Geniza Lab

Business letter from Musa b. Abu al-Hayy in Alexandria to Abu al-Afrah Avraham (`Arus) b. Yosef in Fustat. The letter contains an accounting for a shipment, perhaps of flax, followed by List of prices, manly spices and medicaments. Dated ca. 1080. (Information from Gil, Kingdom)

Letter from Ibrāhīm b. Farrāḥ, Fustat, to [ ] b. Isḥạq b. ʿAlī Majjānī in Alexandria. Mentions an ullaba (container) holding bible codices, details about a commercial shipment and a discussion with the owner of a boat. He hopes a load with goods will arrive at Majjānī's soon, but remarks that neither the navy nor civilian boats have been able to sail. He adds that Nahray b. Nissim was unable to pay his one dinar to the synagogue for lack of cash. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 335, and Gil)

Letter from Musa b. Abu al-Hayy from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. The writer mentions robbery by pirates on two ships carrying merchandise meant for the writer and for others. Dated ca. 1055. (Information from Gil, Kingdom)

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat.

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, in which the writer states that an amount of money sent by Nahray was delivered by Natan to the widow of Awad b. Hananel, ca. 1045-1096.

Calligraphic letter from Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq in Fustat to Yeshua b. Ismail asking whether Nahray b. Nissim had gone to the Egyptian country-side and sold the writer's goods. (Information from Gil, and Goitein's index cards)

Fragmentary business letter concerning the author's opponents. The writing appears to be in the hand of Avraham b. Natan. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document in which Abu al-Khayr Hananel b. Yaʿaqov releases Benaya b. Moshe from a partnership with Allan b. Nahray, after the former had handed over to him corals deposited with Abu Ishaq Avraham b. Yefet ha-Levi and Abu al-Khayr Shelomo b. Saadya al-Suri (ot Tyre). Dated 1110. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a business letter from Barhun b. Salih al-Tahirti in Busir, probably to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat, mentioning bales of flax being prepared for shipment to Alexandria and places further on, and the writer's intention to travel to Mahdiyya. Dated ca. 1046. (Information from Gil)

Fragment of a badly damaged business letter mentioning merchandise sent to Palermo and Mazara, some ships, and business dealings with Yosef b. Yaʿaqov ibn Awkal, and the Tustari. Dated to the beginning of the 11th century. (Information from Gil)

Partly effaced business letter in which the writer instructs the addressee concerning a purchase and payments to a certain Abu Nasr. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a business letter to ʿAllān b. Ḥassūn announcing the arrival of a large ship from Spain and two other ships from Mahdiyya and Sfax. (Information from Goitein's index cards and from CUDL) Address in Judeo-Arabic and Arabic on verso.

Secondary use: Fragment of three responsa written by Ibn Avraham Ibn Yiju, most probably in Yemen. Dating: ca. 1151 CE. Written on a reused letter (see PGPID 4719). (Information from India Book III; IB III, 34 = T-S 10J9.24v IB III, 35 = T-S 10J32.6.)

Original use: Short letter from Yosef b. Avraham, in Aden, to Avraham Ibn Yiju. Dating: ca. 1135–38 CE. The address is on part B as Yosef used to write so it would be seen when the letter is folded. In the available space Ibn Yiju wrote drafts of two questions about Halakhot (see PGPID 4718). (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book III: Avraham Ibn Yiju. pp. 84-88). VMR

Letter from Abun b. Sedaqa in Jerusalem to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. Dating: November 1064 CE. The main subject is the tension between the writer and Nahray's cousin, Yisrael b.Natan. Other subjects include details about the burning of ships in Sicily. Opens with a vivid description of the general grief following the death of Sittāt, the wife of R. Natan, who left a boy of 2 years. "How terrible is our grief! It has destroyed us (haddatnā) and sickened us (amraḍatnā).” A government edict threatened to make a dignified funeral impossible, so the mourners considered simply burying her within the walls. “We contracted from this a terrible convulsion (rajf ʿaẓīm),” Abūn writes, “and we gave a bribe and brought her out at night.” ASE

Letter of business from Isma'il b. Ishaq al-Andalusi, in Tyre, to Nahray b. Nissim. The writer alludes to his great losses at sea while simultaneously thanking God, who has replaced what has been lost many times over. Also includes a quotation from II Shemuel 14:20. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:60, 332, 405, 485; 5:239, 571, 572) EMS

Letter and bills from Sicily, probably to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. Some of the bills are directed to b. Awkal for washing fabrics, and it seems like the other bills and the letter are addressed to him as well. Mentions selling linen and indigo in Palermo. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #201) VMR

Complete letter by Mubarak b. Yiṣḥaq b. Sabri to Abu al-Faraj Nissim complaining about a business issue and urging a prompt response to his letter.

Complete letter to Abu Zikri, who is hailed as 'brother' by the writer, discussing a business dispute in a past partnership between the two. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Business letter from David to Shemuel in Alexandria discussing among other matters the delay in delivery of a deposit sent forth by the addressee. Written in a late script. (Information from Goitein's index cards)