Geniza Lab

Letter of business from Yosef Ḥakīm to Mikha'el Yiṣḥaq מייארה. In Judaeo-Arabic. Late. Mentions Tunis (right page, three lines from bottom).

Letter(s). The first 9 lines are in Arabic script (the hand is practiced), followed by 9 lines in Judaeo-Arabic (the hand is crude). It may be one and the same sender/scribe. The Arabic portion mentions congratulations; possibly sesame oil (sīraj, l. 3); that the sender sent something to the Rayyis, who is asked for a favor; that Abū l-Ḥasan b. al-[...] was also present at the time this letter was written and kisses the addressee's hands and serves him. The Judaeo-Arabic portion mentions "a Hebrew letter"; urges the addressee to respond quickly before the holiday; asks for "a separate ruqʿa in my name and in the name of Sulaymān"; and may allude to a legal case between himself and Sulaymān in the countryside (al-Rīf). He reports that "they have begun" with the addressee's silk and asks if they should start dyeing the 10 ruṭaylāt of silk. Needs further examination (especially the Arabic portion). ASE

Family letter written by Abū l-Faraj to Abu ʿImran in Fustat at the time of R. Ḥananel (early 13th century). The writer reports that he inquired about Muhadhdhab from two Jews who arrived from Minyat Zifta and learned that he has recovered from his illness. He is now well (fī ʿāfiya) & left his house (kharaj al-ṭarīq) & returned to work (taṣarraf). The writer also inquires four times after al-ṣaghīra, 'the little one,' referring to the recipient's wife. This urgent request for information can be explained by the fact that the plague was then raging in Cairo in 1216. Hananel will forward an answer together with his letter to Abu al-Tahir. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 113.) Note that this dating is tentative; Goitein writes that this document is dated Kislev 1528 = November/December 1216 (Med Soc V, p. 538, n. 375). But he almost certainly meant to cite T-S 6J6.20. By contrast, T-S Ar.54.91 is not dated and does not refer to a 'great plague' but rather to 'the wakham.' ASE.

Recto, with the address on verso: Mercantile letter from Yehuda b. Moshe to Abū l-ʿAlāʾ Yūsuf b. Dāʾūd Ibn Shaʿyā, in Fustat. In Arabic script, elegantly written. Dating: mid-11th century, as the addressee is known from other Geniza letters from this time. Mainly dealing with business in flax, it seems. Mentions the names of other merchants. Needs further examination. Verso: Mercantile letter in Judaeo-Arabic, in an unusual, somewhat crude hand. Might be an addendum to the Arabic-script letter, as it does not appear to be a complete letter in its own right, and it concerns the same issues (reports on flax production from the Rīf). Mentions Abū Yaḥyā (Nahray b. Nissim?) several times.

Letter from Natan b. Avraham, Fustat, to Abu Yusuf Elazar b. Isma'il, Qus, approximately 1035.

Business letter in Arabic script, top only; continues on verso. Reused for a Judaeo-Arabic text on recto and verso, according to Baker and Polliack about Alexander the Great; mentions China (al-Ṣīn) several times.

Recto: 1. Judaeo-Arabic, Hebrew jottings and pen trials2. Draft of an opening formula to a halakhic question addressed to Rabbi Isaac ha-dayyan: מא יקול הדרת כבוד גדולת קדשת מרינו ורבינו יצחק הדיין המשכיל probably refer to Ishaq b. Sasson. AA Verso: Arabic letter

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. Verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Mentions "3 from al-Fayyūmī." Needs examination.

Letter from Eliyyahu the Judge. He is prepared to give a refresher course in the reading of the Torah to Abū l-ʿAlā ha-Kohen and his father the Segan (ha-Kohanim) and is prepared to come to his house if he is ashamed to attend classes at Eliyyahu's place. Information from Goitein's note card. Verso: 2 lists of contributions, see PGPID 4594.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to al-Ḥaver al-Jalīl (but the latter word is spelled wrong). The writer has other curious spellings, including ‎שׂרורי for סרורי. Little of the content remains.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. Mentions R. Shelomo. And "[if you h]ear that the city is good, come, and if you hear that the villages are [go]od, stay and put your faith in God."

Note from Hajjaj, in Messina, to Yosef Yiju, in Mazara, regarding a consignment sent to Yosef by his sons. Written around October-November 1154.

Note from a certain Ḥajjāj to Yosef Yiju, in Mazara, Sicily. In Judaeo-Arabic. Informing him about a consignment sent to him by one of his sons. Dating: October–November 1154 CE.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (There is also an incomplete address to their other brother Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya, but this may have been an error that Yefet corrected with the more complete address beneath.) In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper left corner of recto). He confirms that the rubāʿī arrived, 9 and a half [...]. He also mentions the arrival of a bag (kharīṭa) of something.

Letter, probably in the hand of Shelomo. He spent a few days in Minya on the way to Cairo with his children on the occasion of a wedding.

Letter in the hand of Avraham Maimonides in which he instructs Fakhr al-Dawla regarding a sum of money, nine dinars, still owed, and what to tell Abu al-'Ala about it. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer mentions a warrāq and a promissory note (ḥujja) for 5 dinars. On verso there is literary text in Arabic, perhaps a collection of poetry (wa-ghayruhu... ghayruhu...).

Letter probably from a man, in Jerusalem, probably to a woman named Marḥaba, perhaps in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with many colloquial forms (incl. the suffix שי for verbs that are negated). Dating: Late, probably no earlier than 15th century, based on handwriting and language. The letter is full of grief and self-pity. This fragment begins with a discussion of the death of a woman; the writer's father and mother have also died; the writer resents being rebuked for the lack of letters. On verso, "We see others congratulating each other on/with their children, and I am in sorrow. . . You have killed my soul. . . This deed that you have done, nobody does this. If someone sends a piece of news and reports that someone (or the wife of someone, āl fulānī?) died, I am confounded, I don't know if I should mourn or not." The writer requests a proper letter containing news of the address and the family. "You asked if we have an epidemic (magefa) here in Jerusalem. Thank God, there is no evil and no heat (? lā sharr wa-lā ḥarr, probably an idiom). After greeting those of you who have survived, (I inform you) that your son and brother-in-law are well." ASE

Segment of a letter from a woman in the process of divorcing her husband to her 'lawyer'.

Letter from Abū Manṣūr to his 'father' (it seems father-in-law) al-Rayyis Hibatallāh the judge, representative of the Nagid David, in Alexandria: Dating: Based on the name of the Nagid, either 1237–1300 (if David I) or 1355–1410 (if David II). In Arabic script with occasional Hebrew script mixed in. Goitein refers to the script as "childish," in part because it is relatively easy to read and has diacritics. The letter is a detailed business letter concerning the textile trade. See Goitein's note card for some of the content.