Geniza Lab

Recto, with the address on verso: Business letter addressed to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. In Arabic script. Dating: Before the beginning of 1136 CE. Concerning business in goods such as sal ammoniac and turpeth, and mentions a public auction (ḥalqa) several times. (Information in part from Aodeh; see also Hebrew description from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV) Ḥalfon reused verso for a draft of a legal document (see separate record).

Verso: Draft of a legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. Partnership agreement. In this unsigned and undated draft, an unnamed active partner receives 200 dinars from Sibāʿ, with which he is to travel to Alexandria and transact in unnamed commodities. Sibāʿ agrees to share equally in all losses to the partnership as a whole (e.g. losses due to work stoppage or broken merchandise). Lines 12-16 indicate that if commodities may end up traveling for sale in Alexandria escorted by someone other than the active partner, the active partner should inform Sibāʿ. The risk of loss is wholly carried by Sibāʿ. The active partner’s testimony concerning profits and losses does not require the support of witness testimony. The active partner seems to be entitled to all profits except for the maintenance of Sibāʿ(excluding Sibāʿ's rent and education costs for his son). Sibāʿ's share of the profits – a fixed amount unrelated to the success of partnership assets – might contravene the rabbinic prohibition of usury, but he does bear responsibility for losses. The use of the first person throughout the document suggests that it was prepared and notarized for the active partner, as with powers of attorney. The active partner could then present it as supporting documentation in the event of a dispute concerning distribution of partnership profits. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 97–98.) See also Hebrew description from India Book IV, below. On recto there is a business letter in Arabic script; see PGPID 9140.

Fragment of a letter from Abū ʿAli b. al-Dimyāṭī to his brother Abu Saʿīd b. Hibat Allah (Ḥalfon b. Netanel). The writer mentions the silk trade, describes his joy when he learned that Ḥalfon recovered after taking a medicine, and invites him to visit him in Fustat. Transcription from Goitein’s handwritten notes.

Recto: Letter from Yosef al-ʿAdanī al-Mamsawī (i.e., originally from Aden and now a resident of Mamsa, Morocco) to Ḥalfon b. Netanel. In Judaeo-Arabic, with some Hebrew and some Arabic script. Containing a request for charity. This letter was sent to Ḥalfon during his stay in Spain or North Africa. The sender was a prosperous trader who lost all his possessions after a shipwreck. There is some question whether Yosef al-ʿAdanī wrote this letter in his own hand, as the script is sefaradi. Goitein at one time believed that Yiṣḥaq Ibn ʿEzra wrote the letter on his behalf, and Gil and Fleischer agreed; but Goitein evidently rejected this identification later on, and Friedman rejects it in strong terms. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book 4.)

Recto and verso: Draft of a commentary on a Talmudic passage, which Ḥalfon b. Netanel wrote during his time in Spain. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book 4.) Spain

Business letter, fragment, from Abū Naṣr b. Ibrāhīm, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel, in Fustat. Ending only. Dating: Early 1130s CE. The letter includes information on trade in wheat. This is one of the earliest letters of Abū Naṣr to Ḥalfon: from the contents of the letter he appears inexperienced and Ḥalfon serves as his instructor and patron. (Information from Frenkel)

Letter from Abū l-ʿAlāʾ, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel, in Fustat. Dating: 1141 CE. Abū l-ʿAlāʾ reports on quarrels and intrigues within the Alexandrian community regarding the visit of Yehuda ha-Levi and also includes information about the compilation of Yehuda ha-Levi's new poems in a dīwān. He adds a clandestine postscript in Arabic script, "Burn after reading." (Information from Frenkel.)

Letter of Abu Ali Yehezqel b. Netanel, Alexandria, to his brother Ḥalfon, 1140, written on a fragment of a Fatimid decree (see separate record). Egypt, probably Qalyūb; Adar II; February 21 - March 20, 1140

Letter from Ḥalfon b. Netanel from ‘Aydhab to his brother Ali b. Netanel, 1132. Ḥalfon is on his way back to Egypt after an unsuccessful journey to India. He writes to his brother, a judge in Fustat, concerning his business and his disappointment that it did not go as expected. He also describes in details an event that happened in Yemen when he was a part of an argument between members of the Jewish community there, about the Gaon's authority (Masliah Gaon from the yeshiva of Palestine), which led to Ḥalfon's humiliation. He writes how hurt he is and asks his brother, that is very close to the Gaon, to talk with him about it. (Information from Gil and Fleischer "Yehuda Ha-Levi and his circle", pp: 348-354). VMR