Geniza Lab

Note in Judaeo-Arabic. Calligraphic. The sender excuses himself for cutting himself off from the addressee by offering a cryptic excuse (כאן אלשיך חנבאץ? ענדה פי אכתר אלאוקאת)—someone the sender doesn't care for? He cites several verses and adds "according to how the Rabbanites (? ahl al-Talmud) interpret them." On verso there is a note to the addressee reminding him to deliver something (money?) owed to a certain woman.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq ha-Melammed ha-Bavli, in Bilbays, to Abū Isḥāq b. Bū l-Rabīʿ and a judge named Eliyya, in Fustat. (Goitein's index card says that the second addressee is not the famous judge Eliyyahu of the 13th century but rather a different Eliyya ha-Dayyan of the 14th century). In Judaeo-Arabic. Eliyya is asked to read the beginning of the letter to the sender's wife. The sender has been in Bilbays for a week or two, trying to persuade the congregation to formally appoint him as a teacher. "They are a flock with no shepherd, unable to discern good and bad." He will try for a little longer and urges his wife to stay put in Fustat. He inquires about conditions of travel from all the caravans arriving from al-Shām. Around this point of the letter he switches to addressing Abū Isḥāq and Eliyya and has many fulsome praises for the Nagid Avraham (II?) and sends regards to many community members in Fustat, including Sulaymān b. Abū l-ʿImrān al-Talmid. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) There are also a few words in Arabic script, possibly from a prior document.

Business letter addressed to Yiṣḥaq Sholal ha-Kohen. Dating: Beofre 1502 CE, because Yiṣḥaq Sholal was not yet the Nagid at the time this letter was written. The letter mentions Hebron and Gaza (the sender had previously sent letters from those locations). The specific business partnership has to do with wheat. (Information from A. David's edition on FGP)

Letter fragment by Shelomo b. Yehuda.

Letter in Arabic script. Most of the paper is preserved, but the text is very faded and overwritten with Hebrew jottings. Needs examination.

Letter in Arabic script. Beautiful handwriting. Wide space between the lines. Ḥamdala and ḥasbala at bottom. Needs examination.

Letter from Hārūn b. Yaʿqūb, in Tiberias, possibly addressed to Mūsā b. Ismāʿīl b. Sahl. Dating: Likely 11th century. Dealing with the indigo trade. Needs examination.

Letter fragment addressed to the Nagid. About persecutions in Alexandria; a payment of 400 dinars; assults on women; and a debt of 60 dinars, because of which persons were in prison. The Muslim population suffered as well. The shops were closed and there was no work for the Jews. Handwriting of Shela Beit Din b.(?) Mevasser. Goitein's note card also says "because of the reference to Nagid ZL = Yehuda" and has a note that Golb studied this fragment. Information from Goitein's note card. NB: This shelfmark does not exist, and the true shelfmark is unknown.

Letter of condolence from Shelomo ha-[...] b. Tammām(?) to [...] b. Yiṣḥaq(?), in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer calls the both the addressee and the person who died 'brother.'

Letter/report/petition addressed to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Concerns Ḥāzim the tax rallier (ḥashshār) who was placed under house arrest (tarsīm) and relieved of his duties. Someone else took over his position, which was agreeable to the Jews of the area (aṣḥābnā) until the new administrator (ʿāmil) Abū l-Fakhr arrived, who began oppressing the Jews. A cantor known as al-Peʾer opposed him and was also fined or subjected to tarsīm. The next part is damaged, and the bottom part is missing.

Letter fragment addressed to Ṣadaqa ha-Sar. In Hebrew (poetic introduction) and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, probably no earlier than 15th century. Only the beginning is preserved. The format is very similar to the Ottoman-era Qaraite letters in the Firkovich collection.

Letter from the congregation of Alexandria to the Nagid Mevorakh b. Seʿadya, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Shela b. Mevasser. The letter discusses the crisis among the Jews of Alexandria in this period and asks for help from the Nagid. Based on Mevorakh's titles ("Sar ha-Sarim"), this was written after 1094 CE. (Information from Frenkel, where the document is called T-S Misc.27.19.)

Cryptic document in Judaeo-Arabic. Possibly a letter or fragments of two letters. Discusses liturgy and the reading of the Torah. Mentions asking R. Seʿadya b. Elʿazar ha-Levi to look after the addressee. Upside down, at a 45 degree angle, in a different hand, there is a date (493[.] AM, which is 1170s CE) and a typical ending of a letter ("do not blame me for what I've written").

Letter from Yaḥyā b. ʿEli Kohen Fasi, in Qayrawān, to his brother Yosef, in Alexandria. August 1052. It seems like this letter was sent several days after a different letter (see T-S 103 J 26.9) and contains the same ideas. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #405) VMR

Letter from Moshe b. [Ghālib?]. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions the fast (Yom Kippur?) in Fustat. Regards from Abū l-Ḥasan, Abū Saʿīd, and al-Kohen al-Ḥazzān.

Letter from Sulaymān b. Shaʾul, perhaps in Sicily, to Salmān b. Shabīb al-Kohen, perhaps in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: mid-11th century. Touches briefly on business matters (he has sent some silk with Abū l-Ḥasan) but most of the letter is an explanation of the difficult circumstances at home. Sulaymān intended to travel this year, but he had to stay home and look after family members. He worries that someone will die and someone else will inherit and a woman will be left without resources. "I cannot describe her condition to you; the stones themselves would weep." The woman has been consoled by the presence of the addressee's son Abū l-Saʿḍ, who has behaved admirably. Sulaymān also reports on the state of Salmān's elderly female niece (al-ʿajūz bint akhūk), which hinges on a matter of inheritance. Uncited in the literature.

Letter from Umm Bū l-Makā[rim](?) to an important person. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. She asks/reminds him to send a letter on her behalf with the bearer of this letter to David b. Ḥalfon b. Maḍmūn (see India Book II, p. 16).

Letter of appeal for charity or assistance. Addressed to Peraḥya ha-Kohen. The sender came down with an illness (wa-thāra ʿalā ʿabdih al-maraḍ) and he has been prostrated by it for two weeks (wa-lahū usbūʿayn maṭrūḥ), "may God not afflict any other Jew with this."

Recto: Family letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary handwriting and spellings. The sender reports that they have dyed the silk. The addressee shouldn't stay away any longer. Jalīla, Manṣūr, and the sender's mother are well; the mother sends greetings.

Letter from Sulaymān b. ʿAlī, unknown location, to Abū Saʿīd Yaʿqūb, Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf, and Abū Sahl Saʿīd the sons of Yisra'el (al-Tustari). In Judaeo-Persian, with the address in Arabic (in Arabic script). Abū Yaʿqūb and and Abū Sahl are probably two of the well-known Tustari brothers. The fragment is labeled "L7" in Shaul Shaked's (unpublished) classification of Early Judeo-Persian texts. OH