Geniza Lab

Letter from Ibrahīm b. Yosef al-Ṣabbāgh (Fustat) to Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī (Alexandria), ca. 1050. Avraham b. Yosef al-Ṣabbāgh, one of Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. ʿAwkal’s business partners, describes the strenuous relationships between Maghrebi merchants and Jabbāra, the amir of Barqa, Libya. Avraham b. Yosef al-Ṣabbāgh expects a consignment of Sicilian lead. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 611.) Contains interesting details about the methods of piracy of Jabbāra. The writer asks the addressee to ransom his goods (especially lead) should they arrive in the pirate’s ship. (Information from Goitein index cards and notes linked below.)

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat to Abu al-Faraj Daniel b. Allan ha-Kohen in Alexandria, discussing the problem of the ransom of captives and noting that owing to the lack of funds prisoners have to be redeemed one by one, ca. 1045-1096.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Sedaqa in Tripoli, Libya, to the physician Shemuel in Cairo, thanking him for his ransom when the sender was captured by the Normans in Jerba, Ifrīqiya. Yiṣḥaq writes Shemuel that he married the daughter of his paternal uncle and that his father sold their house in Jerba for ninety dinars as a result of famine and to cover debts. Dated October 1136. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 30, 117-118, 150; IV, p. 283)

Letter fragment to the congregations of Fustat and in particular to the dayyan Elazar. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Recto: legal document, in which eight persons, Levi b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi, Avraham b. Sahlān, Efrayim b. Shemarya, David b. Aharon ha-Levi, Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq, Shelomo b. Seʿadya, Shelomo b. Ḥakīm and Shelomo b. David undertake to refund Ismaʿīl b. Ṭalyūn (=Shemuel b. Avṭalyon) the sum guaranteed for the ransom of two captives. Dated: 1333 Seleucid, which is 1021 or 1022 CE. Verso: list of contributions in Arabic script. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Letter dealing with the ransom of prisoners and mentioning the liberality of Nethaneel ha-Kohen and David Hallewi.

Recto: Letter from the two congregations of Alexandria (No-Amon), led by the judge Yosef b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, to the Jerusalemite congregation in Fustāt, led by Efrayim b. Shemarya. Dating: ca. 1031 CE. Requesting urgent financial assistance for the ransoming of Byzantine Jews taken captive by pirates. The letter mentions the visit of the Gaʾon's son, Avraham b. Shelomo, and refers to Barqa (Cyrenaica, on the Libyan coast), the teacher Yehuda b. Yiṣḥaq, and Yehuda b. Ḥayyān. Verso contains the address, written in rhymed prose and closing with an 'alāma, ברית שלום. (Information from CUDL.)

Letter from Yehuda ha-Levi to Ḥalfon b. Netanel concerning the ransom of a captive woman in Toledo, Spain. The amount of money that is needed is 32 2/3 dinars, after Yehuda ha-Levi gave 2/3 dinars (and the total amount that was common for captives is 33 1/3). Yehuda ha-Levi asks Ḥalfon to welcome the woman's father, that came to Lucena, in order to collect the money with Ḥalfon. The writer mentions an evil woman that refuses to send the woman free. The woman is probably the queen Dunya Urraca, queen of Toledo between 1109-1126. (Information from Goitein, "Autographs of Yehuda ha-Levi," Tarbiz 25 (1956), pp. 393-412). VMR

Fragment of the draft of a document in support of a man (the bearer?) who is in danger of being reduced again to captivity if not ransomed. Written in hand of the scribe Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi, in his early career (dated docs: 1100-1138). He (or, as Goitein thinks, the messenger) has come to Egypt to collect the inflated ransom (more than 80 dinars) being demanded by the captor. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Formal letter in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, addressed to an unidentified community. Written on behalf of a captive who has been granted a short period of time to travel (accompanied by a Christian) and raise money for his own ransom. The congregation of Fustat has already raised most of the funds, and now the new congregation is asked to make up the remainder. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Document that tells the story of Aharon ha-Levi and Ḥalfon, who collected money on behalf of the Rambam (Maimonides) for ransom of captives. They sent the Rambam a list of names and amounts of money which people agreed to pay, from the Jewish community in al-Mahalla. One of the community members sold his female slave and gave nine dinars of the payment to the Rambam's messenger. On the other side Moses Maimonides declares that he received the money. Av-Elul 1170. (Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, 316-318) VMR