Geniza Lab

Letter from Natan b. Nahray b. Natan to Nahray b. Nissim.

Letter from Yaʿqūb b. Salmān al-Ḥarīrī, Tripoli (Lebanon), to Nahrāy b. Nissīm, Fusṭāṭ. Commodities mentioned are wheat, figs, and cotton. According to Goitein's estimate, this letter was written exactly seven weeks before the letter T-S 8j19.27, which would be approximately 458-459/1066 (Goitein, Letters from Medieval Jewish traders, pg. 46, footnote #2). This was the time when Egypt was ravaged by a massive famine (shidda ʿuzma) and traders were eager to secure whatever victuals they could procure for their families and friends; "You know the times we are in, do not delay, these are difficult times". YU

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim to Abu l-Khayr Musa b. Barhun, asking him, among other things, to retrieve his capitation tax receipt for the year 441. See also ENA 2805.14 on the same matter.

Letter from Yosef b. Avraham b. Bundār to Abū Zikrī Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. The first few lines of the letter, the margins, and the address (in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script) are preserved. The letter reports that Maḍmūn was engaged in the building or outfitting of jāshujiyāt (military transport ships). Specifically, he outfitted four of them for an attack on Zabīd. Yosef also reports on a military venture of Bilāl and the sultan by land 'in the area of the mountain' in which they took over many villages and excellent fortresses of their enemies, praise be to God. Al-Fawfalī (ʿAlī b. Manṣūr?) is mentioned. See also T-S 8J20.19 (same writer, same addressee). Information from Goitein's attached edition; Margariti, Aden, p. 159 and 285, n. 89; and India Book II (Maḍmūn), p. 42, n. 101.

Letter from Yehuda, unknown location, to Shalom, in Jerusalem. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: No earlier than 13th century, based on handwriting, overall appearance, and linguistic evidence. The sender asks the addressee not to allow Ṣadaqa to sell anything from the estate of the deceased 'mother' (i.e., the sender's daughter), which rightfully belonged to her two orphans, Avraham and Rebecca, and to whom the sender had conveyed all of his own rights in the inheritance. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 310, 495, and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from the mother of Dā'ūd, in a provincial town, to her son Sulaymān al-Jamal, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. She complains about a lack of letters from him and reports that she is fasting and crying day and night. She had traveled with her daughter and son-in-law to her present location ("balad al-ghurba"). She would return on her own, but must stay with her daughter who is pregnant (muthqala). The writer urges her son to come and thereby "cool [the fire in] my liver." Her son-in-law had promised to bring her back to Fustat, but when the daughter became pregnant, he said that he would never go back to Fustat again. The writer cannot bear witnessing her daughter's suffering (nakālhā) at the hands of the second wife (ḍarrathā). Information from Friedman's edition. ASE.

Legal document concerning a house belonging to a couple named Sasson b. Yefet and Hilala ibnat Hiba, in equal shares, stating that each of the two spouses has complete rights to his or her share and may sell or donate it, as either chooses. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 334, 502)

Letter from ʿEli Ha-Mumḥe b. Avraham, in Jerusalem, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. Dating: ca. 1045 CE. In which ʿEli urges Efrayim to stop ignoring his letters and to give him an update about his earlier request concerning Abū l-Faraj al-Mawṣilī.

Letter fragment (right half) mentioning Abu al-Surur, Rabbenu. Yiṣḥaq, the Rav R. Avraham, Abu al-Fadl, Abu al-Sa'id, the boat of the Andalusian, the ghulam of Mukhtar. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Barakāt b. Khulayf to ʿArūs b. Yosef. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning a shipment of tartar and a report about the arrival of ships from the West (Spain and al-Mahdiyya). "Tartar (Ar. ṭartār, derived from the same medieval Greek word as the English) was another mordant, also coming to the capital of Egypt via Alexandria. A quantity of 200 jarwī (somewhat heavier than regular pounds), sent to the purplemaker ʿArūs b. Yosef in Fustat, cost 10 13/48 dinars, that is, approximately the same as gallnuts." Med Soc I, p. 405, n. 166 (on mordants, i.e., "liquids with which fabrics were saturated to hold the dyestuff"). Information from Goitein

Letter of condolence addressed to David Maimonides Nagid on the death of his brother.

Approval for receiving money, to Nahray b. Nissim. Second half of 11th century. An unknown merchant approves that he received 300 dirhams from Nahray for goods that are about to arrive in ships. Nahray would take this amount from the value he will get for the goods, which Nahray will sell. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #845) VMR

Letter from Abū Zikrī Kohen in Fustat, to Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā b. Sulaymān b. al-Shāmī, in ʿAydhāb. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: December 1140 or January 1141 CE. Deals with business matters, mentioniong commodities such as camphor, brazilwood, and frankincense. Information from Goitein's attached edition.

Letter from the scribe of the yeshiva to Yosef b. Avraham b. Bundar. Cairo, ca. 1128-39.

Beginning of a court record dated Shevat 1411/ February 1100. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Poetic phrases in Hebrew, Conceivably from a letter, but more likely simply piyyut.

Fragment of a dowry receipt of Sitt al-Kamal, written by Emmanuel b. Yehiel (ca. 1231-1279), containing details about a trousseau. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 453, and from Goitein's index cards)

Remarriage contract of a bride who had been both widowed and divorced in which she receives a house, but no trousseau. Dated 1180-1191. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 101, 409)

Fragment of a marriage contract concerning the remarriage of Moshe b. Yiṣḥaq and his wife Sittat, containing details about the dowry. Dated 1378/ 1066-1067. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 391, and from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a letter of condolence and containing an excuse for being late. (Information from Goitein's index cards)