Geniza Lab

Letter addressed to Shelomo Ḥalafta Yerushalmi and Meir Ashkenazi, concerning business, the commodity saffron (זעפראן)" is mentioned. R. Yiṣḥaq Luria (ha-Ari) was a part of this business as well. (Information from David Avraham, Alei Sefer 14, 1987, p. 135, and David Avraham, “The Role of Egyptian Jews in Sixteenth-century International Trade with Europe,” in From a Sacred Source: Genizah Studies in Honour of Professor Stefan C. Reif,” 106 ). VMR and EMS Verso: Jottings of names and accounts, mentioning Rašīd and Nissim Sason. C. 15th-17th century. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Nissim b. Salāma to Abū Saʿd Khalaf b. Salāma. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning commercial matters, including a grocer ordering for his store one hundred pounds of raisins (zabib), and one wayba each (about twenty-three pounds) of rice and sesame. It seems that some of the rice will be supplied by Abū ʿImrān. Nissim then asks Abū Saʿd not to use Arabic script since he didn't know how to read it and had to trouble friends to read him the letters received and then would sometimes forget what he had heard. (Information from Goitein, Med Soc 2:179, 557 and 4:439.) Join: Oded Zinger.

Letter from Ibrāhīm, unknown location, to Ḥayya ha-Kohen the teacher, in Palermo ("al-madīna"), Sicily. The addressee is asked to deliver two tailored woolen mayzar covers, which had been deposited with him, to the bearer of the letter. The writer includes legalistic language appointing the bearer as his agent: qabḍuhu qabḍī wa-taslīmuhu taslīm{ī} wa-anta paṭur min aḥrayutam. The writer is ill this winter (perhaps this is why he needs the woolen covers). The letter also mentions the process of “cutting up” for making and fitting the sleeves of a garment. Address on verso. (S.D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 4:182, 412.)

Letter from Yosef b. Musa Tahirti, in Busir, to his cousin Barhun b. Salih, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dealing with many commodities being shipped. Dating: ca. 1060 CE. (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. III, p. 232)

Letter from Abū l-Faraj al-Kohen known as Ibn Qasāsa to Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel b. Isḥāq. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Cf. T-S 13J26.20 for another appearance of the sender.) Concerning business matters; mentions commodities such as a kerchief (‘mandīl’), cushions (‘makhādd’), and cotton; mentions people such as al-Bayrūtī.On verso there is a postscript or draft of a letter in a different hand as well as one line in Arabic script. (Information in part from CUDL.) EMS

Letter from Alexandria sent around 1120 C.E. from a Maghribi merchant, Makhlūf b. Musa al-Nafusi (Ibn) al-Yatim, who proclaims that a friend carried for him a purse with 101 “fresh” (‘tari’) dinars weighing 100 and one/fourth. He asks the addressee to “sell” them, meaning to convert the Sicilian currency he was dispatching into local Egyptian money. Makhlūf devotes eleven lines of the short letter to an apology for not buying his friend a Sicilian turban that was ordered. Confirming the reason by two oaths with God’s great name, the writer acknowledges the omission was due to his own forgetfulness. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:237, 459; 5:248, 575 ) EMS

Letter from Musa b. Abi al-Hayy from Alexandria to Yosef b. Musa ha-Tahirati, Fustat. Around 1055. The writer is available to work because Avraham b. Farah prevented him from selling trading goods that he had. Mentions details about ships in the Nile which are about to depart. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 3, pp. 530-533, #459). VMR

Letter from a merchant in Alexandria to a business associate in Fustat, advising him to dispose of goods costing a large amount of money and, “This letter of mine is your proof in court.” The writer also notes he received a loan of 80 dinars from a compatriot and asks that all consignments to himself should be turned over to his creditor. Eleventh century. (S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 1:254, 291, 464, 272; 2:337, 601) EMS

Letter from Ezra b. Hillel to Nahray b. Nissim instructing him to exchange the 50 dinars sent to him by the writer, which are “out of use here in Alexandria, but are excellent and first class in Fustat. Please exchange them for Damascus [or: Syria] dinars whose legends are arranged in lines, good ones, as I know you are accustomed to procure.” The commission for Nahray, per an agreement his brother-in-law made with writer, will be “one dinar for a hundred [changed],” and the writer further instructs him to execute the order immediately. Alexandria, ca. 1060-1080 C.E. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:238, 378, 459) EMS

Letter to Nahray b. Nissim in which the writer mentions a letter received from Nahray from his brother, and that Nahray had visited Caesarea. He discusses various business matters and writes that Abu Sa‘d al-Halabi is supposed to carry a mula’a to Nissim, and that Abu al-Surur sends his greeting and is now in Tripoli (Libya). (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Letter concerning business affairs (cloth trade) in which the writer mentions the city of Damietta, and silk for Abu al-Mufaddal. EMS

Letter from Mevasser b. David from Busir, to Yaaqov b. Avraham b. Alan, Fustat. Around 1052. The writer makes merchandise in Busir to ship to Fustat through the Nile but the ships are not enough and the letter describes the struggle to get a ship. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 295-299, #693). VMR

Note from a bookseller stating that he had kept a volume but the interested future buyer had not paid money, and he could not let the proprietor wait any longer. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS Verso: List (accounts?) in Arabic script. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from ‘Amram b. Natan to Ismā‘īl b. Ibrahim al-Tūnī in Alexandria, ordering him to send two ḥuramdāns with paper, a kerchief, two glass containers, three “al-mutaqalāt al-rukhām” and a bottle with rosewater. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

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

Letter addressed to Abu al-Fakhr al-Saadya from Zechariah b. Hayyim in Palermo (‘al-madina’) concerning commercial matters; dated September 1172. (S. D. Goitein and Mordechai Friedman, India Book, 97, 99) EMS

Note describing that money for cheese had not arrived, and may be lost on both sides. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Letter from Marduk b. Musa from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. In the handwriting of Avraham b. Farah, August 10, 1046. Information about ships that arrive from Mahdiyya. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 3, pp. 764-766, #529). VMR

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, Egypt, to Abu al-Farah b. Isma'il b. Farah, Busir

Letter from Avraham b. Madlūb(?) al-Maqdisī to Abū Saʿīd b. Abū Naṣr, in the square of the perfumers, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with very rudimentary spellings. The letter also speaks about Avraham al-Maqdisī in the third person. Mentions various business transactions and people such as ʿArafāt al-Baḥrī, the addressee's neighbor, Yehuda b. Yeshuʿa, and Ḥasan. The sender wants a certain kind of burniyya (vessel) "of the Fayyūm make." (Information in part from Goitein's index card and transcription.)