Geniza Lab

Detailed letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Simḥa Naysābūrī, Alexandria, to Abū l-ʿAlā Sā'id (i.e. ʿŪllā) b. Yosef ha-Levi the Trustee of the rabbinical court of Fustat in Fustat. (Gil's ID based on handwriting.) Dating: ca.1120 CE. The main topic of the letter is a great disaster that befell the writer and many other merchants. Of a convoy of five ships, three, carrying a load to the value of about 200,000 dinars, were lost. In the ship carrying the writer's goods, there were ten Jews, prominent in their home town (most probably Tripoli), who, in addition to merchandise to the value of 7,000 dinars, lost all their money, belongings and even clothing. The writer's cargo amounted to 500 d., of which 320 d. were his own and the rest on commission. One of the Jewish travellers, Abū l-Faḍl b. Abū l-Yumn al-Dimashqī, known to the addressee from a previous visit to Fustat, perished. As the writer obviously was hit hard by that disaster, he asks his friend to take steps to coerce merchants owing him money—Siman Tav (not Tov), Abū Manṣūr, and Jaʿfarī—to fulfill their obligations. In addition, the letter deals with many other business affairs. In a postscript, the writer reports that the banker (ṣārafī, to be pronounced ṣayrafī) Abū l-Maʿālī died bankrupt, owing people about a thousand dinars, to Jews alone about 600, and to the writer 27d. Many other names mentioned. Main merchandise: silk and other textiles, corals, but also wax and millstones. Information from Goitein's attached notes.

Medical recipes and remedies in Ladino from an extensive chain of joins that suggest the existence of a broader compilation. On the recto there are ingredients and/or components such as a "wick / קאנדיל" (l. 5r) and below that there is mention of "pearl" and "coral" (l. 8r). On the verso, one entry is dedicated "para kurar la kabesa / for curing the head" and "sesame oil / טאחינה" may be in use. Further down on the verso, olive oil is also mentioned as an ingredient. MCD.

Business letter, fragment, from Yaʿaqov Levi to an unknown addressee. In Hebrew. Goods mentioned include: alkali (הקלי) in line 6, and coral in line 8. The writer mentions his trip to Friuli (NE Italy) in line 9. Currencies: peraḥim. Uses the title "Agha." Dating: 16th century? Information from Avraham David via FGP.

Legal record. In Hebrew, with a few Judaeo-Arabic words (e.g. ḥāṣil, murjān). Dating: Late, probably 18th or 19th century. Involves Yaʿaqov ʿAllūsh and Raḥamim Amarillo and a business deal that might involve selling coral, valued at 25 fonduclis, on commission.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Aharon Sijilmāsī, in ʿAydhāb, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. Dating: 25 Iyyar [4900] AM, which is 14 May 1140 CE. Yiṣḥaq b. Aharon Sijilmāsī wrote this letter from ʿAydhāb nearly 4 months after he departed from Fustat to Aden, as described in document ח65 (where he is called Abū Isḥāq Sijilmāsī). He stayed in ʿAydhāb for a time before traveling further south (he wrote this letter after boarding the ship in ʿAydhāb). In the interim he already sent one letter to Ḥalfon and received one letter in response. The present letter asks Ḥalfon to help the bearer, a fellow man of Sijilmāsa, with some mercantile matters. Yiṣḥaq also reports on (and curses) two Jews who reported him to the government in ʿAydhāb, claiming that he cheated on customs dues for some coral. One of the accusers later drowned. On verso there are also several lines of piyyuṭ. (Information from India Book 4; Hebrew description below.)

Fragment of a business letter in Judaeo-Arabic, probably medieval. Mentions business in corals.

Court register fragment containing the remnants of 14 documents, most of which are fully intact. Dated Tevet-Kislev 5460 AM which is1699-1700CE. On the recto two partnerships were recorded, the first an isqa and the second perhaps a general commercial partnership in the coral trade for the duration of one year: במלאכת אלמרגאן לזמן י׳ב חדשים (l.18). The other court entries on the recto recount engagements that include pledges of marital gifts from grooms to brides. The verso includes two other fully legible entries related to marital arrangements, one an engagement the other an abridged ketubbah that was entered into the court register. The other entries recount payments, debts owed, partnerships, and an apprenticeship perhaps in the production of gold lace: להתלמד מלאכת הסירמקגי (l.7). Based on the suffix, the term in use here is certainly Turkish but the scribe's intended meaning with סירמקגי is somewhat unclear. It could transliterate as sırmakçı– although this term does not appear as an alternative to sırmakeş in the Redhouse dictionary (p. 1014). MCD.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions coral (3 lines from bottom). Needs examination. On verso there may be a Hebrew literary text.

Letter from Avraham Kolon (קולון) to Yosef Ardiʿa (ארדיעה). In Hebrew. Dating: Thursday, 12 Kislev [5318 AM], which is 1557 CE (see A. David's article for explanation of the date). Mentions a huge shipment of merchandise. "They say" that apart from the 200,000 peraḥim (which typically refers to Venetian ducats) there are 74 cases of coral, 14 cases of קארבה(?), a thousand copper ingots of one kind and 400 of another, 60 cases of hats, 60 cases of silk garments, and 100 packages ("balas") of clothing. Also mentions Francisco Grisolin (פרנסיסקו גריסולין). Address on verso. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from Yehuda b. Sahl, in Jerusalem, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Note that Yehuda's father's name is something else in the Hebrew-script address (neither Sahl nor Yashar; ends with ש). The sender asks Nahray to order a commodity (ḥajar al-māʾ?) from another trader, because there is none in Palestine, and they are importing it from Sāl[...], and that seems to be an inadequate substitute for coral. (This reading is tentative.) He also orders a mantle (īzār) for himself. This document is uncited in the literature.