Geniza Lab

Petition to Avraham al-Nafis from Bu al-Faraj. (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 602) EMS

Letter fragment. Mentions the brother of the Rayyis Abu l-Najm, Ibn Munajja, Zayn al-Din b. al-Sawwaf. In the margin, "abstain from soft bread and water." Handwriting resembles T-S Ar.54.66, but not a match. See Goitein's index card.

Letter in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Zayn al-Tujjār and Rabbenu Nahray Gadol ha-Yeshiva (=Nahray b. Nissim?). The sender's name may be Yosef (there is a very faded address on verso).

Letter from a schoolteacher from Algeria who taught in small town in Egypt and travelled every year to Fustat to obtain a pesiqa there (i.e., a post), instead of teaching privately, but was not successful. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:107, 553) EMS

Verso: Letter to a family member who had inquired about distant relatives. The writer states that his wife, son, and sister-in-law had died, while his mother and her brother (the writer's uncle) are still alive but need help paying the capitation tax and buying clothing (גאליה וכסוה). The writer includes reports about marriages, and notes there were certainly long times out of touch. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Letter of appeal for charity for assistance in moving to the land of Israel.

Strongly formulated note by the prominent judge Natan b. Shemuel to a prominent member of the community, urging the man to send him money for the sick people while staying in his house. EMS. On verso there is a probably-unrelated name in Arabic script, perhaps from a chancery document: ʿabduhā al-Kāmilī Masʿūd.

Petition from Ḍiyāʾ bt. Yūsuf al-Qamrī (or possibly "bayt Yūsuf al-Qamrī" = his wife) to her relative Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllūn al-Firnās (=ʿEli b. Yaḥyā ha-Kohen). In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Dating: 1094–1111. She is in distress over her son’s imprisonment and asks the addressee to appeal to Sar ha-Sarim (=Mevorakh b. Saʿadya) for aid. She states that she must pay the jailer several dirhams every day, which she cannot afford, and suggests that Mevorakh will be able to secure the release of her son simply by writing a note (ruqʿa) to the Alexandrian qāḍī. (Mark Cohen, Jewish Self-government in Medieval Egypt, Princeton University Press, 1980, 113, 260, 261; S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:373) EMS

Letter from Alexandria to a man from Jerusalem, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1060 CE. Concerning a communal dispute in Fustat. At the center of the dispute is Surūr Ibn Sabra, who is accused of converting to Islam in the west and marrying there a woman of low social standing. This is evidently related to the same dispute as in T-S K25.244, where Yehuda b. Yosef ("the Rav") had been accused of converting to Islam. Here, one of his accusers is accused of the same thing. Partial translation by Moshe Yagur: "[. . .] and Surūr b. Sabra is slandering you, vilifying you with every kind of ridiculous slur . . . and this letter from him, which I came across, speaks of you and me and Rav Yehuda the rabbi . . . and we have already agreed unanimously, I and the congregation, that we will excommunicate him on the Sabbath [. . .] and please notify the “head,” the judge, that the people of Jerusalem [. . .] that he, Surūr b. Sabra, this accursed one, had apostatized in the Maghrib and remained an apostate for several years. And his wife, Ibn Muhayyar [should be Ukht Muhayyar, as below] . . . was from the most despicable people. And when Ibn Sabra came nobody wanted him except Ukht Muhayyar, for the people considered him an apostate (fāshīʿ)." (Information from Moshe Yagur, "Several Documents from the Cairo Geniza Concerning Conversion to Islam," (2020).)

Letter from Eli b. Yakhin, probably from Alexandria, to Avraham ha-Kohen b. Aaron, Fustat. Around 1050. Regarding money and payments, including a debt of 50 dinars. Also mentions purchases, shipments, and delivery of letters. The writer expresses his preoccupation for the illnesses in the household of the addressee and his relief that they have recovered (r6). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #778) VMR

Recto: Letter from Bū Zikrī (b. Eliyyahu the Judge?) to Abū ʿImrān Mūsā. In Judaeo-Arabic. Only the opening is preserved and a couple words from the margin. Verso: Note from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Mūsā concerning a book deal. "Give the boy the codex containing the 5 megillot. The buyer said he would only buy the two codices."

Note from a judge to a colleague named Nissim. In Judaeo-Arabic. Requesting the exact date and some of the conditions of a settlement that had been made before them. Overleaf, the desired data are provided: the mother of the late Yosef, possibly named Sitt al-Bayt bt. Abū l-Thanāʾ, forfeits her right to the rent of a property which Yosef had willed her, releasing Yosef's orphans from the obligation of paying it to her). (Information from Goitein, Med. Soc. II, 336, and Oded Zinger's forthcoming edition.)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper left corner). The handwriting and the layout resemble those of Ḥalfon b. Netanel's Spanish correspondents (see India Book IV)—but none of those documents are clearly a join. Very little of substance is preserved in this fragment, but merits closer examination.

Beginning of a letter by Yeḥezqel b. Shemuel to the cantor and teacher ʿAbd al-Bāqī Sheʾerit, informing him that he had sent him 20 dirhams for his children with the wife of Zayn al-Tujjār, ten of which had been donated by Sitt Ṭāwūs. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) Same sender as Yevr. III B 669.

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212), probably in Qalyūb, to his father Abū Sahl Levi, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. This may be the largest letter of Moshe b. Levi's in the Geniza. Dating: Probably ca. 1190s. He opens with a complaint about the state of his income as a slaughterer. He asks his family members to go to the warehouse in Fustat and retrieve many goods for him. He also asks for several liturgical poems, including one specifically from his cousin (ibn khāl) Abū l-Khayr and some from Abū l-Munā the cantor. He offers to buy a garment for his mother. He wants his brother (probably Yedutun) to obtain a fatwā (responsum) on his behalf. The amir Sajjāʿ al-Dīn sends his regards. There may be references to illness at the end, but the text is difficult to decipher. ASE

Recommendation letter addressed to Nahray b. Nissim, for a writer who is traveling to Egypt to copy manuscripts and to marry a relative of Nahray. (information from Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, p. 174). VMR

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic with a few lines of Hebrew headers. A letter of condolence upon hearing about the death of Abū l-Bishr.

Letter addressed to Elʿazar ha-Ḥasid. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 13th century. The substance of the letter begins in l. 15 (wa-siwā dhālika...) after a long and fawning introduction. It seems that the sender waited for al-Thiqa in Gaza but he never came. So he left without him and walked with Zayyāta(?) to near Muṭaylib(?) before he got tired. He rented (probably an animal) to travel to Bilbays for 4 nuqra dirhams. They reached אלכשבי on Friday but they weren't in time to catch up with al-ʿAbbāsa (a caravan? another town?). So he traveled onward alone until he reached Bilbays before Shabbat and spent Shabbat with Ibn Bishāra. He woke up on Sunday and departed for—the letter ends here. On verso there is a list of materia medica in Arabic script. AA. ASE.

Letter from Nissim b. Isḥāq b. al-Sahl, probably somewhere in the Maghrib, to Avraham b. Ḥujayj (aka Ḥaggay), in Fustat. Nissim asks the addressee to sell a shipment of oil that he had sent to Fustat and to buy lemons and lemon water for him. Avraham b. Ḥujayj was one of the leaders of the Jewish community in Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #226) VMR

Informal note without the names of the sender or addressee (as was common in notes exchanged between friends). In Judaeo-Arabic. Written on a long vertical strip of paper. The scribe may be Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (per Goitein). Dating: Probably late 12th or 13th century. The sender opens, "What is the reason for this anger?! It is senseless and misplaced." He apologizes for not meeting the addressee out of fear that they would attract a crowd at the synagogue. He wants the addressee to come see him: "from the day that you departed... my temperament has not been balanced." (Information in part from Goitein's index card and Med Soc V, p. 505n7.)