Geniza Lab

Letter from [...] b. Avraham to Ṣadaqa b. Ṣemaḥ. The writer had previously sent a letter with Ibn Bunyām that had gone unanswered. In the present letter, among other matters, he asks the addressee to purchase for him a good copy of Hilkhot ha-Rif (al-Fāsī). The handwriting switches halfway through this letter. The handwriting of the upper half resembles that of Seʿadya b. Avraham (see T-S 13J18.4), and the handwriting of the lower half resembles that of Abū Saʿd b. Avraham (see DK 230.2), but rigorous identification will require further examination. Information in part from Goitein's note card.

Detailed, beautifully written letter of a silkweaver, Abū Saʿd b. Avraham, to his cousin (ibn ʿamm) Ṣedaqa b. Ṣemaḥ, asking for instructions as to the pattern wished for the garments ordered, and many other details. The yarn sent to the writer through one Nāṣir was entangled (mukabbal) and had to be put into order (ḥll); he had not woven the garment ordered, because no clear instructions had been given with regard to the pattern (numūdhaj); a later message, delivered by one Ṣedaqa—of course different from the receiver of the letter said 'yurīduhu bisakākīn,' 'he wishes the pattern with knives,' an instruction which seemed to the writer insufficient. As usual, the manufacturer also trades with finished products. He offers good sūsiyāt and local arḍīs (pl. arāḍī) of utmost thinness (margin l.2) but not of the pattern alluded to. Information from Goitein's notes (to be found with those attached to PGPID 6565). For additional documents involving Ṣedaqa b. Ṣemaḥ (unless there were two), see: Bodl. MS heb. b 11/3, Bodl. MS heb. d 66/96, ENA NS 21.9, T-S 8J33.11, T-S 10J6.11 (ed. Weiss, "Ḥalfon," #138), T-S 13J18.4, T-S 18J1.21, T-S 8.125, T-S 8.131, T-S 28.17 (ed. Ackerman-Lieberman, "Partnership Culture," #56) where we find Ṣedaqa b. Ṣemaḥ b. Dāwud al-Raqqī and, perhaps, T-S 13J17.8, which is addressed to Abū l-Khayr Ṣedaqa b. Ṣammūḥ b. Sason. Information from Oded Zinger's dissertation, p. 166, notes 119–23. ASE.

Begging letter from Fuḍayl, the brother of Abū l-Ḥasan, and from Abū Saʿd, to his relative Abū l-Khayr Ṣedaqa b. Ṣammūh b. Sasson requesting help for himself and another person. Fuḍayl asks Ṣedaqa to 'make the rounds' and collect some donations from other Jews. "You know how sick I am after having been a man as [strong as] as lion." The total amount asked for is very modest, only five or six dirhams, which might have been only a symbolic number. The letter starts with a biblical quotation (Proverbs 21:14). (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 358, 605)

Business letter from Seʿadya b. Avraham b. Sasson of Alexandria to his relative Ṣedaqa b. Ṣemaḥ of Fustat, a maker of Sūsiyāt textiles. Seʿadya opens by inquiring about Ṣedaqa's ill health. "I was tranquil when I received frequent letters from you, and when they ceased, I became distressed due to imagining (? tajwīzī) an illness or something else. May God protect us from what we fear. Then my cousin (ibn ʿammatī) arrived and informed me that you had become ill, and that you had begun to recover, and I and those with me rejoiced and thanked God for that." Saadya also Ṣedaqa if he wants to secure passage on the Byzantine ship that had just arrived. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 31; V, p. 103; and Goitein's index cards.) ASE.