Geniza Lab

Short letter from Yosef b. Avraham to Ibn Yiju, India, Aden, ca. 1147 or 1148.

Letter addressed to Makhlūf al-Maghribi in Jerusalem, in the 'house of Natan,' about various commercial matters. Yehuda al-Ashkenazi and Abu Khalifa are also mentioned. EMS

Decree (copy in Hebrew script) from the Fatimid caliph al-Ẓāhir to a governor of Palestine (probably Anushtekin al-Dizbirī) informing him of another decree that had come in response to a petition in the name of the Rabbanite Jews regarding a conflict with the Qaraites. That decree is referred to as muktatab lahum (registered with them). Ca. 1030.

Fragmentary record of testimony, 1340/1028.

Letter in Ladino from the merchant Avraham Mayo to his father, probably from Alexandria to Fustat/Cairo, dealing with numerous business transactions and the arrival of a Venetian ship. Avraham reports that he received his father's letter stating that he had selected the saffron and sold two out of three fardos (sacks) of גֿידארי (possibly an Indian textile known as "gudari"; possibly the Turkish headgear "çidari"; the diacritical mark over the ג indicates that it is not simply a hard "g"). Avraham and his partner Sulaymān will purchase as much גֿידארי as they can find and send it. "Here, he and I are like brothers. Just so, you and Khuḍayyir should be like brothers. Always help him." Avraham then mentions five sacks of raisins. He then lists the goods he has sent to his father: (1) fifteen panes of lead marked "Mayo Kavakado"; (2) five espuertas (baskets) of lead oxide (מרדסינך, probably from the Persian "murda-sang"; thanks to Professor Daniel Sheffield for this identification), which bear the seal of Sulaymān; (3) and 107 "kedives" (?) of fine Istanbul iron, which he has sent in the company of Khuḍayyir. The lead cost 3 ducats, amounting to 32 Venetian ducats and 33 muayyadis. The lead oxide cost 100 ducats, amounting to 845 [. . .], and the iron cost 182 ducats, amounting to [...]. Avraham paid 37 muayyadis for the גֿירמה (from context: the warehouse? See verso, l. 21). He then reports how much it cost him to transport each good to Rashid, whence they were presumably transported to Fustat/Cairo. Avraham paid 29.5 Venetian ducats for the five sacks of raisins—it seems this is equivalent to 60 muayyadis per qintal—and he is pleased to have gotten the best raisins from the ship at such a good price. He paid 100 Venetian ducats and 100 coronas for the "mersa" (? מירסה) and asks his father to write quickly [if he wants any], because mersa is in high demand. He also purchased some more raisins, and five qintals of cheese (? קיסה) for 1 corona per qintal. Avraham asks his father to send him some of the capital, because he needs to put it to use "between now and Sukkot" during the mercantile season, otherwise "large groups like those that come from Venice" [will outcompete us? the sentence seems incomplete], and it is better for his father to live on his earnings rather than on the business capital ("el cavdal"). Avraham further reports that the [...] of the city died yesterday after two days of suffering from the plague. 'The young son of the teacher (al-muʿallim) is wounded. The Muslims ("moros") are fighting once again ("de nuevo se hieren").' Avraham then gives instructions for what Bunyal should buy on his behalf ("not lentils, but rather a piece of רוודי מתלוק"). Avraham asks his father to inform Yaʿaqov b. Ḥabīb that Moshe b. Hīnī arrived and told Avraham that he had abandoned the gum (la goma) in Rashid, because he could not find cameldrivers and because it was too heavy to transport any other way. He left the gum there in trust ("encomendado"), with enough money for cameldrivers and other expenses for it to be transported onward. "When it arrives, we will be diligent to sell it, do not have any preoccupation." Avraham must have taken a break, because the next thing he writes is, "The gum has arrived." He concludes the letter with kisses for his mother and for Yizhaq and for Nissim. In a first postscript, he asks his father to go and examine Khuḍayyir's sacks of raisins and see if any bear the sign of the anchor and [...], and to write to Avraham with this information. In the second postscript, he asks his father to send good, big, "Qaitbey" [...]s (coins minted under Qaitbey?) with either Ibn Ḥabīb or with Bunyal, whoever comes, and that he is to leave them for Avraham in the גֿירמאס. But if neither of them plan to come, then the goods should be sent with Shemuel Kohen, "and write to him that they belong to Raḥamim." The last line of the letter mentions a cryptic good (linen? firewood? לינו די סאפאר) and says "do not write his response" (?), perhaps because it is a sensitive matter. Date: Plausibly written in 1513/14 CE, based on (1) a reference to Yaʿaqov b. Ḥabīb, who may be identical with the famous author of the ʿAyn Yaʿaqov who died in 1516 CE, and (2) a reference to a plague victim, and (3) a known recurrence of the bubonic plague in Egypt in 1513/14. On the other hand, there is at least one other Yaʿaqov b. Ḥabīb in Geniza documents from the early 18th century (see AIU VII.D.104 and AIU VII.E.30). Then again, Moss. VII,16.2 is a fragment of a Hebrew document from 1544/5 CE centered on an Avraham, a Raḥamim, and the raisin trade. Information largely from Grace Masback's edition and translation in her Junior Paper, "Avraham Mayo’s Egypt in the Age of Exploration." ASE.

Document of release concerning the estate of Barakat ha-Levi’s deceased wife Jaliyya, mentioning the mother of Jaliyya and the daughter of her sister specifically. EMS

Report of transactions, payments, and assets, mentioning a payment to patrolmen and customs, probably in Alexandria.

T-S 13J22.6 was published By Gil, Palestine, #404. It is the left hand side of the letter. T-S 13J7.6 is the right hand side of the same letter, published by Gil (transcription of the whole document) in his 1991 article of corrections and additions to his 3-volume Palestine. This is a letter of complaint to Avraham ha-Kohen b. Yiṣḥaq b. Furat (mid 11th century). The writers complains about the Christian governor Ibn Gorgas who built a church next to a mosque, a controversy arose, and now the Jews are in danger.

Opening of a letter to the communities of Egypt from the community of Ramla.

Verso: Syriac translation of Romans 16:25–26 and 1 Corinthians 13:12–13. The text is written in a distinctive western Syriac hand with most letters of the Estrangelo-type and some reading signs, such as linea occultans and seyame. The presumably Christian scribe did not take special care when writing those verses, for the lines are not ruled and their spacing varies, having being done "by eye." The central crease, which can still be seen, shows that the page was folded at some stage. The verses are taken from the Syriac (Peshiṭta) version of two Pauline epistles. The right column comprises the concluding sentences of the epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:26-27). The left column contains parts of 1 Corinthians 13:12b–13. It is possible that the quotations from the Romans and 1 Corinthians are merely selections, chosen to highlight particular thoughts which might have been important to the writer, e.g. in both sections occurs the catchword ‘faith’ (Romans 16:26; 1 Corinthians 13:13). The assumption that the fragment was originally part of a codex with the intermediate folios being lost is less likely because of the type of handwriting and the fragmentary character of the verses. Be that as it may, the circumstances in which this folio, containing NT verses, was recycled to record a Jewish bride’s trousseau list are perplexing. Perhaps the scribe of the trousseau-list bought this leaf second-hand and was not able to read the Syriac script which cites the name of Jesus the Messiah or it simply did not matter to him, since he had obviously no hesitation or aversion either to using the Muslim basmala formula in Arabic script at the beginning of the trousseau list (T- S 13J7.8 v1). The contents of the Judaeo-Arabic trousseau-list and the Syriac NT verses are diverse and unrelated. However, their mutual appearance is testimony not only for the richness of life in medieval Fusṭāṭ, but for the coexistence of the Christian and Jewish communities during the Fatimid period. Information from Friedrich Niessen, "New Testament translations from the Cairo Genizah," Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 6 (2009), pp. 201–22.

Recto: Trousseau list. Groom: Yeshuʿa b. Avraham. Bride: Mubāraka bt. Ṭoviyya. Marriage payments: 20 + 30 = 50. Value of the dowry is 480 dinars (according to the text, or 488 dinars by Goitein's calculation — the parties may have agreed on a round number). Dating: late 11th or early 12th century CE. Verso is Syriac (see separate record). The join was discovered by Goitein in 1980. There is a discussion and partial translation in Goitein, Med Soc IV, App. D, item (e). Information from Goitein (Med Soc IV, pp. 344, 467, n. 286), FGP, and Friedrich Niessen, "New Testament translations from the Cairo Genizah."

Document containing a few names: Abu al-Faraj b. Asad, Shemuʾel b. Surur. Also mentioned are representatives of the Sultan, the destruction of houses, and the sum of 500 dinars. Tyre, 1546 sel., (1234-5). (Information from Goitein index cards) VMR

Court record concerning a grain dealer who promises to pay his former wife 4 dirhams every week for his five-year-old son, who was staying with her. The document further stipulates the boy visit the father on a Sabbath or a weekday, whenever he (the father) wished. In return, the divorcée acknowledges having received from her husband all that is due to her and agrees not to give him a bad name, nor sue him before a Muslim court or state authority. In case of default, she would be banned or excommunicated. Payments were to be made to a third person in Cairo, specified in the document. September, 1052. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:152, 438; 3:334-5, 502) EMS

Fragment from the end of a contract, followed by a whole contract, both of which are between Avraham and Shalom and witnessed by the scribe Natan b. Avraham and Ḥayyim Ṭārīqa(?). The first contract, written during the Feast of Tabernacles 5304 (= 1544 CE) in Egypt, mentions the sum of 59.5 עתמאני (i.e. the Ottoman unit of currency). In the second contract, Shalom agrees to pay Abraham the same amount using gold peraḥim (ducat equivalents) from the coinage of Sultan Sulaymān. An exchange rate is given: every peraḥ is worth 59.5 ʿuthmānīs. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Account (draft) of the Qodesh ca. 1213. This account is written on the verso and also on the remaining space of the recto of a document concerning the sale of a female slave to a certain Elazar ha-Kohen. Different kidns of revenue and expenditures are recorded together. There are items of charity, for the local poor and for foreigners, and repairs to buildings of the qodesh, and also to the synagogues of Fustat and Dammuh. Several sums that were emoluments for scholars are included as well. Some revenue from rent is listed, as it is also income from collections for charity, among them one "light" dinar paid by Rayyis, i.e. the Nagid, Avraham Maimuni, the son of Maimonides. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 403 #109)

Legal document. Power of attorney. Location: Fustat. Dated: February 1084. Power of attorney from Moshe b. Avraham to ʿAmram b. Yosef ha-Ḥasid, to act on his behalf in litigation with Maḥbūb. Moses b. Abraham appoints Amram b. Joseph his unlimited agent to collect debts from Maḥbūb b. Ḥibān in al-Maḥdiya, some of which consist of partnership assets (including semiprecious stones, glass beads, gold, and similar commodities) as a ṣuḥba, in this case meaning a deposit with, with Ḥassūn ha-Levi b. Solomon. The partnership relationship was fairly complex, Moses depositing funds with Ḥassūn who passed them on to Maḥbūb. Maḥbūb may have been a regular partner with Moses or alternatively, an agent serving many traders and remitting funds from active partners who stopped in Tunisia to their investors in Fusṭāṭ and elsewhere. When the funds failed to reach Fusṭāṭ, Moses sent Amram to collect them. The clauses denoting proper state of mind are common to release documents and powers of attorney. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 167)

Letter from Nissim b. Yishaq al-Tahirti. Around 1057. The letter was probably from Susa to Fustat and it contains the account of Musa b. Barhun al-Tahirti after his death. The writer calls Musa “al-Marhum” – the one who has God’s mercy, a phrase that is taken from the Muslim culture. Mentions the year ד'תתט"ו but the letter is later than that. Mentions big changes in the Dinar rate vs. the dirham. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #391) VMR

Legal document. Partnership document. Location: Fustat. Dating: 1100 (per Goitein). This document, signed by Yitzhak b. Shemuʾel ha-Sefaradi, describes itself as a partnership document enacted between Abraham al-Mirjānī b. Moses and Mevorakh b. Eleazar, though details as to the partnership itself and the divison of profits and losses are missing from the preserved portion and much of the language is reminiscent of release documents. Each of the partners is given a copy of the document. The clauses here concerning soundness of mind are common in release documents as well. They also appear in both power of attorney and partnership agreements. While it is logical that soundness of mind would be required while releasing an erstwhile partner or while appointing an agent and releasing him from certain claims, it is odd that these clauses would appear when a new partnership relationship is formed. The soundness of mind clauses in the partnership release documents mirror those clauses seen in divorce or debt settlements, wills and release documents, suggesting that soundness of mind is required when one relinquishes a right. The document was written on Wednesday, 1 Sivan "in the year dated above" (which is not visible in the extant text) and signed the following day. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 234)

Introduction to a letter to the Nagid Yehuda b. Saadya. (May be also a complete letter expressing a declaration of fellowship). (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR Arabic text on verso, rather large lines.

Letter from the rabbinical court of Fustat to Madmun b. Ḥasan regarding the estate of Ibn Jumayhir. Fustat, 1146.