Geniza Lab

Legal document. Quittance or bill of release (barāʾa) from Almeria, in al-Andalus, confirmed in Egypt. Individuals mentioned include […] b. al-Naḡara, Ḥalfon ha-Levi, Yiṣḥaq b. Aharon, Yosef ha-Levi b. Ḥarith, Yiṣḥaq b. ʿOvadya b. Yiṣḥaq, and Yiṣḥaq b. Yaʿaqov. The document is probably connected with Ḥalfon b. Nathaniel ha-Levi. (Information from CUDL.) Join by Mordechai Akiva Friedman.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Only a thin vertical sliver is preserved. Mentions Fustat (or Egypt) four lines from the end and Almeria three lines from the end. Also mentions David ha-Rav.

Business letter by a young Spanish merchant writing from Fez to his father in Almeria, Spain, revealing that he preferred not to use his father's house in Fez but to stay with friends instead in order to be able to declare his merchandise as destined for a local merchant. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 61-62 and Goitein's translation, attached.) After he was forced to pay the governor (qā'id) and customs inspector (mutawalli al-ʿushūr) and sundry others, "I was sick for three days out of anger and sorrow. Had I possessed here the same courage as I usually have in Almeria, I would have escaped with less than this. But I consoled myself with the solace of one who has no choice."

Business letter from Maʿālī to his father Abū l-Khayr b. Maʿālī al-Dimashqī. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic. Fragment. Maʿālī received the letter his father sent with Barukh and rejoiced at his health. He mentions business dealings with Ibrahīm and Surūr and Dā'ūd involving alum (shabb) and indigo (nīl). There is high demand for the former among the people of Almeria. ASE.

Letter in which Arus b. Yosef mentions accounts of the export of five qintars of wool worth thirty dinars from Alexandria to Almeria in Spain. The trader had to pay six dinars for freight, half in Alexandria and half on arrival in Spain. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp.105, 344, 419)