Geniza Lab

Letter in the handwriting of Abū Sahl Levi (d. 1211), in Fustat, to his son Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212), in Qalyūb. In Judaeo-Arabic. Abū Sahl has sent with 'the Rayyis' 3 pounds of Sinnārī cheese and 5 (pounds?) of white (cheese?) from Abū l-Majd al-Parnas. He asks for the price of something - a mantle (burda)? - because the garment mender (al-raffāʾ) has been demanding the money. Moshe's brother Abū Isḥāq is well. Abū Sahl plans to send the qandīl and marāwiḥ with Ṣāfī or with one of Moshe's brothers. On verso there is the completion of the letter and jottings of Greek/Coptic numerals. ASE

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and western Arabic numerals. Dated: 1004 AH, which is 1595/96 CE. In the verso note mentioning the year of recording, the scribe has also noted that the "defter'" offers accounts regarding "קומאש" (fabric). On the recto, the list heading on the right of the bifolium is in the name of Shemuʾel Tortos and the entries below it mention goods such as "almonds/לוז", "olive oil/זית", "cheese/גבן", and other Judaeo-Arabic terms. Near the inner crease on the left side of the recto, the Turkish "kırmızı/קרמזי/red" may be in use. MCD.

Recto: Legal testimony. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Kislev 4917 AM, which is November/December 1156 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. A legal authority in Alexandria [...] b. Meshullam writes to the judges of Fustat and Cairo, the representatives of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya, in order to confirm the kashrut of the 8 moulds of Cretan "mixed" (with herbs) cheese (weighing 80 jarawī raṭls) which are being transported by the bearer of this document Abū l-Munā Tiqva b. Abū ʿAlī Yefet. The moulds are stamped with the names of Zeraḥ and Amaṣya, the merchants who imported the cheese from Crete (איקריטיש). The buyer was an Alexandrian Jew, and Abū l-Munā bought the 8 moulds from that buyer. When Zeraḥ and Amaṣya originally imported the cheese, they brought with them letters/documents bearing the signatures of the elders of Crete, which were recognized as valid in Alexandria. Those documents from Crete described the entire cheese-making process, from the milking stage onward, and proved that there was no blemish disqualifying the cheese. When the authorities in Alexandria saw this, they allowed the cheese to be sold. (Information in part from Frenkel and Goitein, Med. Soc. 1, 124n66, 429.) Join: Alan Elbaum. ASE

Karaite partnership agreement in cheese producing.