Geniza Lab

Letter from an older Maghribī traveler, in Alexandria, to his cousin, somewhere in the Maghrib. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1100 CE. Evidently this letter was never sent. The writer has spent the last five years in Egypt attempting to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He describes the various disasters of the years 1095–1100 to justify both why he has failed to reach Jerusalem and why too he has remained in Egypt instead of returning to his family and waṭan. First, he describes the chaos in Palestine under the Seljuq occupation ("many armed bands made their appearance in Palestine"). He next describes the 1095 siege of Alexandria in which the vizier al-Afḍal deposed Nizār and secured the caliphate for al-Mustaʿlī ("the city was ruined. . . the Sultan conquered the city and caused justice to abound"). He again prepared for travel "when God conquered Jerusalem at his [the caliph's] hands," i.e., in 1098, only to be foiled by the appearance of the Franks, who "killed everyone in the city, whether Jew or Muslim." The writer is confident that the Fatimids will retake Jerusalem this very year, so he intends to remain in Egypt until he sees Jerusalem or gives up all hope. The letter ends with the writer's protracted illnesses. Throughout these years, the land has been filled with epidemic diseases (wabā', aʿlāl, amrāḍ, dever). The wealthy became impoverished, "most people died," entire families were destroyed. The writer himself developed a grave illness (maraḍ ṣaʿb), which lasted one year, and was shortly followed by another grave illness, which has lasted four years and perhaps continues to the present day. "Indeed [true is] what the Scripture has said of the dreadful disease of Egypt (Deut. 7:15). . . . He who hiccups (yastanshiq) will not escape from it. . . . ailments and will die from them. . . . Otherwise, he will remain alive." Note that "yastanshiq" typically means "inhale" or "snuff" (e.g., water for ritual ablutions) rather than "hiccup." Information largely from Goitein's attached translation and notes, and Goldman, "Arabic-Speaking Jews in Crusader Syria" (diss.), pp. 38–42, where there is a thorough analysis of the letter's context and a discussion of the writer's penchant for hyperbole.

Letter from Efrayim b. 'Isma'il al-Jawhari to Yosef b. 'Awkal.

Letter from Salmān b. Dawud al-Barqi, probably from Tripoli, Libya, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Mentions beads and ships, but most of the letter is not clear. Around mid-eleventh century. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 517-519, #769). VMR

Letter from a merchant, who had been out of work for a year and a half and suffered heavy losses, to an unnamed individual into whose family he had recently married. The writer expresses regret at the change to his own character and requests from the addressee, “something that would cover at least part of my expenses.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:242, 573) EMS

Recto: Letter in Arabic to a certain Amīr [...] al-Dawla wa-[...]hā, perhaps reporting on business setbacks. The body of the letter begins in line 6 after the space. The writer may be discussing wool (al-ṣūf) and the wool merchants (al-ṣawwāfīn) in the margin. Verso: An unusual Judaeo-Arabic composition, giving recipes and instructions, purpose unclear. Perhaps for detergents and/or dyes and/or bleaches. ASE.

Legal document detailing how Ṣāfī, the slave (ghulām) and agent of the Jewish Academy in Fustat, insulted a notable in ʿAydhāb, Ibn Jamāhīr, in the presence of Jewish merchants. Ṣāfī accused the man of having a child with a female slave and then disposing of her, in Berbera, on the African coast. Ibn Jamāhīr filed a complaint of slander against the ghulām, although the governor tried to convince him otherwise because of Ṣāfī's special status. Ṣāfī was ordered to be flogged and jailed, although after intervention by a Jewish merchant from the Maghreb, he was set free, although “not without loss of money.” Goitein dates the document to 1141 CE. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:133, 432) EMS

Recto: A merchant in Fustat releases another merchant from a debt of 85 dinars. Dated 1286/ 974. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 253) Verso: aggressive magical recipes in Judaeo-Arabic in a different hand than that on recto. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yosef and Nissim, the sons of Berekhya, in Qayrawan, to the merchant, Yosef b. 'Awkal, in Fustat (was written after Avraham b. 'Ata' accepted the position of 'Nagid', in the year of 1015, and before Yisrael b.Shemuel b. Hofni became to be a Gaon, 1017 (Mosseri L-162 accompanied this letter with all the enclosure) (pp)

Private letter from Raqqa to Moses Maimonides (?). Letter from Raqqah (Syria) to Fustat. May 1197. The writer stayed in Fustat in the past. He laments the lack of intellectual life in Raqqa, and is determined to return to Fustat once his business in Raqqa has furnished sufficient profit. Halakhic questions had been addressed to Yosef, and then to Shemuel and Avraham in Aleppo, and Shemuel had come to Raqqa with a commentary on Berakot. Various business matters are also discussed, involving ʿEli, and also Abu l-Zuhd in Damascus, as well as the recipient. He sends his greetings to Maimonides and several other people in the city. It seems like he is a poet and a person who copies books. Mentions his desire to return to Fustat but because of his work he cannot. He was expecting to receive several books from Aleppo and other places but only one of them arrived. The writer is a clothing merchant as well and has contacts with the people in Aleppo and Damascus. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #90 and CUDL) VMR

Legal query addressed to the Gaon and Nasi Daniel b. ʿAzarya in Jerusalem with regard to the goods of an Egyptian merchant, which had been requested by the Jewish court of Tripoli, Libya, after the carrier, his Sicilian ? had died on the sea. Dated: January 5, 1059 CE. There is a document quoted that is dated 23 February 1058 CE. See also T-S NS J161 + T-S 12.5 and Bodl. MS heb. a 3/9 (also known as Oxford a3 (2873), f.9, and published by Asaf, Responsa Geonica, 1942, 125–26). On verso there is poetry.

Letter from the merchant Abū l-Riḍā ha-Kohen in Tiberias to his brother Seʿadya, in Jerusalem. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address mainly in Arabic script on verso. Abū l-Riḍā had traveled from Jerusalem to Tiberias via Nablus and Beisan (Beit Shean). Dating: ca. 11th century (unclear on what basis). Verso: Arabic letter mentioning sums of money. On verso there are several different text blocks in Arabic script. One is a formal letter with wide space between the lines, which probably was the earliest writing on this fragment. Another is an order of payment for Abū l-Riḍā to give the bearer 5.5 dinars. Needs further examination.

Verso: Letter in which a merchant returning, it seems from overseas, and embarking on another prolonged journey, lists 27 assets totaling 460 dinars regarding which action had to be taken. He also mentions debts due him from both Jews and Muslims. The assets were rents of houses, stores and a workshop as well as loans, balances from commercial ventures and income from a partnership in a sugar mill. Dated 1165. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 263) Recto: Bill of release in Sunbat (Egypt) in 1149, under the jurisdiction of Samuel ha-Nagid. (Information from CUDL)

Letter containing the testimony of Makhlūf, a respectable merchant, who had to flee from Alexandria before an oppressive government official, 'the plundering monk,' Abu Najah, and to hide in the western desert for years. He had arrived in Alexandria in the spring following Abu Najah's death, traveled to Ifrīqiya in the summer of the year 1130, and wrote the letter the following summer, that is, 1131. The writer was appointed as an overseer of the Sultan's ships. It is also an extraordinary document of estrangement between father and son. The son loved music, Italian wine and bad company, and, of course, was always in debt. All attempts of the father to correct him: presenting him to the qadi of Alexandria, taking him on a trip to Ifrīqiya, sending him to the countryside on administrative work, suggesting to him travels to Yemen and to Syria were of no avail. The young man of twenty-two was not a mere good-for-nothing. He was allergic to his father: 'as long as you are alive, I have bad luck. As soon as you are dead, I shall be successful.' (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, 46, 119, 268, 277, 280, 316, 320, 482; II, 588, 359; III, 246, 243, 249.) There is also the beginning of a draft of a letter in Arabic script on verso.

Letter from a merchant in Alexandria to a business associate in Fustat, advising him to dispose of goods costing a large amount of money and, “This letter of mine is your proof in court.” The writer also notes he received a loan of 80 dinars from a compatriot and asks that all consignments to himself should be turned over to his creditor. Eleventh century. (S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 1:254, 291, 464, 272; 2:337, 601) EMS

Letter from Nissim b. Ḥalfon b. Benaya, in Tinnīs, to Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tāhirtī al-Maghribi, in Fustat, both prominent in the Geniza correspondence of the eleventh century. The writer mentions merchants from the Maghreb, Syria, and Iraq doing business in the busy Mediterranean seaport. He probably alludes to his illnesses in lines r3–6: "You tasked me with buying ladies' caps (maʿājir), but you know what a 'pain' (wajaʿ) it is, especially selling clothing in Tinnīs, from morning to evening. I relapsed only twice due to the burdens I take upon myself (mimmā najūr ʿalā nafsī). But today, praise be to God, I am in every state of well-being." In lines v4–5, Nissim invokes the common trope of assuming a business partner (here Ibn Juhā) is ill if one has not heard from him in a longer-than-usual time. Information from Gil, Kingdom, III, #597, and Goitein, Med Soc, II, p. 520; IV, pp. 176, 406, and V, pp. 110, 536. EMS. ASE.

Certificate of kashrut. Location: Alexandria. Dated: First decade of Tammuz 502[.] AM, which is 1260–69 CE. Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū l-Karam b. Bū l-Barakāt purchases 97 moulds (qālib) of Sicilian (Rūmī Siqillī) cheese from Jewish merchants who have arrived in Alexandria. The cheese has a seal on it, and reliable witnesses testify that it is kosher (lā rayba fīhi, a phrase borrowed from Quran 2:2). Witnesses: Yehuda b. Aharon Ibn al-ʿAmmānī; the teacher Yefet b. Yosef ha-Melammed. Cf. T-S 13J4.8 for a very similar document from 1243 CE (signed by the same Yehuda).

Accounts of a merchant. Mentioning goods such as pepper (filfil), oil (dihn), cumin (kammūn), bitumen (qifār), brazilwood (baqqam), sugar and syrup (sukkar wa-sharāb). Mentioning names such as Abū Naṣr, Abū 'Alī, al-Shaykh al-Itrābulsi, and Abū l-Qāsim. ASE.

Letter from Eliyyahu the Judge. He is prepared to give a refresher course in the reading of the Torah to Abū l-ʿAlā ha-Kohen and his father the Segan (ha-Kohanim) and is prepared to come to his house if he is ashamed to attend classes at Eliyyahu's place. Information from Goitein's note card. Verso: 2 lists of contributions, see PGPID 4594.

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.

Letter, fragmentary and calligraphic, regarding business. Mentionins dealings in corals, storax, and zaituni (silk), and merchants of the second half of the eleventh century (Joseph b. Farah Qabisi). On verso is a medical prescription in Arabic letters. Most likely the receiver of the business letter was a physician. Information from Goitein's note card. Possibly the same scribe as T-S NS J194.