Letter: T-S Misc.28.149 + T-S Misc.28.58

Letter T-S Misc.28.149 + T-S Misc.28.58

Shelfmark: T-S Misc.28.149 + T-S Misc.28.58

Document Date: 1468 Seleucid (17 September, 1156 – 6 September, 1157 CE)
Primary Language: Judaeo-Arabic

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Letter from an unidentified sender, in Damascus, to a certain Peraḥya, unknown location. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 1468 Seleucid = 1156/57 CE. The sender claims that he only reluctantly agreed, as a favor to the addressee, to go on a business venture to the Levant and sell four qinṭārs of Levantine flax on behalf of the addressee. The goods were originally assessed by the addressee and by Abū ʿAlī to value 34 dinars after the sender had paid 4 dinars for dues in Damietta and for the hire of a ship. When he arrived in Tyre, he sold part of the shipment for 71 dinars, of the Tyre standard. He brought the remaining flax with him to Damascus, hoping to make a further profit, but found no market there, "flax in Damascus is now cheaper than it is Egypt." He lost 10 dinars as a result. He has now stayed in Damascus for well over six months, potentially a year or more (waiting for the flax prices to go back up?). The addressee, having no received no letters — the sender counters that he sent plenty of letters, but the messengers probably didn't deliver them — appointed a legal representative, Abū l-Faḍl b. al-Masos, to travel to Damascus and sue the sender for the value of a shipment. The lawsuit was conducted in the court of "our master ʿEzra Rosh Yeshivat Geʾon Yaʿaqov," later referred to as "Sayyidnā al-Gaʾon," i.e., ʿEzra b. Avraham, who was still Gaʾon in Damascus when Benjamin of Tudela visited approximately 10 years later. The court ruled against the sender, ordering him to pay the agent the full value of the shipment and to take an oath. In the presence of the Gaʾon, the sender paid the agent 43 dinars for the addressee and an additional 5 dinars for another creditor/investor referred to as "sayyidnā." He therefore still owes 13 dinars. The agent demanded the rest of the payment and the oath. The sender bought himself time by insisting that the addressee would never coerce him like this and that he would need to send him a letter before acting. He then complains that he never even wanted to take the addressee's flax; he did it reluctantly as a favor to him and now regrets it. He promises to try to return to Egypt "in the summer of this year which is 1468." For other Geniza documents concerning the Gaʾon ʿEzra, see T-S 8J8.15 (PGPID 2204) and the letter from ʿEzra himself discussed in Mann, Texts, I, p. 252 (current shelfmark TBD); see also Goldman, Arabic-Speaking Jews in Crusader Syria, PhD diss. (2018), pp. 268–70. Join: Alan Elbaum. ASE

Collection: Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter
Historical shelfmarks: TS Box Misc. 28, fol. 149; TS Box Misc. 28, f. 149; TS Box Misc. 28, fol. 58; TS Box Misc. 28, f. 58
Input date: In PGP since 2020

How to cite this record:: Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter, T-S Misc.28.149 + Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter, T-S Misc.28.58. Available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/23432/, accessed November 23, 2024.
Link to this document:: https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/23432/

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T-S Misc.28.149 recto

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T-S Misc.28.149 verso

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Letter: T-S Misc.28.149 + T-S Misc.28.58

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T-S Misc.28.149 recto

Recto

Recto - right margin

T-S Misc.28.149 verso

Verso