Geniza Lab

Letter from Al-Mubārak b. Yiṣḥaq Ibn Sabra to his "father" (paternal uncle?) Abū l-Ḥasan Surūr b. Ḥayyim Ibn Sabra. He reports that Ibn Siman Ṭov (בן סימנטב) arrived and told him that the addressee had purchased a sack (tillīs) of wheat for 7 dinars, which saddened him, because Mubārak could have gotten him 2 sacks of superior wheat from his supply in Tinnīs. Indeed, Mubārak is struggling financially, and that would have helped him. He has been worrying so much about his goods in Tinnīs that he suffered an attack of yellow bile and broke out in pustules (fa-min kuthrat mā ḥamaltu ʿalā qalbī laḥaqanī khulṭ ṣafrāwī wa-ṭalaʿa ʿalayya bathr). People are in state of fear due to an unspecified situation. Mubārak had sent a letter with Maymūn al-Maghribī concerning garments that the addressee is supposed to send, because he hasn't even been able to afford a שראשי(?) to wear. He hasn't gone to the synagogue for several Shabbats (it seems due to his financial straits and lack of decent clothing). ASE

List of distribution of wheat. In the hand of the court clerk Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ibn al-Qata'if (dated documents 1100-1138). This fragment was transferred to ENA NS 77 but is currently unlocatable.

List recording distribution or, equally if not more likely, contributions of wheat (as in T-S AS 145.21, 'thabat qamḥ al-[ʿaniyyim]'). See also ENA NS 77.94.

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, in Rashid, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Around 1061. The writer writes about purchasing wheat before Passover. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #414) VMR

Letter from Yosef b. Nadiv the cantor, in Bilbays, to Eliyyahu b. Zekharya the Judge in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mostly about business in wheat. The sender explains that he did not travel to Fustat in person on account of his capitation tax and that of his son Makārim. However, if 'Rabbenu' wishes him to sit around unemployed, he will come to Fustat and do so and will study under him Ḥullin and Qiddushin and Giṭṭin. The sender prays for the Nagid Avraham Maimonides every Shabbat when he lifts up the the Torah scroll. Greetings to Berakhot (=probably Shelomo, Eliyyahu's son) and various other people.

Letter from Yoshe’a b. Natan, probably from Bahanasa, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. September 29, 1051. The letter contains many details about the last phase of arranging the linen for business: the lack in paint to paint the strings and flax growers that did not deliver the goods although they already received the payment. The writer asks Nahray to contact the special Diwan who was in charge of the linen, through Yehuda b. Se’adya (that became “Nagid” later). Yoshe’a expresses his worries for his family and their needs, and asks to deliver everything to Dihn (probably his wife’s name). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #580) VMR

Letter from Awad b. Hananel from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1060. The writer is in urgent need of cash "I do not even have a single dīnār left, whatever I had, I purchased with it wheat", "I am in need of your generosity, I do not have a single dirham". Describes the increasing prices of wheat and beans. Mentions a shipment of nuts and oil. It seems that the writer lives in a house that belongs to Nahray. (Information from Gil). VMR, YU.

Business letter, fragment, from Abū Naṣr b. Ibrāhīm, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel, in Fustat. Ending only. Dating: Early 1130s CE. The letter includes information on trade in wheat. This is one of the earliest letters of Abū Naṣr to Ḥalfon: from the contents of the letter he appears inexperienced and Ḥalfon serves as his instructor and patron. (Information from Frenkel)

Legal document. Court proceeding. Location: Fustat. Dated: February 1160. Ḥiyya b. Yiṣḥaq (the son of Isaac b. Samuel ha-Sefardī) invested 65 dinars with Abū al-Ḥasan Ibn Ṭibān Tobijah ha-Levi al-Tājir b. Abū Sa‘d Samuel ha-Levi al-Tājir as a commenda, with profits to be split evenly between the two. Trading losses reduced the capital to 39 dinars, and Ḥiyya retained Abū al-Rabī‘ Suleymān Solomon ha-Kohen al-‘Aṭṭār b. Judah ha-Kohen to collect the remaining proceeds from Tobijah. Solomon received 30 of the 39 dinars he expected, the same amount which Solomon seems to have advanced Ḥiyya prior to Solomon’s departure. Abū al-Tājir Adōnīm Nānū collects an additional 10 dinars, which he had also advanced Ḥiyya. The document does not specify any initial partnership stipulations in terms of losses, but the court seems to have ruled that Abū al-Ḥasan was liable for one-third of the losses of 26 dinars (eight and two-thirds dinars). Having already repaid 40 dinars, he still owes seven and two-thirds dinars. For this balance, Abū al-Ḥasan wrote a debt document. Abū al-Ḥasan was then free of any obligation to Ḥiyya, and Solomon handed over the document that obligated Abū al-Ḥasan in the portion of the commenda assets, though he was clear that Abū al-Ḥasan was still subject to the "oath of partners", indicating that Abū al-Ḥasan would be liable for mishandling of the commenda assets. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 238)

Letter from a merchant addressed at least in part to his mother ('wa-yā ummī'). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Perhaps 12th century. He complains about the wretched quality of his food and drink and sleep and how 'nobody suffers what I suffer from [long]ing.' He mentions the towns of Minya and Qūṣ and repeatedly mentions the price of wheat and bread. The mother should borrow the money she needs to purchase wheat, and he will pay it off when he can. (Information in part from CUDL)

Report to a Jewish official, perhaps the Nagid. The sender had been ordered to intervene with Abū l-Makārim, who had been delinquent paying the 20 dirhams he owed each month to his wife. The sender met with Abū l-Makārim, who defended himself by saying that he owes 100 dirhams in Fustat for the price of wheat and will be arrested if he enters ('as his wife knows'). Abū l-Makārim also owes some money (durayhimāt) to people in the army camp (al-ʿaskar). The request is for the addressee to intervene with Abū l-Makārim's wife and ask her to be patient for another 2 months, 'for perhaps I will earn something to propitiate her and to pay off the debts that I owe'—interestingly this sentence is in Abū l-Makārim's own voice. On verso there is a pen trial (tajriba). (Information in part from CUDL.) EMS. ASE.

Verso: List of "those who have not received their share" (al-bāqiyyīn bi-lā akhdh), i.e., in the distribution of wheat. Dating: Probably 1215–40 CE, based on Goitein's assessment and the date of the document on recto. There are three lists. I. Parties receiving wheat. II.Twelve parties (of whom at least six are repeated from list I) getting sums, mostly of 2.5 or 5 (dirhams). III. Names without any explanation added, some identical with those in the list T-S NS J440. The neglected people listed were mostly outsiders, either foreigners (Rum/Byzantium, Persia, Jerusalem, Barqa, etc.) or from Egypt itself (Alexandria, al-Mahalla, Minyat Ghamr, Benha, Damira, Dakarnas). The overlinings may mean these persons have now received, which would explain the fact that mostly it is the same names above and below that are overlined. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 462–63, App. B 85.)

Distribution of wheat to Byzantines (thabat al-Rūm). Belongs with T-S K15.113. Dating: ca. 1100–40 CE.

Mercantile letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The sender and addressee are unknown. Dating: Probably 11th century. Mentions people such as Abū Yaʿaqov the brother of Tamra(?); a poor old man (shaykh suʿlūk); Ibn al-Fakkāh. Mentions goods such as: pepper, cinnamon, brazilwood, wheat, oil, and Kirmānī indigo. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #835.) VMR

Distribution of wheat to Europeans, altogether 49 households including households consisting of only one person. First item: 'The proselyte--3; his female slave Mubaraka--1/2 wayba.' (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 444, App. B 26, dated 1100-1140)

List of 103 people, households, or groups receiving wheat. Amounts: between 1/2 and 3 waybas (1 wayba = ca. 4 gallons). Goitein there are comments added to the list (‘died,' 'absent’). Before a comprehensive distribution of wheat, communal officials scrutinized the list from the preceding distribution and made a note. of changes in circumstance, such as deaths, changes in economic situation, and departures. The updated list was then copied and used as a basis for the current distribution. One item is followed by this remark: "Note, ruqʿa, from the rayyis: this man should not receive anything." Cohen dates this list to slightly after App. B 25, 29, 31, 32, 33, since 3 people mentioned there are listed here as having died. (Information from Mediterranean Society II, pp. 457-458, App. B 66, Goitein's index card, and from Mark Cohen)

Will in which irdabbs of wheat were assigned to the heqdesh (pious trust) and another purpose. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 543)

Letter from a father who has traveled away to his son at home. In Judaeo-Arabic and some Hebrew. Rudimentary hand and orthography, with many colloquialisms. The sender is worried about Abū Isḥāq. He gives detailed instructions about business transactions involving wheat, gallnuts, and perhaps a fruit harvest (qiṭf, last line of recto). The instructions involve Ibn al-Tājir and Nuṣayr. The sender has been stuck in al-Minya for 8 days; it seems that the boat is stuck in the mud. Regards to al-Shaykh al-Neʾeman, Elʿazar(?), and his cousin (ibn ʿamm) and his female cousin (bint ʿamm) Zahra. He adds in a postscript: “I ran into the son of Wazīra(?) in a boat (not my boat). I said, “Where to?” He said, “Running away from my father and mother.” I said, “Go back!” He said, “Leave me alone(?). I will not ‘drown myself’ (by returning?). He said, “They don’t let me have anything (as long as) I am near/with them. (Or maybe: I am in debt to them?)” I kept trying to turn him back, but I couldn’t… I gave him a rebuke (ʿiẓa), and he didn’t respond(?) and went to Bahnasa to stay with Abū Saʿid. He is in good health, so reassure [his father] about him.” ASE

Court records and notes in the hand of the judge Natan b. Shemuel. Dating: Ca. 1143 CE. Entries include the estate inventory of Abū l-Barakāt Ibn al-Sharābī (including a huge library containing 200 bound codices), payment of a debt, an instruction to charge the community fund with 75 dirhams, and the sale of a house. (Information from CUDL.) Gil edited one of the entries; this is the transcription below. Record of a payment to an Amir, ca. 1143. Two payments in wheat, due the army commander (amir) Hiṣn al-Dawla, are effected through the qodesh; the account is briefly recorded among other records of the court. The date corresponding to 1143 appears on the reverse side of the document, written in the same hand. A previous PGP description erroneously called this "Rough draft of an agreement between spouses, in the hand of Hillel b. Eli."