Geniza Lab

Recto: Letter fragment in Arabic script. Only the last three lines are preserved, then two lines in Hebrew, 'may I be the ransom of the brother (al-akh al-shaqīq) from all evil.' Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic with rudimentary handwriting and spellings. "As for what you you mentioned that I should send you a boy, I send you a boy every day. As for other matters, I feared to introduce worrry (ghamm) into your heart and make you relapse (tantakis), for you are from [...] illness (wajaʿ), may God complete your recovery. As for the copper. . . as God is my witness, I was sick (ḍaʿīf)." ASE.

Letter from Moshe b. Nissim to an unknown addressee. In Judaeo-Arabic. He asks the addressee to sell on his behalf four copies of th She'eltot de-Rav Aḥa (he seems to have been the copyist). He is in need of the proceeds, because before he left Cairo he took out a loan of 40 dirhams. The money is to be sent with al-Shaykh al-Rashīd Abū l-Fakhr, the brother of [Sayyid?] al-Ahl the Blind. (Information in part from Goitein's note card)

Letter fragment from Shabbetay b. Avraham he-Ḥaver (the judge of Minyat Zifta, active 1135–78) to Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver. This is the upper margin and the address only. Shabbetay includes a wish for Natan’s recovery in the address and reports that he was ill himself—with a bone in his leg that had not been set properly—and apologizes for not presenting himself. He had not come to Fustat for five months. Information from Goitein’s note cards and Med Soc II, 44. See also card #27137.

Letter from the members of the Jerusalem academy to Yiṣḥaq Sholal (d. 1524). (Information from Avraham David via FGP.)

Letter from Yosef b. Shemuel al-Dani in Palermo to Isma’il b. Avraham in Damsis. The first part of the letter deals with the tragedy that happened in the sea, near Gabes (Qābis), on the way to Sicily. After the writer arrived in Sicily, he found out that he had been expelled from his house. In the other part, Yosef writes about his wife that is still in Egypt. He wrote her a divorce certificate in case he will not be able to come back. He is willing to sell his land and take the risk to come back to Egypt, to take her and their son to Palermo, if she swears she will go with him. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #173) VMR

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from a father to a son ("who is in my heart like Abu l-Faraj"). He asks his son to collect a debt of 11 dinars that is owed to him by Abu l-Ḥasan al-'Attar. A half-dinar and a (mother?-)in-law (ḥamātī) are also mentioned but their place in the story is not entirely clear. He blandishes Abu l-Ḥasan to give him the money immediately because he is in financial straits, and then threatens to take him to court if he fails to pay up. In the last few lines he reverts to speaking to his son, "This is distressing to me. Go out and take it. He knows that I cannot go out to him.... Whatever you send to me, send it with Musa." The handwriting and colloquial spellings resemble those of Abu Sahl (Levi) the cantor, the father of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, (cf. T-S 13J27.21, T-S 8J10.16, T-S 8J24.1); this is supported by the mention of Musa at the end but still conjectural. ASE.

Letter of condolence(?). In Hebrew. Needs examination.

Letter from Yehuda al-ʿAmmānī to the judge Eliyyahu. (Information from Goitein's index card)

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Tuesday night, 1 Adar 1539 Seleucid, which is 1228 CE. The writer advises the addressee to resort to the intervention of the mothers and wives of certain 'righteous gentiles': Umm Ibrāhīm and her son; the amir Najm al-Dīn; the wife of Jamāl al-Dīn "who was in the wilāya (=iqṭāʿ?)" of Mubāriz al-Dīn and represented him "in the gate of the Sultan"; and Sitt Masʿūd. He also asks the addressee to inquire about ophthalmics (ashyāfāt). Information from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter from an unknown writer in al-Maḥalla to Sar ha-Sarim (Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya) in Fustat. Written in Hebrew. Calligraphic and beautifully styled. Goitein suggests that the writer is the muqaddam of al-Maḥalla. The name ʿOvadya ha-Levi b. Saadya on verso may be the name of the writer, but this is not certain. The writer seems to be trying to obtain an invitation to serve in some position in Fustat. Information in part from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Salīm to Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Natanʾel in al-Ghuwwa, Yemen, ca. summer 1131, concerning the controversy over the reshut of Maṣliaḥ gaʾon over the Jews of Yemen and the collection on behalf of the yeshiva in Fustat. Yaʿaqov b. Salīm, leader of a Jewish community in Yemen, having left Aden and moved to al-Ghuwwa, sends Ḥalfon a secret letter for Maṣliaḥ, head of the Jews in Egypt, and another letter for Abū Zikrī ha-Kohen, representative of the merchants in Fustat. Yaʿaqov b. Salīm had managed to get the Jews in the villages of Yemen to send contributions for Maṣliaḥ, and he asks Ḥalfon to beware lest the letters fall into the hands of his enemies. In case Ḥalfon is delayed on his journey to Egypt, he should ask Abū l-Yumn to deliver the letters personally. Yaʿaqov hopes he will receive an answer from Maṣliaḥ within the year. He also comments on books that he has sent to Ḥalfon, and notes that he had already copied the letter sent to him from al-Ghuwwa while he was staying in Aden. Yaʿaqov b. Salīm had left Aden for al-Ghuwwa because, like others, he was seceding from the authority of Maḍmūn b. Yefet and didn't want to be involved in controversy, all the more so given what we learn from his letter regarding contributions collected for the yeshiva of Palestine in this period of controversy. He himself had sent 34 dinars as an annual contribution from the villages of Yemen. The letter seems not to know that the villages had refrained from contributing that year — a rumor based on the exilarch's preventing the congregation from saying the reshut clause in the name of Maṣliaḥ gaʾon. Yaʿaqov b. Salīm points out that only two villages had not yet contributed, and that when their contribution came, the total contribution of the villages would be 404 dinars, a good amount according to Yaʿaqov b. Salīm, but also a much larger sum that any other geniza document mentions as a contribution to any reshut. Goitein read the sum as 600 (תר) rather than 404 (תד), but after the number the word danān(īr) appears, which in both classical Arabic and in this letter comes only after units. The regular contribution in the name of the gaʾon of Palestine demonstrates the attachment of Yemeni Jews to the central institution of learning. This seems to be the earliest document written from Yemen in the controversy over the reshut. It is exceptional that Yaʿaqov b. Salīm warned Halfon to handle the letter with secrecy and destroy it; fortunately, Halfon didn't obey the warning. The letter is difficult to decipher, but includes specific information about the affair, such as the copying of letters from the Davidic Persians and details about the collection for Maṣliaḥ, as well as greetings to Halfon's children ("his lion cubs"). Yaʿaqov b. Salīm was already known from Mann, Jews in Egypt and in Palestine, 2:366 (doc. 65; read al-Ghuwwa instead of אלגיוהומא). (Information from Friedman and Goitein)

Letter fragment. In Hebrew. Calligraphically written. The subject matter is communal strife; some wicked person is stirring up trouble, and the results are government decrees (nishtavnim) and a letter in Arabic script ("the writing of the Ishamelites"). The postscript instructs the addressee to send the response with the sister of Samʿān. Information from Goitein's note card and from Marina Rustow.

Recto: Letter fragment in Hebrew, rhymed. Much damaged. Verso: Formulae for condolence according to BT Ketubbot 8b. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from a man who might be Perahya b. Yosef Ibn Yiju, probably in Fustat, to his wife, in al-Maḥalla. She is the daughter of the judge of al-Maḥalla. The sender reports that he was given the honor of delivering a sermon before the two congregations of Fustat. He implores his wife, with both sweet words and threats, to join him in Fustat. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 218, 567, 568; III, 219, 220)

Fragment of a letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda.

Recto and beginning of verso: Letter from a sick man to a physician. In Judaeo-Arabic. He reports that he has collected the prescription that the physician gave him and that he used it earlier in the day, but it had no effect. He is still in great and unmentionable distress whenever he leaves the toilet (murtafaq). He has sent the (substantial amount of) 109.5 dirhams that the physician charged him. He asks for further instructions, because he is in great distress. He is unable to leave the house but cannot bear sitting in in the house. Lower part of verso: The physician responds that the medicine has [not had enough time to] work, and that he should take another dose. There is then a cryptic instruction about doing something first that should be done first, "from whichever hand possible," for that is the greatest requirement for this illness. ASE.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Dealing with business matters and goods on a boat. The writer sends greetings to the addressee's son Abū ʿAlī and his brother-in-law Abū l-Ḥasan; also sends regards to Ḥasan and his maternal aunt.

Letter from Ḥassūn b. Daniel (? looks like حسون بن دانييل) to a certain Abū l-Ṭayyib. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. The Judaeo-Arabic is written with a rudimentary hand and spellings. Needs further examination.

Abū l-Majd, in Alexandria writes to his cousin Judge Elijah, in Damascus (?) on a business trip. See Goitein Nachlass material. Judge Elijah may in fact be in Fustat. Abū l-Majd writes, that a certain mawlā (his father?) wrote to him from Damascus telling him to come join him. "I was shocked; I don't know what to do. He said that he is blind in his eyes. I am making up my mind to go. I want to consult you about the trip. . . the news of the country, whether caravans are going. . . ." Abū l-Majd also writes, "I have sent you many letters on this matter and not received a response." AIU VII.E.38 seems to be one of those letters. ASE.

Letter from Abū al-Riḍa, in Qūṣ, to Abū Zikrī, in Fustat, c/o the sugar factory (maṭbakh) of Abū al-Maʿānī. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. (Goitein's index card identifies the addressee as Eliyyahu the Judge, who did have a son named (Abū) Zikrī.) Dating: Probably early 13th century. The addressee is asked to give a responsum (fatwā) with regard to a certain Maḥāsin who wanted to marry his wife's sister. Maḥāsin had denied a charge in connection with this engagement before a Muslim court and confessed it in a Jewish court. The issue involves the wife (bayt) of Ibn Qasāsa and Abū Saʿd al-ʿAṭṭār, who calls himself Shaykh al-Yahūd. The sender complains several times about his illness and poverty (and therefore his inability to resolve the issue). He tells the addressee not to send letters to the shop of Abū Saʿd, because Abū Saʿd always reads them before passing them on to the addressee. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)