Geniza Lab

Bill of lading by Nahray b. Nissim specifying goods sent from the Maghreb and Sicily to Egypt, mainly textiles and silk. (Information from Gil)

Short letter from Nahray b. Nissim to Barhun b. Musa al-Tahirti, Busir. February 8, 1053. Nahray asks Barhun, who is in Busir and deals with buying flax, to buy also for one of Nahray’s partners, Ya’aqov b. Nahum. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #250) VMR

Letter head addressed to Abū Yaḥyā Nahray b. Nissim. (Information from CUDL)

Letter (11th century), dated 20th Ṭevet, addressed to [Nahray] b. Nissim, mentioning a certain Joseph. (Information from CUDL)

Short letter from Nahray b. Nissim to Musa b. Abi al-Hayy. Around 1045. Seems that the letter is from the beginning of Nahray’s time In Egypt. He is in a place where flax for shipment are made. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #244) VMR

Private account written by Nahray b. Nissim. 1058. Regarding different matters and people. Some of the lines are erased with a line through and a signature, probably after checking them. Also contains signs in Arabic that seem like “I informed him”. Mentions Nahray’s partners and it seems that he usually worked with a partner and sometimes two partners. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #282) VMR

Account for Nahray b. Nissim. 1058. The account includes nine shipments of flax, as well as shipments of sumac, cloths, and white silk. Several of those were sold in Ashkelon and others in Tinnis. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #837) VMR

Accounts of Nahray b. Nissim (on the basis of handwriting), 1051, noting sums of money and giving some details about the wares. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 825.). On recto, a note about various wares requesting Nahray b. Nissim to give to Abū al-Walīd a small basket placed inside the sack belonging to Ibrahīm b. Azhar. (Information from Goitein notes linked below.)

Accounts of Abu Zikri Tabib in the hand of Nahray b. Nissim (Goitein) or Yehuda b. Saadya (Gil). A leaf folded to four pages, of which the last one is blank. All three pages are crossed out. Dated 1065 (Gil). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 2, p. 901, and Goitein's index cards)

Private account written by Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1065. This account was written as a draft. Mentions the money that Yehuda b. Se’adia owed and payed. Yehuda was the Nagid of the Jews in Egypt. He was a doctor but was also involved in the trading business, especially of pearls. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #297) VMR

Letter from Shelomo b. Moshe al-Safāquṣī, in Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim.

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat, to Salāma b. Nissim al-Barqī, in Buṣīr. Dating: ca. 1046. Asking him to acquire various items in Buṣīr, and asking him to draw a special symbol on the packages he sends. (Gil.) Also mentions saffron packed in paper. (MR.) NB: This was previously listed on PGP as T-S Ar.25.19.

Letter from a Ifrīqiyan merchant writing from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat) in which the writer outlines his problems with the capitation tax and notes that after Nahray’s intervention he paid two dinars this year, which he would not have minded, if other had been treated in the same way. Furthermore, “the tax-gatherers (ḥushshār, “ralliers”) and the director of the jaliya are not to blamed; all this is entirely the work of the Jews.” The opening formulae of the letter is preceded by the basmala in Aramaic-Hebrew form: בשמך רחמנא כתאבי אטאל אללה בקא מולאי (In Your name, O Merciful One, my letter, may God prolong the life of my master). (Nahray, 118; S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:385, 611; and Esther-Miriam Wagner, “The Weakening of the Bourgeoisie,” in From a Sacred Source: Genizah Studies in Honour of Professor Stefan C. Reif,” ed. Ben Outhwaite and Siam Bhayro, Brill, 2010, 345-6) EMS

Recto and verso: Letter recounting how a storeroom in Alexandria belonging to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, was opened and it was discovered that the grain was spoiled (talaf); the writer asks for instructions on what to do with it. (Nahray 116; S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society 4:435) EMS

Letter from Barhūn b. Mūsā ha-Tahirti, in Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: about 1045 (Gil). Business letter discussing trade in silk and linen, including with Byzantium.

Letter from Mawhūb b. Aharon the ḥazzan to Nahray b. Nissim.

Shipping certificate from Nahray b. Nissim probably to Moshe b. Yahya al-Majani. Around 1065. Detailed the coins that were in a coin packet. Verso: Details about several dinar amounts, as well as the name b. al-Majani. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #301) VMR

Fragment of a letter from Farah b. Isma’il to Nahray b. Nissim. Regarding money exchange and shipments of linen. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #508) VMR

Letter from Mevasser b. David (Tinnis) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat), ca. 1052. Mevasser b. David appears to have recently arrived from the Maghreb (al-Mahdiya). The letter is largely about sending and receiving correspondence. The writer congratulates Nahray b. Nissim on the latter’s marriage. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 292.)

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī al-Ḥay (Tinnīs) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat), ca. 1062. Mūsā reached Tinnīs by land because he was scared to travel by ship while carrying money. The letter contains a detailed account of wares that he sold or bought, especially pellitory (Anacyclus Pyrethrum) and flax. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 509 and Goitein notes linked below.)