Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Ṣedaqa b. Khalaf b. Fuhayd, in Tyre, to Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. al-Sheviʿi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late 11th century or early 12th century, based on Goitein's assessment. The letter relates that after the death of the writer's father, his brother Fahd, who worked in the local mint, had been deceived by a newcomer Abū Manṣūr Baghdādī. It further discusses large sums of money (hundreds of dinars) owed or handled by a man who was found dead on the sea shore. Some say he committeed suicide, some say he was murdered. The writer requests a rescript from al-Mālik (al-Afḍal?) to the Qāḍī Thiqat al-Dawla. Information from Goitein's note card for this shelfmark and for BL OR 5566B.5. ASE.

Fragment of a letter from Daniel b. Azarya to Eli b. Amram, Fustat, mentioning the successful visit of Eli ha-Kohen ha-Ḥaver b. Yehezkel in Fustat on behalf of the Yeshiva. Also mentions things about an "aguna" (עגונה - a woman who is "chained" to her marriage because her husband refuses to grant her a divorce or who is missing). (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 p. 692-693, #376) VMR

Petition from the daughter of Hilāl 'Shaykh al-Yahūd' of Ashqelon to Yaḥyā ha-Sar. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (1100–38 CE). Gil identifies the addressee as Ḥiyya b. Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi and dates the letter to ca. 1135 CE, but does not offer any justification for this identification. The addressee is identical with the addressee of T-S 20.120 (also a Yaḥyā ha-Sar with some of the same titles: שר בית ישראל זקן התפארה הוד השררה), which may date closer to 1100 than to 1138, as it mentions a figure close to the governor (wālī) named Ṣārim al-Dawla, a relatively unusual title which was held by a Fatimid ruler in Ashqelon under Badr al-Jamālī and his son al-Afḍal ca. 1100 CE. In any case, the sender of this petition is asking for financial support for herself and her children, because she used to be supported by her two brothers in Ashqelon (one is named Saʿd and serves as 'khādim al-yahūd'), but the two brothers are facing difficulties of their own and have cut her off. (Information in part from Gil.)

Recto, with address on verso: Letter from Saʿdān b. Ḥ[...] to his 'brother' Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā b. Yiṣḥaq(?). The addressee had sent a letter reporting that he had gone to Alexandria and to Tinnīs. His family members are upset at him. "I read [your letter] to Sitt Faraj and she screamed and cried, and she still suffers the remnants of an illness, because she had ophthalmia that caused her to scream, may God protect her. She asked to me to write to you but did not want to inform you about [the illness] except with great anguish (ḍīq sadr)." They rebuke him for going to these places when there was no need, and urge him to come back quickly.

Letter of recommendation for a poor woman.

Letter from one of the followers of Natan b. Avraham, from Jerusalem, fall 1038. Fragment.

Letter to someone addressed as mawlāy al-rayyis. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Mentions al-Maḥalla and Ibn al-Ḥabrāwī. Needs further examination.

Recto: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dealing with business matters. Mentions Ṣadaqa and Yūsuf. Verso: Possibly another document in Judaeo-Arabic, but it is extremely faded.

Letter fragment from Daniel(?) b. Yaʿīsh to Avraham b. Natan Av ha-Yeshiva. In Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter from Ḥalfon and Yosef, probably from Ascalon, to Eliyyahu Ha-Kohen the forth (Ha-Revi'i) b. Evyatar, Tyre, approximately 1094.

Business letter from Zikrī b. Khiyār to ʿArūs b. Yosef, in Fustat. The writer informs him inter alia that the only commodity which sold well in the "West" was lac. Information from Goitein's index card.

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy, Alexandria, to his relative Abu l-Ḥasan Shelomo b. Nissim al-Barqi, containing instructions about selling goods such as textiles and lead in Fustat.

Letter from Me'ir to his friend or relative Abū ʿImrān, announcing his arrival and greeting the trustee Abū l-Makārim, the cantor Abū Manṣūr, Abū l-Munā, and various relatives. He also requests a detailed update on the news of the country, as if he were present, "and who died." Information from Goitein's index card.

Letter of recommendation for a cantor, preacher, and scholar Shemuel b. Yehosef, who had sojourned many years in Palestine ("arḍ al-Quds") and "Baghdad and Iraq," and had seen the tombs of the saints and the places where the prophets had wrought miracles and wanted now to proceed to (where?). Five signature and the rest of a sixth visible. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter to Meshullam b. Elazar. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. It seems to consist solely of flattering greetings. Dating: Probably late.

Letter from Qūṣ in Upper Egypt. Fragment (missing a small piece from the top and a large piece from the bottom). In Judaeo-Arabic. Many blessings to the address (e.g., "may God avert the eyes of your enviers and rub in the dirt the noses of your opponents"). The sender reports that the addressee's letter (from Fustat) finally arrived in Qūṣ after a lapse of 50 days. From that letter, he learned about what happened to Abū l-Ṭāhir b. Nānū (perhaps the death of a son). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from the wife of Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sughmār, in Fustat, to her husband Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sughmār, in Alexandria. The letter was dictated to Abū l-Faraj, who gives his name toward the end of the letter (v9-10); Gil suggests that he is their son. The writer conveys her concern for what she heard of her husband's illness (wajaʿ). She describes her father's and her own misfortunes, and discusses the famine in Fustat. The sugar and the rose preserves that Yehuda said he sent never arrived. Dated September 26 (18 Tishrei), 1070 CE (Gil's suggestion based on the similarity between events described in the letter and those known to have transpired in 462H). ASE.

Letter from Abū Manṣūr, perhaps in Alexandria, to his 'brother' Abū Saʿd, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century, based on the script and appearance. Dealing largely with business matters. The writer has sent 1 2/3 raṭls of flax/linen with this letter. Both he and the addressee are in the garment-making trade. The writer gives instructions for hemming an ʿarḍī garment with either silk or linen or both. The addressee's mother is mentioned. Vitriol (zāj) is another commodity they deal with; the addressee had promised to send some, but he never did. T-S 12.309 is another letter with the same writer and addressee. ASE

Letter of condolence from the cantor Natan b. Mevorakh ha-Kohen, in Ashqelon, to the father of an Efrayim. The letter contains many biblical quotations. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. The handwriting is very likely that of Mūsā b. Yaʿqūb/Moshe b. Yaʿaqov writing from somewhere in the Levant in the 1050s CE to an addressee in Fustat. Compare the documents edited in Gil, Palestine, vol. 3, #514–#517, all of which are addressed to Dāʾūd b. Shaʿya (and two of which also suffer from a milder version of the wet-ink problem). The distinctive feature of the present letter is that the ink was still wet when it was folded/pleated, so almost all of the text is obscured by mirror-image imprints of other lines. (Goitein glanced at it and wrote, "Letter in Hebrew characters on which decorative patterns were printed. (?)") Probably most of it will be illegible until someone devises a clever way to subtract the reflected text. Some of the phrases that can be read are as follows: "... selling the pepper of my master the elder, and I did not know the intention of my master the elder, and Ibn Hillel already received his share... in Damascus and the letter arrived... the caravan already departed from [...]... from Tyre to Egypt... it is not concealed from my master that... 200... if my master the elder has bought some merchandise, its price returned... what he collected from the comb traders (? al-mashshāṭiyyīn) and the Sindis (?! אלסינדיין - this would be exciting but is probably wrong)... (verso) ... in Damascus it is 2/3 dinars per qintar... Damascus... this week... the rosewater... the caravan from Damascus...[skipping to the end]... may your peace increase... if you see fit to write and for the agent to pay for the [...] and charge you(?) for it... writing harshly(?)... for he will come around by being gentle (ʿalā l-mulāṭafa)..." ASE