Geniza Lab

Letter from Semah from Palermo, to Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria. Around 1055. Mentions import of flax from Egypt to Palermo and exports of silk and lead from Sicily to Egypt. Also mentions the ship of Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ (r19 and v7), the qunbār of the amīr (v7) and the qārib of the vizier (v7). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #789)

Ketubba that has been badly damaged yet a portion of the dowry is still visible as "עשר אלף מיידיס כסף..." (10,000+ silver medin). The mention of this coinage along with the paleography help to date the ketubba fragment as 16th-19th-century. Portions of the bridal gifts are still legible as "חריר/silk", "קומאש/cloth", and a "קפטאן/robe". At the lower border of the document one of the witnesses' signatures remains from Nissim Terez[?] ("תרז"). MCD.

Letter from David ben Naʿim to Moshe ben Naʿim, in Alexandria. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 27 Tishrei 5585 AM, which is 1824 CE. Discusses various business matters and may add that the family had to leave their house on the week of Yom Kippur and they have been staying in 'bayt al-qāʿa' in 'Dar[b] al-Chelebi,' where Yosef Aghion used to be. There are three postscripts. One mentions a certain Daniel and business in Salonica; another mentions receiving a payment from 'the silk office' (dīwān al-ḥarīr) amounting to 546 gurush and 33 silver (probably medins). Also mentions a merchant surnamed Hamon. Needs further examination.

Letter in early Judaeo-Persian. Dating: ca. 790. Matters discussed include the local ruler and his daughter, a trade deal or gift exchange with them involving sheep, Sogdians, slaves, capers, musk, silk, sugar, and news of Kashgar, including the capture or killing of Tibetans in battle. The dating is based on political events in western China to which the letter seems to be alluding. The variant of New Persian in which the letter is written is, according to Zhan Zhang, very early, containing grammatical and/or lexical elements from Middle Persian, Sogdian, Hebrew, Arabic and Chinese. The letter surfaced in China in 2004 and is now housed at the National Library of China. Zhang published an edition and Chinese translation in 2009: “Yijian xinfaxian Youtaibosiyu xinzha de duandai yu shidu ⼀ 件新发现犹太波斯 信札的断代与 [Dating and interpretation of a newly-discovered Judaeo-Persian letter]," Dunhuang tulufan yanjiu 敦煌吐番研究 11 (2008) [2009], 77–99. An English translation of Zhang's Chinese translation appears in Valerie Hansen, The Silk Road: A New History with Documents (2012). Zhang is working on a new edition and a new English translation as of 2021.

Letter from Efrayim b. Ismaʿīl al-Jawharī (Alexandria) to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. ʿAwkal (Fustat). Provides information about goods, mainly fabrics, that came from the Maghreb to Alexandria and about their transfer to Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 543.)

Letter from Nissim b. Ḥalfon to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat), ca. 1055, sent as an addendum to an earlier letter, which has not been identified. Nissim b. Ḥalfon sends rose water and raisins, enquires about textiles prices and asks Nahray to sell the silk (lāsīn) that he had sent to Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 960.) Informs Nahray that the fleet of ships that sailed from Tyre is expected to arrive this week. (Information from Goitein notes linked below.)

Will of a silk-weaver named Abū l-Faḍl b. Barakāt Ibn al-Maqdisī, dividing his house, workshop, and other belongings to his four sons. In the hand of Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi. Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 15 Kislev 1500 Seleucid, which is December 1188 CE, under the authority of the Gaʾon Sar Shalom ha-Levi. Signed by: Shelomo b. Nissim and Levi b. Avraham ha-Levi (may be identical with Abū Sahl Levi the cantor, father of Yedutun and Moshe b. Levi; may also be the same Levi b. Avraham who appears in T-S NS J273 in connection to a silk workshop). There is a full translation and commentary in Goitein's attached notes. ENA NS 76.435.6 + ENA NS 76.435.7 is an earlier, messier version of the same document (same scribe, same date, signed by the same witnesses).

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Simha al-Naysaburi, in Alexandria, to Ulla ha-Levi b. Yosef, Fustat. Dating: around 1080. Concerns trade in saffron and other spices, and in silk, and lists prices. Mentions some details about ships. The writer mentions a third partner. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #739) VMR

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: 1151. Location: Minyat Ashna (near Fustat). Following appeals by his deceased brother Binyam's widow to the court, Kathīr b. Avraham takes over the maintenance (1 dinar a month, an aboslute requirement) of his sister-in-law's orphaned children as a sort of partnership. The sources of this funding are a) rent revenue from shops in Malij left to the children by Binyam and b), the profit earned by Kathīr from 20 dinars’ worth of silk from estate of Binyam. Unusually, the "partnership" profits are not split according to a fixed percentage, but rather the children, as the "silent partner", receive a fixed amount each month. This is effectively a long-term loan or trust created under the structure of a partnership agreement. Per Goitein, Shemuel b. Yehuda ibn Asad, previous caretaker of the orphans, was apparently a regular caretaker and trustee for orphans; see PGPID 2658. Shemuel is the same Abū al-Ma‘ālī in PGPID 6581. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", pp. 7-10)

Sub-leasing agreement of a tax farm of silk production for the town of Bush and its surroundings, which was worth 3.5 dinars. Dated Tammuz 1458/ June 1147. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 606, 607)

Detailed commercial accounts for the year 1526/1215 of a silk merchant who served also as Parnas. His business correspondent was charged with collecting a yearly pledge for Rabbi Jophthan, wherefore this detail of communal finance appears in the private account of these two merchants. The sums collected are debited to the business correspondent, the monthly payments of four dirhams to Rabbi Jophthan are credited to him. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 465)

Sub-leasing agreement written in Damietta in 1106 in which the farmer of the dues from dyeing and selling silk in the district of Damietta sub-leases his rights regarding a small town named Ibwan to three partners for the duration of one year against a payment of two dinars per month. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 361, 362, 606)

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: November 28, 1062 (Udovitch). The writer recently returned from a long trip in Palestine. He suffered from illness during his trip. He visited Jerusalem, and had the time to manage trading, as he bought textile products, oil, nuts, and silk, and arranged shipments of coins. The writer also mentions the bad times in Egypt and the pressure that the community in Tripoli, Libya, is having because of the taxes. Goitein translation of the illness passage (r5–11), slightly altered, is as follows: "You have received no letter from me, because exhaustion (iltiyāth) did not leave my body from the very time I left. I arrived in Tyre, but was unable to do business there for more than five days and then remained confined to bed (lāzim al-farsh) for nineteen days. Finally God granted me recovery. I proceeded to Jaffa and from there went up to Jerusalem—may God rebuild it—and again I could not do there business for more than eight days and then was confined to bed (lāzim al-farsh), suffering from chills and fever (al-bard wa-l-ḥummā), during the month (of the High Holidays). By God I was unable to walk up the Mountain (of Olives) on the day of the Festival (21 Tishrei) but had to ride. I gave myself up. But God the exalted was merciful to me for the sake of His name and gave me health. I was able to leave the house, but the remnant of the weakness (or 'illness'; baqiyyat al-ḍuʿf) is still with me. The travel to Tinnīs, and from there home, was a great trial which to describe would take too much space. I praise God who turned the end to the good and brought me back in safety." Information from Goitein's note card (#27134) and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #449. VMR. ASE.

Draft of private account of Yosef b. Eli Kohen al-Fasi. Around 1057. Contains details about partnership between the writer and Barhun b. Salah regarding purchase of flax in Busir, and details about silk business. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #397) VMR

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, the uncle of Nahray b. Nissim, in Alexandria, to Nahray's son, Abū Saʿd Nissim b. Nahray, in Fustat, ca. 1066. The letter relates many commercial matters and mentions Avraham al-Derʿi as Natan's commercial competitor in coral trade. From Nahray's title and from the fact that Nissim is already grown up and involved in trade, one can conclude that the letter was written in the late nineties of the 11th century. Doc. #43 in Nahray's archive. Mentions various goods: silk, clothes, pearls, lapiz lazuli and tin (Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 439).

Detailed letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Simḥa Naysābūrī, Alexandria, to Abū l-ʿAlā Sā'id (i.e. ʿŪllā) b. Yosef ha-Levi the Trustee of the rabbinical court of Fustat in Fustat. (Gil's ID based on handwriting.) Dating: ca.1120 CE. The main topic of the letter is a great disaster that befell the writer and many other merchants. Of a convoy of five ships, three, carrying a load to the value of about 200,000 dinars, were lost. In the ship carrying the writer's goods, there were ten Jews, prominent in their home town (most probably Tripoli), who, in addition to merchandise to the value of 7,000 dinars, lost all their money, belongings and even clothing. The writer's cargo amounted to 500 d., of which 320 d. were his own and the rest on commission. One of the Jewish travellers, Abū l-Faḍl b. Abū l-Yumn al-Dimashqī, known to the addressee from a previous visit to Fustat, perished. As the writer obviously was hit hard by that disaster, he asks his friend to take steps to coerce merchants owing him money—Siman Tav (not Tov), Abū Manṣūr, and Jaʿfarī—to fulfill their obligations. In addition, the letter deals with many other business affairs. In a postscript, the writer reports that the banker (ṣārafī, to be pronounced ṣayrafī) Abū l-Maʿālī died bankrupt, owing people about a thousand dinars, to Jews alone about 600, and to the writer 27d. Many other names mentioned. Main merchandise: silk and other textiles, corals, but also wax and millstones. Information from Goitein's attached notes.

Business letter from a Maghribī merchant. Addressed to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov and Hilāl (or at least these names appear in the address) In Judaeo-Arabic, with one line of Arabic script in the address. Dating: Likely 11th century. Mentions silk and Abū l-Khayr Mūsā b. Barhūn. Unpublished.

Letter in which the writer asks the recipient to deliver the bearer of the letter fifty dirhams worth of black silk, since the writer is unemployed due to lack of this material. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Accounts in Ladino and Hebrew. Western Arabic numerals are in use with one entry on the recto dated 26 Sivan [5]632 or July 2 1872CE. This dated entry also mentions S[eñor] Yiṣḥaq Menashshe and lists a variety of coinage types such as "old one ducats / דוקאדו ישן אונו" and "new ducats / דוקאדוס מואיבוס". Given the dating of the fragment, the latter coinage designation is likely not a reference to Venetian gold ducats, however, the "old one ducats" may refer to pre-1797 currency from Venice. Another coinage label takes form in "Mahmudi / מאחמודי" which is reference to money minted under the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II. The list format continues on the fragment's verso with a wide variety of goods referenced, such as "black and white silk string / קורדילה די סידה לבן ושחור" which appears ten lines up from the bottom of the right column. MCD.

Fragment of a letter from Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria. Mentions silk and business concerning dresses. The addressee is unknown although it seems his father’s name is Yahya. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #266) VMR