Geniza Lab

Bottom part of a legal deed from Alexandria dated 487[.] to the creation = 1110-1119. Signed by Avraham b. Ya'aqov (who might well be Avraham b. Ya'aqov al-Der'i, see Frenkel, The Compassionate and Benevolent, pp. 86-91) , [...] Halevi b. Avraham. AA

Small fragment from a late family letter, sending regards to some people and mentioning Alexandria.

Small and faded fragment of a legal deed regarding a lawsuit by the 'great elder, the haver' of a shipment of musk held by Tahir b. Ibrahim from the wakil in Alexandria Khalaf b. Rabi'

Letter from Meir b. Hillel b. Ṣadoq, in Alexandria, to Abū l-Fakhr b. Ibrāhīm, presumably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Meir signs only his first name on verso. He received Abū l-Fakhr's letter reporting that Abū Manṣūr's wife was still owed 7.5 dinars and that Abū l-Fakhr had sent the money with [...]. The continuation of the letter is damaged (and partially lost), so it is not clear what happened next. AA. ASE.

Letter written by the assistant of the Nagid Ishaq Sholal to Alexandria. (Info from FGP)

List of names and amounts owed or held by people. Alexandria is mentioned and various people such as Abu Yosef al-Sirfi and Yosef b. Yeshu'a. AA

Legal deed involving R. Yiṣḥaq Luria Ashkenazi and Rafa'el Kalonymos. Location: Egypt. Dated: Tevet 5319 AM, which is 1559 CE. The deed details the terms under which a certain Refaʾel Kalonymos will settle a loan with Yiṣḥaq Luria Ashkenazi by working in the latter's "bazares/באזאריש" in Alexandria (l.5). As Avraham David notes in his description, "bazares/באזאריש" is most likely a reference to market shops. The witness Yosef b. Meʾir Somekh ha-Kohen is also likely the scribe, given that he penned at least four other legal documents across the sixteenth century (T-S 13J5.6, Moss. VII.20.1, T-S AS 145.222,T-S 13J4.23.) The scribal production of Yosef b. Meʾir Somekh ha-Kohen is also widely attested in responsa: Rabbi Meʿīr Gāviṣōn, responsum 9; Rabbi Beṣalel Ashkenazi, reponsum 33; Rabbi Yaʿacov Castro, responsum 18; Rabbi Ḥayīm Kapūsī, responsum 33, cited in Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky, "The Community and its Institutions / הקהילה ומוסדותיה", in The Jews of Ottoman Egypt 1517-1914, ed., Jacob Landau (Jerusalem: Misgav Yerushalayim, 1988), 177. (Information in part from Avraham David's edition on FGP.) MCD.

Long and damaged private letter, quoting some Biblical verses. Alexandria is mentioned.

A late letter from a mother to her son Yosef b. Ghanam (?). Among other news she informs him that his aunt's daughter (?) was abandoned by her husband who might went to Alexandria. Part of the address, in Hebrew, is preserved on verso: the location of the addressee is not known, and he might be in Rashid or other place in Egypt. Israel is also mentioned but it is unclear if the letter was sent from there. AA

Late accounts in Judaeo-Arabic on a bifolium that is suggestive of the existence of a broader ledger (which is also attested to by this fragment's joins). The owner of the ledger mentions being in Alexandria in the year 1583 CE (Iyyar 5343) in the middle portion of the verso and in the same entry mentions "Ibrāhīm Basha" which may constitute a reference to a state official. At the top of the verso, the scribe also mentions a transaction with one Yiṣḥaq b. Rozel in which silver medin coinage is in use "מיידי". One half of the recto is severely discolored and the other includes a wide array of daily financial entries where "jadid" (or "cedid" in Ott. Turkish) coinage may be in use (l. 3r). MCD.

Court record regarding business issues between two partners, written by Hillel b. Eli and signed by Tuvia b. Khalaf, Mevorakh b. Saadya (the Head of the Jews 1094-1112) and another very faded signature. Alexandria and Tripoli are mentioned. The partners are Sahl b. Fadl b. Farah and Abu al-Surur Farah b. 'Atiyya. AA

Letter in which Arus b. Yosef mentions accounts of the export of five qintars of wool worth thirty dinars from Alexandria to Almeria in Spain. The trader had to pay six dinars for freight, half in Alexandria and half on arrival in Spain. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp.105, 344, 419)

Letter from Araḥ b. Natan, also known as Musāfir b. Wahb, in Alexandria, to his brother, Avraham b. Natan the seventh, in Cairo. Dating: 1094–1111 CE. Avraham was an associate of the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya. In the letter, Araḥ reports of serious riots in Alexandria and a drunken brawl that ended only with the intervention of the chief of police (wālī), although he also accuses the other faction of having alerted the wālī, in addition to the drunken brawl having drawn his attention. The writer praises the local muqaddam who managed to free those involved with the brawl. He also complains of inappropriate fetishization of official decrees, and is so annoyed at the behavior of his fellow Jews that he reports it to the governor, Fakhr al-Mulk. For his brother’s benefit, he adds that the appropriate way to fetishize a decree is, as everyone knows, to kiss it and put it on your eyes, which is what the governor does. But “the Jews,” he complains, “take it around from place to place” and "wave it around like a banner." There is a passing reference to his illness ('I will tell you about it when my spirit recovers from this illness,' v1). It is likely that he is attributing his illness to the events described in the letter (wa-qad lazimanī minhu mulzim), though Frenkel understands this sentence to mean simply that there is some matter that is incumbent on him. (Information from Miriam Frenkel, Alan Elbaum and Marina Rustow)

Recto: Letter/petition to Avraham b. Yaʿaqov ha-Ḥazzan. In Judaeo-Arabic. This is either intended for the eyes of Mevorakh or simply mentions previous petitions submitted to Mevorakh. It is a complaint about the excesses of Shela the Judge and his brothers and sons, who have seized power over the community in Alexandria by "violence and lack of government control(?)" and are behaving in ways unbecoming of judges. (See Mark Cohen, Jewish Self-government in Medieval Egypt, Princeton University Press, 1980, 243.) Join: Oded Zinger. EMS. ASE. Verso: Draft of a court record after the death of the well-known ʿEli ha-Kohen ha-Parnas (b. Ḥayyim/Yaḥyā), confirming that his nephew has received the 20 dinars willed to him. Join: Oded Zinger. ASE