Geniza Lab

Accounts in the hand of Nissim b. Ḥalfon, presented to Nahray b. Nissim; 1066 CE. Lists payments for various goods, made either directly or through others, and gives details of various shipments, some of them to Tripoli, Libya. Mentions skins, textiles, beads, sugar, red wood, ammonia, furs, lead, baked goods, wine, meat, camphor, wax, tin, cloves, pearls and laque. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 986.)

Letter to Abū Saʿd ('the dear boy'). In Judaeo-Arabic Contains inter alia a disquisition on lashon ha-raʿ and a detailed order for an ʿarḍī cloth worth 60–70 dirhams. Information from Goitein's note card.

Business letter in Arabic script from an unknown trader to another unknown trader regarding textiles: Siqillī, Ṭabarī, and Sūsī cloth. Second half of the eleventh century.

Letter addressed to Naḥum b. Sulaymān al-Iskandarānī, in Fustat. The writer is unidentified. In Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee's letter concerning the house arrived with Mūsā. But the writer met with the addressee's father and brother and with Ismāʿīl and determined that the addressee was mistaken about something. The writer is interested in the turban and the Venetian khirqa and mentions a maqṭaʿ cloth as well. The ambergris that Abū l-Rabīʿ brought has not sold yet, which means his capital is currently tied up in it. The writer has sent pearls with the bearer Masʿūd, and the addressee should look out for him and exchange with Masʿūd the ambergris that he will tell him about. ASE

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy, Alexandria, to his relative Abu l-Ḥasan Shelomo b. Nissim al-Barqi, containing instructions about selling goods such as textiles and lead in Fustat.

Letter from Abū Manṣūr, perhaps in Alexandria, to his 'brother' Abū Saʿd, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century, based on the script and appearance. Dealing largely with business matters. The writer has sent 1 2/3 raṭls of flax/linen with this letter. Both he and the addressee are in the garment-making trade. The writer gives instructions for hemming an ʿarḍī garment with either silk or linen or both. The addressee's mother is mentioned. Vitriol (zāj) is another commodity they deal with; the addressee had promised to send some, but he never did. T-S 12.309 is another letter with the same writer and addressee. ASE

Letter in Ladino, nearly complete but with numerous lacunae, from a mother to her daughter, addressed to her son-in-law Yaʿaqov Reshit (?) in Saida. The writer was expecting deliveries of several items, mostly fabrics (e.g. a cortina and a mandīl; she has also sent a vela to the addressee) but some obscure commodities as well (e.g. טובאזֿא/טובאכֿא and פאניין). However, it seems most of the expected items have not arrived. The writer repeatedly rebukes the addressee for this failure. "I will not send you anything until your sister. . . ." She is also disgruntled about learning about her new grandson through a third party: "You did not write me to tell me that you gave birth to a boy. I already found out, barukh hashem, no thanks to you. And peace. Kisses to the boys from me. And peace." Her signature seems disgruntled as well: "That which you wish to see, that I, your mother, write to you." In a postscript she sends regards to her son-in-law. Verso contains the address in Hebrew, along with various other jottings. ASE.

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.

Business letter dealing with shipments of textiles within Egypt. The name Abu al-Ḥasan is mentioned. addresed to Barakāt b. Khulayf.

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Location: Cairo. Dating: 1204-1237. Partnership agreement in cloth trade between Pinhas b. Elazar ha-Kohen and Moshe ha-Levi. Both partners seem to be active. Profits are to be split evenly, and each of the partners is to be trusted (that is, without requiring the testimony of witnesses) as to partnership accounting, suggesting that the partners did not spend their time together in a single location. The term of the partnership is also specified, though not preserved. The date has not been preserved, but the incomplete titles on lines 23-24 suggest that it falls during the headship of Avraham Maimuni (active between 1204-1237). (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 47-49)

Business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. "I had a few durayhims, hardly worth mentioning, and I tried to purchase yarn with them, but I could not. For I want someone who will buy from the silk weavers (al-qazzāzīn), and if a silk weaver comes into possession of something that cannot be believed, he will purchase it for himself." Somewhat cryptic; needs further examination.

Receipt or bill or account. In Arabic script. May be stating that the writer has received (akhadhtuhā) the sum of 50 dirhams for various textile-related expenses. Lines 2–3 may include the phrases "in the hand of the Rāb" and "the presence of the judges." The line items include the laundering (ghasīl) of a silk brocade veil (al-sitr al-dībāj), the laundering of two white ghiṭā's, the price of silk, dyeing (ṣibāgh), and sewing (khiyāṭ). ASE

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Tuvya b. Eli to Natan ha-kohen b. Shelomo dealing with commercial matters regarding fabric and mentioning many locations in the Rif (Minyat Zifta, Sunbat etc). It also deals with communal matters and a pesiqa. Berakhot, [...] b. Avraham, Abu al-Ḥasan Rosh ha-qahal are all mentioned. On the back of a letter there is a large vocalized piyyut.

Business letter from Zekharya b. Yaaqov b. al-Shama, from Tripoli (Libya), to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1065. The writer is about to travel to Sfax to sell textiles. With the money he will receive, he plans to buy oil and needs 100 jugs for that. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #670) VMR

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic, discussing various garments and textiles.

Letter. One of the small handful of Judaeo-Arabic papyri. Labeled "papyrus I" in the classification of Blau and Hopkins. Dating: Probably 9th century or earlier. Unlikely to have come from the Cairo Geniza; it is possible that most or all of these documents derive from a commercial circle in Ushmūn. This is a letter from Ḥusayn b. Suwayd to his business partner Abū Yaʿqūb Isḥāq b. Ṣadaqa. (Same sender and addressee as Judaeo-Arabic papyrus XIII.) It deals entirely with shipments of garments and payments. (Information from Blau and Hopkins, and from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 282.)

Letter from Nissim b. Ḥalfon, probably in Tinnis, to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. Around 1046. The writer is about to travel to Palestine. Mentions Sahln b. Avraham (Abu Amar). The letter deals with shipments of goods and money, including cloth packaging, raisins, house products, and “Lasin” silk. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #584) VMR

Letter from Hassun b. Yiṣḥaq to a partner. Business letter discussing payments and shipments, apparently of flax and textiles. Dated ca. 1050. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #807)

Letter from Yeshayahu b. Ishaq to Abu Avraham Ismail b. Avraham with an urgent request to hand over six loads of textiles to the 'Dar al-Kattan.' The sender also writes that he has paid a messenger four dirhams per day to travel from Alexandria to Cairo and back, which took him seven days in total. The 28 dirhams which the messenger received equaled at this time one gold piece, as is stated in the letter. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 167, 290, 440, 472, and Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Mūsā b. Barhūn al-Tāhirtī and his brother Yiṣḥaq b. Barhūn, in Qayrawān, to the senior Tustari brothers (Abū l-Faḍl Sahl (Yashar), Abū Yaʿaqov Yosef, and Abū Sahl Saʿīd the sons of Yisraʾel), in Fustat. Dating: probably first decade of the 11th century. Written on parchment. Though the address lists all the brothers (the members of the respective family firms), the letter is principally from Mūsā al-Tāhirtī to Sahl al-Tustarī. The letter deals mainly with trade in expensive textiles, including some which the Tustaris had shipped for Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef, the leading Jewish merchant of Qayrawān (active 990s–1030s). (Information from Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, pp. 73–79.)