Jew like him" (r34–38). Various Jewish dignitaries are mentioned, including Elḥanan Rosh ha-Seder. Yoshiyyahu is asked to intervene. This fragment also contains a state document in Arabic and a Hebrew piyyuṭ in a different hand than the letter (larger and cruder).

Letter from Yehuda ha-Melammed b. al-Ammani, in Alexandria, to Avraham Maimonides in Fustat. Dated: Adar 1528 Seleucid, which is 1217 CE. Yehuda devotes the bulk of the letter (r.17-v.19) to a detailed account of the resolution of the conflict in the al-Ammani family between Yehuda and his uncle, R. Sadoq the Judge, crediting Avraham with resolving it. He describes the scene of the ṣulḥa in which all the family members drank to each other's health (Med Soc V, 39). Yehudah continues (v.19-31) with an encomium to Avraham; the Alexandrians have been praying and fasting for God to lift the epidemic that has attacked the population of Fustat and to protect Avraham specifically. Yehuda then emphasizes with gestures of humility (v.31-49) that all the affairs of the community rest on his shoulders alone, as his uncle drinks all day long. Yehuda's temperament cannot tolerate wine—he quotes Proverbs 20:1 ("whosoever reeleth thereby is not wise")—and does not drink more than a quarter cup in a sitting and certainly never becomes drunk. He explains (verso margin) that Avraham's colleague Abū Naṣr the physician encouraged him to write this letter, even though some of his peers mocked him for this. The letter concludes in the upper margin of recto with praises for Avraham. Information in part from Frenkel and Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter from a man, in al-Maḥalla, to his son or younger relative. In Judaeo-Arabic, elegantly written. Lines 1-4: A Judaeo-Arabic poem, damaged. Lines 5-12: Opening blessings. The writer reports receipt from Abū l-Majd of the carpet, two turbans (miqʿaṭayn), and the gold leaf. He requests a letter from the recipient. Lines 12-17: The writer suffered an attack of burnt yellow bile one night. He tried every medicine to no avail, but continues to take a half dose of medicine each day. He has been proscribed eating anything at all or drinking wine, and he is in great distress from this. Lines 17-19: Fortunately, the astrologers are all in agreement that his good fortune is imminent starting on the eighteenth of this month. Lines 20-22: “Do not worry if you hear that somebody drowned in al-Maḥalla. It was a youth named Abū l-Faraj, known as Abū l-Faraj b. al-Sunbāṭī.” Lines 22-25: Greetings to the recipient, the mother, the paternal aunt, the maternal aunt, and the old man, likely the father, Abū ʿUmar or Abu ʿUmr (which may be a kunya for a man who has a child at an old age; cf. DK 238.4, lines 19 and 23). ASE.

Letter from Daʿūd Fasī to the cloth merchant Abū l-Afraḥ ʿArus b. Joseph. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein notes below.

Letter from Ṭāhir b. Maḥfūẓ, the retired beadle of the Babylonian synagogue in Fustat, in Jerusalem, to al-Shaykh al-Thiqa Hibat Allāh, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated 21 Shevat 1227 CE. The letter consists entirely of expressions of longing and regards, informing his friends and patrons in Fustat that he is now living in Jerusalem and that he is in good health. Ṭāhir sends greetings to the Nagid (Avraham Maimonides), ʿImrān, Abū Naṣr, Ḥananel (b. Shemuel), al-Raṣūy, Sulaymān al-Levi, Abū l-ʿIzz, and his brother in Cairo. Ṭāhir asks that they continually write to him with their news "to revive my strength." R. Elʿazar sends his greetings. Information from CUDL and Goitein's note card. On verso there is also liturgical poetry. ASE.

Letter from the Babylonian community in Fustat to Hayya Gaon, acknowledging a letter he had previously sent to Avraham (Avraham b. Sahlan). The community refer to their synagogue in Fustat as ‘one that bears the name of your Yeshiva’. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. This is a very long vertical strip from the middle of the letter. It was partially cut up, and the beginning of the letter was apparently rotated 180 degrees and glued back on. (Verso was then reused for Exodus 29:45–46; Malachi 3:4; Psalms 147:5–10; 95:7–11.) Mentions the sender's arrival in some place; "our elders"; "the West"; poverty; some sort of communal conflict; and "the heads of the Qaraites." Several lines toward the bottom are crossed and/or rubbed out. (Information in part from Goitein's index card and CUDL)

Letter from Barhun b. Musa, probably from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Probably 1062. Barhun writes the letter in the name of his brother, Yosef. He does not write the place where the letter is written but it seems like he is in a port city, probably Alexandria. Before that, he was in Safakus and Mahdiyya. Mentions large shipments of dirhams. Several of Nahray’s business partners are mentioned as well. Deals with selling and shipping goods to Mahdiyya, Tripoli, and Sicily and some details about prices. Mentions the Byzantines that want pepper. Also mentions some family matters about Nahray’s aunt (from his mother’ side) who is in a bad financial situation, and his cousin Yisra'el b. Natan who is in mental distress (or is simply engaged in a prolonged dispute with Barhūn; this section begins on verso, line 9). It seems that Barhun wrote the letter soon before his death in 1062, because he mentions the passing of Elhanan b. Isma’il al-Tahirti, who died in 1062. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #348) VMR