Geniza Lab

Letter (lower fragment) by Nahray b. Nissim containing instructions about merchandise and payments. Dated ca. 1055. (Information from Gil)

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī al-Ḥayy, from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1057. Regarding sending goods in leather sacks. Musa returned from the Maghreb. He is planning to travel to Tripoli. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #454) VMR

Business letter from 1094, addressed by Avraham b. Natan Av (former judge in Ramla and later Cairo) to Nahray b. Nissim, when the latter was already the “eminent member” of the Jerusalem yeshiva. Avraham b. Natan expresses regret for the mistakes he committed during communal strife in Tyre, and additionally notes that there were only three Qaraites still left in that city. The writer complains about his fate with the remark, “I am in immediate danger and my future is in jeopardy. I have not acquired a portion in the World to Come, or a good reputation here, or material gains... Had God guided me, when I first arrived among them, my religion and my honor would have remained untainted.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:204, 327, 564, 596; Marina Rustow, Heresy and the Politics of Community, 330, note 20) EMS See also Goitein's index card.

Letter, fragmentary, sent by Avraham b. Natan Av to Nahray b. Nissim, in which the writer apologizes for his behavior. Dated ca. 1090. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 418, 624 and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Yiṣḥaq Nīsābūrī, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, presumably in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1045–1096. Yiṣḥaq arrived in Alexandria on Tuesday 6 Tevet and found that the markets were slow (kāsira). Only lac sold. He asks the recipient to act with regard to a ḥerem stam (Med Soc II, 602, n. 40). Mentions al-Mahdiyya. Yiṣḥaq's son Simḥa greets Nahray's son Abū Saʿd. Verso: Account in difficult Arabic script. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Natan b. Nahray from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. The writer reports that a Jew coming on a boat from Tyre has announced the arrival in Fustat of Na'im b. 'Imran, who probably lived in al-Mahdiyya. The writer also asks for news from the Maghreb, particulary concerning his father Nahray. Dated ca. 1050. (Information from Gil)

Account in the hand of Nahray b. Nissim, ca. 1061.

Letter from Marduk b. [Musa ?] to Nahray b. Nissim, ca. 1045-1096.

Letter from Hillel b. Ḥasan, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, ca. 1065. Hillel opens his letter lamenting the death of an important person who is unidentified. Despite this, the main point of Hillel’s letter was to complain against Nahray for having requested the services of R. ‘Awas and not his own.

Note from the clerk of Daniel b. Azarya to Nahray b. Nissim regarding a collection for an indigent correligionist, ca. 1045-1060. | Alt: Letter from Hillel b. Ḥasan, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, ca. 1065 (Gil).

Letter from Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1060 CE. A complaint about Avraham b. Ya’aqov who causes losses to the partners. Mentions bible books, trading silk and trading cloths. Also tells about a great preacher, R. Shemuel, who arrived in Alexandria and who is about to arrive in Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #308) VMR. Alternate description: Letter from the Ifrīqiyan merchant Yeshu‘a b. Isma‘il-Shemuel, who settled in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. He writes that a Spanish man whom Daniel b. Azarya (head of the Jerusalem yeshiva, 1051-1063) had given the title “member of the [Jerusalem] yeshiva” had arrived from Tripoli and was staying at the writer’s house. Shemuel further reports two disasters, and their causes, that have befallen him. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:32, 326, 327, 513, 595) EMS.

Letter from Yosef b. Shemarya ha-Dayyan al-Barqī (Alexandria) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat). Yosef was worried because he had not received a response from Nahray, but was appeased after hearing from intermediaries that Nahray continued to speak well of him. He has learned that Nahray plans to go to Jerusalem and asks him to send his best wishes to his friends there and specifically the gaon, Daniel b. ‘Azarya, and head of the court, Eliyyahu ha-Cohen b. Shelomo, and his son Ẓadoq. He discusses the bead trade and will return to Barqa soon accompanied by a caravan of Muslims.

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim in Alexandria to his uncle Abū l-Khayr Mūsā b. Barhūn al-Tāhartī in Fustat. Dating (Gil): 11 or 12 of April 1051. Nahray reports among other things that he had forgotten to bring his capitation tax receipt "for the year 441" on a business trip. "I asked you to look for it in a linen bag among my belongings in your storeroom, and to send it with Abū Zakariyā al-Ḥannān. If my letters have already reached you, may God protect you, then you have undoubtedly sent it. If my letters have not yet reached you, then I request your attention to this matter, may God preserve your glory, so that (the receipt) will, God willing, reach me quickly." (Information from Marina Rustow)

Fragment of a letter to Nahray b. Nissim mentioning Yusuf and Abu al-Ḥasan. The city of Tarablus (Tripoli) is referred to twice. EMS On verso another text, possibly part of a commercial letter.

Letter from Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī to Nahray b. Nissim, ca. 1045-1096. Contains details regarding flax shipments that were arranged in partnership with Nahray. The author has avoided working with Ibn Qays, seemingly a shipowner, because of his character. Multiple payments are recounted. He passes on the news that Faraj fainted on Thursday in the bathhouse (subita fī l-ḥammām).

Letter to Abu Sa'd Nissim b. Nahray from Ibrahim b. Abi al-Hayy Khalila. Ca.1100. Written after the death of Nahray, hence the estimated dating, concerning the withdrawal of funds from an unspecified business. “Avon” is mentioned; this is probably Avon b. Zedaka, who lived for many years in Jerusalem and, according to this author, has recently arrived in Alexandria.

Letter from Salāmah b. Ibrahīm (Būṣīr) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat). Ca. 1053. The writer is preparing flax to be loaded onto ships for Nahray b. Nissim and his relatives Isaac b. Barhūn al-Taherti and Moses b. Barhūn al-Taherti. The writer also mentions rice, olives, and honey. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #765.)

Letter from Ibrahīm b. Farrāḥ al-Iskandrānī (Alexandria) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat). Ca. 1055, apparently the beginning of the summer. Ibrahīm mentions ships arriving from the west, one which took 20 days from Sicily and one which took 45 days from Lamṭah (near al-Mahdiyya). He asks Nahray to get him oysters and pearls and send them urgently. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #551.)

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Yaʿaqov b. Lanjū (al-Mahdiyya) to Nahray b. Nissim (Alexandria). Ca. 1062. Discusses the trade in carnelian, coral, pearls, walnuts, and flax. Mentions Abū Sa‘īd (Joseph b. Mūsā al-Taherti), al-Kohen (Joseph b. ‘Eli ha-Kohen Fasi), and Ibrahīm b. al-Iskandrānī (Avraham b. Farrāḥ). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #737.)

Letter from Da'ud b. Ammar (Alexandria) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat), ca. 1065. Deals mainly with the silk trade and the events happening in Sicily. Information from Gil.