Geniza Lab

Letter in Arabic script. Mercantile. Addressed to multiple people (mawālayya l-awlād). Mentions large sums of money (in the hundreds of dinars). Needs examination.

Letter to Yosef b. Ṣāliḥ from his son Ṣāliḥ, containing many orders, such as for Iraqian purple; brazilwood for a quarter of a dinar; combs; mirwads; pepper; sarcocolla (ʿanzarūt); verdigris (zinjār); "marāzībī" tutty (according to the review by Theo Loinaz, this commodity is discussed on pp. 368-9 of Fabian Käs (2010), Die Mineralien in der arabischen Pharmakologie); ammoniac (kalakh); and many more. Mentions the arrival of Khalaf b. Qashīshāt (an Ibn Qashīshāt is also mentioned in ENA 2738.23) and other unusual names: Wahīb b. Safīq (?) and Ibn Maqḥaf. The writer sends regards to Abū Isḥāq and his business partner. ASE.

Two bifolia from a Judaeo-Arabic version of Hippocrates, Aphorisms, partially covering section I, dealing with topics of general medical theory. (Information from CUDL)

Circular letter written by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic Dating: Summer 1229 CE. Letter of recommendation for the bearer Ibrāhīm b. Ḥasan, a poor man from Baghdad in need of charity. Endorsed on verso by the judge Yeḥiel b. Elyaqim from Aleppo (see Med Soc II, App. D, sec. 30). Information from Med Soc II, App. C, sec. 140.

Letter of appeal for charity. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Written in a calligraphic but shaky hand.

Letter or letters. Copied into a book. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Needs examination.

Letter in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Possibly an appeal for help of some kind, but it seems more complex than the usual flattery and litany of complaints. Opens with the phrase ויצילנו מחמס ארץ מצרים. The writer discusses his house and children and something he is unable to do. It almost sounds like he is being overwhelmed by people who are imposing on his hospitality. Needs further examination (and a join or two).

Letter to Maimonides with autograph response on verso. "T-S Arabic Box 46, fol. 97, is a small sheet of paper the verso of which contains a note with a request for medical advice. It is interesting to note the ethical note introduced into this medical business by the sentence: 'since my entire aim in this matter is to seek the nearness to God'. The writer presumably means that through preserving health it is possible to better devote onself to the service of God. This brings to mind another similar request addressed to Maimonides in a letter published by D. H. Baneth [see the autograph letter published by Baneth, "Me-halifat ha-Mikhtavin shel ha-Rambam", Studies in Memory of Asher Gulak and Samuel Klein, pp. 50 ff.]: 'I desire from your bounty, my lord--since you, together with God, can heal my soul and its organs, so that it can employ itself in the study of the sciences--to prescribe for me what I should eat, since this is necessary, so that I can more easily understand these matters [the philosophical problems described in the first part of the letter]'. That letter has also in common with ours the fact that Maimonides' reply is written on the back of the sheet." - S. M. Stern. There are two blocks of text in Maimonides's hand on verso, at ninety degrees to each other. One is almost entirely illegible, does not appear to relate to the question on recto, and (very speculatively) could be a responsum for a legal question that the writer sent separately (though Stern would differ, as he read "dirham of lemon" where I read "shall be bound by a vow"). The other block is the answer to the dietary questions on recto. ASE.

Copies of extremely deferent letters, in a mixture of Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, and Arabic script. Written on a bifolium. Specific addressees named include Moshe ha-Sar, Hillel ha-Sar, and Abū Saʿd. Join by Amir Ashur.

Recto: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer describes coming to a certain place and finding its synagogue in a dangerous state of disrepair and its columns collapsing. He insisted that it needed to be rebuilt and offered his services. A person named Abū l-Faraj al-Levi features in the story. Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic; unclear whether it is related to recto. The writer describes a certain Abū l-Faraj pleading for mercy from an amīr, who ultimately granted mercy. The writer cites Ezra 6:11 at this point. He goes on to describe a group of people harassing his group with 'שנאות ורשעות.' Needs examination.

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary hand. The spellings are closer to classical Arabic than usual (e.g. שיא for شيء). The two folios were originally two folios (i.e. not a single folio that was torn in half), because the recto of folio 2 is the direct continuation of the verso of folio 1. The writer is a merchant who lists a number of materia medica (he calls them 'akhbār ʿiṭriyya'). The part of the letter that Goitein typed is the middle portion relating the harrowing events that befell the writer on a boat journey. The writer was attacked in the dead of night and his belt (himyān) was tied around his neck. He cried for help to the Muslims around him, and Muḥammad al-Najjār al-Ishbīlī set him free.

Late letter addressed to Merkado Karo and Shim'on Frances. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 1807 CE. Information from Wagner, Linguistic Variety of Judaeo-Arabic, 24.

Letter from Moshe Bibas. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late 18th or early 19th century. Needs examination for content.

See PGPID 1260 (Gil's transcription) for description. The transcription uploaded here is Goitein's.

Letter fragment. Sent from Jerusalem, presumably to Fustat. In Hebrew. Dating: Ca. 1048/49 CE. Damaged and faded. Mentions a scholar who escaped from trouble with the government, apparently in the Maghrib; his sister and a guardianship; that the community honored him when he came to Jerusalem "three years ago [in] the year 4806," which is 1045/46 CE. Also mentions Natan Av Bet Din. Goitein speculated that this might be a description of Daniel b. ʿAzarya, in part based on seeing a dispute over kosher slaughter in l. 21 and connecting this letter to T-S 20.19. Gil disagreed and understood this letter to be saying that the scholar is now dead.

Letter of appeal. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning a pledge-drive (pesiqa) at holiday time.

Letter fragment to an unidentified physician. In Judaeo-Arabic. The format is notable: written in a narrow column, with the width of the margin almost equal to the width of the text. The writer mentions that he has heard that the addressee will be coming into Fustat 'for the treatment of a patient.' Needs further examination.

Recto: Letter fragment, addressed to a certain Nasi. Very little remains. On verso there is rabbinic material (literary).

Recto: Letter fragment in Arabic script. Parts of five lines are preserved along with some of the margin and some mirror-text imprinted by the lines that used to be below. On verso there is a Talmudic discussion of usury. Needs examination.

Letter from Ḥalfon b. Netanel from ‘Aydhab to his brother Ali b. Netanel, 1132. Ḥalfon is on his way back to Egypt after an unsuccessful journey to India. He writes to his brother, a judge in Fustat, concerning his business and his disappointment that it did not go as expected. He also describes in details an event that happened in Yemen when he was a part of an argument between members of the Jewish community there, about the Gaon's authority (Masliah Gaon from the yeshiva of Palestine), which led to Ḥalfon's humiliation. He writes how hurt he is and asks his brother, that is very close to the Gaon, to talk with him about it. (Information from Gil and Fleischer "Yehuda Ha-Levi and his circle", pp: 348-354). VMR