Geniza Lab

Letter from Marduk b. Musa in Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat; June 22, 1046 (per Gil). Conveys some information about the movements of ships carrying merchandise for Nahray and his circle. Mentions a serious accident on one of the ships. Barukh b. al-Shamah adds a message at the end of the letter. Information from Gil.

Letter from Amram b. Yosef to Nahray b. Nissim requesting to forward a letter to Hassan b. Bundar. Location: Alexandria. Dating: 1094–97 CE. ʿAmram congratulates Nissim (Nahray's son) on his recovery (r4–8). He gives Nahray advice about taking good care of his son following his recovery, because "the relapse is worse than the illness" (r25–30).

Letter from Yeshu'a b. Ismāʿīl al-Mahmuri, Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Mentions the safe arrival of (probably) relatives to Fustat; a female slave who was sold in Alexandria, and instructions for the coming winter dealing mostly with wheat and oil. Ca. 1060 (Gil estimate). VMR

Letter from Ishaq b. Yusuf al-Andalusi to Nahray b. Nissim. Dated 1050.

Note from Yeshu'a b. Isma'il to Nahray b. Nissim. ca. 1065

Letter from Yeshu'a b. Isma'il to Nahray b. Nissim.

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy Khalila in Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat, ca. 1060-1075 (Udovitch) or ca. 1050 (Gil). Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy had been in Buḥayra buying grain; he mentions the movement of ships from Alexandria to the Maghrib, and trade with the east, presumably Shām and possibly Iraq; also mentions other commodities, including silk, wax and alkali; Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ is mentioned in the margin.

Letter from Fadl b. Sahlun to Nahray b. Nissim. Another letter, unconnected to the other one, is bound at the same number. This is a letter from a woman, Umm Nissim, to her relative Abu Sa'd.

Letter from Ismāʿīl b. Faraḥ to Nahray b. Nissim.

Letter from Barhūn b. Mūsā b. Barhūn al-Tāhirtī, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1050–60 CE, at the beginning of Nahray's activities in Egypt.

Letter from Natan b. Nahray to Abū ʿImrān Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy. Among other matters, Natan mentions that he has given 1 dinar each to Moshe the Judge and Yeḥezqel the Alexandrian, the two frail old men who wrote T-S 13J28.10 requesting charity from Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy. Natan also mentions a medicinal syrup that he has asked Abū l-Afrāḥ to buy him. ASE.

Letter from Mardūk b. Mūsā, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat(?). Dating: ca. 1045 CE, based on Gil's assessment. The handwriting is that of Yaʿaqov b. Salmān al-Ḥarīrī, and the letter switches to his voice starting in line v2. The letter deals with business in lemon juice, tamarind, and textiles of flax and silk. Nahray is sick (wajīʿ, r4–7, r13–14, v6–7). Both Mardūk and Yaʿaqov wish Nahray a speedy reunion with his mother. Information from Gil. ASE.

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy (Alexandria) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat).

Letter from Nissim b. Ḥalfon b. Benaya, in Tinnīs, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: 7 December 1060. Among many other matters, Nissim reveals that he has recovered from his illness and left the house and returned to work today for the first time (r10-11). ASE.

Letter from Nissim b. Avraham to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat). Dating: ca. 1050s. About a consignment of silk that was about to reach Fustat, owned in partnership by the sender and Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tāhirtī. Nahray is requested to sell the silk as quickly as possible and to keep the sale secret. Nissim's travel plans imply that he writes from an important centre in the delta, possibly Būṣīr. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 506-507.)

This is the upper fragment under the shelfmark. Letter from Nissim b. Avraham to Nahray b. Nissim. Needs examination. Gil may have only edited the lower fragment (but confusingly called it ENA 2805.7a).

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī al-Ḥayy, from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1057. Regarding sending goods in leather sacks. Musa returned from the Maghreb. He is planning to travel to Tripoli. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 519). NB: Gil referred to this document as "ENA 2805.8 A."

Letter from Yosef b. Shemarya, the dayyan of Barqa, in Alexandria, to “his brother” Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Mentioning his pilgrimage to Jerusalem from Egypt and that he is unable to travel by sea. Written ca. 1060. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:586, 4:242, 439.) EMS. There is a translation into English in Goitein's attached notes.

Letter from Yehosef b. Shemuel Bavli to the judge Anatoli b. Yosef. In Hebrew. He states that he will not hand over a security to Avraham ha-Kohen ha-Maʿaravi without the addressee's signature.

Petition to the Gaʾon Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen (in office 1127–39). Begins with six lines of Hebrew blessings, and ends with one line of Hebrew blessings. The sender describes himself as a man of more than seventy years who has been afflicted by an illness that makes him unable to work and earn a livelihood. He owes a debt (or rather capitation tax payment?) of 14 qirats and 1 dirham; somehow this is connected to a man named Salāma Ibn al-Maqāniʿiyya and a guarantee. If he is unable to pay, he fears being imprisoned. He states that he is near death and starving, some days eating and some days not. Maṣliaḥ had previously promised to help him pay this sum, so this letter is a reminder. In the margin, mentions a meat shop and someone named Mīkhāʾīl. Verso is filled with Arabic-script jottings and document drafts in a chancery hand, including drafts of a letter or petition to a notable. VMR. EMS. ASE.