Geniza Lab

Memorandum from Khalaf b. Isḥāq al-Yamanī. In Arabic script, with additional notes in Judaeo-Arabic. Ordering pharmaceuticals from Egypt. There is an entire short book devoted to this document (Albert Dietrich, Zum Drogenhandel im islamischen Ägypten, 1954). This document is summarized in Goitein and Friedman, India Book 2, ב50, but Goitein and Friedman did not edit it. NB: The images of this document may be accessed on FGP under the shelfmark p. Heid. Hebr. 12. However, it is more often cited as p. Heid. Arab. 912.

Letter to Abu Imran in which the writer, a perfumer and judge in Minyat Zifta, describes repairs to the local synagogue along with news of other matters. The writer also notes payment of capitation tax at the rate of 2 dinars. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:46, 276, 532, 546, 586; Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 370-1) EMS

Business letter in Arabic script from Nahray b. Nissim (per Aodeh), perhaps from Fustat, to ʿArūs b. Yosef, probably in Alexandria, since he is asked about prices in Alexandria in line 21. It seems wishful thinking to read the signature as "Nahray." In any case, the writer conveys his sorrow ever since ʿArūs departed, a sorrow particularly keen whenever he visits ʿArūs's home. He writes that Abū Khiḍr Shardāna (a name of Persian origin that also appears in T-S 13J20.18) will soon be in ʿArūs's location. He sends a message for Zayn al-Tujjār regarding the sale of "the quarter [dinar?]" (al-rubʿ), and he asks ʿArūs to sell for him the garments (fūṭ) and to fetch the writer's gold from the home of the Rosh Kalla. He sends a message for [Mūsā] b. Abī l-Ḥayy to sell on his behalf licorice (ʿaraq sūs) and coriander (? kuzbara but prefixed with a dāl). He asks for the price of Alexandria hellebore (kharbaq) and other prices. He reports that he has a dinar and a third and a quarter with Barakāt b. Saʿāda, and ʿArūs is to convey it to the writer's nephew. Verso is much more faded. People mentioned include a certain Abū Naṣr al-Baghdādī; the writer's brother-in-law Abū Isḥaq, who seems to have done something that requires forgiveness (al-bārī yarḥamahu): Khalaf b. ʿAzrūn; Abū ʿImrān (=Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy?) who will be traveling with the writer; he sends regards to all the Tripolitans (in Libya); and he asks ʿArūs to forward a note to acertain Ibrāhīm. Information largely from Aodeh's edition. ASE.

Business letter in Arabic script from Hilāl b. Ibrāhīm to his father, Abū Isḥaq Ibrāhīm b. Hillel; mentions the mother's illness. Verso: accounts in the hand of ʿArūs b. Yosef, and address of the letter on recto.

Business letter in Hebrew and Arabic script to Abū l-Ḥasan Binyamin requesting the dispatch of merchandise to Qalyub, including medical supplies, via a ghulām, and mentioning the broker Banin.

Recto: Deed of sale written by Natan b. Avraham Av. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Tuesday, 5 Kislev 1420 Seleucid, which is 10 November 1108 CE. Sitt al-Aqrān bt. Yosef ha-Kohen, the wife of Yehuda b. ʿAllān, sells her Nubian female slave Naʿīm to Sitt al-Munā bt. Natan/Hibatallāh, the widow of Nahray b. Nissim, for 20 dinars. There is a clause stating that Yehuda b. ʿAllān permitted (? amḍā li-zawjatih) this sale. Witnessed by Menaḥem b. Shemuel, Yaʾir b. Seʿadya ha-Kohen, and Ṣemaḥ b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi. Verso: Subsequent deed of sale in Arabic script. Sitt al-Munā sold Naʿīm to the Christian physician ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Maqāra(?) b. Hārūn for 20 dinars. Dated: First third of Dhū l-Qiʿda 508 AH, which is March/April 1115 CE. Witnessed by Hibatallāh b. Ḥasan (=Netanʾel b. Yefet?). (Information from Goitein's index card, Aodeh, and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, 918.)

Business letter in Arabic script from an unknown trader, possibly to Nahray b. Nissim (Aodeh), on the back of a letter in Hebrew script (see separate entry).

Letter from an unknown writer, in Damascus, to Abū l-Ḥasan, in Aleppo. In Arabic script. The writer reports that his brother Ismāʿīl arrived in Acre, and they traveled together to Damascus, where they spent the holidays in the house of Hilāl. If they hear good news from Aleppo, they will travel to Aleppo, but until now the news from Aleppo has been bad (lines 7 and 13), and they are thriving in Damascus. The distance between Damascus and Aleppo is 20 days' travel. Mentions Ibn Mufaḍḍal. The next three lines have to do with the honey that the writer had deposited with Abū l-Ḥasan. It is not clear what he wants. He indicates that he wants to collect either the honey or its price (fa-innī muṭālibuka bihi). He also writes that he intended for the addressee to hide it (an tastatira bihi), and if the addressee was unable to do so (wa-inna min ḥaythu an lā waqaʿa satruhu), the writer will not grant him a credit for it (mā aḥtasibu laka minhu). He urges the addressee to look after the boy until the writer and Hilāl can come and get him or until they can send somebody to get him. They have been delayed on account of "the fear of the water"—of the rainy season? Hilāl sends regards to his father and paternal aunt and her sons. A postscript was then added stating that the Rūmī (Byzantine) died. (Information from Ṣabīḥ ʿAodeh, "Eleventh Century Arabic Letters of Jewish Merchants from the Cairo Geniza" (PhD diss., Tel Aviv University, 1992.) ASE.

Business letter from Ṭayyib b. Majjānī to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAwda b. Ismāʿīl b. ʿAwda. In Arabic script. Dating: Second half of the 11th century. Sabih Aodeh calls it a draft but does not explain his reasoning. The letter is quite damaged. There is a prolonged opening conveying longing for the addressee, and perhaps condolences ("In all of His judgments there is justice"). The writer reports that the price of olive oil is 20 ratls for 1 dinar. Bearers: Al-Muḥsin b. Ibrahīm al-Miṣrī al-Anṣārī(??); al-Ḥusayn b. Najā [al-Anṣārī]. The latter (along with Tāhir b. Najā, likely his brother) is known from several other Geniza letters, e.g., ENA 1822a.6 (Gil, Palestine, III, #493). See Aodeh's footnote for further references. The document was reused for Hebrew biblical/liturgical text. Same cluster: CUL Or.1080 5.5, T-S NS 327.11, and T-S Ar.38.91.

Business letter in Arabic script from Nissim b. Efrayim to his son Efrayim in Fustat, mentioning his pain at not having received letters from his son, difficulty in purchasing Khalaq textiles; and mentioning Ḥalabī (Aleppo) textiles.

Business letter in Arabic script, long, possibly from Daniʾel b. ʿAzarya to Ḥussām al-Dawla.

Business letter in Arabic script. Somewhat crude hand. The sender urges the addressee to purchase 1/2 dinar's worth of Aleppan textiles and 1/4 dinar's worth of purple (arjuwān) textiles. The addressee might be Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yosef (Aodeh makes this identification and also suggests that the sender is Avraham b. Hillel, cf. T-S Ar.41.108); the Judaeo-Arabic accounts on verso should be checked against ʿArūs's handwriting.

Business letter in Arabic script from Efrayim b. Shemarya to Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen. This hand looks very different from the other hands Rustow has identified as belonging to Efrayim (see The Lost Archive, 498n49, which identifies Halper 354, T-S NS 320.45, Bodl. MS heb. d 66/83, CUL Or. 1080 J7, T-S10J6.6, T-S13J36.14, and T-SAS152.236 + T-SAS 152.269 as all being in Efrayim b. Shemarya's Arabic hand).

Business letter in Arabic script, before 1141, from ʿUmar b. ʿAwaḍ in Qalyūb to the Dār al-Wakāla, to be sent by the Qāḍī Ṣadr al-Dīn the notary (?) discussing a shipment of green dates from Qalyūb and their transport on the Nile. English translation in Goitein, LMJT, 270–71.

Business letter in Arabic script, lengthy, ca. 1055, with a list of pharmaceutical items, spices and herbs from Fustat.

Business letter in Arabic script from Ibrāhīm b. Hillel to Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yosef (who ʿAodeh thinks was in India at the time), mentioning shipments of copper, textiles, brazilwood, pepper and cardamom.

Letter from Abū l-Ḥusayn b. al-Rayyis b. Nāḥūm, in the Rīf, to his brother Abū Thābit, in Fustat. In Arabic script. Concerning the capitation tax of the bearer of the letter, who is (or was) the muqaddam of Damīra (his name may be given in line 6: النارين؟ الغاريب؟). The sender insists that this muqaddam is deserving and that they must help him. Interestingly he calls him a בעל תורה but writes it in Arabic characters: باعل تورا. In recent years, this person had paid his capitation tax in al-Maḥalla. It seems that this year he is registered as a newcomer in Fustat (and therefore exempt), but the authorities in al-Maḥalla refuse to recognize his documents. The recipient is to go to Abū l-Majd Thiqa, who is to get a certificate from the authorities in Fustat proving that he is exempt. If Abū l-Majd is unable to help, the recipient is to go to Abū l-Faraj b. al-Kohen. If it weren't for all the sender's work in the Rif, he would have come along himself to help this person. In the margin, he reminds the recipient of the books that he is supposed to send. Regards from the sender's nephew Abu Sahl. Regards to: the addressee's son Abū Naṣr; Abū l-Maʿālī and his children; Abū Isḥāq; Abū Saʿīd and his son. Goitein read the name of the sender as Abū l-Khayr and connects him to the Abū l-Khayr b. Naḥum in line 9 of T-S NS J403, a list of contributors to be solicited, ca. 1080. (See Med Soc II, App. C, #18.) MR. ASE.

Business letter in Arabic script from Abū l-Surūr b. Abū l-Munā to Abū l-Majd al-Dumyāṭī in Asyūṭ regarding commercial litigation in a qāḍī court decided in favor of Abū l-Bakr al-Qasṭāllānī against a silk weaver (bazzāz) and the payment of various debts using textiles as currency.

Business letter in Arabic script from Yushāʿ (Yehoshuaʿ) b. Natan to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat discussing commercial information that had come to Nahray via an associate (ṣāḥib) of the qāḍī; ʿAodeh thinks this is the Tyrean qāḍī Ibn Abī ʿAqīl.

Business letter in Arabic script to a certain Abū l-Munā.