Geniza Lab

Legal document in Hebrew. Very faded. Dated, but only the number 4 or 40 is readily legible. The hand looks late and/or Sefaradi-influenced. Mentions a financial loss (ההפסד שהפסיד...). Signed: Yeshaʿya b. Ḥiyya; [...] b. ʿOvadya; Yosef Seruji; Shelomo al-Maghribī.

Legal document in Hebrew. Very faded. A woman named ʿAzīza makes a declaration. "My husband Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen" is mentioned three lines from the bottom. On verso there is a faṣl or note in Judaeo-Arabic describing the contents of the legal document: "iqrār of the wife of [.......]."

List of names with numbers. The list includes three Ṣabbāghs (dyers), a Ṣā'igh (goldsmith), and a Khabbāz (baker).

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: 1122-1153. A one-year partnership in an apothecary between Sayyid al-Ahl and his partner Faraḥ b. Abū al-‘Alā. The relationship may have been an apprenticeship; both parties are entitled to 1.5 dirhams a day, but profits from the sale of some commodities within the shop will accrue only to Sayyid al-Ahl, who seems to be the primary partner. However, Faraḥ’s investment is significant; the pharmacy inventory was only 7 dinars, but Faraḥ brings a total of 20 dinars, 16 of which are invested immediately. This document lacks most of the formulae seen in partnership agreements (including stock qinyan phrases, which effect the contract) – it may have been simply the personal outline of a scribe who would later add in the framework from a formulary, as it also lacks signatures. Goitein identifies the handwriting as that of Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver (active 1122-1153). (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 38-39)

Account of goods sent by Nahray b. Nissim to Abu Ishaq Barhun b. Ishaq ha-Tahirti, ca. 1046. It begins with an account of the balance of what remained from the previous year, and then summarizes Nahray's business activities and the shipments he sent to Abu Ishaq in the last two years, including goods like pearls, beads, clothes, and fabrics. It seems like Nahray partnered with ha-Tahiriti in addition to working independently. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #273) VMR

Detailed accounts, written by Nahray b. Nissim, specifying private expenses as well as expenses of business done by the writer for Abu Ishaq Barhun b. Ishaq Tahirti. Dated 1046. (Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, 811)

Account of goods sent to Abu Ishaq Barhun b. Ishaq on the ships in (4)806 A.M. (1045-1046), beginning with an account of the balance of what remained the previous year.

An account submitted to Abu Ishaq Barhun b. Ishaq. Dating: 1045–46 CE.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and some Arabic script. The hand may be known. Dating: 11th or 12th century.

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq to Egypt. Aden, ca. 1130-39.

Letter from the office of Yehoshuaʿ Nagid (d. 1355) (in Cairo) to the community of Fustat about a conflict between two butchers who had caused trouble for the complainant, one Muwaffaq, and ordering them to return to the customary arrangement whereby one worked three days and the other, the other three days. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 424)

A traveling cantor asks the nagid Mevorakh for a gift toward the holidays after a package containing his good clothing had fallen into the Nile (MS 2:569n25). Complains, "I have nothing beautiful with which to celebrate the feast” (MS 4:156): mā lī mā uʿayyid bihi ʿalā ḥalī. "The Arabic word for "beautiful," ḥalī, refers mostly to female ornaments. The Hebrew vowel segol (three dots), put beneath the ḥ of ḥalī, was pronounced (and is still pronounced so by Yemenites) as a short a in Arabic” (Med. Soc. 4:397n43). (Information from Goitein's index card and Mediterranean Society, references above; see also Cohen, JSG, 261, 263, 297, 363. Rustow, Lost Archive, ch. 14, nn. 37, 39 and 40 gives the shelfmark incorrectly as 95/69.)

Letter from [...] b. Avraham to Ṣadaqa b. Ṣemaḥ. The writer had previously sent a letter with Ibn Bunyām that had gone unanswered. In the present letter, among other matters, he asks the addressee to purchase for him a good copy of Hilkhot ha-Rif (al-Fāsī). The handwriting switches halfway through this letter. The handwriting of the upper half resembles that of Seʿadya b. Avraham (see T-S 13J18.4), and the handwriting of the lower half resembles that of Abū Saʿd b. Avraham (see DK 230.2), but rigorous identification will require further examination. Information in part from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Yahya b. Eli Kohen Fasi, from Fustat, to Abu al-Ifrah Arus (Avraham) b. Yosef, Alexandria. Around 1080. Yahya, probably Yosef’s younger brother, deals with trading lacquer, and asks Arus to handle three shipments of lacquer that he bought in Alexandria. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #406) VMR

Letter from Khalaf b. Isḥāq to someone whose name includes Shemaʿya, sent to the house of Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf b. al-Qudsī, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Mainly concerning business matters, including the silk trade. Mentions Damietta and then "all the Jews are turning to the government" (v6). ASE

Letter, Somewhat cryptic. "As for what you mentioned about the istiʿmāl and the musakhkhināt (warming drugs?) and the [...], and as the 'season' (of illnesses?) is here, I will do that, and may God cure. As for the condition of Abū l-Manṣūr al-Qūṣī. . . ." ASE

Letter from Nissim b. Ḥalfon, from Tinnis, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Regarding shipment of clothes and scarves. The writer asks for the prices of linen in Busir and asks Nahray to send him lemon-water. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #601) VMR

Letter of appeal addressed to the Nagid David I (b. Avraham Maimonides, r.1237–1300). In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic.

Fragmentary letter (on vellum) from Tunisia by Manashe b. Ammar to Joseph b. Salman b. Ya'ish, expressing the wish to give up the hard "service of the people" (public office) for another profession, for he is weak or sick (ḍaʿīf) and frail (naḥīf al-jism). Information from Goitein's notecards and Mediterranean Society II, 87-88.

Letter fragment from Yoshiyya b. al-Dhahabī to Abū Saʿīd b. al-ʿAfaṣī (=gallnut merchant). In Judaeo-Arabic.The writer congratulates the recipient on his recent marriage and mentions a business deal of exchanging flax for medicine. The writer and the recipient are cooperating with Spanish merchants. (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 368)