Geniza Lab

Letter from Makhlūf b. Mūsā to Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen Sijilmāsī (aka Abū Zikrī Kohen). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: first half of the 12th century. Mentions people such as Abū l-Faḍl b. Muʿallā; Ibn Ṣaghīr; Abū l-Yumn Ibn Ṣaghīr; Hiba al-Ḥamawī; Yosef b. ʿAṭāʾ; ʿAllūsh; Ibn Ḥārith; Abū l-Faḍl Ibn Ṣaghīr; Ben Yiju; Ibn Semekh(?) al-Daʿwa; Yiṣḥaq; Khiyār b. Faḍl. Mentions places such as Barqa, Almeria, Egypt, and Aden. Reports on mercantile transactions and taking oaths (a judge and a Torah scroll and a crowd of people are involved).

Letter from "the sons of Palṭiel" to Yosef the Turgeman/Turjumān. In Hebrew with a couple words in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Perhaps 10th or 11th century. The sender may be the son-in-law of Yosef ha-Turgeman, as he conveys greetings (and prostrations) from himself and from Shelomit (presumably his wife). They have been doing well ever since Yosef departed. The children were sick, but now they are better. They rejoiced to learn that God saved Yosef from some danger that is too faded to read. The substance of the letter is that someone was supposed to send someone money, but no money has arrived. When Yosef's letter arrived, the sender of this letter went and spoke with the mother of אבולפד (=Abū l-Pad? Abū l-Faḍ[l?]) who said that she would write to him about the matter. Further down, there is a line that reads "... to the king, and your companions...." On verso there is a second letter addressed to אבולפד, which consists largely of honorifics (including Rosh ha-Qehillot). A woman (his mother?) greets and prays for him. His beneficence is lauded, and presumably he is asked about the money in one of the portions faded beyond legibility. ASE

Letter from Perahya b. Yosef in Mazara, Sicily, to Avraham b. Eliyyahu in al-Mahdiyya, inquiring about Perahya's uncle, Avraham Ibn Yiju and letter No. 68 (?). Dating: ca. 1151/2.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic concerning the India trade. Apparently the second or the third folio of a very long letter. Mentions numerous people and family members and business matters and Sicily and Bijaya. The first folio may be T-S Misc.28.33 (identified by Oded Zinger).

Letter from Ṭoviya b. ʿEli, in a provincial town, to his cousin Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, probably in Fustat. Dating: 1122–50, based on the dated documents of the addressee. The writer sends thanks for the forwarding of a prescription from one physician, Abū l-Bahā', and reminds Natan to obtain a second prescription from another physician, al-Amīn, both for his sick wife. The latter physician was perhaps a Muslim or Christian, since the addressee is asked to transcribe the prescription from Arabic to Hebrew (but cf. T-S 8J16.19 + T-S NS 323.13, in which a Jew is asked not to use Arabic script). "Favor your servant with the answer to be given by my lord al-Amīn, may his reward be doubled. Please transcribe for me the prescription into Hebrew letters.") As requested, Ṭoviya provides an elaborate update on the condition of his sick wife: "She has six attacks (fawra) during the day and four during the night. Perspiration (ʿaraq) overcomes her from the sockets of her eyes (maḥājīr ʿaynayhā) to her chest (fu'ādhā). Owing to the high fever (min ʿuẓm al-nār) she has a feeling that her neck first burns (iḥtaraqat) and then becomes cold (yabrud). At the same time, she suffers pain in her knees (wajaʿ rukab). Owing to her grave sufferings (min ʿuẓm al-alam) her menses (al-ṭamth) have stopped. Finally, because of her great anxiety (min kuthrat al-takarrub), she is affected by mild palpitation (rajīf yasīr) of the heart." The same illness is also described in an earlier letter (T-S 12.234). From a later letter (T-S 13J25.15) we learn that she eventually began to feel better. Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 254, 255; V, p. 106. It is possible that no fever is described, only a sensation of burning (nār). It is also possible that the phrase "knee pain" (wajaʿ rukab) should be read "pelvic pain" (wajaʿ rakab), especially as the next sentence describes the menstrual changes brought on by excessive pain. In the margin, changing the topic, Ṭoviya asks for a loan of the piyyut שיר השירים אסלסל (a liturgical poem for the Seventh of Passover composed by Shemuel b. Hoshaʿna the Third) from 'the rayyis,' sends regards to family members, and reports that the family's situation was very difficult when the tax collector arrived on Purim.

Letter sent from Alexandria to Fustat by Sedaqa b. 'Ayyash to Abu Nasr b. Sahl (Bareket and Ben- Sasson) or Hesed b. Yashar (Gil). The letter deals with shipments of goods to the Maghreb and Sicily. The letter also mentions the triumphal march of Mu'izz b. Badis, ruler of the Maghreb, Dated ca. 1023 (Bareket and Ben-Sasson) or May 1027 (Gil). (Information from M. Gil, Vol. 2, p. 462; M. Ben-Sasson, p. 233; E Bareket, Shafrir misrayim, p.253)

Recto: Petition to Masliah Gaon from a woman wishing to have a divorce. Probably 1127 CE. Discussed in detail, with translation, in Oded Zinger's dissertation, pp. 201–02: 'Malīḥa bt. Abū al-Faḍl wanted a divorce. She claimed that her husband suffered from many illnesses and that his children from a previous marriage were irreligious. Malīḥa feared for the well-being of her children were she to die. We have a resolute petition written on her behalf to the head of the Jews, Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen, informing him of the following: "I am the wife of Adam, the money changer. For the past eight months, I have asked repeatedly for divorce, but could not obtain it. I had thought that with the arrival of your most venerable presence, you would not postpone giving a ruling to me or to another (on my behalf) a single hour. He is a man afflicted with many illnesses and sicknesses. He has children far removed from religion and others. The servant fears lest what is sealed upon people (i.e. death) overtake him, or me. There is no assurance what will happen with him and with my children.1 By the divine law that you possess! Examine my state and quickly issue a verdict, whatever it may be.2 The servant appointed a representative, but from all that was done to the man; he said that he would not return to mediate between us. The servant is bashful, I do not have a tongue to speak with. By your parents! Examine my state and please liberate me.3 .... All that I want is the liberation of the servant, by any means necessary. And what the divine law obligates."4 We hear of Malīḥaʼs ultimate success in her bid for divorce in another document, T-S 8J5.4 2v. A four-line entry in a page from a court notebook records that on 28 June 1127, Malīḥa appointed Nathan ha-Levi b. Abraham as her representative to sue her husband. This short entry is followed by another entry recording an unrelated appointment of a representative. The next entry in the court notebook, however, records that on the very same day, a cantor who was one of the witnesses of the first appointment came to the court with two parnasim from the community. The three men declared to the court that they had made the symbolic purchase from Malīḥa confirming that she relinquished the entirety of her meʿuḥar and was willing to take an oath over her claims regarding the dowry. Her husband also made the symbolic purchase confirming that he had no claim over her. It appears that Malīḥa got her divorce.'5 Margins of recto, and verso: Copious jottings in Hebrew and Arabic script. It is unclear how much, if any, pertains to the main letter on recto. Shelomo ha-Levi b. Moshe is named. Many of the Arabic writings appear to be formulaic phrases from a letter to a dignitary (titled in one place Imam and Amir).

Letter from Yehuda Leib the Ashkenazi to the Nagid Yiṣḥaq Sholal. In Hebrew. Dating: 1502–17 CE. The writer congratulates the Nagid on regaining a post from which he had been ousted.

Letter by a cantor in a small town, addressed to Rabbi Eliyyahu the judge, complaining bitterly about his lack of opportunity for further study and about doing nothing but jingling off prayers. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p.88)

Letter in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Written and signed by Berakhot (b. Shemuel). Expressing thanks to the poet Yiṣḥaq b. Shelomo for his “sweet poems and powerful words” with which he had honored the writer. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from a mother in Aden to her son in Egypt.

Letter from the cantor Musāfir b. Yosef ha-Bavli, in Alexandria, to his relative Yehuda the schoolteacher in the Iraqi synagogue of Fustat. Musāfir writes he had left Alexandria, where the family had fought with each other over a piece of bread and had lived in Fuwwa for a year. The situation was now better and he says he would assist the family in Fustat. This seems to be the reply to DK 315 (alt: 11). See also T-S 13J10.10 (?). (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Letter from Yosef b. Avraham, in Qayrawan(?), to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1050. The writer expresses his sorrow for the situation in Qayrawan. Mentions Nahray’s mother who is still in Qayrawan. It seems that the writer would have preferred to move to Egypt. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #754) VMR

Letter from Manṣūr b. Maḥfūẓ, in Alexandria, to Abū Saʿīd b. Berakhot al-Melammed, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 1487 Seleucid, which is 1175/76 CE. The letter opens without about 30 lines of eloquent, often rhymed expressions of longing and good wishes. The substance of the letter begins with wa-ghayr dhālika at the bottom of recto. The sender asks for a copy of Seder Moʿed. And if the addressee sees the sender's cousin (ibn ʿamma), he should inform him that the sender is still owed 21 dirhams by the cousin's partner. The remainder of the letter consists of greetings to various people, including: Rabbenu Elʿazar; 'all the students/scholars' (talāmidha); 'the father, mother, and brother'; Rabbenu Yiṣḥaq; Abū l-Ḥasan; Abū Manṣūr; Yosef; Abū l-Maʿānī and his brother; Rabbi Nissim; Rabbi Daniel and his son; Abū l-Faraj al-Ṭabīb; Barakāt b. Rosh ha-Qahal; Avraham b. Abū Naṣr; Abū l-Faraj Hiba; al-Rayyis Abū l-Mufaḍḍal and his brothers. On verso there are also some sums in eastern Arabic numerals. ASE

Letter from Musa b. Abu'l-Hayy to Evyatar ha-Kohen Gaon, ca. December 1094.

Letter from Daniel b. Yiṣḥaq he-Hazzan from Jerusalem to Eli b. Sadaqa. Probably ca. 1060.

Letter by Shelomo b. Yeshuʿa ha-ḥaver, in Damīra, to Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Natan ha-Sheviʿi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1100 CE. The writer raises charges against the muqaddam of Damira ("he does not deserve to be the rear (mu'akhkhar), let alone the head (muqaddam)," r18) and refuses to take on additional duties in order to avoid conflicts with the local community leader. Someone named Abū Naṣr is in a bad state (miskīn) from an eye disease, otherwise he too would have written to support the writer's complaints. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 73, 189, 589.) ASE.

Letter from Barukh b. Yiṣḥaq, the chief Rabbi of Aleppo, Syria, to a colleague, it seems in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1100. Asking him to send him legal documents concerning the property belonging to some orphans, which was worth more than 30 dinars. The sender requests the documents to be sent by special mail, for the merchants are being detained and are hardly reaching Aleppo. . (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 271; IV, p. 277)

Letter from Dalāl bt. Masʿūd/Seʿadya (a.k.a. Umm Ibrāhīm), in Bilbays, to the dignitary Abū l-Barakāt Yehuda b. Elʿazar ha-Kohen (titled "ha-Sar" and "Sofer ha-Malkhut"). The sender was a widow and had been held captive in 1168 CE. She was freed after paying for her own release, one dinar at a time. The addressee had previously helped the woman, but suggested she leave the dinar with him until she needed it; he did not send it back to her. Time has passed. The woman's cousin is now wanted by the police, and she asks Abū l-Barakāt Yehuda to do as he had promised. (Information from Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, 319–20) VMR.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Avraham b. ʿAṭā' (=Natan), in Malīj, to Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Mūsā. The writer is not the same person as the Nagid of Qayrawān with the same name. The letter seems to be a response to Yehuda's request that the writer take good care of a certain Abū Isḥāq (al-qawām bihi). Avraham reports, "Our companions (aṣḥābunā) did not fall short with him even before your letter arrived. When it arrived, I took him into my own house. I will look after him (aqūm bi-ḥālihi) until he recovers. He is doing better than before. Whatever I [have to] spend, he is secure (muthbat) with me until he recovers. [I would do this] even if I did not owe you anything and you asked me to do it." ASE.