Geniza Lab

Letter from Yeḥezqel b. Netanel ha-Levi, probably in Qalyūb, to his brother Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, in Alexandria. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Sunday, 2 Shevaṭ (1451 Seleucid) = 24 December 1139 CE. Written nine days after Yeḥezqel's preceding letter (IV, 59). He reports that he arrived safely, probably to Qalyub, and that he took care of the things mentioned in certificate IV, 59 and also in the subsequent documents, such as his sale of khazz silk and a payment to Abū Yiṣḥaq. At the end of the letter he greets his son Abū l-Fakhr, who was staying with Ḥalfon in Alexandria. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq to Egypt. Aden, ca. 1130-39.

Letter from Yahya b. Eli Kohen Fasi, from Fustat, to Abu al-Ifrah Arus (Avraham) b. Yosef, Alexandria. Around 1080. Yahya, probably Yosef’s younger brother, deals with trading lacquer, and asks Arus to handle three shipments of lacquer that he bought in Alexandria. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #406) VMR

Letter of recommendation for charity for the judge Avraham b. Yosef. The addressee is on a boat and about to set out for a voyage. The poor scholar likely carried this note with him to the boat. The addressee and his companions on the boat are all asked to contribute, and it is suggested that this good deed will increase the likelihood of a safe trip. (Information from Goitein's notes.)

Letter from Yosef Ibn al-Lukhṭūsh, in Granada, to Ḥalfon b. Netanʾel ha-Levi, in Fustat. Dated: middle of May, 1130 CE. The sender, an Ifrīqiyyan merchant, writes with flowery rhetoric to send condolences on the death of a certain unidentified rosh yeshiva and of Ḥalfon's brother. The handwriting and layout are distinctively Maghribī or Ifrīqiyyan. The letter contains the only nearly explicit evidence thus known that Ḥalfon traveled to al-Andalus before 1130, but Friedman cautions that the reading of the date isn't entirely certain, and it may have been written in 1140. Ibn al-Lukhṭūsh asks Ḥalfon to write to him about his experiences in detail from the time he left al-Andalus until his arrival in Egypt. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

India Book I, 10–11: Court proceedings from Fustat dealing with the dispute between Yosef ha-Lebdi the India trader, and Yequtiʾel b. Moshe, 'the representative of merchants' in Fustat. Dated: Monday, 12 Tammuz 1409 Seleucid, which is 14 June 1098 CE. These are the proceedings of the seventh session. Just before Lebdi and Yequtiʾel were about to make a solemn oath by the Torah, important merchants intervened in an attempt to prevent such a serious undertaking. The two sides agree to postpone the oath ritual until the arrival of the messenger of 'Yemen and India.' This agent was to deliver the testimony of Ḥasan b. Bundar, the representative of the merchants in Aden. A few further claims between the two were also dealt with.

India Book I, 18b: The settlement of the lawsuit between David ibn Sighmar, the representative of Moshe b. Labrat, and Yosef Lebdi. A draft of the settlement is preserved in the recto (I, 18a). This final version was signed by five prominent members of the community: Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel, Avraham b. Natan, Nethanel b. Yefet, Hillel b. Eli and Avraham b. Shemaya.

India Book I, 18a: Settlement (canceled draft) in the lawsuit between David ibn Sighmar, the representative of Moshe b. Labrat, against Yosef Lebdi. The final version of the settlement is preserved on the verso (I, 18b). The cancellation is marked by three vertical strokes.

India Book I, 1–2: Court proceedings dealing with the dispute between Yosef ha-Lebdi the India trader and Yequtiʾel b. Moshe, 'the representative of merchants' in Fustat. Dated: Monday, 2 Kislev 1409 Seleucid, which is 9 November 1097 CE. The document lists their commercial dealings and contains much information on trade of textiles, silverware and corals. The document is written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. Note that the lower part of CUL Add.3421 is Doc. I, 4 in the India Book (see separate record).

India Book I, 3: Court proceedings dealing with the dispute between Yosef ha-Lebdi the India trader, and Yequtiʾel b. Moshe, 'the representative of merchants' in Fustat. The document deals with Lebdi's debt of 40 dinars to Yequtiʾel for a sale of indigo. The document is written in the hand of Nethanel b. Yefet (though the title was written probably by Hillel b. Eli) and is dated February 22, 1098.

India Book I, 8: Court proceedings from Fustat dealing with the dispute between Yosef ha-Lebdi the India trader, and Yequtiʾel b. Moshe, 'the representative of merchants' in Fustat. This is the verso of the second leaf of the bifolium that CUL Add.3420 once comprised. Goitein cited this side as CUL Add.3420d. At the bottom of the document there is a separate record (not found here) dealing with a complaint of Karima, known as Wuhsha. The recto contains the text of I, 15 and CUL Add.3420.1 contains the text of I, 3. At this court session it was agreed that Yosef Lebdi should settle his accounts with Yequtiʾel. He would then be entitled to take out of Yequtiel warehouse all the goods to which the latter could not make claim. Both agreed not to appeal to a Muslim court. The document is written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli and is dated April 19, 1098.

India Book I, 15: Three testimonies regarding collateral given by and returned to Yosef Lebdi, the India trader. Lebdi owed Ḥasan b. Bundar, 'the representative of the merchants' in Aden, 40 dinars for an indigo deal. Until Lebdi could pay the debt in full he had to deposit collateral, probably because he was a foreigner, who was expected to leave the town. The first and last of these three entries are written and signed by Nethanel b. Yefet. This is the recto of the second leaf of CUL Add.3420. The first leaf contains document I, 3 and the verso of this page is document I, 8. Goitein referred to this document as CUL Add.3420c.

Letter from a certain ʿEli, unknown location, to the cantor Isḥāq, in Damietta. Addressed specifically to the shop of Abū l-Surūr al-Ṣayrafī. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Dating: ca. 1100 CE, based on Goitein's assessment of the handwriting and the people mentioned. The letter is interspersed with learned quotations of poetry, Bible, and Talmud. The sender apologizes for neglecting the addressee's letters. He reminds the addressee. to send him items he had left with him, including the little thawb (thuwayb), the scarf or turban (radda), and the kerchief (mandīl). He says that the judge Abū Isḥāq al-Rayyis has written several times to Abū l-Surūr and that Nissim b. Naḥum also came (from Damietta?). He particularly wants the collected poems of Yiṣḥaq Ibn Khalfūn (an Andalusi Hebrew poet of the late 10th–early 11th century), either his copy that is with the addressee, or a new copy that the addressee has made. It seems that someone else borrowed another copy, 'was ashamed to give it back,' and took it with him to Yemen. He also wants "my letter/epistle and the poems(?) of the Parnas who/which went to Tinnīs," or copies, since his brother Avraham wants to study it (the letter is torn in the key phrase in this sentence, and this translation is not certain). In a postscript on verso, he wants the addressee to get half a dinar from al-Mawṣilī and purchase bees' honey with it. (Information from Goitein’s index card and from Goitein, "Ibn Khalfun's Collection of Poems in 11th Century Egypt and Yemen," Tarbiz 29 no. 4 (1960), 357–58.)

Legal document. Partnership. Dated: 1215-1216 CE. This fragment emerged from the court of Avraham Maimonides. The partners ʿImrān Moshe al-Iskandarī b. Bū Manṣūr ha-Zaqen and Abū al-Ma‘ālī b. Ḥalfon ha-Levi ha-Zaqen contract a partnership. The division of profits and losses is not retained in the preserved portion of the document, but allusions to it in line 15 indicate it was outlined clearly. Line 12 suggests it was an "‘isqa under the rules of a commenda", in which case the active partner would have received 1/3 of the profits and not have been responsible for losses. The active partner, apparently Moshe, was to journey as far as Aden; that the partners were to be separated by distance suggested by the fact that Moshe takes upon himself "the avoidance of betrayal". (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", pp. 275-276)

Letter from Yosef b. Avraham b. Bundār to Abū Zikrī Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. The first few lines of the letter, the margins, and the address (in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script) are preserved. The letter reports that Maḍmūn was engaged in the building or outfitting of jāshujiyāt (military transport ships). Specifically, he outfitted four of them for an attack on Zabīd. Yosef also reports on a military venture of Bilāl and the sultan by land 'in the area of the mountain' in which they took over many villages and excellent fortresses of their enemies, praise be to God. Al-Fawfalī (ʿAlī b. Manṣūr?) is mentioned. See also T-S 8J20.19 (same writer, same addressee). Information from Goitein's attached edition; Margariti, Aden, p. 159 and 285, n. 89; and India Book II (Maḍmūn), p. 42, n. 101.

Letter from Barakāt b. Khulayf to ʿArūs b. Yosef. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning a shipment of tartar and a report about the arrival of ships from the West (Spain and al-Mahdiyya). "Tartar (Ar. ṭartār, derived from the same medieval Greek word as the English) was another mordant, also coming to the capital of Egypt via Alexandria. A quantity of 200 jarwī (somewhat heavier than regular pounds), sent to the purplemaker ʿArūs b. Yosef in Fustat, cost 10 13/48 dinars, that is, approximately the same as gallnuts." Med Soc I, p. 405, n. 166 (on mordants, i.e., "liquids with which fabrics were saturated to hold the dyestuff"). Information from Goitein

Letter from Abū Zikrī Kohen in Fustat, to Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā b. Sulaymān b. al-Shāmī, in ʿAydhāb. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: December 1140 or January 1141 CE. Deals with business matters, mentioniong commodities such as camphor, brazilwood, and frankincense. Information from Goitein's attached edition.

Letter from the scribe of the yeshiva to Yosef b. Avraham b. Bundar. Cairo, ca. 1128-39.

India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; English to come)

Letter from a man who might be Perahya b. Yosef Ibn Yiju, probably in Fustat, to his wife, in al-Maḥalla. She is the daughter of the judge of al-Maḥalla. The sender reports that he was given the honor of delivering a sermon before the two congregations of Fustat. He implores his wife, with both sweet words and threats, to join him in Fustat. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 218, 567, 568; III, 219, 220)