Geniza Lab

Business letter from Fustat to Alexandria in which Musa b. Yahya al-Majjani writes his business friend Abu al-Faraj Yehoshuaʿ b. Ismail that he had dissolved his partnership with his former 'master.' Dated 21 March, 1029. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 371)

Power of attorney to Nahray b. Nissim, ca. 1045-1096.

Letter from Awad b. Hananel from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1060. The writer is in urgent need of cash "I do not even have a single dīnār left, whatever I had, I purchased with it wheat", "I am in need of your generosity, I do not have a single dirham". Describes the increasing prices of wheat and beans. Mentions a shipment of nuts and oil. It seems that the writer lives in a house that belongs to Nahray. (Information from Gil). VMR, YU.

Letter from a scholar from Ramla (who had lived for twenty years in Baghdad) to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1095. Seems like a part of a regular correspondence between the two. Nahray was blind at that time and needed someone to read him the letter. Mentions the book by the Gaon Aharon b. Yosef (Khalaf b. Sarjado) and one of Shemuel b. Hofni’s grandsons. The writer asks Nahray to find a few products in Fustat, including indigo, pepper, arsenic, ammonia water and more. Between his request for funds due to him and his discussion of an ongoing divorce, he interposes the line, “for I am a lump of flesh waiting to die,” continuing later that “I am in need of mercy, my strength is fading” — a common rhetorical strategy for gaining the sympathy of one's correspondent. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #85) VMR, revised following the analysis of old age (and complaints about old age) in the seminar paper of Jake Brzowsky ('21), Fall 2018. Same writer: T-S 24.46, T-S 12.780, ENA 2594.12.

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria, to Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm (a.k.a. ʿIwāḍ) b. Ḥananel, Fustat. Abū l-Khayr became ill following ʿIwāḍ's departure, and his mother suffered greatly on his account. He then improved. Nahray himself developed an abscess on his left hip. He too recovered, but the remnants of the illness are still with him. He was not able to go about his work until the present moment. The rest of the letter deals with business matters. ASE.

Business letter from Yisrael b. Yūsuf, in Qayrawan, to Abū Sahl Menashshe b. David, in Fustat. The writer describes how the Rav (the highest authority in the Ifrīqiyan Jewish community) had visited him often during his illness, especially on Sabbaths when it was particularly welcome. Yisrael further tells his associate, “I regretted that you did not charge me with buying things for your boys and the inhabitants of your house [wife], for I am most happy to carry out such orders for you.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:110, 280, 537, 584) EMS

Letter from ʿAyyāsh b. Ṣedaqa, from Fustat, to Nahray b. Nissim, Busir. Around 1054. Nahray is in Busir and buys linen with the help of Qasim. ʿAyyāsh sends him instructions and advice. Also mentions details about ship movements, including ships from Mahdiyya and Sicily. Also mentions the government's new decrees and an incident in which the state confiscated ships and goods. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #479) VMR

Letter from Moshe b. Ya'qub, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat

Letter sent by Yehuda b. Israel to Abu al-Fadl Yosef b. Ma'la, asking him to buy goods. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Yisrael b. Natan from Jerusalem to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. September 8, 1060 (per Gil). Several financial issues between Yisrael and Nahray. Also mentions copying books and the writer asks for a shipment of cinnamon. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 3, pp. 139-143, #470). VMR

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, to Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī, probably in Qayrawān. Dating: around 1045. The letter mentions correspondence with the Maghrib, the anxiety in Fustat about the Nile flood, and items such as iron, wool, textiles, resin and spices. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #241)

Letter addressed to Nahray b. Nissim from Marduk b. Musa about a shipment of threads sent from Fustat to Alexandria. Marduk notes that a baqyar (large-sized turban) 25 cubits long was made for Nahray, along with a shuqqa cloth 20 cubits long. He further reports that ‘Atiyya b. Shamma‘ brought to him a blue kerchief containing cotton, [linen] yarn, and unraveled flax, which would be combined with yarn previously sent - and currently in the hands of the artisan - to produce another cloth for Nahray. Alexandria, ca. 1070. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:90, 105, 125, 379, 412, 418, 429; 4:159, 179, 398, 409; and S. D. Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, 134) EMS

Calligraphic letter from Ya'qub to someone named Ismail in Alexandria, asking urgently for some cloth. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter sent from Alexandria to Fustat, by Avraham b. Farah to Nahray b. Nissim, reporting on the arrival of ships in Alexandria and dealing with commercial affairs. Dated July 1053 by Gil and 1050-1055 by Ben Sasson. (Information from Gil and Ben Sasson)

Letter from Yisrael b. Natan, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat ,

Letter from Yisrael b. Natan, Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11 January 1052 CE. Apart from business matters, this letter contains information about the struggle over the position of Rosh ha-Yeshiva upon the death of Shelomo b. Yehuda. It appears that the Maghribīs are very involved in this struggle. Yisrael mentions in passing that the remnants of his illness are still with him (r7). Information from Gil. ASE

Letter from Marduk b. Musa in Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. (c. July 1048 CE). Marduk expresses outrage as he reports on the opening of a bundle of commodities passing through Alexandria on its way to Fustat; the goods included a qintar and forty ‘jarawi ratls’ of wax and a bundle of silk (khazz). The letter also mentions an order for earthenware goblets (‘saghar’) with gold luster in Fustat. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:337, 487; 4:149, 394; Jessica Goldberg, Trade and Institutions in the Medieval Mediterranean, 173) EMS

Business letter from Avraham b. Farah in Alexandria to Yosef b. Moshe b. Barhun al-Tahirti in Fustat. The letter mentions a shipment of cosmetic oils, lead, silk and pearls. Avraham takes care of the storage house rented by Yosef in Alexandria. He asks Yosef to buy him ink and pens in Fustat. (Information from Gil)

Letter from Moshe b. Yaʿaqov, Jerusalem, to his wife's brother Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dating: 28 July 1053 CE. Additional echoes of what we found in the previous letter (T-S 13J6.22), after having received a letter from Nahray in the interim. Moshe heard that Nahray had sent money, clothing, and myrobalan with Abū l-Ṭayyib al-Baradānī, but these have not yet arrived. Moshe recently recovered from an illness (iltiyāth) and is still weak. Avraham ha-Ḥaver has also been sick. Information in part from Gil. ASE

Business letter from Seʿadya b. Avraham b. Sasson of Alexandria to his relative Ṣedaqa b. Ṣemaḥ of Fustat, a maker of Sūsiyāt textiles. Seʿadya opens by inquiring about Ṣedaqa's ill health. "I was tranquil when I received frequent letters from you, and when they ceased, I became distressed due to imagining (? tajwīzī) an illness or something else. May God protect us from what we fear. Then my cousin (ibn ʿammatī) arrived and informed me that you had become ill, and that you had begun to recover, and I and those with me rejoiced and thanked God for that." Saadya also Ṣedaqa if he wants to secure passage on the Byzantine ship that had just arrived. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 31; V, p. 103; and Goitein's index cards.) ASE.