Geniza Lab

Letter from Daʿūd Fasī to the cloth merchant Abū l-Afraḥ ʿArus b. Joseph. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein notes below.

Two copies of a letter from Mahruz to Sulayman b. Abu Zikri Kohen before sailing back to India. Aden, ca. 1137-1147.

Halachic question by Ḥalfon on Yibbum matters It is possible to identify the writer as a copycat by his handwriting. While he was standing on the dock, he hastily wrote down this question, which was appended to a larger question (which did not survive or was not identified), and sent it to the sage who does not mention his name but calls him 'the greatest rabbi of the one and only generation... '. The question deals with a complicated case or two complicated cases in Yibbum law, in a woman who heard from the rumor that her husband was killed and that she did not agree to be married, and died, and the doubts about the inheritance of money her address had already collected part of it (fifty dinars), and Yibbum demanded that her heirs return it to him. Also discussed is the wording of 'loyalty' in her ketubah, which exempts her from an oath in collecting the ketubah, and its relation to the Talmudic sources. In the hinted halachic questions, a dispute between the 'disciples' was discovered and unwanted phenomena accompanied it. Ḥalfon asked the sage to rule on the law and explain his answer well, in order to eliminate the dispute. The connection of the possibility to Ḥalfon’s answer regarding Yibbum and Chalitzah mentioned in Khalaf's letter (document ח11) and the presumed identity of the alluded sage was discussed in the introduction. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)

Statements by two Yemenite merchants about consignments sent by Ibn Yiju from India and mostly lost. [India] Almost certainly 1145. (India Book III, 22)

Statements by two Yemenite merchants about consignments shipped by Ibn Yiju. The first statement is by Madmun b. Salim and the second is by Avraham b. Fayyumi. The content of these statements should be compared with III, 12. The statements were written in India, probably around 1145.

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq in Aden to Avraham Ibn Yiju in India, probably from 1146. The letter contains much information on their commercial transactions. T-S 18J4 18 is the original letter written in the hand of Shemuel b. Moshe b. Eleazar. III, 13 and III, 14 are fragments from the same copy made from the original (III, 13 matches with lines 13-36 and III, 14 matches with lines 36-49). The copyist made a few corrections in the copying process without correcting the original. The other side of III, 13 was used by Ibn Yiju to copy a piyyut of Yiṣḥaq b. Giyat. In the other side of III, 14 Ibn Yiju wrote a business account (see III, 25). III, 13 = T-S NS J21 III, 14 = T-S 8.19

Letter, mainly about shipwrecked goods, from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq to Ibn Yiju, India, Aden, almost certainly 1146.

Detailed letter of Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq to Ibn Yiju, India, Aden, probably 1140 [1139].

Letter (large but fragmentary) from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq in Aden to Avraham Ibn Yiju, around 1139-1140. The letter is written in the hand of Shemuel b. Moshe b. Eleazar. The letter contains information about their commercial ventures.

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq to a merchant in Egypt: Attack on Aden by the King of Kish. Aden, ca. 1135-6.

Letter from Madmun b. Ḥasan to Avraham Ibn Yiju. Aden, 1133.

Long letter from Yaʿaqov b. Salīm, in al-Juwwa (near Aden, Yemen), to the judge and parnas Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo, in Fustat. Quoting Deuteronomy 32:43 and Isaiah 33:24. Dated: Tishrei 1445 of the Seleucid Era (= 1133 CE). Natan had previously written asking the Aden community for money on behalf of the Palestinian Gaonate but Yaʿaqov reports that because of disagreements with the community in Yemen he is not on good terms with them and has moved away. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein notes linked below.

Prayer written by Ibn Yiju on fabric in India.

Legal testimony. Location: Aden. Dating: Ca. summer 1131 CE. Concerns the controversy caused by a Persian Jew, the nephew of the exilarch in Baghdad, who came to Aden and opposed the invocation of the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon in the qaddish prayer. Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq supported Maṣliaḥ and was the only one willing to set the controversy down in writing; the other Jews of Aden were too afraid to do so. This document may be written in the hand of the North African trader Yosef Ibn ʿEzra, a partner of Ḥalfon. The Egyptian members of the congregation, by contrast, saw Maṣliaḥ as their authority. (Information from Goitein, The Yemenites, pp. 57–61, and Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tuesday, 21 Adar II 1377 Seleucid, which is 21 March 1066 CE. Maymūn b. Yaʿaqov declares that he acted as the authorized person for the brothers Shelomo and Moshe b. Avraham b. al-Lebdī, to receive the inheritance(?) of their father’s maternal uncle from Nissim b. Ḥalfon b. Benaya. It seems that Nissim b. Ḥalfon was supposed to pass on the money, books, and other items to the sons in Sicily, but he had traveled to Egypt instead. The completed document, signed by five people, shows that the brothers lived somewhere in the Maghrib and the problem was how to preserve for them the items concerned until they had them in hand. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #823, and from Goitein and Friedman, India Book.) The witnesses: Yosef b. Yiṣḥaq Fāsī; Salāma b. Avraham; Menashshe b. Yefet ha-Levi; ʿEli b. ʿAmram ha-Levi; Yehuda b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi. The validation (qiyyum) is signed by the ḥaver ʿEli b. ʿAmram (distinct from the ʿEli b. ʿAmram ha-Levi who signed the main document); Mevorakh b. Seʿadya; and Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe. VMR

Deed of release. Written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. Location: Probably Bharuch, India. Dating: First third of Ṭevet 1445 Seleucid, which is 29 November–8 December 1133 CE. Isḥāq b. Makhlūf al-Nafūsī acknowledges that he received money and goods (pearls and coral) from Barakāt b. Mūsā al-Ḥalabī. Witnesses: Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi; Avraham b. Shemuel. The validation (qiyyum) is written on a piece of paper pasted on top of the original piece, and it is not signed. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come)

Letter of Abu Ali Yehezqel b. Netanel, Alexandria, to his brother Ḥalfon, 1140, written on a fragment of a Fatimid decree (see separate record). Egypt, probably Qalyūb; Adar II; February 21 - March 20, 1140

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq, in Aden, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. Dating: October 20, 1137 CE (Heshvan 3, 1449 Seleucid). Long letter in which Khalaf writes about an unfortunate turn in his business affairs. Khalaf had sent goods with Abū l-Yumn al-Maḥallī and Abū Zikrī al-Ṣā'igh to Egypt for Abū ʿImrān Ibn Nufayʿ and at that time had asked Ḥalfon to help Abū ʿImrān with the sales and purchases (r17–23). But Abū ʿImrān died, and Ḥalfon traveled to the West, and the two messengers suppressed Khalaf's letters and acted as if the merchandise belonged to them (r23–27). Abū l-Yumn was going to return to Aden, but he fell ill in Qūṣ and had to return to Fustat, and Khalaf does not know his current condition. Abū Zikrī al-Ṣā'igh is planning to travel on to the West. He had with him a container (mikḥala) of musk that was destined for Ḥalfon, but the head of the Jews, Maẓliāh Gaon, took the container from him before he traveled (r27–38). Khalaf has already asked Abū Zikrī Kohen, the representative of the merchants, to go to the courts with the purpose of recouping the value of the goods Khalaf has lost and sending the money back to Aden. In this letter, Khalaf asks Ḥalfon to assist Abū Zikri Kohen in this (r38–53). The letter continues with other business matters, including an update on the shipment of nard (sunbul) for Ḥalfon and his partner Mubārak al-Māliqī (i.e., from Malaga) that was detained in al-Qaṣṣ, evidently a location in NW India (r53–v3). Khalaf concludes with regards for Maṣliaḥ Gaon; for Ḥalfon's brother ʿEli Nezer ha-Maskilim; and for "the congregations." Khalaf is preoccupied that he has received no letters from Ḥalfon (v4–10). Information from Goitein and Friedman. ASE.