Geniza Lab

Leaves, on vellum, from a medical notebook with notes of names of simples, apparently in no particular order. P3 recto mentions a certain Abū l-Ḵayr al-Ṭabīb.. Arabic, in various handwritings (FGP)

Letter from a blind man in Salonica to his son Ismāʿīl in Egypt. In Judaeo-Arabic. Written on vellum in a scholarly hand. The first page of the letter is lost. Dating: 1088/89 CE, or shortly after, based on Goitein's interpretation of the year "48" as 4848 AM. The letter picks up with the father explaining his happy situation in Salonica and why he cannot possibly return to Egypt, as his son had asked him to do (r1–19). The writer lives in Salonica with his wife (not the addressee's mother) and a daughter with many suitors. He fears that they would be a burden on the family in Egypt. He is blind and weak—"I have nothing left but my tongue and my heart" (i.e., mind)—but he has not perished. On the contrary, he is in a thousand states of well-being and is highly regarded by all who fear God. He overhears the Shabbat services from his dwelling. None of the scholars of Salonica are able to match him in his knowledge of the law. He next sends regards to various family members and congratulates his son on the acquisition of noble in-laws (r20–27). He is worried about his family, because he heard that "in the year 48 the Nile had a low flood, and my heart trembled, and I have no rest, neither by day or by night. For God's sake, write me immediately regarding your well-being" and about each person's livelihood (r27–32). The son should send his response to ʿImrān b. Naḥum in Alexandria who will forward it to Salonica, to the upper synagogue, to the house of Shabbetay b. Moshe Matakla 'the head' (r33–36). He exhorts his son not to neglect the study of Torah or be distracted by his business affairs (r36–v1). He then recapitulates the reasons for his departure from Egypt 26 years earlier and what has happened in the interim (v1–v21). It seems his motives for traveling were both pious (wishing to bury his bones in Jerusalem) and financial. At first he sent all the money he earned back to his family, and had none with which to travel back himself. He traveled from place to place for 30 months. At that time he learned that a business partner of the family perished in a fire, from which point onward, "I never had anything but expenses." The 'Turks' then invaded the Byzantine east, so he fled to the west, ultimately reaching Salonica. His vision weakened, gradually, over the course of five years. In Salonica, he has refrained from granting his daughter to any of her many suitors until he received word from his son and his brother-in-law Abū l-Ḥ̋asan. The writer then returns to the subject of why he cannot possibly travel back to Egypt (v21–v34). Even as his son's letter was read to him, he had no strength to go out his door or leave his house without being supported. He can hardly see or hear. If his son saw him, he would "flee the distance of a month's journey." This is apart from the grave danger of the travel itself and his anxiety on account of his old age and his wife—even though she herself would love to travel. It is not in his nature to save money, and he repeats his fear that he would be a burden on the family. There is then a cryptic passage (v30–34) warning his son against listening to 'a generation that left us' and which had various faults that cannot be written in a letter. He concludes (v34–39) with another exhortation to study Torah diligently. When the son was 13 years old, he used to astound people with his intelligence. Information in part from Goitein and from Joshua Holo, Byzantine Jewry in the Mediterranean Economy, p. 53, 56. ASE.

Instructions to an agent (in Alexandria) of Abi Ya'aqov (Yosef b. 'Awkal), May, 1038.

Verso: Short letter from a teacher to a father. In Judaeo-Arabic. "This is to inform you my lord, the elder, may God make your honored position permanent, that Abū l-Ḥasan, after his transfer to my school, showed great zeal for study. His great misfortune was that Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wuhayb broke his board with the knowledge of the other boys. And peace." (Goitein's translation.)

Continuation of a long business letter sent from Alexandria to Cairo. Dating: Ca. 1235 CE, based on the date of T-S Ar.54.66 which is by the same sender (and may even be the first two pages of the present letter). This is either the third folio of the letter, containing pages 5 and 6, or the second folio, containing pages 3 and 4; the Greek/Coptic numeral for "3" appears at the top of recto. The sender gives the prices of merchandise in Alexandria, such as indigo, olibanum, cinnamon, brazilwood and pepper and of the taxes and other dues that have to be paid to trade in the city. The sender's mercantile contacts extended into Marseilles and Genoa. The letter mentions Rabbenu Menaḥem, the son and successor of the judge of Cairo Yiṣḥaq b. Sason. The letter also contains the earliest known reference to Jews from the Touat region of Algeria; see S.D. Goitein, “R. Isaac b. Ibrahim Al-Tuʾātī (ca. 1235): The Most Ancient Reference to Jews in the Touat,” Revue des études juives, vol. 140, no. 1-2 (January-June 1981): 193.) (Information from Goitein, Letters, 56–62, and Goitein's notes.)

A faded and much damaged Arabic letter or legal document.

Recto: Letter of appeal for charity addressed to al-Rayyis Yūsuf. In Arabic script, calligraphic with large letters. Asking him to bestow two garments (thawbayn) on the sender, since his family is almost dying from the cold. Verso: Letter from a certain Yūsuf who is ill. In Judaeo-Arabic, with erratic handwriting and spelling, difficult to read. He explains why he couldn't come. He says that he even loaded up his donkey and set out, but then was overtaken by sukūna (a medical term that appears in other documents but whose meaning is not entirely clear) and an attack of colic (qawlanjiyya). He feared that he wouldn't make it through the night. Unclear if or how the two letters are related to each other. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.) ASE

Letter to a certain Yiṣḥaq. In Judaeo-Arabic. Long and full of interesting details, but parts (especially verso) are faded beyond legibility. Dealing with personal issues and mentioning people such as a qāḍī, al-Ḥilwānī, Yaʿqūb Ibn Qihāya(?), Moshe al-Ḥabashi, and al-Rayyis. AA

Formulary for writing Judaeo-Arabic letters. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Various lists, probably from account. On leaf 1, a draft of a letter. Some names are written at some of the accounts: Yosef, Abu Yunis, Abu Birr, Musa's sister, Husam, Muhamad al-Qadi, Ya'aqub, Fakhr al-Din, Umm Umar. AA

Mercantile letter from Yaḥyā b. Isḥāq, in Alexandria, to Mawhūb or [... b.] Mawhūb. In Judaeo-Arabic. Maghribī hand. Dating: 11th century. Fragment (left side of recto). AA. ASE.

Multifragment. P1: Epistolary (formulary for writing letters). In Judaeo-Arabic. Contains both common and uncommon formulae. Goitein notes that it is older than the epistolary in T-S Ar.54.25. The hand seems familiar from other fragments (e.g., Moss. I,109), maybe ca. 12th century. Model letters here include: asking someone to do something for you; responding to a request to do something for someone; and congratulations upon the birth of a son (ghulām) or daughter (ibna/jāriya); it is not immediately clear if these terms which literally mean "male slave" and "female slave" refer to actual slaves here (probably not, and Goitein does not seem to think so; he also notes that he has never encountered an actual Geniza letter with congratulations on the birth of a girl). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card and Med Soc III, p. 474 note 19.)

Multifragment. P2: Maghribī business letter from the 11th century. Nearly entirely preserved, but faded. Mentions well-known merchants such as Barhūn Ibn al-Tāhirtī (r4). Needs examination for content. Uncited in the literature.

Letter fragment sent from Alexandria to Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer tried 2 or 3 times to travel, but it was impossible owing to the rain (shitā). (Information from Goitein's note card)

Letter ending written from Fustat to Alexandria about a dispute between Yehuda (al-'Ammani?) and Yusuf al-Ifranji in the days of Avraham Maimonides. Apparently Hananel did not allow Yehuda to travel from Fustat to Alexandria before an answer to his letter reached him. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Earlier text: Letter from a man to his father. In Judaeo-Arabic. Contains mostly regards to family members and extensive urgings to come visit for the Sabbath. AA. ASE.

Copy of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Written on a reused fragment of a letter in Arabic script (the only part preserved is the basmala and the opening "ṣalawāt Allāh wa-bara[kātuh]"). Describing the endeavors of Abū Saʿd "the seventh" to become head of the Jews by bribing the vizier ('mutawallī bāb al-sulṭān') Ibn al-Salār. These endeavors were directed against the court physician and head of the Jews, the Nagid Abū Manṣūr Shemuel b. Ḥananya (in office 1140–59 with interruptions). (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 32, 528, and M. A. Friedman's article on Zuta, p. 479.)

Business letter in Hebrew and Arabic script about the sale of silk, flax, olive oil and other commodities.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Dated (v2–3): 16th of the ʿOmer '195, meaning 4800+195=4935 AM, which corresponds to 15 May 1235 CE. (Not 1595 Seleucid, corresponding to 1284 CE, as Ashtor thought.) Mentions a sea-voyage from Marseilles that lasted 25 days (verso, ll.3–8). Same sender as T-S Ar.53.67, which may even be the last folio of the same letter.

Fragment of a petition addressed to the Nagid (Avraham Maimonides). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 1544 Seleucid, which is 1232/33 CE. The names of four senders appear at the top: Elʿazar b. Yosef; Nadiv b. Yosef; Yefet b. David; and the last is difficult to read. The senders are objecting to the appointment of Abū Naṣr (as the shammash of the synagogue of Dammūh) on account of his filthiness (qadhāratuh) and impurity (ʿadm ṭahāratih). (Information from Goitein's index card.)