Geniza Lab

Letter of appeal from a cantor to a certain Moshe ha-Sar who is in government service. The letter also addresses Ṣedaqa ha-Sar. He asks for assistance in the payment of his capitation tax, of five months of rent, and of three months of payment incumbent on him from a promissory note. The writer had led prayers for Moshe's health during the public services in the syngaogue, and the prayer was evidently heard. He now conveys wishes for full recuperation and that the addressee will retain the favor of the sultan and his entourage (Goitein suggests that this refers to a new sultan, possibly Saladin). ASE.

Letter from Avraham b. Abi al-Hayy, from Alexandria, to his brother Musa. Around 1075. The writer is worried about their sister, Jarba, who is about to get married but still does not have a bed and bedsheets. Abū l-Ḥayy is sick and Avraham asks again that he will get him a prescription. He first asked in the preceding letter, F 1908.44C. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #470) VMR

Letter from Isḥaq b. ʿImrān, probably in al-Maḥalla, to the parnas Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Yahya, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. The letter concerns Efrayim, a poor man from al-Maḥalla, whose wife did not wish to live in the Rīf and traveled to Fustat on her own without his permission. The sender had previously received instructions from the addressee about this case. The man is poor and cannot afford to live in Fustat, but offers her the option to live in Damietta. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from a man, in Fustat, to his mother, unknown location. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th or maybe 13th century. He speaks about his children (he probably also had a wife). He had been in al-Maḥalla for 2 months, then came to Fustat intending to stay only 5 days, but it was impossible to leave on account of the children. He now sends her 40 dirhams with Ibrāhim Ibn al-Ashqar. She should pay 5 to Abū ʿAlī and buy 10 dirhams of wheat (qamḥ) for the children. He gives further difficult-to-understand instructions for what to do with the rest of the money—maybe orders for spinning (istighzāl)? He is staying with Abū Naṣr b. Karīm at Qaʿāt al-Fāḍil. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Abū l-Barakāt al-Ḥarīrī in Alexandria. See Goitein Nachlass material (transcription). See also ENA 2559.10 - same writer, same recipient.

Letter from a local Dayyan to Avraham Maimonides. Dating: ca. 1229/30 CE.

Letter to a certain [...] Ḥemdat ha-Yeshiva b. Yosef ha-Zaqen. In Judaeo-Arabic. Generous space between the lines. Mentions the addressee's arrival in (or departure from?) Bilbays; a letter from a Gaon; and many people send their regards (Abū l-Barakāt; al-Baghdādī; Abū l-Faraj; Hiba; Abū Saʿd; and Yūsuf).

Letter from Saʿdān b. Thābit al-Baghdādī ha-Levi, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1135 CE. Goitein identified the sender based on his handwriting (which is corroborated by the content of IV,89). Apparently, Saʿdān had sent Ḥalfon a shipment of pearls. He complains about Ḥalfon’s plan to travel to Damascus by land rather than by ship from Alexandria because Saʿdān expected them to meet there, and so Ḥalfon would pay all or part of the debt that Ḥalfon's brother Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel owed to Saʿdān. Ḥalfon had already described to Saʿdān the difficult illness of Yeḥezqel. According to Saʿdān, the deposit of silk which Ḥalfon had deposited with him was not sufficient to repay the debt. Goitein remarks, "The beautiful style abounding in courtesy, even as the writer complains of being harmed, is reminiscent of Spanish letters, and there is no doubt that the writing manners that Saʿdān found while in Spain stuck with him." (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; see Hebrew description below.)

Letter from a file of Avraham Maimonides, written to Nissim Ha-Dayyan (judge).

Note from David b. Yehuda ha-Ḥaver, in Bilbays, to Avraham Maimonides, in Fustat/Cairo. Dated: 1532 Seleucid, which is 1220/21 CE. He asks to receive the 'reshut' (authority?) from Avraham to preside over this marriage between the groom Abū l-Munā and 'the girl,' who has appointed her father as her agent. He also asks if it is permissible to use the text of the ketubba drafted on the other side. ("If there is an error in the draft, instruct me to correct it.") "Whether or not the Nagid gave his approval to this ketubba is not preserved; the form, incidentally, does contain a few scribal errors." Information in part from Mordechai Akiva Friedman, "The Minimum Mohar Payment as Reflected in the Geniza Documents: Marriage Gift or Endowment Pledge?" (1976).

Letter that mentions the death of Aharon b. Yeshu'a Ibn al-'Ammani. A man writes to his two brothers in Alexandria. He left Alexandria for Fustat in order to get from the sons of Aharon b. Yeshu'a an authorization to receive an inheritance that was deposited with him for them. The writer succeeded in receiving from the sons of Aharon a letter that instructed the third brother, Abu al-Jith, residing in Alexandria, to give to the bearer of this letter the appropriate document, as well as a letter from the Nagid, Shemuel b. Hanan that instructs his Na'ib (his deputy) in Alexandria to give assistance in regards to the will. The entire matter is connected with a dispute with Bani Musa, a powerful family in Alexandria. We learn from the letter that Aharon was in possession of the court documents and he was in charge of their safekeeping. With his death, this responsibility passed over to his son. (Information from Frenkel)

Letter draft. In the hand of Berakhot b. Shemuel. Addressed to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal al-Kohen. Consists solely of poetry and poetic praises.

Letter. Letter concerning a girl who had been regarded as being a Muslim and when she appeared before the Qāḍī, declared she was Jewish, whereupon her case was turned over by the latter to a Jewish judge for further investigation. (Information from Goitein’s index card and Goitein, “Slaves and Slavegirls in the Cairo Geniza Records,” Arabica 9 (1962), 14)

Letter from a man from the land of the Persians, who, after the loss of his fortune, had come to Egypt to seek a post as teacher. He asks for help, as he was unable to work owing to an illness of smallpox. He is living in the synagogue (this is written above the line; the scribe first wrote "living with [???]" and then crossed it out). "I came to this city empty-handed, intending to support myself by serving the people, but I fell sick with smallpox. Now I cannot work and I possess nothing." Information from Goitein's index card.

Letter sent by the cantor Sheerith to Maimonides, in which the writer excuses himself for being unable to do a certain service for the recipient, since he had to officiate at a circumcision ceremony for a poor man. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 89, 541)

Letter from the office of Avraham Maimonides, in Fustat, to the community of Alexandria. Dating: ca. 1220 CE. He instructs them to help a woman and her little daughter to get to Palestine, where she had another daughter. She was the divorcee of Futūḥ, the cantor in the Yemeni synagogue in Jerusalem. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Yosef b. Simha, Alexandria, to the Taharti brothers (Isma'il and Salih b. Barhun), Fustat. The writer is aboard a ship in Alexandria and asks for help selling his musk.

Letter from Barhun b. Musa al-Taharti, probably from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dated: June 1, 1054. Mentions shipments and details about ships. Also mentions details about storing goods and some details about coins. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #347) VMR

Letter from Musa b. Abi l-Hayy from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1055. Mentions details about changing coins and business between the two of them. Also mentions money that was sent to Alexandria to Yisrael b.Natan (Sahlun), Nahray's cousin. On the other side Nahray wrote a comment about a mistake in Musa's calculation. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 3, pp. 480-483, #446). VMR

Letter from Perahya Yiju to his brother Shemuel. Written probably in al-Mahalla around the seventies or eighties of the twelfth century. Perhaya copies questions on religious law and asks his brother to obtain authoritative answers for them in Fustat.