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)

Letter from Musa b. Yiṣḥaq b. Hisdai, Mahdiyya, to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. The writer describes his difficulties with shipping flax. He is also worried because another person spoke with Ibn Awkal against the writer. Also mentions debts, donations, payments and other matters. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #192) VMR

Letter from [...] b. Labrat, to Ezra (?) b. Isḥāq, al-Mahdiyya. Around 1040. The writer and the addressee are dealing with importing flax and exporting oil. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #791) VMR

Letter from Yosef b. Yaʿaqov al-Iṭrābulusī (Alexandria) to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. ʿAwkal (Fustat). Gives information about ships arriving in Egypt, their consignments and passengers. Mentions shipments of flax (probably on their way to Sicily or Maghreb), which were kept in Alexandria in the dār al-sulṭān, and shipments of wax, bought by the sultan. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 492.) About Ifrīqiyan goods sent to Rosetta. Beginning of 11th century. (Information from S. D. Goitein, Index cards.)

Letter from Elḥanan b. Ismaʿīl al-Tāhirtī and Barhūn al-Tāhirtī (Fustat) to Nahray b. Nissim and ʿAyyāsh b. Ṣedaqa, ca. 1050. In the hand of Elḥanan b. Ismaʿīl. The writer gives details of consignments of flax send with two different ships. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 310. See also Goitein notes linked below.)

Account for a sale of flax, probably in Tripoli (Libya), 1025. The flax is sold by bale, of unequal weight. The bales arrived to Tripoli by sea, and some got wet. The flax belongs to members of the Al-Tahirtī family. Accounts in the same hand and possibly from the same book are also found in CUL Or.1080 J291, T-S J1.54, Moss. VIII,476.1-2. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 370.)

Letter from Mūsā b. Yiṣḥaq in Sfax to Yehuda b. Moshe Ibn Sughmar in Fustat. Contains details about shipments of coins, oil and soap from the Maghreb to Fustat. The recipient is asked to buy goods, mainly flax, in Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Contract for the sale of flax following the dissolution of the partnership.Tiqva ha-Levi known as Abū l-Munā b. Peraḥya ha-Levi known Ibn al-Amʿaṭ sells to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal Netanel b. Peraḥya one-half of four gunny sacks (shakā'ir) of flax for 18 dinars and a mat with a scrap of flax (ḥuṣayra mushāqa) for 4 dinars. Signed by Ḥalfon as well as Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi. The small letters = Psalms 31:2. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from Salama b. Nissim b. Ishaq al-Barki, from Busir, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1053. The writer is in Busir for the business of Nahray. He deals with purchasing flax. He mentions the intermediary Kasim. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #641) VMR

Letter from a factotum to his boss. Reporting that everyone at home is well and giving the prices of different goods. Wheat: 1 dinar per 9 waybas. Honey: 5 dinars per 1 qinṭār. Wax sells well. Flax is exported to the Syro-Palestinian coast. Mufarrij and Shūʿa the Bāniyāsī escaped from the enemy attacking Caesarea (although Goitein read this as Mufarrij and Shūʿa escaping to Bāniyās). Shūʿa returned to Malīj. Mufarrij will come in Elul. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) The letter ends on verso with three lines of Arabic script (يخصو حضرته بافضل السلام وكتابه لا يقطعه عني...), not yet transcribed. ASE

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, in Būṣīr, to Abū Isḥāq Barhūn b. Ṣāliḥ al-Tahirti and his cousin Barhun b. Mūsā, in Fustat. Dating: February 11, 1054 CE. Nahray came to Busir to hurry the buying of flax, according to the advice of ʿAyyāsh b. Ṣadaqa, who is in Busir as well. The letter contains instructions about the business in Fustat while Nahray is absent. Also mentions business with several Muslims. In addition, mentions silk that awaits in Sicily. The addressee had been ill but recovered. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #257) VMR

Letter fragment from Yoshiyya b. al-Dhahabī to Abū Saʿīd b. al-ʿAfaṣī (=gallnut merchant). In Judaeo-Arabic.The writer congratulates the recipient on his recent marriage and mentions a business deal of exchanging flax for medicine. The writer and the recipient are cooperating with Spanish merchants. (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 368)

Private account written by Nahray b. Nissim and one of his partners. Around 1059. Account for shipping wood from Egypt to the Maghreb via Mayadiya. Also mentions accounts about shipping varnish and buying flax. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #288) VMR

Letter from Shemuʾel b. Eli gaʾon, in Baghdad, in the hand of Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. ʿEli Rosh ha-Seder of Irbīl, second half of the 11th century. Deals with just judgment. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #81, and from Amir Ashur and Marina Rustow)

Letter from a merchant in the Maghreb to his business partner in Fustat (might be a person from the Tahirti family). The beginning of the 11th century. Details about selling large quantity of flax and shipments of hundreds of dinars from the Maghreb to Egypt. Also mentions buying lead and other goods and details about the prices of different goods as indigo. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #137) VMR

Draft of private account of Yosef b. Eli Kohen al-Fasi. Around 1057. Contains details about partnership between the writer and Barhun b. Salah regarding purchase of flax in Busir, and details about silk business. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #397) VMR

Letter from Akhlābū b. Aharon ha-Kohen, in Alexandria, to Yosef b. Eli Kohen Fasi, in Fustat. Around 1051. The writer charged 10 dinars and wrote their details. Wahb b. Sulaymān al-Mawṣilī returned to Upper Egypt, with sorrow, because of the riots (it is not clear what he means). The writer asks to know the prices of pepper and flax in the commercial center in Fustat (“Kaluz”). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #703) VMR

Account of the Tahirti brothers dealing with the sale of flax worth 800 dinars in the Maghreb and containing details about buying textiles in the Maghreb and shipping them. Dated 1025. Accounts in the same hand and possibly from the same book are also found in T-S J1.54, BL OR5554A.53-54r, Moss. VIII,476.1-2.

Letter from Barhūn b. Ṣāliḥ to Abū l-Ṭayyib Sa'id reporting on transactions and asking for news of the addressee. Also asking for shipment of some flax.

Letter from Berakhot b. Avraham Ibn al-Ḥājja (aka Abū l-Barakāt Hibatallāh b. Ibrāhīm al-Ṣāʾigh), in Būsh, in northern Upper Egypt (בעמאל אלצעיד אלאדנא/بعمال الصعيد الادنا), to his mother, in Alexandria. The letter is dated: Sunday, the fast day of 17 Tammuz 4918 AM, which is 1158 CE. The address is made out to Alexandria, the goldsmiths' market, to be given to Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yiṣḥaq, who is to forward it to the house (or wife) of Abū l-Wafāʾ b. Ḥalfon al-Ḥaddād in the Bīr Jabr neighborhood, at the Iraqi synagogue (simply called Kanīsat al-Yahūd in the Arabic version). One of those men is the brother-in-law of the sender. The letter is written in Judaeo-Arabic, in a beautiful hand. The address is written in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. He opens with a complaint about the lack of letters from his mother and from his brother Abū Saʿd and even says that he took an oath not to write again, which he clearly failed to keep. He says he is sick and tired of working in Upper Egypt (bilād al-ṣaʿīd), which is why he came down to Būsh, but he is still not content there, so he hopes to move on to Fustat after the holiday. He says that caravans from Alexandria frequently come to Būsh to buy flax. He wants to find a trustworthy man with whom to send some flax to his mother so that she can make him a nice linen garment for Shabbat and holidays; he already has plenty of garments for everyday use. He mentions 100 dinars, but the context is not clear. He was told that ʿAmāʾim and Raḥel her maternal aunt are in Fustat, together with her husband Abū l-Faḍl and a certain Abū l-Surūr. The text in the margin contains some juicy gossip: "A letter came for me (with the news) that Hārūn divorced his wife Yaman. Praise God! She married him and divorced him while we were absent. Keep her with you—(away?) from the wife of Abū l-Wafāʾ—in the house until God grants her a livelihood." The situation is unclear, but it appears that the sender is on the side of Yaman, who also has a son to rear. It is not clear how the wife of Abū l-Wafāʾ—who is supposed to receive this letter, according to the address—fits in. In any case, the addressee should shelter [Yaman] and feed her until the sender can arrive and take her to her brother in al-Shām. The best way to contact the sender is to send letters to Fustat to al-Bilbaysī or to Abū Sahl in Darb al-Kharrāṭīn, and they will forward them with the Jewish merchants to Abū l-Barakāt al-Ṣāʾigh the Jew in Būsh. On verso, the letter concludes with greetings to various people, including: Abū l-Bishr and his mother; Yūsuf; Mukhtār who was in Barqa; the teacher Abū Zikrī Yehuda and his children. (The sender's family name, Ibn al-Ḥājja, means 'son of the woman who made the pilgrimage,' but there is a chance it could be Ibn al-Ḥāja and a nickname for someone with many needs). OZ, AA, ASE.