Geniza Lab

Accounts in the hand of Nissim b. Ḥalfon, presented to Nahray b. Nissim; 1066 CE. Lists payments for various goods, made either directly or through others, and gives details of various shipments, some of them to Tripoli, Libya. Mentions skins, textiles, beads, sugar, red wood, ammonia, furs, lead, baked goods, wine, meat, camphor, wax, tin, cloves, pearls and laque. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 986.)

Letter from a man, in Fustat, to his mother, unknown location. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th or maybe 13th century. He speaks about his children (he probably also had a wife). He had been in al-Maḥalla for 2 months, then came to Fustat intending to stay only 5 days, but it was impossible to leave on account of the children. He now sends her 40 dirhams with Ibrāhim Ibn al-Ashqar. She should pay 5 to Abū ʿAlī and buy 10 dirhams of wheat (qamḥ) for the children. He gives further difficult-to-understand instructions for what to do with the rest of the money—maybe orders for spinning (istighzāl)? He is staying with Abū Naṣr b. Karīm at Qaʿāt al-Fāḍil. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Announcement from a kosher butcher under the management of Alshomir Rafle Dāūd advertising the sale of kosher meats in bulk – undated – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 119) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 48). MCD.

Letter from an unknown writer, in al-Maḥalla, to Nahray b. Nissim, presumably in Fustat. The body of the letter is in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1070, based on Gil's estimate. The writer is in need of money and his son is ill. He complains that there is not enough meat in his town; perhaps he mentions this because he thinks his son needs meat to get better. There is widespread unemployment in al-Maḥalla, and traveling at this time is dangerous (ופחד הדרכים יותר). The writer also discusses something that he needs to return, perhaps money or books. The letter ends with a legal query on rabbinic usury (avaq ribbit). Apparently Nahray's letter to the writer contained the Hebrew saying, "Don't judge somebody until you are in his place," and the writer here responds with the popular Arabic saying (משל הדיוט), "The thirsty does not know what is inside of the hungry." Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #829. VMR. ASE.