Geniza Lab

Letter addressed to Eliyya b. Mishaʾel ha-Levi. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee is called "the mighty prince" (ha-Sar ha-Adir) and his father is called "physician" (ha-Rofe). Almost all of the text is dedicated to praises and blessings. In the remaining text the writer informs Eliyya that ever since he parted from Eliyya and left Fustat, he and his children are suffering from illness (though he may simply be referring to the heartsickness of being parted).

Letter that mentions Avraham Maimonides - it seems that the writer asked him a question regarding legal procedure and now he is asking the recipient to go to him and obtain his ruling (?) . ENA 1822a.4 is possibly related to this document.

Verso: Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyūb, probably to his father Abū Sahl Levi, in Fustat. He was very sad and wept the night after an elder female family member (al-kabīra) left him and returned to Fustat. He urges his mother to 'do the things that you told her to do for me' without delay. He requests more tutty; אנבר(?); and golden gum-senegal (? קאקיאס דהבי). The addressee is to get from Maḥfūẓ all that he owes to Moshe. As for Dammūh, he suggests that the family members go there first and he try to catch up with them on Sunday, or alternatively he'll try to come to them on Thursday and they can all go to Dammūh together. Note that Moshe cut up ENA 2558.18 + T-S 13J7.12, a legal document dated 1194 CE, and reused the versos of both fragments for letters.

Recto: Letter likely sent from Aden to Fustat. (The locations are not specified in the document; this is Goitein's assessment.) In Judaeo-Arabic, written in a Yemeni hand. Dated: 26 Adar 1530 Seleucid, which is 1219 CE. The sender wants mercury and Iraqi roses to be purchased with the proceeds from bamboo chalk (ṭabāshīr). He asks about the value of Yiṣḥaq's pepper and frankincense. ʿAṭiyya al-Dajjājī is to write with an update on the bag (kharīṭa) of aloeswood and the silk fūṭa. Greetings to al-Asʿad. This is document VII, 52 in India Book VII (unpublished). Verso: Draft of a letter written in Edessa (al-Ruhā). In Judaeo-Arabic. In a different hand than the letter on recto. The sender complains that he has been unemployed for 2.5 years, the first of which he spent in Tyre. Then (the French rabbi Yosef) b. Gershom arrived in ʿAkka, and terrible things happened.... (The fragment ends here.) Goitein suggests that this letter is a request for a post.

Letter from a woman, in New Cairo, to her brother Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb the brother-in-law of [...], in Malīj. In Arabic script. The sender is identified as "his sister" (karīmatuhū) in the address on verso. It was written on her behalf either by a son or a nephew, who calls the addressee "my father" in the letter itself. Ever since the addressee departed, she has been weeping copiously. They have sent him several letters with no response. The addressee's children and the children of his sister send their regards and urge him to come see them ("fa-mā baqiya fī l-ʿumr akthar mimmā maḍā," cf. PGP record for T-S NS J380). The sister urges the addressee to come celebrate the holiday with her. Greetings from Sayyid al-Ahl. There is a note in the margin stating that they have sent with the bearer 3 dirhams.

Letter to “our prince” Ḥalfon. In Judaeo-Arabic. The hand may be known. After many phrases of blessings and deference, the sender apologetically reports that he purchased a Sicilian kerchief (mandīl) for 4 dinars. It is not clear what he wants from the addressee—reimbursement? He then says that he received a letter from Abū l-Fahm(?) b. Avraham Gaʾon(?). The letter seems to have been left unfinished.

Letter of appeal for charity. Addressed to Yehoshuaʿ Nagid (d. 1355). Begins in Hebrew, then switches to Judaeo-Arabic. The sender had to mortgage part of his house and is in dire straits ("...at my wits' end... the knife has reached the bone..."). He asks the Nagid to talk to Ṣadaqa the beadle and a certain ḥaver.

Letter/petition from a certain Yiṣḥaq to the Nagid David I Maimonides. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 10 Sivan [4]999 AM, which is 1239 CE. (Someone, perhaps Elkan Nathan Adler, incorrectly wrote "1339" on the manuscript.) The letter reports on a man who came from Alexandria and said that he had litigation against his wife and that he sued his wife using responsa of rabbi Yosef (?) so that she would be divorced without ketubba compensation. The ruling contained the idea that because she does not have menstrual periods, she is forbidden to her husband and should be divorced without a ketubba. However. Yiṣḥaq, who must have been the local judge, ruled according to the ruling of Maimonides (in Ishut 25:13) that this ruling pertains to a woman who is in this state from the beginning of the marriage, but if it happens after the marriage he must give a ketubba (נסתחפה שדהו) . When the husband heard this ruling he wanted to return to be married to her. However, he was prevented from doing so because of a condition in his ketubba that he will not marry [probably: another woman without] providing her her meʾuḥar even if it is she who wanted to divorce. In the remaining text it seems that an argument is made that there was erroneous qinyan (קניין בטעות).

Letter from an unidentified sender, in India, to an unidentified addressee, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 12th century. This fragment begins cryptically: "...and he prays to God day and night to deliver him from you (pl.). His character is not unknown to you—that he does not like anybody to rely on him—for you brought him up and know him best, and he is fair in his dealings. He commutes (yatarakkaḍ) from Malabar to Ceylon and his goods are in Aden every year. His aim is to exchange(?), hopefully, and leave, but there is no escaping failures (ijāḥāt). This is not unknown to you. If you can be patient until such time that he leaves, then good, and if you want your goods (sooner), simply send him a letter in your hand, and he will give them to whomever you tell him. The slave (= I) asks from your beneficence to send the account...." When the letter resumes in the margin, it refers to a quantity of several thousand buhārs (likely the total number of bales carried in the Kārim fleet at the time of the writing of the letter); something which is not readily found in India; and mace (basbās). The letter continues on verso with a "ḥasbī Allāh"; a report on the price of clove; the sender says he didn't go out to Aden this year, but rather sent a bit of lac with Yūsuf b. Abū l-Munā. (This could also mean that he *only* went out to Aden this year with a bit of lac with Yūsuf but that makes less sense.) If Yūsuf is now in Fustat, the addressee should help him send the sender's goods, "for I know that you are good to foreigners." Regards to various people, including Ibrāhīm. Information in part from Goitein's description in his notes to India Book VI, 50 (unpublished). OZ, AA, ASE

Letter probably addressed to Avraham Maimonides—[the son] of our Lord and Rabbi Moshe the Great Rabbi (ZL). In Judaeo-Arabic. It is written on a reused state document in Arabic script, of which the beginnings of three lines are preserved. The portion of the letter preserved here suggests that it is a letter of condolence on the occasion of the death of al-Ṣadiq al-Ḥasid al-Shaykh [...] (perhaps a man connected to the pietist side of Maimonides's family. On verso, there are pen trials and jottings (or messy accounts?) in Arabic script.

Letter from Yehuda b. [...] to Avraham Maimonides. In Judaeo-Arabic. The name of the city Tripoli appears after the sender's name. He reports on a legal dispute with R. Shem[...] and asks for instructions from Avraham and/or whether they must report to him in person.

Autograph note from Avraham Maimonides to al-Shaykh al-Talmid al-Ajall al-Raṣuy(?). In Judaeo-Arabic. Seems to mention somebody in need (...wa-ḍururātuh...) and Rabbi Menaḥem. The third line on the other side appears to also be in Avraham's handwriting (at least the Hebrew script that refers to al-Tifʾeret, but perhaps also the preceding words in Arabic script). This note is written on a fragment that was cut from a letter sent to Avraham Maimonides. The original address of that letter (in both Arabic script and Hebrew script) is still preserved: "al-Ḥarīrī should deliver this to Sayyidnā al-Rayyis... Avraham ha-Nagid ha-Gadol...."

Letter of Shelomo ha-melammed b. Elijah to his "brother" Abu l-Barakat al-Hariri b. Abu Mansur al-Hariri the brother of Abu l-Surur the goldsmith. Consists mostly of updates about the family members of the recipient. This letter is mentioned only in Frenkel's PhD dissertation and remains unpublished.

Letter from the office of Yehoshuaʿ Nagid (d. 1355) seeking to bring peace to the community and also urging them to be charitable and especially urging them not to resort to Muslim courts without permission of bet din shel mutahaddithin. (Information from Cohen)

Letter from Jalāl al-Dawla. Dated: 1237 CE. Concerns in part a negotiation between members of the Jewish community and Christians about preventing Jews from entering Jerusalem. The writer mentions that the Christians welcomed him and his companions, and also mentions the town's ruler. VMR.

Letter concerning the dispatch of gold from the congregation in Bilbays, to be delivered in Jerusalem to 'the synagogue of the Yemenite' and to 'the rabbis,' 1214. The margins and verso are filled with accounts in Arabic script.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Yosef to a certain [son of] Natan he-haver. The letter mourns the passing of Madmun (the Nagid of Yemen) and is dated to Marhesvan 1151, thus establishing the date of Madmun's death. See Goitein-Friedman, Madmun (India Book II), 12. This letter is India Book VI, 3.

Letter from Shelomo Kohen and Yaʿaqov Portos to Efrayim [...]. Dated: 12 Elul 5566 AM (1806 CE). (Someone wrote the date 1706 CE on the fragment because they read the century digit as a ת, but more likely it is a ק, with the initial הת implied.)

Letter from Avraham Hamān and Gavriel Ḥefez to Karo y Frances & Company. Dated: 1 Elul, 5568 AM, which is 1808 CE. (Someone wrote the date 1708 CE on the fragment because they read the century digit as a ת, but it is a ק, with the initial הת implied.)

Letter from Natan ha-kohen b. Mevorakh, Ashkelon, to Avraham b. Elazar, Fustat. Dated 1130. This is a letter of recommendation for a man who recently lost his sight from ophthalmia. Bottom missing. On verso is a text in Arabic script.