Geniza Lab

Aharon ha-Tinnisi b. Nahum the scribe writes to say he is in need. He lost his job and prices are high, so he left Tinnis (in the Egyptian Delta), leaving behind two children as 'orphans' with their grandfather. He asks for help from the unnamed addressee.

Letter of a merchant in Egypt to the Maghreb containing information on Yosef Lebdi's arrival in Aydhab, after a successful trip to India. The writer asks the recipient to buy for him good quality corals and reports on the current state of Egypt and the Nile. He informs the recipient about the arrival of merchants in Qus, and about the merchandise they brought. Remarkable is the piece of information regarding the entire amount of merchandise that has arrived so far in Aydhab: 9,000/13,000 bales of goods. Among these merchants was Yosef Lebdi with a shipment of 80 bales of lac packed in Nahrwara, 50 bales of pepper and other merchandise. Friedman dates the letter to approximately 1101.

Letter, the remains of four lines in wide spacing. Mentioning Daniel the great prince. See also ENA 2735.14

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Recto opens in the middle of an interesting story: "Six Venetian ships arrived, bearing great bounties (niʿam ʿaẓīma), and all of our 'companions' (aṣḥābnā) [who] arrived in them honored you. They made profit by supplying (tarābaḥū fī l-ziyāda) the Byzantines (al-Rūm) and brought about terrible results....: the Muʾminīs sold for 52 2/3 per 100, and the tutty(?) sold for 4 1/6 and a dāniq per ounce. The (value) which they supplied (zayyadū) to the Byzantines in this transaction and to the government was over 2,000 dinars, and all of it was to them. They completely ground the economy to a halt (? aksarū al-ḥāl jamīʿah), outside and inside, and all by the desire of 'our friend' (ṣāḥibnā), and how he does not turn a blind eye but rather demands that everything be as it should be. And not every person can tolerate the humiliation (dhilla) and treachery (jabīna). This is what happened. The saffron sold for 50 and 51...." Further down, mentions the mint (Dār al-Ḍarb) and gold. Verso mentions a young woman (al-ṣabiyya). Then, "When I received your excellence's dear letter, I stopped everything until receiving confirmation from you in this, and I went to him and rebuked him very much about this. His excuse was the matter of Ibn Yeshuʿa, until he should finish the work...." Then there is further explanation of this work which hasn't been done and how the craftsmen are idle. Goitien summarizes recto, "A group of merchants connived with the (Jewish) Rūm, so that only the latter and the government made great profits." There is also Goitein's partial handwritten transcription and notes in the attached documents. The word מומניה is difficult; Goitein suggests but doubts maʾmūniyya (=rice porridge or almond ḥalwa) and then wonders if it could be a variant of mūmiyāʾ (pissasphalt, "mummy"), but this too would be a strange way of writing it. A third possibility which Goitein does not mention—it may refer to the Muʾminī dinars minted by ʿAbd al-Muʾmin, the founder of the Almohad dynasty, and this exchange rate of 52.67:100 would be plausible based on information from Ibn Jubayr (e.g. https://shamela.ws/book/11203/26). If this is the correct reading, the letter probably dates to around the second half of the 12th century.

Letter from Al-Mubārak b. Yiṣḥaq Ibn Sabra to his "father" (paternal uncle?) Abū l-Ḥasan Surūr b. Ḥayyim Ibn Sabra. He reports that Ibn Siman Ṭov (בן סימנטב) arrived and told him that the addressee had purchased a sack (tillīs) of wheat for 7 dinars, which saddened him, because Mubārak could have gotten him 2 sacks of superior wheat from his supply in Tinnīs. Indeed, Mubārak is struggling financially, and that would have helped him. He has been worrying so much about his goods in Tinnīs that he suffered an attack of yellow bile and broke out in pustules (fa-min kuthrat mā ḥamaltu ʿalā qalbī laḥaqanī khulṭ ṣafrāwī wa-ṭalaʿa ʿalayya bathr). People are in state of fear due to an unspecified situation. Mubārak had sent a letter with Maymūn al-Maghribī concerning garments that the addressee is supposed to send, because he hasn't even been able to afford a שראשי(?) to wear. He hasn't gone to the synagogue for several Shabbats (it seems due to his financial straits and lack of decent clothing). ASE

Letter from Alexandria written by Zadoq from 1200. this is the upper part of a letter already published by Miriam Frenkel. The join was made by MAF in his article הרמב"ם ומינוי של אנטולי, תרביץ פג.

Business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to somebody in Jerusalem. Dating: No earlier than 1425 CE, as values are given in ashrafīs. Commodities include tin (qazdīr), Yemeni alum (shabb Yamanī), either כאבלי (chebulic myrobalan) or כאכלי (potentially qāqullā = Salsola), saffron, and more. Needs further examination.

Letter from Hārūn b. Bunyām to Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen. (Same sender and addressee as T-S AS 153.193.) Little of the content remains. On the second piece of paper under the same shelfmark, some 20th-century scholar has written out 20 lines of a Sanskrit-English glossary (e.g., sattva = nature, existence).

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.)