Geniza Lab

Part of letter from Natan Ha-Kohen b. Mevorakh, Ashkelon, probably to Eli Ha-Kohen b. Hayyim, Fustat.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic to "my brother." The writer mainly communicates that he arrived at his destination safely, and that he rejoiced to learn of the safe delivery (childbirth) of Muʿazzazah and the wife of Hilāl. The addressee's cousin, Umm Maʿā[nī?] sends her regards.

Mercantile letter sent possibly from Aden to India. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (lower part of recto). The sender received a basket (zanbīl) of pepper which he did not want. He wanted betel nut (fawfal) or cardamom instead. He humorously complains that the pepper won't fetch any money for him to be able to eat or drink. He also did not want the 15 עיטוריה(?) dinars that the addressee sent with Mūsā b. Yūsuf. He wishes that the addressee had used the money to buy him betel nut or cardamom. In a postscript on verso he adds, "whatever you buy for me, please do not put it under my name but rather under your name." (Information in part from Goitein’s attached notes.)

Letter from Yeshua b. Isma’il al-Makhmuri from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1050. Information about shipments of goods. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #306) VMR

Letter from Benaya b. Mūsā to Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yūsuf. In Judaeo-Arabic. The purpose of the letter is to explain why the writer never managed to make it to Abū l-Afrāḥ's location for the last two years. The first year, he fell ill in al-Maḥalla, and never even believed he would make it back to Alexandria. This year, he intended to travel, but was unable to "for reasons that cannot be mentioned." Benaya's children--or at least one of them--are hoping to travel this year, and he prays for their success. Benaya is very preoccupied because he heard that his cousin (bint ʿammī) is sick, and he asked the Kohen Abū l-Surūr for news about her but has not heard back, so he now asks Abū l-Afrāḥ for news about his cousin's health.

Nearly complete letter in Judaeo-Arabic to Abū l-Ḥusayn Ṣedaqah b. Nissim al-Mukallifī (?) in Alexandria. The letter is written on a fragment torn from a massive chancery document; only the beginnings of two Arabic lines remain. Most of the letter is devoted to commiseration about the "fire" that the writer has heard is afflicting Abū l-Ḥusayn. Perhaps a great grief of some kind? It is possible that Abū l-Ḥusayn was stranded around Tyre (בגובת צור), but this sentence is fragmentary. Apart from urging the addressee to respond and reassure him, the writer also informs him that ״אערצת אלסרר״ (?) but it didn't come to anything (or gain any money?).

Letter from Makārim b. Yūsuf to the sons of Merayot ha-Kohen, who seem to be the tax farmers of Shubrā. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic (in a different hand from the letter) and in Arabic script. He complains that not only have the two months granted for the delay of payment passed, but five additional months as well. They have made him fall behind on his obligations to others. The deal has to do with silk. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from Mūsā b. Yiṣḥaq b. Nissim, in al-Mahdiyya, to Ismāʿīl b. Barhūn al-Tāhirti. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1030. The writer is looking forward to the addressee's intended visit to al-Mahdiyya. He describes the situation in the Maghreb, and he mentions silk business and a large transfer of money to a yeshiva. "In a letter sent from Fustat to Qayrawan, Tunisia, we read this: 'A wakham like this I have not seen since I have come to Fustat. I was ill for a full four months with fever and fits of cold, which attacked me day and night. But God, for the sake of his name, not because of my merits, decreed that the illness leave me; I am now restored to complete health. The wakham has ceased, and all our friends [meaning the compatriots from Tunisia] are well." (Goitein, Med Soc V, 113.) ASE.

Letter from Barhūn b. Ṣāliḥ to Abū l-Ṭayyib Sa'id reporting on transactions and asking for news of the addressee. Also asking for shipment of some flax.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th century. The sender may be in Tinnīs (l. 1). He wants to borrow from “the Great Rav” (a Tunisian rabbi in Egypt) his copy of the book Megillat Setarim of the Tunisian scholar R. Nissim in order to copy it and to return it. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter about naval warfare off the Ifrīqiyan coast (1100).

Recto: Letter from an unidentified distinguished man to a judge or communal leader. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender's hand might be known (resembles T-S Misc.28.88, another "mice ate my stuff" letter). Dated: Thursday, 29 Tishrei [4849] AM, which is 1088 CE. But there is a difficulty with this precise date, because 29 Tishrei was actually a Tuesday and because a note on verso states that the letter was received "in the first decade of Tishrei." Based in part on the information from verso, we can deduce that the letter concerns a dispute over a dilapidated wall between the sender's property and that of his neighbor Abū Saʿd. The sender is distressed because some of his key evidence "was in the document which was eaten by the mice." He asks the addressee to try to dig up any documentation that will support his case. His legal adversary has refused to accept testimony except from certified trustworthy witnesses (al-thiqāt). The sender complains about a long history of having to sink money into this house on account of his neighbor. He asks the addressee to treat the house just as he would treat his own house and not to neglect this matter. At the end, he briefly mentions other business matter, including an unpaid suftaja. Verso: The response from two judges, Yeshuʿa b. Avraham and [Sal?]mān b. Elʿazar. They have drawn a box around the response and signed their names at the top of the note. Outside of the box, there appears the date already mentioned: first decade of Tishrei 4349 AM, which is 1088 CE. They address the original sender with respectful terms and explain that the dilapidated wall must be fixed. Its benefit is shared between the two houses, while its base is located on the ground owned by Abū Saʿd. They do not explain the legal consequences of these facts; maybe they simply consulted the court's own records and are providing factual evidence to be used in the ongoing litigation. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) ASE

Letter in which a father writes to the teacher of his boys complaining about insufficient attainments and explaining their being late.

Recto: Letter in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Abū l-Faraj al-Shaykh al-Makīn. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper part only). He orders myrtle for Sukkot.

Note from Ḥananel. "If the master is able and free, [could he] trouble himself to meet with the slave in the shop of Abū l-Munā near the slaughterhouse. I am waiting there because I have gone to work on something for all of us. . . another person with us. I cannot come to serve you. And peace. Your slave Ḥananel."

Recto: Note from Rashīd inviting a physician to come urgently to Rashīd's home, and to bring a friend. Verso: The physician responds that if he is being invited to a drinking party, he cannot come today because the Christians prevent him (? li-ajli moqesh al-'arelim). If he is being summoned to treat (mudāwā) somebody, probably al-Sadīd, it can be postponed to another day. Rashīd should tell al-Sadīd that the writer already came looking for him several times but could not find him. He was worried on his account ("the first was in my heart"), and he wondered if perhaps al-Sadīd no longer needed his services. Changing the topic, he concludes, "As for the the [Ar?]abic letter, I have it with me. I will make a copy of it and return it." Information in part from Goitein's index cards. ASE.

An exceptionally angry letter, complaining that the artisan, instead of returning the finished product, began to haggle about the price. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 86)

Fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter sent by a physician from Qalyub, who had opened an office in Fustat, inviting his wife (who is his paternal cousin) to join him there and mentioning that the response of the public had been excellent, although he suffers from professional competition. Her daughter, who lives in the capital, is pregnant and wishes her mother to assist her at the time of birth. Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 256; III, p. 30. The writer also conveys his sadness upon hearing that the addressee had an eye illness; he wishes he could be there to treat in in person, but suffices with sending a prescription together with this letter. ASE.

Most of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, probably from the Levant, to a dignitary in Fusṭāṭ. It begins by extolling the favor (iḥsān) that the Amīr ʿAlā al-Dīn b. ʿAlam Dār (or Alemdar = "the standard-bearer") bestowed upon the writer. "It was he who was our friend in Damascus." The amir was very sad to say farewell to the writer. The writer then asks the addressee to convey his regards and obedience to David [Maimonides?] the Great Nagid. He also sends regards to ʿOvadyah and al-Shaykh Munajjā "and the rest of the masters," including al-mawlā al-Asʿad Abū Saʿd al-Ṣayrafī and his father, and al-Mawlā al-Makīn Abū l-[...] and his brother . . . and others.