Geniza Lab

Deposition in the Jewish Court of Tyre, ca. 1028. The rent of a compound in Aleppo has been dedicated by its owner, Hilla b. Joseph, to the Great Synagogue in that city; the sons of Hilla, Mevorakh and Mufarrij, now live in Tyre. They declare before the court that the allegations of a certain man from Aleppo, who claims that the house was sold to him by their father, are vain and unfounded. The brothers insist twice upon the fact that it is the rent that was dedicated. They also insist on the fact that the man cannot prove the purchase, since he holds no deeds of purchase. The intention of the brothers to sell that house is apparent enough, though the relevant passage in this matter has unfortunately been damaged. They seem to be insisting that the dedication of the rent was on condition that it lapses if the heirs decide to sell it. Had the house itself been dedicated, the heirs would not have had a word to say about deeds of purchase nor would the case have been discussed in court at all. As we have it, the story behing the document seems to be that the late Hilla actually received money from the purchaser, but died before the deed of sale had been concluded. The heirs now strive to prevent the man from collecting the rent of the house, in order not to create a legal precedent, and keep the right to sell it at a convenient opportunity. The community of Aleppo probably claimed that the house itself had been dedicated. As to the claimant, he seems to have taken some steps to gain possession of the house, perhaps with the aid of a Muslim court. We have the therefore three parties involved in the case, with conflicting interests. The deposition of the brothers, as recorded by the court in Tyre, is preceded by a lenghty verified introduction, in a very flowery style, which forms the first half of the letter. The first part of the introduction is a eulogy, alphabetically arranged, to the learned people of Aleppo and their leader, the head of the court, R. Yaʿaqov b. Joseph. The letter is written in the hand of Shemuel b. Moshe. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 127-128 #2)

Letter from Ṭoviya b. ʿEli ha-Kohen, in Fustat, to his father ʿEli b. Avraham ha-Kohen, in Banyas/Dan. Dating: May 28, 1112. The son and father had parted ways in Tyre. After a difficult sea voyage, Ṭoviya arrived in Fustat, where he found an epidemic (wabā'). The judge Avraham b. Natan Av became ill and narrowly escaped ("reached the gates of") death, while the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya succumbed. He died on Saturday, the new moon of Tevet, December 2, 1111. (See Cohen, Self-Government, p. 147, where Islamic sources describing the same epidemic are cited as well.) Ṭoviya had received a letter from the Nagid Mevorakh before his death and took it with him to the Rīf, where he stayed for five months. Ṭoviya reports that one of the dignitaries in Fustat—possibly Avraham b. Natan Av—is even more noble and pious than his father had told him. Ṭoviya tells his father to be assiduous in praying for him over Torah scrolls, perhaps because Avraham has not completely recovered from the illness. He also tells him to pray for Moshe Nagid b. Mevorakh. Ṭoviya writes, "Buy me an Aleppo izār (a large wrap or coat) in which I can pray all the time," probably referring to an inexpensive piece of Syrian cotton (Med Soc I, 196). He encourages his father and a certain Natan to join him in Fustat. He sends regards to his brothers Yaḥya and Meir, and to Avraham Pe'er ha-Qahal, and to Mevasser b. Ghālib, and to Yeshuʿa b. Ṣedaqa, and to Yehuda ha-Parnas, and to Y{ū}suf b. Namir. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Ṣedaqa b. Khalaf b. Fuhayd, in Tyre, to Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. al-Sheviʿi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late 11th century or early 12th century, based on Goitein's assessment. The letter relates that after the death of the writer's father, his brother Fahd, who worked in the local mint, had been deceived by a newcomer Abū Manṣūr Baghdādī. It further discusses large sums of money (hundreds of dinars) owed or handled by a man who was found dead on the sea shore. Some say he committeed suicide, some say he was murdered. The writer requests a rescript from al-Mālik (al-Afḍal?) to the Qāḍī Thiqat al-Dawla. Information from Goitein's note card for this shelfmark and for BL OR 5566B.5. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. The handwriting is very likely that of Mūsā b. Yaʿqūb/Moshe b. Yaʿaqov writing from somewhere in the Levant in the 1050s CE to an addressee in Fustat. Compare the documents edited in Gil, Palestine, vol. 3, #514–#517, all of which are addressed to Dāʾūd b. Shaʿya (and two of which also suffer from a milder version of the wet-ink problem). The distinctive feature of the present letter is that the ink was still wet when it was folded/pleated, so almost all of the text is obscured by mirror-image imprints of other lines. (Goitein glanced at it and wrote, "Letter in Hebrew characters on which decorative patterns were printed. (?)") Probably most of it will be illegible until someone devises a clever way to subtract the reflected text. Some of the phrases that can be read are as follows: "... selling the pepper of my master the elder, and I did not know the intention of my master the elder, and Ibn Hillel already received his share... in Damascus and the letter arrived... the caravan already departed from [...]... from Tyre to Egypt... it is not concealed from my master that... 200... if my master the elder has bought some merchandise, its price returned... what he collected from the comb traders (? al-mashshāṭiyyīn) and the Sindis (?! אלסינדיין - this would be exciting but is probably wrong)... (verso) ... in Damascus it is 2/3 dinars per qintar... Damascus... this week... the rosewater... the caravan from Damascus...[skipping to the end]... may your peace increase... if you see fit to write and for the agent to pay for the [...] and charge you(?) for it... writing harshly(?)... for he will come around by being gentle (ʿalā l-mulāṭafa)..." ASE

Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. Draft, with extensive corrections. This document is long, rich, and damaged. Dating: Perhaps c.1100, based on the appearance of Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī; but see the identification tab on FGP for further possible identifications of other people mentioned. Recto is a declaration/testimony in the first person. It opens with a reference to a group of captives, perhaps in Tyre (line 3), who managed to redeem themselves. The narrator donated 20 dinars, and the freed captives were able to travel to Fustat. The original text and the corrected text contain slightly divergent stories, but it seems the narrator gave a second payment of 15 dinars and a third payment of 12 dinars to a specific man (likely Yaʿaqov) and to his mother (the scribe drew up the document with few references to the mother, then subsequently added her into the story). At this point, Sar Shalom b. Ḥiyya and Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī arrived in Fustat and reported that Yaʿaqov was thriving and enjoyed the favor of (had 'ittiṣāl' with) Yehosef Nagid ha-Gola. A shipment of valuable Socotrene aloe now enters the story—Yaʿaqov might have asked the narrator to sell it and send him the money because his mother needed it. The narrator might have objected, citing some terms of the 'tadhkira' that he had with him. The story becomes difficult to follow around here -- it is possible that Yaʿaqov has been embezzling the funds that everyone (the narrator, Yaḥyā ha-Zaqen al-Fāsī b. Avraham, and Yīṣḥaq al-Nafūsī b. Ḥalfon) has been sending him to support his mother (a total of 47 dinars), and now they are demanding confirmation that she has received the money and a release from further obligations. There is a note underneath in smaller text that may contain the findings of the judicial investigation: how much money Yaʿaqov's mother received, how much money Yaʿaqov still owes her, and a confirmation that he has handed over the rest. Someone (Yaʿaqov?) may be called al-Muqaddasī here. The portion of the document on verso is the confirmation that Yaʿaqov's mother has now received all the money, and therefore all parties are now released from further obligations. This reading is tentative, and the document awaits transcription and more definitive study. ASE

Legal document from the high court of the nasi (David b. Daniel) recording testimony of Yefet b. Levi (?) b. Menashshe, acting as power of attorney for his wife, Banāt bt. Abū l-Riḍā Yefet, claiming her father's share of what remains from his partnership with Musāfir b. Shemuel, and recording Musāfir's testimony that he could produce a legal document testifying that Abū l-Riḍā had spoken about this matter differently (i.e. as not being a partnership). The document was then in Tyre, whither Musāfir had sent it for validation by the head of the yeshiva, Eliyyahu Ha-Kohen, and Musāfir asks for a delay until he can have it sent. Verso: parts of one or two other letters, unrelated to the document on recto. ENA 4010.31 and T-S 20.162 are from the same case.

Legal document. Court record. Dated: 1084. Location: Fustat. This document contains a partial court record of a partnership between Yefet b. Wad‘a and Abū Zikrī. While Abū Zikrī was away travelling, Yefet invited Sa‘āda to join the partnership, for which Sa‘āda was to be paid 1.5 dirhams each day. Sa‘āda purchased henna for the partnership, and he called the court to validate his testimony that the value of the henna had dropped. As Yefet both invited Sa‘āda to the partnership in the absence of Abū Zikrī and agreed to pay him a daily wage, he appears to have been either the senior partner or a passive investor, while Abū Zikrī and Sa‘āda are active partners. Given that Yefet has invited Sa‘āda to join the extant partnership (instead of contracting a new partnership with Sa‘āda) Yefet and Abū Zikrī likely both had capital investments in the intial partnership, and Yefet had the task of investing the joint capital while Abū Zikrī pursued other trading opportunities. Unusually, the agreement between Sa‘āda and the other two partners required him to take an oath attesting to partnership accounts should the partnership assets lose value. The remainder of the document (lines 8-28) is a draft of a marriage agreement of a couple who were divorced in Tyre and subsequently reconciled in al-Mahalla. It provides specifics as to the dowry (including money, textiles and clothing, a drinking cup, and a mirror) but lacks the names of the relevant parties. This fragment may have been a page from a notary’s register. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 75-76)

Mercantile letter in Arabic script. Fragment (lower half). "... he will/should sell it for him in Tyre and send him the value in the ṣalībī together with the fleet (al-usṭūl). He has appointed him to collect the value of his money/property with [...] Abu l-Faḍl Ibn al-Baṣrī: the value of sugar, the value of tamarind, ]...] and gold, a total of 3 dinars... and to also collect all the dirhams owed by Mukhtār and to send them with his merchandise in the fleet... with Yūsuf." More sums of money are mentioned in the margin. (The ṣalībiyya were the ships that sailed westward in September, named after the Coptic Feast of the Cross; see Friedman, Dictionary, 738, and Goitein, Med Soc I, 317, 481–82 note 31.)

Karaite betrothal deed. Bride: Yamān bat David b. Isaiah, of Egypt. Groom: Shela b. ʿAmram al-Qirqisānī, of Tyre. Both the bride and groom are represented by agents. The groom appointed his agent (Shelomo b. ʿAdiya b. Menashshe al-Qazzāz, witnessed by Yefet […] Shelomo b. Abraham and Shemuʾel b. Moses he-Ḥaver) in Tyre in 1050 CE (date given according to the Seleucid erd), and the text of the deed of attorney authorising the agent was incorporated into the deed of the betrothal, and ratified by the Karaite court in Fusṭāṭ (under the jurisdiction of the Karaite nasi David b. Ṣemaḥ). The bride’s agent is Shelomo b. Musāfīr (appointment witnessed by Aaron b. Samīḥ ha-Kohen and Ṣedaqa b. Saʿadya). The betrothal took place in 1051 CE, in Fusṭāṭ (date given accodring the both the Seleucid and AM era). Witnessed by Manṣūr b. Mevasser and Shemuʾel b. […]. (Information from CUDL)

Letter of business in Judaeo-Arabic. Very faded. Mentions Abū l-Ḥajjāj Yūsuf and Tyre and the value of the Tyrian dinar. The address is on verso but too faded to read. ASE

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim to Yosef ha-Kohen b. Eli Alfasi, Tyre. Around 1067. Abu Yaakov Yosef b. Eli ha-Kohen is on a ship on his way to , and he is based in Ramla. From there he is traveling to Tyre to receive a shipment from the port. Nahray sends him instructions and asks him about the business. The letter was written in Heshvan 13, and mentions an Islamic holiday that is coming soon. It is probably 10 in Du al-higa that was celebrated in October, 1066-1068. The letter mentions important details about exporting goods from . (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 3, pp. 271-276, #508). VMR

Letter from Nissim b. Ḥalfon in Tyre to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat, ca. 1055.

Letter in the hand of Shemu’el he-Ḥaver ha-Meʿulle b. Moshe he-Ḥaver, in Tyre, to Efrayim he-Ḥaver b. Shemarya he-Ḥasid, in Fusṭāṭ, concerning two sisters, Sittān, wife of Ṣedaqa b. Ezra, and Sarah, wife of Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Yefet, of the Tyre Jewish community, who are trying to claim their inheritance after their father, Ḥalfon, died in Fusṭāṭ, as well as other financial affairs involving members of each community. Dated to c. 1045 CE. Samuel writes his name surrounded by a motto at the foot of the page. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Avraham b. Natan in Tyre to Nahray b. Nissim. Dating: ca. 1090–93. During these years, Avraham b. Natan had to flee Tyre due to Munir al-Dawla's revolt. It was during these years that Avraham b. Natan tried to establish his position in Alexandria and al-Mahalla, an attempt reflected in this letter. On Avraham b. Natan's residence in Alexandria see M. Gil, 'Scroll of Evyatar,' p. 89 lines 29-30. See also Goitein, Med. Soc. Vol. 5, p. 596 no. 19. (Information from Frenkel).

Letter from Yahya b. Sa'ada in Ascalon to Abu Nasr Yehuda al-Dimashqi in Tyre, informing him about payments he had made and regretting that he could not do much for Abu al-Fadl, whom Yehuda had sent to him. Yehuda's shipments were being withheld by claims of a third party. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 268, and Goitein's index cards)

Two paper leaves, very damaged, which form a part of a collection of letters from Evyatar ha-Kohen Gaon b. Eliyyahu, sent from Tyre. The first letter is addressed to Isaac b. Shemuel, the Spaniard, a Dayyan in Fustat. Evyatar appeals to Isaac to help the parnas "ha-Kohen we-ne'eman" ("trustee"), referring to Eli b. Yahya of Fustat. Greetings are sent to a certain parnas Abu al-Ridha and to the Hazzan Abu al-Mu'mar. Dated 1091. The second epistle is evidently addressed to a priestly scholar in Iraq who was authorized by the exilarch Hezekiah. It appears he had written Evyatar about a widow who had become liable to the levirate as her husband Yefet had died without issue. Evyatar sends greetings in the names of his two sons, Eliyyahu and Sadoq, and the banker Shemuel b. Aaron and the shaykh Abu 'Ali Ḥasan are also mentioned. (Jacob Mann, The Jews in Egypt and Palestine under the Fatimids, NY: Ktav Pub., 1920-22, rpt. 1970, 1:192-4, 2:228-9; and Mark Cohen, Jewish Self-government in Medieval Egypt, Princeton University, 1980, 112) EMS

Letter fragment from Yosef Ha-Kohen Ha-Ḥaver b. Yaʿaqov, the head of the Jewish community in Tyre, to Efrayim b. Shemarya, in Fustat, approximately 1040, concerning two sisters from the Tyre Jewish community, who are trying to claim their inheritance after their father, Ḥalfon b. Taʿlab, died in Fusṭaṭ in 1040 CE. Most of the details, such as the names of the sisters, are not preserved, but the name of the husband of one of the sisters, Ṣedaqa b. Ezra, is preserved, linking this letter with T-S 10J12.25 and T-S 13J18.1, which is five years later, dealing with the same case, and preserving more details including the names of the sisters. (Information from CUDL)

Letter of business from Isma'il b. Ishaq al-Andalusi, in Tyre, to Nahray b. Nissim. The writer alludes to his great losses at sea while simultaneously thanking God, who has replaced what has been lost many times over. Also includes a quotation from II Shemuel 14:20. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:60, 332, 405, 485; 5:239, 571, 572) EMS

Letter from Yisrael b. Natan, Tyre, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, ca. 1060 in the month of Ab.

Draft of deed of attorney written in Tyre, which includes an accounting between partners after the death of one of them, Menashshe b. Yiṣḥaq, and indicates the use of documents drawn in a Muslim court. Dating: Ca. 1041 or slightly later. According to Bareket, this is in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, it was drawn up in Fustat, and it is related to T-S 10J6.6 and T-S 8J11.1.