Geniza Lab

Letter from ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Yeḥezqel, in Jerusalem, to ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Ḥayyim, in Fustat.

Recto: Legal document somehow related to verso. Verso: Legal document. Dated: Tammuz 4831 AM, which is 1071 CE. Location: Zawīlat al-Mahdiyya. (This is rare; others from Zawīlat al-Mahdiyya are T-S 13J9.5 from 1047 CE and T-S 20.187 from 1073 CE). Abū l-Faraj Yeshaʿya b. David acknowledges that Abū ʿAlī Yefet b. Muslim known as Ibn Ḥarbash has handed over to him the contract(?) whose value is 75 Tamīmī dinars "in the weight of Egypt" (bi-sanjat/ṣanjat Miṣr), and that Abū l-Maʿālī Yiṣḥaq b. Yosef who is named in the contract is thereby released. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably no earlier than 13th century, based on handwriting. The letter is written on behalf of a group of people and addressed to a group of people. It seems to be a petition requesting that everyone who wishes to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Moshe Rabbenu (at Dammūh?) during this holiday should be allowed to do so.

Letter from Hillel b. Eli (identified based on handwriting) to Avraham al-Ḥemdat b. Natan ha-Sheviʿi. He complains of something to do with the tax (? mas). Needs examination. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic calligraphy presenting a Hebrew poem in honor of the addressee's wedding.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment. Dealing with some matter of communal strife. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Shemuel, in Damietta, to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal Hibatallāh b. Faraḥ, perhaps related by marriage through the latter's sister. The handwriting is often ambiguous, so much of this analysis is tentative. Shemuel opens with the bare minimum of formalities, then, "As for what you mentioned about the events in Damietta, very ugly things came to pass. They took your sister to the ḥujra (barracks?). Then they brought her to the administrative complex (dār al-imāra), and they brought a basket to sit her in it and beat her. I pled and pled (? lam azal ashḥad—this verb is used for beggars, but perhaps he is using the Hebrew meaning: to bribe) until God had mercy and they brought her back to the ḥujra, without saying a word to her. I did not cease . . . until I got her out of the ḥujra to the house of Hilāl. Hilāl stood guaranty for her after a period of house arrest (? baʿd an aqām mudda fī l-tarsīm). He lost 13 dinars. They sold everything that was in the house. They left nothing worth even a half dirham. They took your sister's copper and sold it. No one was harsher than the secretary of the head of police (wālī) in Damietta, who supervises the inheritances. I sent him 10 gold coins with Abū l-ʿAlā' Muslim." The next line is tricky and involves something called "kutub al-sulṭān." At this point the writer switches to beseeching the addressee to do his utmost to protect the interests of his own family and of the writer: "Go to the amir Sayf al-Dīn, and to the owner of the house, and meet with Sayyidnā al-Rayyis. Let him go and meet with all of the amirs and bring up these matters that interest you and me." They are also to go to al-Amīr al-Ṭahīr (? אלטהיר. There is a qāḍī with the same epithet in the Arabic document T-S Ar.41.9. But perhaps it is al-ẓahīr). The subject matter on verso becomes still more obscure. The writer tells the addressee not to begrudge a certain payment, "for the amir Fakhr al-Dīn has promised me every good thing in the world. He has bestowed favor on me beyond description. He does not take a penny; others do." There follows another obscure passage: perhaps the writer obtained a loan of 30 gold coins from the amir that he needed for a bribe (shaḥadtu bihā, the same verb used during the beating). He then goes back to describe how the house was completely emptied; not even a nail was left behind. Finally he relates the episode described by Goitein as follows: "In Damietta, the Egyptian seaport, a makhzan was located in a dihlīz, or entrance hall [of the house of Abū Saʿd]. A jug containing a thousand gold pieces was discovered there and, of course, confiscated by the government." Med Soc IV, 79. Goitein mentions this letter one other time: "As with government offices in general, there was no clear-cut and fixed division of duties among the various branches of the judiciary and the security force. Thus we find, for example, in Damietta, the office of the chief of police (wālī) dealing with cases of inheritance, normally the prerogative of the qadis." Med Soc II, 371, referring to recto, lines 12–14. ASE.

Letter from Mufaḍḍal b. al-Ḥaver (?) to Abū l-Maḥāsin (?). In Judaeo-Arabic. The whole letter is preserved, but the text is extremely faded.

Hebrew letter, likely a draft, from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi to a distinguished physician (but probably not Maimonides: Moshe b. Levi blesses his "sons" rather than "son"). The writer just spent a week in the household of Dr. Moshe, hoping to gain a livelihood of 10 dirhams a week, as he had been struggling to support himself during this drought. However, Moshe b. Levi became embarrassed by all the trouble Maimonides went to on his behalf, so he ran away. He also complains that he could not find any water with which to wash his hands. He now writes this letter begging Dr. Moshe to judge him favorably and to continue bestowing his favor on him. He reminds Dr. Moshe that he still owes him half of a dirham from the book sale for tractates Yoma, Sukkah, and Yom Tov (Beitzah) and half of a dirham for Sefer Kinyan. T-S 6J10.9 is an earlier draft of the same letter without the opening blessings or signature. ENA 1810.2 and 1810.3, also written by Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi contain drafts of poetry in praise of Maimonides, several phrases of which are recycled in the present letter.

Letter from Me'ir Saragos, in Fustat/Cairo, to Yaʿaqov Mar Ḥayyim, probably somewhere in the Levant. The writer was a judge active in Cairo in the second decade of the 16th century. The name of the addressee appears in other documents from 1509 and 1511 CE. The letter is in Hebrew with several Turkish words mixed in. The beginning of the letter deals with the 'sürgün,' an Ottoman policy of forced population transfers. Thus the letter was presumably written some time after the Ottoman conquests of 1517 CE, if such a policy was already in effect. The continuation of the letter deals with business matters, and then a complaint about Yaʿaqov b. Shanjū, who has persisted in "playing" (i.e., gambling) and lost a great deal of money. Information largely from Avraham David's edition (via FGP).

Later text: Brief note from Hillel b. Eli to Mevorakh b. Saadya saying that he has sent him Levantine parchment. Goitein's note card contains a full transcription.

Letter to Ḥalfon b. Berakhot (?). In a mixture of Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The letter is very long, but the substance seems quite short, occupying the last few lines of recto and the first few lines of verso. The writer recounts a story that took place in his small town, involving a Gentile and the addressee's friend Abū l-Munā.

Letter to Peraḥya. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment. Dating: after 1088 CE. The letter discusses business in flax in the Levant, especially in Damascus. Needs examination

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment. Mentions R. Nahray, R. ʿEli ha-Ḥaver, and the Qaraites.

Business letter to Mevorakh b. Avraham Ibn Sabra. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions pepper and ammonium chloride (nushādir). Mentions Abū Yiṣḥaq Avraham b. Yaʿaqov. Needs examination.

Recto and verso: Letter recounting how a storeroom in Alexandria belonging to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, was opened and it was discovered that the grain was spoiled (talaf); the writer asks for instructions on what to do with it. (Nahray 116; S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society 4:435) EMS

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Late. Addressed to Natan b. Avraham ha-Kohen Sholal (?). The writer expresses his longing for the addressee (r1–4). He gives news of family members such as the addressee's maternal uncle Moshe (doing well), news of the addressee's father ('sayyidak,' the next phrase is unclear), and news of business in his location (doing poorly: al-bilād fasadat) (r4–8). In the remainder of the letter he gives his own news (traveling to the 'west') (r9). Two people have died (r13) in addition to the writer's own wife (r14). He gives the addressee advice in case he enters Egypt/Fustat (r17), involving al-Ḥajj Qasim b. Tammām. Merits further examination ASE.

Business letter in Hebrew. Late. Dating: Second half of the 16th century, based on Avraham David's assessment. Mentions currencies such as coronas and peraḥim. Most of the letter consists of detailed business accounts.

Letter from Yeḥezqel b. Eli ha-Kohen (identification based on comparison with DK 233.2), evidently in Jerusalem, to Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan b. Isḥāq al-Ṣārifī (!), in Fustat. The letter is in Judaeo-Arabic and the address is in Arabic. Dating: second half of the 11th century. Apart from the handwriting comparison, there are at least two other reasons to identify the writer as Yeḥezqel b. Eli: (1) the suftaja (money order) of the rayyis is mentioned in line 17 of this document and line 19 of DK 233.2, and (2) the same bearer is listed underneath the address, ʿUmar b. Yūsuf and his son. Whereas DK 233.2 is dated 21 Adar II, this letter does not bear a date, but mentions a letter from the addressee that arrived on 22 Heshvan. Probably DK 233.2 and T-S Misc.28.171 were not sent together. The writer reports on the epidemic (dever) raging in Jerusalem. The first letter of the word דבר is mostly missing, and it bears the wrong vowel, but the context supports the reading of דבר. It is only Wednesday, and already there have been five funerals this week. The writer mentions children, women, and his paternal uncle "in their number" (the sick? the dead?). He adds, "Many people are ʿalā l-qibla." This phrase does not appear in the Judaeo-Arabic dictionaries. Perhaps it means "praying," or specifically praying in the area of the Temple. The writer touches on various things that he wants the addressee to do for him in Fustat (one of them is reminding the Rayyis Abū l-Ṭayyib about the money order), sends regards to Umm Wahbān, reports that he received the medicine (dawā') sent with ʿAmmār, and reports that he has sent the amulet (? this word looks very much like קמיע but the reading is not certain) of Ibn al-Kohen to the addressee, along with a sealed letter from him. ASE.

Letter of appeal for public charity. In calligraphic Hebrew. The writer is a foreigner who wishes to return to his land, but has no money for the trip. The letter ends, curiously, with a string of six שs.