Geniza Lab

Letter/petition/recommendation to a Nagid. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender asks him to help the bearer, Ibrāhīm b. Abū Dāʾūd al-Ashqar al-Bilbaysī, who betrothed (amlaka) a woman in Bilbays years ago. Everyone in Bilbays knows that he has continued to send gifts to her and her family. However, when her brothers learned that he had suffered financial losses, they tried to cancel the betrothal. Mentions a specific person who came and spread this rumor, and mentions the arrival of R. Yeḥezqel. The Nagid mentioned might be Avraham Maimonides, but there is no clear evidence. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 445.)

Letter from Madmun b. Ḥasan to Avraham Ibn Yiju: mutual assistance. Aden, ca. 1136.

Business letter from 1094, addressed by Avraham b. Natan Av (former judge in Ramla and later Cairo) to Nahray b. Nissim, when the latter was already the “eminent member” of the Jerusalem yeshiva. Avraham b. Natan expresses regret for the mistakes he committed during communal strife in Tyre, and additionally notes that there were only three Qaraites still left in that city. The writer complains about his fate with the remark, “I am in immediate danger and my future is in jeopardy. I have not acquired a portion in the World to Come, or a good reputation here, or material gains... Had God guided me, when I first arrived among them, my religion and my honor would have remained untainted.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:204, 327, 564, 596; Marina Rustow, Heresy and the Politics of Community, 330, note 20) EMS See also Goitein's index card.

Letter, fragmentary, sent by Avraham b. Natan Av to Nahray b. Nissim, in which the writer apologizes for his behavior. Dated ca. 1090. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 418, 624 and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter in Arabic script concerning a governor, a bishop and monasteries. In the formal third-person address, the writer apologizes for sending the request in writing instead of making it in person; his excuse is that he’s pressed for time since he’s currently studying (ḥadīth? jālis ilā) at the feet of a certain Ibn Ṣāʿ. Asks the addressee write to the scribe of a Fatimid governor titled ʿAzīz al-Dawla with a request for two documents. The first document should be addressed to the bishop Binyāmīn of Ṭamwah (Dammūh), who is responsible for two monasteries, Shahrān (in Minyat al-Shammās) and Ḥilwān (also south of Cairo), “strengthening his hand,” presumably meaning reinforcing his property rights over the monasteries' property; the second should be addressed to the overseer of Shahrān itself, both strengthening the hand of the bishop and establishing who owns the property that belongs to the two monasteries. The property in question may be waqf property of the monasteries. The title of the governor, ending in al-dawla, dates the letter to the Fatimid period; contains a taqbîl clause, kissing the hand of the addressee rather than the ground, so likely 12th century rather than earlier.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq Nīsābūrī, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, presumably in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1045–1096. Yiṣḥaq arrived in Alexandria on Tuesday 6 Tevet and found that the markets were slow (kāsira). Only lac sold. He asks the recipient to act with regard to a ḥerem stam (Med Soc II, 602, n. 40). Mentions al-Mahdiyya. Yiṣḥaq's son Simḥa greets Nahray's son Abū Saʿd. Verso: Account in difficult Arabic script. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Avraham ha-Ḥazzan b. Yaʿaqov, in Tūnis, to his brother Peraḥya b. Yaʿaqov, in Palermo ("Sicily"). The letter deals with a matter of ḥaliẓa (release from levirate marriage) in which the brother is still a minor. It also discusses the uses of communal funds and the high price of wheat. Information from Ben-Sasson, Jews of Sicily, p. 643 and from Goitein's index cards.

Letter from an unknown sender, in Fustat, to his nephew (ibn ukht) Mūsā, in Qalyūb. Dating: Unknown, but perhaps dateable on the basis of the reference to Rabbenu Yiṣḥaq or on the basis of the capitation tax policies described in the letter. Subject: Mainly dealing with the case of an unhappy (maghbūna wa-maẓlūma), newly married young woman. The writer urges his nephew not to come to Fustat. He reminds him of the education given to him (tarbiya), the obligations towards his family (ahliyya), and the love between them (maḥabba). Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 25. Further information from Goitein's note card: The writer had made peace between a young man (perhaps the son of the addressee) and a young woman (perhaps the sender's own daughter or granddaughter). Then the young man fell ill. His capitation tax was restored (?) to him by the authorities (the letter mentions arbāb al-dawla, al-sulṭān, al-ṣāḥib, the qādī of Qalyūb, and the wālī) on condition that the young man remain in Qalyūb instead of traveling to the Levant as he had intended. ASE.

Letter of request in which the widow of Abu Sa'id b. Shalom, writing to a Nagid, expresses a cry for help on behalf of her children, who are lacking food and clothing, since their father's death. She is suffering from ophthalmia. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 304)

Verso, with the address on recto: Letter from Umm Yiṣḥaq to her cousin (ibnat ʿamm), sent to Yaḥyā al-Maghribī, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. She reports about a family brawl which broke out when a man brought his wife, probably one not approved of by the family, into his brother's house. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 306)

Letter from Sheʾerit to the Jewish community (qahal) of Fustat. His children were taken captive, and the community has only redeemed some of them so far. In the margin, there is an autograph note from one of the later Maimonidean Nagids ordering the cantor to read it in public. Dating: No earlier than 13th century. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 107.)

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, addressed to his father, the cantor Abu Sahl (Levi) in Fustat. Moshe reports on the receipt of variou sgoods. He asks if a woman in the family ('al-kabirah') wants him to buy a certain fabric from Abu l-Yusr. He complains that the only letter he has received recently is one in which his brother told him not to be a silly fool, and he is very upset because he doesn't know what he did to deserve that. Moshe sent with the bearer of the letter some piyyutim ("yotzer"s) for Rosh Hashanah; he had previously requested the "mizmor" for Rosh Hashana but no longer needs it because he found it. He says, "Let me know if Abu l-Khayr arrives." He is upset that his brother had promised to come spend Shabbat with him, but he did not come. He sends regards to his paternal uncles 'Imran and Bayan and reiterates that he needs to know if 'al-kabirah' wants the fabric. Verso contains the address (in Arabic) and Psalm 98 in the handwriting of Abu Sahl Levi (the letter's addressee). See also Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 221, 569. ASE.

Letter in which the writer asks the recipient to deliver the bearer of the letter fifty dirhams worth of black silk, since the writer is unemployed due to lack of this material. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Natan b. Nahray from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. The writer reports that a Jew coming on a boat from Tyre has announced the arrival in Fustat of Na'im b. 'Imran, who probably lived in al-Mahdiyya. The writer also asks for news from the Maghreb, particulary concerning his father Nahray. Dated ca. 1050. (Information from Gil)

Verso: Letter of appeal for charity from Umm Abū l-Khayr to R. Yiṣḥaq (probably Yiṣḥaq b. Sason). (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.)

Business letter mentioning a silk-merchant and a fuller/bleacher. The writer mentions that when he travels away again, he will not forget the recipient's goodness and benevolence and his family. (Information from Goitein's index cards). Names: Yiṣḥaq, Mufaddal, Bu al-Khayr, Bu Mansur b. Baqa, Abi al-Barakat, Abu Sa'd wife, the son of Sitt Ziara al-Qazaz. Place: Rashid

Letter, detailed, about the pressing of grapes and the making of wine in which the writer informs his relative that for his three dinars, thirty jars of wine were produced.

Letter, fragmentary, from Yisrael b. Natan, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. ca. 1065

Note in Arabic letters to lady in matters of engagement. The words כשני עדים כשרים נאמנת are written in Hebrew

Letter in which the sender sends a request for help. R. Avraham is mentioned