Geniza Lab

Account of a pharmacist listing household goods. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 585)

Business letter dealing with shipments of textiles within Egypt. The name Abu al-Ḥasan is mentioned. addresed to Barakāt b. Khulayf.

List of items in Judaeo-Arabic, possibly the estate of a prosperous coppersmith with a mixture of goods from his store and his household (Goitein) or the inventory of a pawnshop (Frenkel). Date: late 11th or early 12th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 338, 339; V, p. 172, and from Frenkel, "Texts as Objects, Objects as Texts," which contains a complete translation to English.) Written on the back of a letter of request in Arabic script (see separate entry). The inventory was published by Miriam Frenkel and Ayala Lester, "Evidence of Material Culture from the Geniza—An Attempt to Correlate Textual and Archaeological Findings," in Material Evidence and Narrative Sources: Interdisciplinary Studies of the History of the Muslim Middle East, ed. Daniella Talmon-Heller and Katia Cytryn-Silverman. Written on the back of a letter in Arabic script requesting a state decree concerning monastic property; see separate entry.

Judaeo-Arabic list of things, books, and merchandise, with the names of the people with whom they are deposited. Information from FGP.

Letter concerning business matters. Deals with the forwarding of 15 dinars and an order for three ounces of ink and other smaller items. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Farah b. Yosef from Alexandria to Abu Sad Khalaf b. Sahl, Fustat. October 1056. The letter has another fragment (T-S 8 J 21.7). Regarding purchases and sales of several goods: pepper, fabrics, bonnets, and rice. Mentions that the army’s entrance to the city (it is not clear which city) improves trade. Also mentions that a ship arrived from Tyre, and the writer’s nephew who came from there in a different way. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #518) VMR

Last page of a letter from Abū Naṣr b. Avraham, in Alexandria, to a public figure, in Fustat. Identification is based on handwriting and style. The first page of the letter is missing. Dated: 9 Tammuz, apparently of the year 1141 CE (so the 8th of June). The letter contains information on ships that frequented the port of Alexandria. It mentions an attack of Bedouins on the passengers of the Sultan's ship in Tobruk (this note was added from Goitein) as well as general news and instructions of a commercial nature, dealing with spices, perfumes, books, pearls and gold. The letter reports the great distress in which the Jews of Alexandria found themselves. The leaders of the community, among them Abu Nasr himself, were under house arrest due to unpaid debts from previous years. The matter created 'hatred' (Heb. sinʾut) and general anarchy. The recipient is asked to intervene in the matter and petition a few Muslim public figures which might assist. (Information from Frenkel and Goitein's note card.)

Business letter from Avraham b. Farah in Alexandria to Yosef b. Moshe b. Barhun al-Tahirti in Fustat. The letter mentions a shipment of cosmetic oils, lead, silk and pearls. Avraham takes care of the storage house rented by Yosef in Alexandria. He asks Yosef to buy him ink and pens in Fustat. (Information from Gil)

Legal record of an inheritance, issued in the court of R. Levi b. Ḥabib in Jerusalem in September 1532 CE (3 Tishrei 5293), for the estate of the late Naṣr bt. Eliyyahu b. ʿAbd al-Waliyy Melammed, the widow of R. Fuhayd known as Barābak (?), who died without direct descendants. Her nephew, ʿAbd al-Kāfi b. Sulaymān ha-Ḥazzan—whose mother Ẓarīfa was Naṣr's sister—presented a power of attorney drawn up in Fusṭāṭ in May 1532 (7 Sivan 5292), witnessed by Yosef Abuhab and Yosef b. David Moreno, entitling him to claim the amount of the inheritance willed to him (subsequently it transpires that his aunt willed his mother Ẓarīfa and her family a full 2/3 of the inheritance, while the other 1/3 was to go to their other sister Rivka and her family). ʿAbd al-Kāfī brought a suit against Shemuel ha-Levi b. Shelomo ha-Levi, aka Shemuel Kalaḥ, the guardian/executor of the estate, to receive his share of the inheritance. Shemuel then claimed that he had already sent enough of the money to David Ḥavriya (? חבריא), who was supposed to give a portion to his wife Rivka bt. Zubayda (the other sister of Naṣr) and to give the remainder to ʿAbd al-Kāfī, who, however, didn't receive a penny. Shemuel responded that there was not enough money left from the inheritance to pay ʿAbd al-Kāfī his share (and his mother's and siblings'), but there was enough if he made up the difference with property and jewelry and clothing. The document continues for another 100 lines or so, detailing all the different denominations of currency that Shemuel handed over to ʿAbd al-Kāfī, along with all the jewelry, clothing, and other items (with a detailed inventory of 70 items of mainly clothing appearing in a separate list on the facing page). However, of these items, some were to go to David Ḥavriya, and the jewelry in particular was put in a bag and sealed with the seal of Ovadya Kohen, and ʿAbd al-Kāfī had to take an oath not to open it until the pair of them could go through it together in Fusṭāṭ under the supervision of Shemuel ha-Levi b. Ḥakīm. Among the currencies named are gold Sholali peraḥim and gold Ibrahimi peraḥim, respectively coins minted in the mint of R. Yiṣḥaq Sholal and Avraham Castro. Information largely from Avraham David's description on FGP

Letter fragment from Yosef to Abū l-Faḍl b. ʿAmrīṣ. In Judaeo-Arabic. Containing remarks about business transactions including the delivery of a consignment of glass.

Business letter dealing with spices. In Judaeo-Arabic. The hand is likely that of Yedutun ha-Levi. (Goitein, too, flagged the script as familiar.) The letter is addressed to a 'brother' (Moshe ha-Levi?); mentions Abū Saʿd and 'your paternal uncle Bayān.' The letter is damaged but is a valuable source of information for the business of a druggist (ʿaṭṭār). Commodities mentioned include storax (mayʿa) and saffron. The writer does not know precisely the weight of the saffron; the addressee should weigh the burniyya together with the saffron in it and subtract the weight of the burniyya. The writer is suffering an attack of ophthalmia (and Isḥāq is too), but he will try to "go out" (from Fustat) if he is able to. On verso there are piyyutim (not necessarily in the same hand as recto; needs examination). ASE

Original document: Acounts in Arabic, mentioning aṣḥāb al-dār and a qāḍī. Reused for a list in Judaeo-Arabic of the clothing belonging to someone, perhaps for legal purposes.

Two pages of a large account written for a partner, divided into sections. The account mentions sales of linen, lacquer, precious stones, ammonia, clothing and shoes. Different individuals, such as Ibn al-Majjānī, the prominent Qayrawani merchant, are also mentioned to whom debts should be paid. At the beginning of section C the year 49/ A.H. 449/ 1057 is mentioned. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, 373-4; Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, 701)

Two pieces of one ketubba. The dowry list includes a gold drop choker (worth 5 dinars), a gold wristband (worth 5 dinars), a pair of silver anklets, red Chinese silk, a coat, five shirts, a gown, a scarf, two kerchiefs, eight coloured pillows, a lightweight garment, a Tabari carpet, a cooler, and a cup. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Long query addressed in 1058 to the Gaon of Jerusalem by Eli b. Amram, the head of the Palestinians in Fustat. (Or rather, this may be the partnership contract that is the subject of the legal queries/responsa edited in Gil, Palestine #395, #396. Another copy of the same contract is T-S 20.79.) The note describes a legal matter concerning a Jewish Egyptian merchant who entrusted a business friend returning to his native Sicily with a large shipment of goods, including spices and drugs. The agent died while at sea, and the shipment ended up in Tripoli (Libya?) instead of Sicily. The Jewish authorities in Tripoli seized the goods in order to protect the rights of the deceased agent’s widow and daughter. The Egyptian merchant wanted his goods returned to his possession, but the authorities in Tripoli refused unless he pursued a full-fledged lawsuit against the representatives of the heirs in Sicily. The case went to the rabbinical court in Cairo and then the high court in Jerusalem. Verso: Dirge. (Information from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:236, 395-5, 574, 613; CUDL; EMS; and Moshe Yagur, who also identified the join.

Fragment of a marriage contract listing items such as a pair of golden ‘dablas’ (a ring without a stone). The notation “’lq” opens the jewelry section, likely indicating a‘laq, meaning precious items. Thirteenth century. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:454; 4:201, 221, 419, 429) EMS

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 915 AH, which is 1509/10 CE. It attests that Ṣadaqa and his brother Shemuel known as the sons of Ḥawwāsh received all that was due to them from the inheritance of their late sister ʿAzīza, the wife of ʿAbd al-Ghaffār al-Ḥaqqān. The possessions she left are listed, amounting to about 80 distinct items, mostly garments.