Geniza Lab

Letter to Avraham (judging by the formulae, most likely Avraham Maimonides). (Information from the Cambridge Genizah Research Unit via FGP).

Letter from ʿAllān b. Ḥassūn, in 'Aydhab, to his sons, before embarking again for the east. He reports that he had dismissed his traveling companion and chosen a different one, and that no one, not even in the Kārim flotilla, had arrived in 'Aydhab. He expresses regret at having undertaken the voyage at all, and advises his sons not to be on the road constantly as he is; he advises them that a family partnership would enable them to share the effort of travel. Goitein identified ʿAllān as the author of the letter based on his handwriting. (Information from Goitein, "Portrait of a Medieval India Trader: Three Letters from the Cairo Geniza," BSOAS 50 (1987): 449–64, published posthumously; see also the attached notes, used as a basis for the article and stored in Goitein's files.)

Letter from Alexandria sent around 1120 C.E. from a Maghribi merchant, Makhlūf b. Musa al-Nafusi (Ibn) al-Yatim, who proclaims that a friend carried for him a purse with 101 “fresh” (‘tari’) dinars weighing 100 and one/fourth. He asks the addressee to “sell” them, meaning to convert the Sicilian currency he was dispatching into local Egyptian money. Makhlūf devotes eleven lines of the short letter to an apology for not buying his friend a Sicilian turban that was ordered. Confirming the reason by two oaths with God’s great name, the writer acknowledges the omission was due to his own forgetfulness. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:237, 459; 5:248, 575 ) EMS

Letter. Strongly-worded admonition to a Muqaddam to deal with the estate of a widow and her daughter, in accordance with instructions by the Nagid. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS Verso: Biblical citations from Leviticus 8:26-27 and 30-31. (Information from CUDL)

Letter to Abu […], the teacher (melammed), from Yaʿaqov b. [...] Nafusi. Mentions Yaʿaqov al-Andalusi, the recipient's brother Avraham, and Abu Mansur and his father. EMS

Letter from Perahya b. Yosef Yiju to his brother Shemuel in Fustat, complaining of his failure to procure a responsum. Perahya also includes brief remarks on their mother’s illness and his apology for being unable to visit, a request for Shemuel’s assistance in collecting a debt and in paying the capitation tax, and a one-line inquiry about whether his brother has made a bible amulet or ankle for his son, to protect him. Probably sent from Mahalla, late twelfth century. (S. D. Goitein and Mordechai Friedman, India Book, 790-1)

Letter from Perahya Yiju to his brother Shemuel Yiju, complaining about his brother's failure to procure a responsum (see III, 55). Friedman-Goitein edited only the relevant lines (ll. 12-16).

Letter from Abu ‘Ali Ḥasan b. Imran in Alexandria to his nephew Abu Musa Harun b. al-Mu‘allim Yaqub, admonishing him for having vowed to maintain his elderly mother but failing to keep that promise; the mother had already passed away by the time of the letter’s composition. “How do you act with regard to your Lord? You fast and pray to him; then you make a vow and break it. You do not have the faith of the Jews, nor even that of the Majus,” Abu Ali proclaims, referring to the Aramaic-Arabic name for Zoroastrians. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:334, 598) EMS

Report to a Jewish official, perhaps the Nagid. The sender had been ordered to intervene with Abū l-Makārim, who had been delinquent paying the 20 dirhams he owed each month to his wife. The sender met with Abū l-Makārim, who defended himself by saying that he owes 100 dirhams in Fustat for the price of wheat and will be arrested if he enters ('as his wife knows'). Abū l-Makārim also owes some money (durayhimāt) to people in the army camp (al-ʿaskar). The request is for the addressee to intervene with Abū l-Makārim's wife and ask her to be patient for another 2 months, 'for perhaps I will earn something to propitiate her and to pay off the debts that I owe'—interestingly this sentence is in Abū l-Makārim's own voice. On verso there is a pen trial (tajriba). (Information in part from CUDL.) EMS. ASE.

Note in which the cantor (hazzan) asks for "Hoshanot" (הושענות) to the seventh day (of the holiday of Sukkot). Verso: Piyyut. Example for Hoshanot. (Information from Goitein's index card). VMR

Letter from Yefet b. Ḥalfon to Eliyyahu the judge, requesting him to obtain a legal decision (fatwa) from the Nagid Avraham and to pass it on to Yefet; he also sends greeting to Yehi'el the judge. EMS

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Goitein's index card contains several conflicting suggestions about the handwriting of the sender and the dating. The sender is pained that his letters went unanswered. Apparently the addressee sent him a sheep (kharūf) with Abū Ṣāliḥ in lieu of a response, which also pained him, because of the trouble the addressee had to go to. Mentions Abū Saʿīd Ibn al-Dust[arī = Tustarī?]. A notable called here Sayyidnā recently had a baby girl, and the sender expresses his hope that a boy will be born to him. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Letter from a man in debt and unable to meet his commitments, petitioning for help collecting charity promised by the nagid but not received, specifically the pledges (usually made in a synagogue) for a particular week. The writer describes that his children have died of hunger and that he has been hiding from a creditor and is confined to the house “like a woman,” thus unable to earn money through work. The pledges intended for the petitioner had been transferred to the cantor, the elder Bu Sa‘d, and so the writer requests his “master intercede on my behalf so that I am paid that week’s pledges.” (Mark Cohen, Voices of the Poor, 78-9) EMS

Letter that is overpolite to Yehuda ha-Talmid, in which the writer praises him and asks Yehuda to see to his mother's affairs. The writer assures Yehuda that he will be recompensed for his expenses, and that working to find someone especially for this task would double the expenses. Abu al-Futuh, son of Abu al-Izz the cantor, Abu al-Faraj al-Zaftani, Yusuf ha-Talmid, and his father Abu al-Khayr are also mentioned. (Information from Goitein’s index cards) EMS

Letter from Ibrahim b. Miṣbāḥ to Eliyyahu the Judge (spelled אליהוא). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: early 13th century. The sender had previously sent with the bearer Ismāʿīl a legal query (fatwā) and other documents (masāṭir). Evidently Eliyyahu brought these to Avraham Maimonides (Sayyidnā al-Rayyis), who wrote his response at the bottom of the query but who did not sign the masṭūr or the pisqei din. The sender now asks Eliyyahu to get Avraham to write his signature on these documents. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Bū l-Faraj to Umm Yūsuf the mother-in-law of Bayān al-Bukhtaj ('the cooked,' from Middle Persian pokhtag), sent via Eliyyahu the Judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. The occasion for the letter is that the writer heard that Umm Yūsuf, probably a woman of some social standing, had fallen ill. The letter is prefaced with a note to Eliyyahu, asking him in urgent terms to read the note to Umm Yūsuf and to greet her sons (ashbāl, lit. 'lion cubs') on his behalf. In the letter proper, Bū l-Faraj first reports to Umm Yūsuf that he remains in the same distress (illness?) as "on the day you met me in the synagogue," and that was before his heart was afflicted with anxiety on her behalf, especially when the dreadful news reached him today (of her illness). "If you wish to consult me (in istanṣaḥtīnī), send to me Bū l-Ḥajjāj Yūsuf or whomever you see fit." The nature of this consultation is not clear. Is Bū l-Faraj a physician who wishes to help treat her in her illness? He urges her repeatedly to send a mesenger without delay. He excuses himself for not visiting her in person, 'due to my condition which is not hidden from you.' (See S.D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:144, 550; and Eve Krakowski, “Female adolescence in the Cairo Geniza documents,” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2012, p. 134.) EMS. ASE.

Official letter from either the office of Yehoshuaʿ Maimonides (r. 1310–55) or his father Avraham II Maimonides (r. 1300–13). (Goitein favors the latter, even though the same clerk wrote many more documents for Yehoshuaʿ.) This was written at the time of the Jewish New Year (usually late September) in which Yehoshuaʿ Nagid commands that a collection 'from the women' be taken up by two women, one of them the wife of the beadle Sulayman. The women are referred to as “house,” from the rabbinic idiom, “his house means his wife.” (Mark Cohen, Voice of the Poor, 196–98.) EMS.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe, in Alexandria, to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (upper left corner of recto). The writer asks what happened to Khiyār, who seems to be a son of Ḥalfon who was involved in a crime. Related to ENA 3612.4? (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.) EMS

Letter from Benaya b. Mūsā to Abū Yiṣḥaq Abraham b. Sulaymān concerning the textile business, particularly an order for a Tustari robe or cloth (al-thawb al-Dasturi) and 'large cut pieces'. The qāḍī Abū al-Faraj, Abū Naṣr b. Shaʿīd (?), Abū al-Surur, Abū al-Maʿalī, and Abū Saʿd are mentioned, along with the town of Bilbays. EMS With Coptic numerals on verso. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a man troubled with private and public disasters, including business concerns and his wife’s illness, leading him to write that "Could I find death without sin, I would not hesitate" (cf. ENA 1822a.7 for the same expression). Mukhtār the Banker is also mentioned. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:245, 574) EMS