Geniza Lab

This polemical letter, in a manuscript of which only one sheet has been preserved (T-S 8K6), shares features in common with Letters 1 and 2 of the Letters Miscellany (PGPID 34551-3), and may well be by the same author. Like Letters Miscellany, this letter focuses on technical aspects of ben Meir’s calendar. Iit uses the era of Destruction, and it verifies its computation by running it through a long period of past years. The author calls his addressee, somewhat unusually, ‘my sage’ and ‘my scholar’. It also goes through and refutes a list of numbered Palestinian arguments. All three texts share in common the tendency of attributing absurd calendrical opinions to their opponent in order to refute them easily.

One of two manuscripts of ben Meir's first letter regarding the calendar controversy of 921/22 CE. (The other one is ENA 2556.2 + Bodl. Heb. f. 26/1-6.) Writes from Palestine to Baghdad. Of this manuscript of ben Meir’s First Letter, only two folios have been preserved: T-S 8K8 and T-S 8K7 (consecutively, and in this order). Stern suggests that there are 6 other, missing folios, in this manuscript (Stern, pp. 268 –278).

Letter draft addressed to a Nagid who has two sons. The opening titles and blessings fill 12 lines. The remainder of the page is filled with the sender's deferential phrases craving indulgence for daring to address the addressee and excusing himself by appealing to necessity/want. There are 3 more lines on the other side. It is not clear whether there remain any clues to what the actual matter at hand is. This fragment also contains a Judaeo-Arabic tafsīr of Ezekiel 23:22–25, writing exercises of Psalms 119:195, and repetitions and variations of the name Yeshuʿa ha-Talmid b. Yosef. (Information in part from Davis I Catalog via FGP.)

Recto: Letter fragment from Khalaf b. Mubārak al-Ḥazzān or al-Jazzār. In Arabic script. Only the basmala, tarjama, and part of the first line are preserved. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic poetry.

Letter fragment addressed to a certain Nasi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Very deferential. What remains simply reports that the writer received the addressee's letter and read it.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely ca. 12th–14th century. "When the letter arrived which you sent with the wife of my maternal uncle to Ibn Ṣaghīr al-Ḥakīm (the physician), I came to him, and he read it after kissing it... in the night, when I was sick from the severe headache, and I had convulsions (or 'went mad'? inṣaraʿtu) from the evening onward." He or she mentions this in the context of reading the addressee's letter, so it is possible that the inṣirāʿ is meant to indicate a reaction to whatever news was in the letter. The continuation is tricky to understand. Refers repeatedly to someone called al-Saʿīd and discusses the waste disposal (ramy al-turāb) of a certain apartment (al-qāʿa). On verso mentions the house of Sayf al-Dīn al-Rūmī.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower right corner). Relates a story about a conflict involving Ibrāhīm, al-Rayyis al-Jalīl, two policemen (? rājilān), and humiliation — perhaps because a Jew (Ibrāhīm?) dared to oppose a Muslim (al-Rayyis al-Jalīl?). In any event, the addressee is to convey thanks to Abū l-Munā for how he resolved the situation.

Petition in Judaeo-Arabic. Very wide spaces between the lines. Very thoroughly blotted out, but might be legible with multispectral imaging. Some of the phrases include: אנעאמהא לא זאלת מנעמה . . . מן כאדמהא . . . בזה השופט נט רח . . . לתפעל פיהא מא יכלצהא . . . אלא אמכן אחד מן אל טא[יפה] אלרבאנין ישמרם צורם. Reused for a copy of Mujādalat al-Usquf ("The Disputation of the Priest").

Draft of a letter or petition. In the hand of Shelomo b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (active until c.1231). The first page is missing. Verso of this fragment is the cover page for a copy of Bava Meṣiʿa. This scribe is very prolific, and he used numerous blank margins of literary texts for pen trials (see Joins Suggestions). This letter/petition opens with a discussion of the least worthy among the patriarchs (the first line seems to be a reference to howAbraham, called Sayyid al-Kawnayn (! this is typically an epithet of Muḥammad), prayed for intercession on behalf of Lot, "the least worthy of the Avot; there is then mention of Esau); then mentions the superhuman humility of Moses especially at the time of Korah's rebellion. The sender gets to the point around line 10: he ask the addressee to change his mind (אבטאל מחשבתו הרעה) concerning letting people from outside the noble family (baytatnā) to join them for the memorial service (? tarḥīm) for a deceased woman (al-marḥūma). If the addressee doesn't go along with the request, the sender threatens to harass him by sending 20 nobles and 20 commoners his way. He also mentions "the people of Cairo and Fustat." (Identification of the scribe kindly provided by Amir Ashur.) ASE

Business letter sent by Ismail b. Yusuf b. Abi 'Uqba in Alexandria to Abu Sa'id Yusuf b. Musa b. Barhun in the countryside village of Munimun. Ismail b. Yusuf is taking care of Abu Sa'id's interests, such as shipping and receiving goods sent to him. The letter contains much detailed information about silk, parchments, corals, wool, pearls and other goods. Dated to the 11th century (Gil ca. 1036). Mentions names such as Labraṭ b. Daʾūd b. Suġmār, Abū l-Aʿlā, Nissim b. Abū l-Ḥasan, Abraham b. Joseph the dyer, Abū ʿAllūsh, and Khallūf b. Zikrī. (Information from CUDL and Gil, Kingdom, vol. II, p. 634)

Draft (probably) of letter or letters in Hebrew (recto) and Judaeo-Arabic (verso), addressing a noble (‘throne of the Negidut’). It refers to the community of Alexandria (‘No Amon’). (Information from CUDL)

Letter written by a woman, introduced by Psalms 41:2, asking for assistance in a legal battle concerning the rights to a house. Both fragments at this classmark are part of the same letter. T-S Ar.18(1).107, T-S 13J13.6, and T-S 10J16.4 are all from the same woman concerning the same protracted dispute (connection noticed by Oded Zinger, "The Use of Social Isolation," footnote 37). (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Berakhot b. Shemarya, in Damietta, to his parents or at least elder relatives or in-laws (ואלדיה). The address is made out to his brother-in-law Abū Saʿid al-Bavli, in Alexandria. Written in vocalized Judaeo-Arabic in a crude hand with rudimentary spellings. Concerned with a number of business issues and future plans of moving to Palestine or Cairo. The writer reports that he is on his way to Acre, and mentions names such as Ibn al-Muqaddasī, Abū Kammūna and Abū Naṣr. Alludes to the dangers of traveling in the Rīf (פאן אלריף כולו חרפה וקלסה) (Information in part from CUDL.) This is a long and detailed letter—merits further examination.

Recto: one side of each fragment contains Hebrew liturgical poems. Verso: letter in Judaeo-Arabic *c This classmark unites three fragments, which all have Hebrew liturgical poems on one side, and remainders of letters in Judaeo-Arabic on the other. F. 2 and f. 3 appear to be in the same hand and perhaps from the same letter, whereas f. 1 is written in a different hand. f. 1 mentions ‘my master, the Av (Bet Din)’ , who apparently sailed off to Tripolis, and ‘our master’ Benjamin, ‘our master’ Mevasser and a certain Jacob, and is concerned with payment of wages and other matters. F. 2 mentions the state of a certain Yeshuʿa he-Ḥaver and letters sent to a certain Abū l-ʿAlā. F. 3 mentions a donkey sent with a certain Ḥasan b. Moses. (Information from CUDL)

Letter sent to Cairo to the house of a ḥaver from the Ibn Qaṭāʾif family, dated Friday, middle of Shevat, describing the writer’s anger over the lack of letters from the addressees. Mentions Khalaf b. al-Nagid (Information from CUDL)

Templates of letters, apparently from a booklet of templates, containing various typical epistolary formulae. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Avraham b. Ḥabīb to Abū l-Riḍā b. Abū l-Surūr. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th–13th century. Concerning business matters. The sender reports that Faraḥ, the brother of Hārūn b. Rajā, arrived and reported that his brother Hārūn sold "the stone (al-ḥajar) which we had sent with him." He gives further details about the taxes and duties (maks al-maqāṭiʿ... al-amānāt...). The addressee is to pay the sum it sold for (8 dinars) to Abū Zikrī. Also, only the price fixed by Abū Zikrī (the wakīl) should be paid, as Abū l-Riḍā was only the representative of the seller, but not the proprietor of "the stone." Greetings to Abū l-Wafāʾ Tamīm. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Letter from an unknown writer, probably in Alexandria, to Abū l-Khayr (?) b. Yūsuf, in Fustat, care of Abū l-Ḥasan al-Yahūdī al-Ṣā'igh in the market of the goldsmiths. The letter is in Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. The writer is furious that the addressee traveled to Fustat, leaving behind debts in Alexandria and abandoning his wife and children, "may God not reward you," and repeatedly demands that he return immediately. The writer reports that the female slave left for al-Maḥalla 10 days ago, and a terrible rumor reached them that she is either critically ill (marīḍa ʿalā khuṭṭa) or dead. The addressee's wife is also "sick in her knee"; she had a fall, and now cannot sit up or stand up. The writer sends regards to many people including the addressee's sister and her children; Abū Naṣr and his son Salmān (?); and the old woman asks after her daughter. The addressee's other sister, Sitt Riyāḍ, his mother, and everyone in the house ask after the addressee's sister. ASE.

Letter from Musallam, reporting the arrival of a letter from Saʿadya the cantor and mentioning business matters and a certain Barukh, who is coming to Fusṭāṭ together with a certain Majīd the perfumer on the 17th of Av. Also mentions Abū l-Faraj and Rukn al-Dīn who has just arrived from al-Shām (Syria-Palestine). Ca. 13th-14th century. (Information from CUDL)

Mercantile letter in Judaeo-Arabic in a crude, large-lettered hand and very unusual spellings Dating: Likely 11th or 12th century. Sent to a certain […] b. Khalaf (who has a brother called Sulaymān), giving various business instructions. Mentions commodities such as lapis lazuli (lāzuward) and musk. Mentions people such as Abū Isḥāq b. Khabūr, Abū Yaʿqūb b. Bahlūl, Adoniyya, and Abū l-Faraj al-Mubārak b. Saʿīd. (Information in part from CUDL)