Geniza Lab

Letter from Shemuel b. Yehuda. In Judaeo-Arabic. He reports that he sent all the money that Sālim b. Khaṣīb(?) owed to Abū ʿAlī Ḥusayn, namely 21 dinars + 1/3 + 1/4 + 1/8. The remainder discusses a quarter-dinar that he evidently subtracted from this total and various legal documents relating to the debt. NB: Either the FGP images or metadata for Halper 380 and Halper 381 are assigned to the wrong shelfmark; see 381 for the description of 380 and vice versa.

Letter from ʿOvadya, Avraham, and Yefet the sons of Shemarya to Avraham b. Natan 'the Seventh', titled Ḥemdat ha-Yeshivot. The letter opens with a paragraph of at least 20 lines of panegyric blessings in Hebrew. The 18 remaining lines are the content of the letter in Judaeo-Arabic, which is also laden with honorific terms. The writers express their longing for Avraham yet decline his invitation to visit him in Syria (אלשאם), as they will be staying in al-Maḥalla (in the central Nile delta), with friends from Aleppo for another two months. The addressee also received the letters T-S NS J131 (from the Nagid Mevorakh ben Saadya 1094–1111); Bodl. MS heb. d. 68/29; T-S 13J15.24 (from Solomon ben Yeshua, the same hand as the previous); T-S 10J11.16 (there: b. Nathaniel); T-S NS J24 (from his brother Araḥ); T-S 18J4.2; and T-S 13J15.24. He appears in a list of dignitaries in BL Or. 5535 (Margoliouth, vol. III no. 1131). A biographical sketch of him was assembled by M. Cohen, Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Egypt, 1980, pp. 130–31. The address on verso is followed by a basmala in Arabic script. Information from FGP

Letter from Ḥayyim b. ʿAmmār Madīnī of Palermo, Sicily, to Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā b. Menashshe Ḥalfon (Fustat). Ca. 1060. The sender, who is writing from Alexandria, has visited Fustat and stayed with the family of the recipient. In the letter his expresses thanks for their hospitality and asks to send him next year the silver spoon he had forgotten. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 163-164 and Goitein notes linked below.)

Business letter relating to the India trade. In Judaeo-Arabic. The names of the sender and addressee are not preserved. Goitein initially thought the handwriting was that of Abū Zikrī Kohen but later crossed out that identification. The sender reports that he sent cloves before embarking on a ship; Ibn Efrayim aided him somehow. He mentions that a wimple/veil (miʿjar) was 'in the mountain' and that nothing arrived from India. Where the text resumes on verso, he may be writing about commodities including 2 pearls (durratayn, although Goitein later crossed out this reading) that sold for 12 royal (malikī) dinars. With this money, he bought more cloves and sent them with Tamīm. Regards to Abū Saʿīd b. Thābit. (Information in part from Goitein notes linked below.) ASE

Letter from Mardūk b. Mūsā (Alexandria) to Nahray b. Nissim; probably 21 July 1046. Talks about sending back sacks and about an inkstand (Gil) that Mardūk asked to be sent to him but that is being delayed in Fustat. Mentions difficulties in selling cotton and linen. Nahray is about to travel to Būṣīr. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 769.)

Letter undated and unsigned.

A letter from the 13th century in polished Arabic from Hibat Allah asking for a loan of 60 dirhams, which she promises to repay quickly. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from Salāma b. Mūsā of Sfax, in Mazar, Sicily, to his partner Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sughmār, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The longest letter in the Geniza. Dating: Early 1060s according to Ben-Sasson, based on the military disruptions mentioned. 7 September 1064 according to Gil, based on his identification of the battle discussed as that between the Qā'id of Sfax and the Zīrid ruler Tamīm b. Muʿizz on that date. Many details about a wide variety of commodities are mentioned, as well as financial transactions. "In essence, this long letter had a single purpose: to convince Yehuda b. Sughmār, Salāma's partner, not to dissolve the relationship between them." Salāma in fact agrees to the dissolution of the formal partnership (ṣuḥba), "I got your letters this year, and you swore that you wanted to dissolve. I want this to happen even more than you do. If the partnership continues there will be discord. . . . Now we no longer feel as we used to, when we relied on each other" (v4–5, 30). Despite this, Salāma suggests other ways of continuing their relationship, including Yehuda's mentoring of Nissim, a new junior associate Salāma is sending to him, and Yehuda's sending Salāma some goods in agency. Jessica Goldberg, Trade and Institutions, pp. 296–99 ("Salāma b. Mūsā's Disastrous Year"). Salāma opens with his shock and dismay at the letters full of blame that he had received from Yehuda. "I had expected you to congratulate me on my survival in al-Mahdiyya, my deliverance from destruction, and the terrible ordeal (al-mawqif al-ʿaẓīm, also mentioned in r23) that I would not wish on anyone. I was bound (kutiftu) and almost killed (or executed, ʿuriḍtu ʿalā l-sayf) four times (or five—the ink is flaked here). Even if there were no partnership (sharika), love, (mawadda), or association (ṣuḥba) between us, this would have been incumbent on you. Now, more than one year later, the terror has not subsided, rather the fright remains in my heart. My greatest trial in al-Mahdiyya was my concern for your business. . . ." Interestingly, when Salāma mentions Yehuda's illnesses of last year (mā laḥaqak tilk al-sana min al-ḍuʿf wa-l-tawajjuʿ, r75), there is not a word of the usual sympathy or congratulations on his recovery. Gil understands Halper 414 to be a follow-up from this letter; Goldberg believes that Halper 414, a small sheet, was inserted into Halper 389, which seems to agree with Goitein, who calls it a "continuation" of Halper 389 (see Goitein notes linked to PGPID 35364). Information from Goldberg, Ben-Sasson, and Gil. ASE; MR

Letter from Salāma b. Mūsā Safāquṣī (Māzar) to Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sughmār, 1064. This letter is a follow-up from the letter in Halper 389 (Gil) that hints at the possibility of breaking up the partnership between the sender and the recipient. In this letter, Salāma b. Mūsā Safāquṣī demonstrates his readiness to make concessions in settling their accounts and is prepared to bear himself the loss of 60 dinars. He expresses his wish to continue with the partnership. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 475. See also Goitein notes.) (Formerly PGPID 5735)

Business letter from Marduk b. Musa, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. There are details on moneychanging, and the order of various commodities, mainly gems and perfumes and spices, which the writer asks Nahray to get him in Fustat. January 10th 1048 (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #534) LB see also Goitein Nachlass material

Letter from the people of Jerusalem, probably to Efrayim b. Shemarya, ca. 1030.

Letter in flowery Hebrew from Yiṣḥaq Beveniste of Narbonne, France, who visited Fustat around 1105, writing to Yehoshuaʿ b. Dosa in Fustat, reporting that at nighttime he was robbed and needed 8 dinars to replace his good clothing (Information from Mediterranean Society vol. II, 131)

Letter from ʿAmram b. Yosef to Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy, Alexandria. Dating: 1094–97 CE. "The addressee Moses, mostly referred to as Mūsā, was active in communal affairs and was honored, because of his generosity, with the title Segullat (ha-'Yeshiva), 'Treasure' (of the Academy).l He was a native of Tunisia, who had settled in Alexandria and was temporarily in Fustat. Lines 1-32, and margin. Expressions of friendship, complaints about the bad times, personal misfortune, and an eye disease, which made it impossible for Amram to come to Fustat in person.2 Verso, lines 1-7. Letters from Yosef b. Abū Kathīr Ibn Yahboy,3 sent, it seems, from 'Aydhab,4 contained, according to hearsay, news about Abū l-Faraj Nissim and the camphor. The addressee is advised to question the Jewish merchants arriving from there. Lines 7-20. In his dire circumstances ʿAmram had given some of his books to the schoolteacher Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī (also a Maghrebi) to sell, but this man had moved to Fustat and nothing was heard from him. Mūsā is asked to remind him of his duties as a pious person and gentleman.5 {See the introduction to II, 3, for the dating.}" Description from India Book, English edition

Letter from Bu al-Muna ibn 'Imran to Ali Abu al-Ḥasan b. Sa'id in which the former discusses business matters. Mentions a youth 'Ben Nusayr' from Sanhur (Egypt) as an agent. From around 1100. (Information from Halper Catalogue)

Letter from an unidentified person connected to Ibn ʿAwkal, ca. 1030. The letter is illegible in many places. Discusses the will of one of the partners. The people involved may have been from Syracuse. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 601.)

Letter from ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Yeḥezqel, Jerusalem, to ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Ḥayyim, Fustat. Dating: ca. 1060. The address says the letter should be delivered to a man called Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlūn in Fusṭāt. The addressee is known elsewhere by his Hebrew name, ʿEli ha-Kohen ben Hayyim. The names of the three mail agents are also written. The same agents are also found on a different letter from ʿEli to ʿAlūn, T-S 12.54 (Gil, Palestine, doc. 444). The writer praises Abu Zikri as a great benefactor to foreigners coming to Egypt from Iraq, the Sham, the Maghrib and Byzantium, particularly Shelomo ha-kohen the grandson of Shelomo b. Yehuda. Abu Zikri is most likely Yehuda ben Sighmar, who emigrated to Fustat around 1050, or possibly Yehuda ben Se'adya, who served as head of the Jews ca. 1064-1075. The yeshiva of Jerusalem will reward him by praying on his behalf at the gates of the Temple Mount and on the Mount of Olives. In the postscript on the verso, ʿEli sends regards to Abu Nasr of Siracusa (Sicily).

Letter from Abū Manṣūr, unknown location, to Abū Zikrī al-Rayyis b. Eliyyahu, in Fustat or in Qalyūb ('wherever he may be'). In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in Arabic script. Rudimentary and distinctive hand. The writer is certainly a relative of the addressee, perhaps a brother-in-law or paternal cousin (or both), as he asks about the welfare of Abū Zikrī's wife. The letter mentions debts to the tax collectors (ḥushshār, l. 17). The writer complains that the addressee has been absent too long from his wife and mother. The date, added to the last line, is the 30th of the Omer (15 Iyar), but no year is provided.

Letter from Nissim b. Benāyā (Alexandria) to Avraham (ʿArūs) b. Yosef (Fustat), ca. 1085 (Gil). Nissim b. Benāyā brought a sum of money for ʿArūs b. Yosef from the Maghreb and had to send it to Fustat in cash. He would have preferred to exchange the money in Alexandria for a bill of exchange from Fustat but this was not possible. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 1009.) The letter was composed shortly after Nissim b. Benāyā’s return from the Maghreb around 1100 (Goitein) and is full of gratitude for the receiver. (Information from Goitein index cards linked below.)

Letter sent from the mother of Abū l-ʿIzz (Alexandria) to her son Abū l-ʿIzz b. Bishr in the shop of Abū l-Riḍā ibn al-Lebdi (Fustat). She asks Abū l-ʿIzz to send silk and to obtain a fatwa from the Rayyis to assist in an ongoing court case. She asks whether she ought to sell the mirwad (a pencil for applying kohl to the eyes) and, if so, for how much.

Letter from David b. Shekhanya to David b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi, an elder of the Qaraites in Fustat and a protector of the Jews in the court of the Caliph. The letter is in Hebrew rhymed prose or poetry. It sings the praises of the addressee but does not seem to ask for any immediate favor. The writer served as the court scribe and clerk under Efrayim ben Shemarya, in the Palestinian Synagogue fo Fustat and appears on court documents dated 1020–24 (see E. Bareqet, Shafrir Mitsraim, 1995, p. 122–23; Fustat on the Nile, Leiden, 1999, pp. 161–62). Biographical notes on David ha-Levi, the addressee, were collected by Samuel Miklos Stern, Revue des études juives, v. 128 (1969), p. 209–10. Information from FGP.