Geniza Lab

Order of payment. In dreadful handwriting. On verso there are jottings in both Hebrew and Arabic script.

Letter from Nissim b. Benāyā (Alexandria) to Avraham (ʿArūs) b. Yosef (Fustat), ca. 1085 (Gil). Nissim b. Benāyā brought a sum of money for ʿArūs b. Yosef from the Maghreb and had to send it to Fustat in cash. He would have preferred to exchange the money in Alexandria for a bill of exchange from Fustat but this was not possible. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 1009.) The letter was composed shortly after Nissim b. Benāyā’s return from the Maghreb around 1100 (Goitein) and is full of gratitude for the receiver. (Information from Goitein index cards linked below.)

Fragment of a business letter from Iṣḥaq b. Aharon Sijilmāssī (Fustat) to Avraham (ʿArūs) b. Yosef (Alexandria), ca. 1080. Iṣḥaq b. Aharon reports about money he sent, asks to buy laque and provides information about silk prices. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 403.)

Order of payment to Abu al-Surur Kohen, probably Abu al-Surur Farah b. Yeshua ha-Kohen, from Abu Zikri (Yehuda b. Yosef ha-) Kohen of 13 and a half dirhams for almonds. Both men were involved in the India trade. This is one of more than 80 orders of payment signed by Abu Zikri. This document is part of the India Book corpus: V, 42b. (Information from S. D. Goitein and M.A. Friedman, India Traders of the Middle Ages, 14-15)

Payment order by the well-known trader Abu Zikri Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef al-Sijilmasi, who orders Ibn (or Abu?) al-Ḥasan al-Hud (?) to pay the bearer of this certificate half a ratl of 'sharab ward' (rose sherbet). A person identified as Abu al-Ḥasan al-Hud appears in T-S10J6.3. Recto contains business letter. Mid-twelfth century. (Information from Goitein, Mediterranean Society, I, p. 241)

A letter from Faraḥ b. Ismaʿīl, probably in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, 5 June 1056. Deals mainly with financial matters, mentions bills of exchange, a letter sent to Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ, and sending a pouch containing 83 1/2 dinars as cash. Also talks about a sale of tin and reports the arrival of a ship from Palermo with worthless goods. (Information from Gil)

Payment request by the "Nāmūha" association of a hundred qirsh contribution to the association by the bank "Kobān-Ān"[?] in Jerusalem in Palestine – May 30 1928CE – Museum of Islamic Art – number 102) – in French. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 67). MCD.

Letter from Yehuda b. Sahl, probably in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat, ca. 1050. Mentions the sale of a house that may have belonged to Nahray. Also mentions flax and the copper trade. Yehuda b. Sahl’s wife (a relative of Nahray?) sends him regards for the holidays and prays all the time for his health. She was sick (tawajjaʿat), then Yehuda became sick, then he got better, then he relapsed, and also their daughter was sick (r14–18). His wife asks Nahray b. Nissim to send them an order of payment (suftaja) for 10 dinars (r22–23). The letter mentions Abū l-Surūr and Abū Iṣḥāq Barhūn. (Information from Gil.) ASE.

Order of payment in the hand of Avraham b. David b. Sughmār, middle 11th century. The order is for 2 1/6 dinars. The name of the payer is not given. The money is backed by a ḥaver and a raʾīs, perhaps, ʿEli b. Amram and Daniel b. ʿAzariya. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 1.)

Verso: order of payment by Abū Zikrī Kohen for one half raṭl of soap and the same of perfume. Information from CUDL.

Order of payment in dirhams. Verso contains Arabic jottings. (Information from CUDL)

Order of payment signed by Abū Zikrī Kohen. (Information from CUDL)

Order of payment for 5 dinars signed by Abū Zikrī Kohen, dated Nisan 1455 (= 1144 CE). The banker’s name is Abū l-Faraj al-Kohen and Abū Zikrī writes וכתב before his signature, which is atypical. The cheque is crossed through with vertical lines. Arabic jottings on verso. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Avraham b. Farrāḥ, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Dated 27 Iyyar, which Gil renders 1 May 1052. Contains details about the sailing of ships from the Alexandria port. The letter contains an order of payment for 40 dinars to be paid by Abū ʿAlī Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥman al-Ṣāʾigh (Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ) to Nahray b. Nissim. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 813.)

Letter from Avraham b. Farrāḥ/Peraḥya, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, 1 May 1052. Contains details about the sailing of ships from Alexandria. The letter contains an order of payment for 40 dinars to be paid by Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥman al-Ṣāʾigh (Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ) to Nahray b. Nissim. Also mentions a vizier. (Information from Goitein's index card and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 813.)

Order of payment from Ascalon to Fustat, August-September 1116.

Verso: order of payment issued by Abū Zikrī Kohen to his banker, Abū l-Khayr Khiyyār, instructing him to pay the bearer 2 dinars for an eighth of a measure of raisins. Dated: Av 1451 Seleucid, which is 1140 CE.

Order of payment issued by Abū Zikrī Kohen to his banker, Abū l-Khayr Khiyyār, instructing him to pay the bearer 4 dinars and a half and an eighth of a dinar in cash (ʿayn) for grapes. Dated Av 1451 (= 1140 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Order of payment issued by Abū Zikrī Kohen to his banker, Abū l-Khayr Khiyyār, instructing him to pay the household of Abū l-Makārim 5 dinars. Dated Av 14[51] (= 1140 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Order of payment issued by Abū Zikrī Kohen to his banker, Abū l-Khayr Khiyyār, instructing him to pay the household of al-Riyānī, in cash, 2 and a half dinars (and following that another) half dinar. Dated Av 1451 (= 1140 CE). A note at the upper left states ‘total of 3 dinars’. (Information from CUDL)