Geniza Lab

Letter from Semah from Palermo, to Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria. Around 1055. Mentions import of flax from Egypt to Palermo and exports of silk and lead from Sicily to Egypt. Also mentions the ship of Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ (r19 and v7), the qunbār of the amīr (v7) and the qārib of the vizier (v7). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #789)

Legal documents in Judaeo-Arabic dated "195" since creation, probably meaning 4800+195 = 4995 = 1234/5 CE. Both have to do with a controversy between judges in Alexandria. The judge Yiṣḥaq b. Ḥalfon seems to admit that he has been making errors in his judgments and will henceforth defer to Yūsuf Ibn Rabbenu [...]. Recto preserves the intriguing sentence, "He further said that the most insignificant judge in the lands of the Arabs is better than [...]." The signatures are difficult to make out; one witness is named Yehudah. The text on verso is at 90 degrees relative to recto and refers to the same case: "tashwīsh al-aḥkām alladhī tajrī fī al-Thaghr."

Legal document in Ladino, Hebrew, and Aramaic that affirms the signer's receipt of a sum of "pataqas" ("סומה די פטקאס") from Shemuel b. Yiṣḥaq de Ancona and Masʿūd Azulay (l. 1-3r). The document can be dated to 1772/1773CE through l.14r. This term "פטקאס" likely indicates coins of Spanish or Austrian mintage, such as a silver real or thaler, that are being sent to Alexandria: "y ditos siyen pataqas me obligo de mandarlos a No Amon [Alexandria]" (l. 3-4r). In lines 10-11r, the document code-switches primarily into Hebrew and its legal bearing is confirmed in the closing line with the Aramaic phrase "והכל שריר ובריר וקיים" (l. 14r). The document is followed by signatures that have been torn somewhat and have lost their clarity making it difficult to confirm who is confirming receipt of the monetary sum at the center of this shtar. The verso contains notes in Hebrew script left by a different hand than the recto. MCD.

A document that has been folded twice. The outer face (pages 1 and 4) contains legal documents relating to business partnerships; a Moshe and a Yosef are named. The innner face (pages 2 and 3) is a long and clearly written legal document drawn up in Alexandria involving business partnerships, dated 1750 CE (Heshvan 5511). The occasion seems to have been the death of R. Shulam, a native of Rhodes who lived in Izmir for many years. His partners included Avraham Arukh and Nissim Provencal, residents of Alexandria, and Shem Tov al-Hadif (?) who is from Rhodes but presently in Alexandria. It seems the partners are now agreeing to transfer the partnership into the name of Yiṣḥaq Nemias (? נעמיאס) and Yosef Shulam. There are another 50 lines or so: merits further examination.

Page 2 is a calligraphic letter in Hebrew to the elders of Alexandria, dated 1697/8 CE (5458), signed by three men, on behalf of a woman who, along with her infant son, had been abandoned by her husband Ya'aqov al-Luzio (? אללוזייו or possibly אללומיו) b. Avraham. Ya'aqov had moreover sent to tell her that if she attempted to follow him, he would steal away in the dead of night and she would be left to wander the land. The writers of this letter ask for the addressees' help to bring Ya'aqov before a court before he escapes from Egypt, and make him give her the get and pay her ketubbah in full (6000 mu'ayyadi) as well as the cost of food that he has been negligent in providing for his wife and his son all this time. Page 1 is a puzzling set of drafts of letters and perhaps legal documents in Hebrew, including one that opens in the same manner as the letter on Page 2, but others of which have nothing to do with it. Needs further examination. ASE

The first page is a letter in Italian from Venice, dated 4 May 1755 CE, mentioning Cairo and several names. The subsequent 8 pages are printed forms from the Alexandria firm of Levi, Molco, e Comp., which have been filled out with details of shipping contracts from the year 1755, also giving the name of the ships and their captains. 17 August (Livorno), 27 August (Livorno), 10 September (Venice), 25 September (Venice), 29 September (Venice), 17 June (Venice), 17 August (Livorno), 27 August (Livorno). Merits further examination

Letter from Yeshuʿa b. Ismaʿīl al-Makhmūrī (Alexandria) to Nahray b. Nissim. Dating: ca. 1060. The writer is interested in buying tin because it is in demand among traders from Palestine. The letter contains some personal details about Yeshuʿa b. Ismaʿīl al-Makhmūrī, who became widowed and was alone for a long time before getting married again to a sister of ʿEzra b. Hillel. He has also been suffering from an illness that affected his hip (wark). Those who visited him 'frightened' him (by despairing of his health). He is doing somewhat better than before and asks for Nahray's prayers. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 18. See Goitein notes linked below.) ASE.

Letter from Yeshuʿa b. Ismaʿīl al-Makhmūrī (Alexandria) to Nahray b. Nissim, ca. 1060. The writer tells Nahray b. Nissim about the news in Alexandria and informs him about the arrival of traders from Byzantium. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 4.) The Byzantine traders cannot access the quality of the goods and buy high and low quality goods for the same price. (Information from Goitein notes linked below.)

Letter from Ismaʿīl b. Faraḥ (Alexandria) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat), 9 September 1056. Confirms the arrival of goods and letters and sends information about the arrival of ships from Palermo and about some terrifying events in the Maghreb, especially in Susa (see details in Goitein notes linked below). Includes orders for goods that are expected in Alexandria, where many foreign traders are present, as well as details of money transfers. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 628.)

State document, Fatimid period. Dated: 4 Rajab 523H, which is 23 June 1129 CE. Reporting that two trustworthy witnesses from Alexandria had given testimony, and that a document had come in answer to their testimony. One of their names has been preserved: Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn b Ḥātim b. Ṣadaqa b. ʿUmar. Contains a registration mark (al-ḥamdu li-llāh ʿalā niʿamih). Another scribe has reused the document to copy the Fihrist of Shemu’el b. Hofni gaʾon. Details: An official document belonging to X (unnamed person: the هـ of kitab) was presented somewhere, but it needed to be verified, so two witnesses ratified it, presumably in Alexandria. The ratified document was then sent to a chancery where our writer recorded its contents, and equally importantly, registered the names of the two witnesses who had vouched for its authenticity. This is a bifolio register destined for the central Fatimid archives. Without more information on person X, and on the nature of this كتاب (was it a receipt, a legal deed, a rescript?), the document remains tantalizing and opaque, but useful as evidence of registration and archiving. Reused for the fihrist (index to the writings) of Shemuʾel b. Ḥofni (one fragment) and for Bava Metzia 49b (the other fragment: someone buying wine learned that Parzak the vizier was going to confiscate it, so he tried to renege before taking possession of the wine. R. Hisda approved: "just as they instituted 'pulling' with regard to sellers, so did they institute 'pulling' with regard to buyers"). (MR)

Letter from Efrayim b. Ismaʿīl al-Jawharī (Alexandria) to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. ʿAwkal (Fustat). Provides information about goods, mainly fabrics, that came from the Maghreb to Alexandria and about their transfer to Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 543.)

Letter (tadhkira, memorandum) on two sheets of paper, written and signed by Menashshe b. David al-Ṣayrafī, probably in Fustat, probably to Nahray b. Nissim, perhaps in Qayrawān. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1050 CE. Gil deduces that the addressee is Nahray b. Nissim from the fact that the letter mentions that Ukhuwwa (the Muslim ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz) wished to do business with the addressee and with Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī, and the latter was Nahray's most established business partner (and his cousin). The letter deals with problems communicating with people in Alexandria by letter, and mentions a consignment of oil. Menashshe opens by asking the addressee to intervene on his behalf with Abū Ibrāhīm Ismāʿīl, who had cut off his correspondence with Menashshe for the last year. "If it is due to something I did or a fault of mine, perhaps it is something I can rectify or apologize for, and if it is the 'neglect due to illness' or the like, I have seen his letters to other people, such as to Maṭar and to you, many of them" (recto of the first sheet, lines 6–11). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 499. See also Goitein notes linked below.) ASE.

A letter from Faraḥ b. Ismaʿīl, probably in Fustat, to his father Ismaʿīl b. Faraḥ in Alexandria. Ca. 1057. Faraḥ b. Ismaʿīl writes that he is sending a pouch of dinars with the bearer of the letter and asks his father to exchange them for a different currency. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 691.)

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy, Alexandria, to his relative Abu l-Ḥasan Shelomo b. Nissim al-Barqi, containing instructions about selling goods such as textiles and lead in Fustat.

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, the uncle of Nahray b. Nissim, in Alexandria, to Nahray's son, Abū Saʿd Nissim b. Nahray, in Fustat, ca. 1066. The letter relates many commercial matters and mentions Avraham al-Derʿi as Natan's commercial competitor in coral trade. From Nahray's title and from the fact that Nissim is already grown up and involved in trade, one can conclude that the letter was written in the late nineties of the 11th century. Doc. #43 in Nahray's archive. Mentions various goods: silk, clothes, pearls, lapiz lazuli and tin (Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 439).

Family letter from Sālim to Bū Manṣūr b. Sukkarī (or Zikrī?) in Alexandria reporting that the Rūmī cheese had arrived and that the writer had sent the pottery (or clay pipes, fukhkhār) desired. Greetings to Mother and both grandparents. The address is in Arabic script on verso. 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)

Legal document: quittance in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. A certain Avraham b. Shelomo Tiilmisani, acting as a custodian (apotropos), releases a certain Joseph b. Amram known as al-Fituri (?) in some commercial transaction. Aharon and Na'aman are also mentioned. Maybe Alexandria. The three fragments do not actually join but they are clearly related to the same case, and perhaps part from the same document. Join by Amir Ashur and Oded Zinger.

Letter from a prominent public figure in Alexandria to Fustat in the year 1200. The letter reports of terrible hunger as well as water and wheat shortage. This indicates that Alexandria suffered from severe food shortage before the great famine that struck Egypt in 1201/2. (Information from Frenkel. See also partial translation in Goitein, Med. Soc. 4:238-239, 5:550. Goitein notes on the document: Important letter dated September- October 1200, sent by a notable from Alexandria. The writer describes the great famine in Alexandria, orders ten irdabbs of wheat and gives personal greetings to Moses Maimonides and to the French Rabbi Anatoli).

Important business letter sent from Alexandria to Fustat by a Maghribi merchant named Nissim who, coming from al-Mahdiyya, had arrived in Alexandria at time of a civil unrest. The writer describes the difficult situation in Alexandria and al-Mahdiyya, attaches valuable price lists and assures the addressee that his wife and baby daughter are perfectly comfortable. Dated 1060-1070. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 168; V, pp. 50, 51, 519.) A letter from Alexandria, in the hand of Salāma b. Mūsā b. Iṣḥaq Safāquṣī, to an unknown recipient. Summer of 1062. Lists prices in Alexandria. Mentions trade links with Byzantium, Genoa, Crete, Sicily, and Spain. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 445-446.)