Geniza Lab

Recto: Letter fragment in Arabic script. Verso: An Abū Zikrī Kohen cheque.

Account by Avraham Ibn Yiju of Indian products sold for another merchant, Aden, ca. 1141-44.

Note from Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan, written by one of his clerks, to Avraham Ibn Yiju during the first half of the twelfth century. The letter describes the highhanded tactics of Bilāl b. Jarīr, the governor of Aden and Maḍmūn's occasional business partner. Madmun complains about Bilal’s habit of demanding the first pick of the goods in the port, specifically of ‘drky,’ a commodity exported to Aden from India that was not always available. (S. D. Goitein and Mordechai Akiva Friedman, India Book, 357) EMS

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. "1200 royal dinars. . . I was distressed by (the state of) those poor children. . . "

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic to Abu Zikri ha-Kohen, reperesentative of the merchants in Fustat, ca. 1135

Letter from Yūsuf b. Ibrahīm to Abū ʿImrān Ibn Nufayʿ. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Long and well-preserved. Concerning numerous business matters, including the goods left by Tamīm upon his death and goods to be sold in ʿAydhāb. Needs further examination.

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq about turmoil in Yemen and measures taken by Abu Zikri Kohen for ensuring Khalaf’s rights after the death of Abu Imran Nufay. Abu al-Yumn is also mentioned, and Khalaf further notes that the recipient of the letter, who was involved in the affair, had traveled from Egypt; Aden, fall 1138. (S. D. Goitein and Mordechai Akiva Friedman, India Book, 462) EMS

Letter from Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan to Avraham Ibn Yiju: freight jettisoned. Aden, ca. 1137–39 or 1145–49.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, 1128. Sefaradi-influenced hand. See Hebrew description below.

Order or receipt in Arabic script with Judaeo-Arabic annotations for 2 dinars for [...] Makkī(?) al-Khabbāz from Yehuda b. Yosef (presumably this is Abū Zikrī Kohen).

Letter from Yiṣḥaq Ibn ʿEzra to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. In Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Spain. Dating: Perhaps the end of summer, 1138 CE. Dealing with the return of a defective mithqāl. Together with his business partner Yiṣḥaq b. ʿOvadya (who is incidentally sick), the writer has sent Ḥalfon a large shipment of 500 sheets of paper. Ḥalfon had business relationships with both parties, and the price of the paper will be credited toward Yiṣḥaq b. ʿOvadya's account with Ḥalfon. Ibn ʿEzra writes that he plans to visit Ḥalfon the following week, and he passes on regards from two Muslim viziers: Abū Muḥammad b. Abū Rajā and Abū Isḥāq b. Wāziʿ. Description based on India Book. [NB volume number in shelfmark is roman numeral I, not Arabic numeral 1.] ASE

Autograph letter from Yehuda ha-Levi, in Spain, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. Dating: 1139 CE. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions the Kuzari and his intentions to travel east. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Recto (written later): Legal document written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Also signed by Mevorakh b. Natan. Dated: last decade of Tishrei 1428 Seleucid = 1116 CE. Settlement of a dispute over business in Yemen, stating that Abū l-ʿAlāʾ Ṣāʿid aka ʿUlla b. Yosef ha-Levi al-Dimashqī is owed 4 dinars and 1 qirat by Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yosef al-Urjuwānī. 2 dinars will be paid right away and the remainder by the end of the year. Verso (written earlier): Legal document written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya he-Ḥaver, Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi, and a third person with bad handwriting. Dated: Last decade of Tammuz 1427 Seleucid, and the signing was delayed until the first decade of Av 1427 = 1116 CE (two months before recto). In which Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yosef al-Urjuwānī acknowledges that he owes 2 dinars and 1 qirat to Abū l-ʿAlāʾ Ṣāʿid aka ʿUlla b. Yosef ha-Levi al-Dimashqī.

Letter from a man in Egypt to his brother or brother-in-law, an India trader in Aden. In Judaeo-Arabic. Frenkel identifies the writer's location as Alexandria, the addressee as Ismāʿīl al-Fāṣid, and the date as 1176 CE, but does not seem to explain her reasoning. The letter recounts an interesting family saga. The addressee's maternal uncle passed away while traveling with the addressee to India. The addressee took care of him before his death. The family has taken great pains to conceal the news of the uncle's death until they receive a detailed account of his will. This long letter repeatedly describes everyone's anxiety waiting for news of the addressee's health and the will. His mother, when she heard of the death of her brother and the news of the addressee's difficulties at sea, fell sick and fasted until news came of the addressee's health. His father stays up all night praying for him. "If you knew how much reward (in Heaven) you receive from every letter you write us, you would do nothing but write us letters." The family congratulates the addressee on his purchase of a male slave (ghulām). Finally, the reason for the anxiety about the will comes to light at the end. The uncle knew or thought that his wife was pregnant when he departed, however, they counted 9 months, and there was no baby. They counted another 9 months, and she had a baby boy. The family evidently wishes to ensure that none of the uncle's inheritance ends up with his wife or son. Even the Muslims say, "We have never heard anything like what this Jewish woman has done. She deserves nothing but hellfire." The widow was able to round up some allies from among the Byzantine Jews, and they managed to gather 10 Jews for the circumcision, but with no cantor or judge present. In the midst of sending everyone's regards in the margin of verso, the writer reports sarcastically that the newborn infant also sends his. Information in part from Frenkel and from Goitein's attached notes. ASE.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq Ibn Ezra, in Spain, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: before Nisan, probably of 1139 CE (Goitein and Friedman), or less likely 1128 CE (Gil). Mentions someone known as "the Elephant," who also appears in T-S 13J18.19. Much of the letter is written in coded language. The sender refers to 'nonsense' caused by 'the man you know' (perhaps Ibn Barukh) and warns Ḥalfon about him (חַכִּימָא בִּרְמִיזָא). Further on, he says that a person codenamed "the elephant" (also mentioned three times in IV, 55) did not want to give "the nūn." But according to IV, 55, Ibn ʿEzra did eventually manage to take "the letter nūn" from him. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Court record attesting that Ḥalfon b. Netanel repaid the debt of his late brother Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Iyyar 1457 Seleucid, which is April/May 1146 CE. This document was written after the payment of the debt that is the subject of CUL Or.1080 J284 (ח88), a letter from Abū ʿUmar Saʿdān b. Thābit Levi Baghdādī (Seʿadya ha-Levi b. Yakhin) to Ḥalfon, in which he asked Ḥalfon not to travel to Damascus without repaying the debt of his (still-living) brother Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel, a sum of 45 3/4 dinars. Ḥalfon had previously given a collateral of silk to Saʿdān. The present document deals with the sale of the silk, part of whose proceeds (43 2/3 dinars) paid off part of the debt (25 dinars), which means that Ḥalfon must have paid the remaining balance of 20 3/4 dinars from his own money. Between the writing of the previous document and this one, Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel died. Ḥalfon's nephew Abū Naṣr Shemuel b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi was the agent for the sons of Yeḥezqel (his cousins) with regard to selling the silk and paying off the debt. Here the creditor is given his Hebrew name: (Abū ʿUmar) Seʿadya ha-Levi b. Yakhin. The witnesses describe in detail the price that Shemuel received for the silk, both for the bulk of it and for the portion that was of a higher quality. Following the creditor's acknowledgement of having received the balance of the debt, the witnesses state that Shemuel received an excellent price for the silk, at least 1 dinar/raṭl more than a broker would have fetched. Information from India Book.

Letter from ʿAmram b. Yosef to Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy, Alexandria. Dating: 1094–97 CE. "The addressee Moses, mostly referred to as Mūsā, was active in communal affairs and was honored, because of his generosity, with the title Segullat (ha-'Yeshiva), 'Treasure' (of the Academy).l He was a native of Tunisia, who had settled in Alexandria and was temporarily in Fustat. Lines 1-32, and margin. Expressions of friendship, complaints about the bad times, personal misfortune, and an eye disease, which made it impossible for Amram to come to Fustat in person.2 Verso, lines 1-7. Letters from Yosef b. Abū Kathīr Ibn Yahboy,3 sent, it seems, from 'Aydhab,4 contained, according to hearsay, news about Abū l-Faraj Nissim and the camphor. The addressee is advised to question the Jewish merchants arriving from there. Lines 7-20. In his dire circumstances ʿAmram had given some of his books to the schoolteacher Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī (also a Maghrebi) to sell, but this man had moved to Fustat and nothing was heard from him. Mūsā is asked to remind him of his duties as a pious person and gentleman.5 {See the introduction to II, 3, for the dating.}" Description from India Book, English edition

Awaiting description

List of Ibn Yiju's deposits and expenditures after arriving in the Egyptian capital.

Deed of manumission for Ashu, an Indian female slave, written by Avraham Ibn Yijū, Mangalore, October 17, 1132. On the verso and on the margins of the deed Ibn Yijū copied drafts of 3 poems for Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan of Aden (See II, 40). Both Goitein and Friedman suggest that Ibn Yijū bought Ashu so that he could release her and then marry her. This deed is especially important for the 'reshut' clause, written in India, and mentioning both Daniel b. [Ḥ]isday, the Exilarch in Baghdad and Maṣliaḥ b. Shelomo, the head of the Palestinian Yeshiva residing in Cairo.