Geniza Lab

Letter from Yosef and Nahum, sons of Sahl ha-Bardani, Tyre, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. He mentions the sale of a new Bible for 13 dinars.

Mid-11th-century letter from Umm Faḍā'il, a widow in Fustat, to a family friend, Abū Zikrī b. Yosef (Yehuda b. Yosef Rosh ha-Seder), in the West. The letter deals with her son Fakhr's intended travel to Sicily. She requests that the addresee assist him. She mentions a power of attorney document that she gave to her son, so that he will dispose of their remaining property in Sicily. She also mentions an ongoing divorce of her daughter. Information from Ben-Sasson's edition via FGP.

Letter from Abu Zikri Kohen, representative of the Merchants in Fustat, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, in Aden. Dated: Adar I 1448 Seleucid = January/February 1134 CE. He writes that after Ḥalfon traveled to India and returned to Aden, the people in Egypt expected him to return home. But then merchants arrived in Egypt from Aden and reported that he was staying there. Previously Ḥalfon had deposited a quantity of pepper in Aden, which he had purchased for Abū Zikrī. He had already written to Maḥrūz b. Yaʿaqov concerning the prices of oriental goods in Egypt, and there was a similar list in the hands of the Egyptian merchant Abū Naṣr b. Avraham, who was then working in Aden. Abu Zikri urges Ḥalfon to buy goods in Aden and return to Egypt. However, if Ḥalfon wishes to return to India, Abu Zikri asks him to leave the pepper in the hands of Yosef b. Avraham, because this is already the third year that Abu Zikri cannot travel to Yemen. According to Abu Zikri, Ḥalfon's previous trip to India was unnecessary. Had he bought goods in Yemen and returned to Egypt in that year he would have made a good profit, for even the young and inexperienced merchants at that time in Egypt made immense profits from the goods they bought in Yemen. At the end of the letter, there are greetings to Ḥalfon from his family and the writer and a request to greet the important people of Aden and to help Abu Nasr b. Avraham. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Letter from a synagogue dignitary to a donor. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: early 13th century (during the period of Eliyyahu the Judge and Avraham Maimonides). Concerning the restoration of a Bible codex called al-Jāmiʿ, "the brother of the codex called the Tāj (i.e., the Aleppo Codex," which was in need of restoration and could not be replaced even for 100 dinars. "For work requiring special skills, the usually low tariffs would not do. An ancient model codex of the whole Bible, which had been written, it seems, in the ninth century and was the property of the synagogue of the Palestinians in Old Cairo, needed to be restored at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Three experts were invited for the task, but declared themselves unable to carry it out, for "the resurrection of the dead is more difficult than bringing a human being into existence." Finally, a fourth scribe undertook the restoration of sixty particularly bad leaves, for which he asked a compensation of 1 dirham per leaf. This demand, as stated in the document, was far more than expected. (Information from Goitein's index card and Mediterranean Society II, p. 239, note 52.) Ed. S.D. Goitein, “New Documents from the Cairo Geniza,” in Homenaje: Millás-Vallicrosa, vol. 1 (Barcelona: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1954), 713–16, 719–20.

Two lists of partly identical persons, the first without, the second with sums, ranging from 1 through 11 dirhams and 1/4 dinar. The first list comprises fourty persons, of these some scholars, others foreigners or persons in inferior positions, such as employees or gatekeepers. These lists were probably prepared for the capitation tax, the second list indicating perhaps the sums still due, to be paid by the community if the persons concerned were unable to pay. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Goitein, MedSoc, Vol. 2, p. 454, no. 54.)

Letter from Eli Ha-Mumhe b. Avraham, Jerusalem, to Efrayim He-Ḥaver b. Shemarya, Fustat, approximately 1045.

Recto: "The remainder of an epistle to an important dignitary. The first four lines preserved are in verse but the metre is very faulty. . . The person thus eulogized was evidently a Levite and was influential at the court" (Mann). The writer prays that he will find favor in the eyes of the king, the deputy, the ladies of the court, the eunuchs, the ministers, the nobles, and all who see him. Verso: Targum of Samuel.

Letter from Ṣedaqa b. Aharon (?) the druggist to Abū Saʿīd the druggist, ordering materia medica, including, fine Iraqi saffron; aloe wood (ʿūd); aged camphor (kāfūr); Iraqi turpeth (turbid); Iraqi sulfur (kibrīt); and something Hamadānī (?). He adds a recommendation for the bearer ('from a good family') in a postscript. ASE.

Letter from Shelomo, a ritual slaughterer in al-Maḥalla, to the judge Zakkay (probably the father of Shelomo b. Zakkay who was active in the period of Maimonides). The sender feared losing his job for having only memorized a handbook on his profession, instead of studying the sources, when a new judge, Menaḥem, arrived in al-Maḥalla. Verso is covered with various jottings, including the possible date of arrival of the letter: 12 Ḥeshvan 1462 Seleucid, which is 3 October 1150 CE. (Information from Goitein’s index card and Friedman's article on Zuta, pp. 484–85.)

Legal document. In the hand of Yefet b. David. Location: Fustat. Dated: Monday, 3 Nisan [47]88 AM, which is 1 April 1028 CE. Barhūn b. Sahlān receives from Menashshe b. Yosef 30 gold dinars (זהובים טובים), to be paid back in installments of three dinars a month. As security he empowers him to [something]. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Debt contract. Location: Fustat. Dating: First decade of Kislev 1462 Seleucid, which is 1150 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. According to which a debt of 4 dinars, 19 qīrāṭs, and 454 dirhams, resulting from a sale, is to be repaid in weekly installment of 50 dirhams. beginning on Sunday 5 Kislev 1150 CE. The debtor seems to be Sayyid al-Kull b. Shabbetay ha-Shofeṭ ha-Mumḥe. The creditor is Abū Isḥāq. Witnesses: Yeshuʿa b. Aharon ha-Kohen; Yeshuʿa b. Ḥotam ha-Levi. On verso there are entries of repayments: 5 repayments of 1 dinar each and 11 repayments of 40 dirhams. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Contract. Location: Fustat. Dated: 2[.] Ḥeshvan 1352 Seleucid, which is 1040 CE. In which Yiṣḥaq b. Seʿadya al-Manbijī agrees to teach Fahd ha-Levi the liturgy in evening courses to be continued over a period of 3 years. Witnesses: Shabbat b. Elʿazar; Natan b. Yeshuʿa; Maṣliaḥ b. Shemuel; Efrayim b. Shemarya. Also concerns figures from a town in the Nile delta. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from Ḥalfon b. Netanʾel ha-Levi, in Alexandria, to Yiṣḥaq Ibn ʿEzra, in Spain. In Judaeo-Arabic. The letter deals with the death of Ḥalfon's brother and other notables and the series of disasters that struck Ḥalfon and the community. Dating: probably January 1140 CE (though Goitein originally believed it to be 1129 CE, he later revised his dating and Friedman agrees). (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV.) Goitein summarizes the letters as follows: "A perfect picture of the influence of emotions on physical and mental health is found in the long letter written by the noble India trader Ḥalfon b. Netanel nine months after his return to Egypt from a long sojourn in Spain. As expected from a man like him, he dedicates the first twenty lines to the praise of his gracious and learned hosts, whom he so greatly missed. Then he goes on to bemoan one after another the disasters that disturbed his mind: civil war, anarchy, the high cost of living in Egypt, the death of the Head of the Jerusalem Academy (which then had its seat in Cairo) and of several luminaries of the Jewish spiritual and social upper crust; hardly had the months of mourning for those passed when Halfon's misfortune was topped by the demise of his eldest brother, who was the president of the Jewish High Court of Justice. He found himself unable to act, even to supervise the unloading of his goods, and let the perishables rot. During his long stay in Alexandria his body and soul never enjoyed full health, but he was also unable to bring himself to go up to Cairo: how could he visit the place vacated by his brother? Family and friends came down to Alexandria to induce him to return home, but he did not find in himself nahḍa, energy, to do so. For this reason, he was also not in a position to send to his friends in Spain (mostly physicians) the pharmaceutical plants promised, for these were to be had only in the capital (the terminal of the India trade), not in the Mediterranean port. Nor for the time being was he in a frame of mind to continue writing the learned discussions that were started during his sojourn in Spain. He concludes with a refined twist; he really did not want to send this letter but he was overcome by yearning for his Spanish friends, and asks them, considering his state of mind, to overlook his shortcomings in style and script (in that order)." (Goitein, Med Soc V, pp. 243–44.)

Recto: Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: November 1076. Manṣūr b. Khalaf al-Ṣūrī (from Tyre) will partner with Yefet b. Avraham and Shelomo b. Avraham for one year, beginning in the month of Ṭevet in 1388. Goitein suggests that the three were involved in minting, on the basis of another document which shows a relationship between Yefet and Manṣūr in the sifting of gold dust. Here, Manṣūr is prohibited from traveling or mentioning travel or even expressing a wish to see his family – perhaps his partners are afraid that he will abscond with the gold used in minting? – if he does so, he must pay 20 dinars to the poor, a standard penalty clause. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 36-37) Verso: Unidentified document in Arabic script. Mentions "al-kātib ... al-ishrāf(?) Muḥammad b. Ḥammūd al-Qāḍī." (Information in part from Goitein’s index card and attached notes.)

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim (Misr) to Abu Ishaq Barhūn b. Salih at-Tahirti (Busir).

Letter from Musa b. Abi al-Hayy, from Alexandria, to Yosef b. Musa al-Tahirti. Around 1045. The situation in Alexandria is very complicated. The writer mentions details about shipments of goods. Contains a copy of a receipt for goods that Alal b. Nahray b. Natan sent to Fustat. Mentions details about the process of weaving and bleaching linen. )Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #458) VMR

Fragment of a letter from an imprisoned government official. 12th century.

Letter from Eli Ha-Kohen B. Ezekiel, Jerusalem, to two persons in Ramla.

India Book I, 17: Letter from Yehuda Ibn Sighmar, at Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, at Fustat, from the year 1097. The letter contains three parts: First, blessings over Nahray's recovery from illness. Second, a survey of the dealings between Yehuda and Nahray, the details of which remain unclear. Third, the lawsuit of Moshe b. Labrat, the nephew of Yehuda, against Yosef Lebdi. Yehuda, the writer of the letter, was the intended recipient of the gift that Moshe b. Labrat sent with Lebdi from the west. It is clear that this letter was written before the first court session was held.

Letter preceded by a Hebrew poem consisting of three verses, from Shemuel b. Moshe to Abū al-Ḥajjāj Yūsuf Yehosef (Manbij), the tax-farmer of the local market and judge of the Jews, who is also addressed as head of the congregation (rosh ha-qahal). The writer asks whether the addressee and the community still cling to their resolution or have changed their mind – which was nothing to be ashamed of. Includes many greetings. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Goitein, MedSoc, Vol. 2, p. 75.)