Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders

Transcription

1 Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders Jewish merchants made up another key group of traders involved in the Indian Ocean system. Based largely in Cairo, Egypt, these Jewish merchants often traveled the sea-lanes of the Indian Ocean to trade at distant ports. They would sail down the Red Sea to the port of Aden, then out across the Arabian Sea to the thriving port cities on west coast of India. Since they would have to wait for the monsoons to travel in both directions, a journey of this type could take up to two years. In Cairo, scholars have uncovered a large collection of letters and other documents written by Jewish merchants to family and business contacts throughout the Indian Ocean region. These letters reveal much about the trade linkages of the time. They also reveal a more personal side. The second letter presented here was written by a Jewish merchant to his wife after he had been away from home for an extended period of time. Points to Consider: 1. What evidence is contained in these letters about the trade systems and products of the Indian Ocean region? 2. What does the second letter indicate about the personal costs of longdistance trade in this period? A Letter from Palestine to Tunisia I trust in God. Praised be the Lord who resurrects the dead. My master and lord, may God prolong your life, make your wellbeing and happiness permanent, and keep away from you all evil in his mercy. I am writing from Ramle on the 8th of Teveth (approximately January), feeling well in body, but being worried in mind... I set sail for Jaffa, the port of Ramle. But a wind arose against us from the land. It became a storm, chasing and driving us out to the high sea, where we remained for four days giving up all hope for life. We were without sails or oars, the steering rudder and the sailyards were broken, and the waves burst into the barge. We cried: "Allah, Allah," for our ship was a mere riverboat, small as a ferry. We threw part of the cargo overboard, and I gave up all hope for my life and goods. Finally, God in his glory and majesty

2 granted us to reach Caesarea, but my clothes and goods were completely soaked. I did not find a place to stay and to spread out my things, So I took [lodging] in the synagogue, where I remained for five days... When I arrived in Ramle, I had to pay customs to a degree I am unable to describe. The price in Ramle of the Cyprus silk, which I carry with me, is 2 dinars per little pound. Please inform me of its price and advise me whether I should sell it here or carry it with me to you in Misr (Fustat), in case it is fetching a good price there. By God, answer me quickly, I have no other business here in Ramle except awaiting answers to my letters. About 3 dinars worth of goods of mine were jettisoned from the barge; may God, the exalted, restore the loss. If you want me to carry the silk with me, instruct Makhluf b. Muhsina (write him!) to pay me 2-3 dinars, or have Abu Barhun write to his brother Ya'qub (Jacob) to give me this sum so that I do not have to sell my clothing or the silk. A man like you does not need to be urged. I know that my money and yours are one. Moreover, you have a share in this. I need not stress the urgency of a reply concerning the price of silk from Sham [Syria-Lebanon] and from Cyprus, and whether I should sell it here or carry it with me... I wrote you from Tripoli and informed you that I had sent four bundles of cotton and twenty-one pieces [bundles] of figs to Alexandria. I wrote to M. Marduk, asking him to receive this shipment. With Yahya b. al-zaffat I sent two bags and one basket with wheat, red earth [used for writing on bales], and two baskets with raisins and figs. I instructed him to deliver these to Marduk. Your share in the basket of wheat and the figs is 8 dinars, and your share in the silk also 8 dinars. I hope you have written to Alexandria instructing Marduk to take care of the matter, and also to attend to the sacking. Also write him to send you either the proceeds, or the goods to be bought for them. And by God, answer. I have no business other than waiting for your letter. By God, do not neglect this. By the bread we have eaten together, as soon as this letter arrives, send the answer to the warehouse of the representative of the merchants, Abul-Barakat Ibn al-hulaybi. A man like you needs no urging. Describe to me the prices in the city [Fustat], and especially with regard to wheat and bread - I need not urge you to write me about this - as well as concerning the state of my father and the family. Special regards to you, and also to those who ask about me. Please honor me with any concern you

3 might have. Regards also to Joseph and his mother. How are they? Regards also to our friends. And Peace... A Jewish Merchant Writes to His Wife Dear, Would I try to describe the extent of my feelings of longing and yearning for you all the time, my letter would become too long and the words too many. But He who knows the secrets of the heart has the might to bring about relief for each of us by uniting us in joy. Your precious letters have arrived; I have read and scrutinized them, and was happy to learn from them that you are well and healthy and that you have escaped from those great terrors [a recent plague], the like of which have not been experienced for many generations. Praise be to God for your deliverance and for granting you respite until you might be recompensed in a measure commensurate with your sufferings. The Dedicated Husband In your letters you alternately rebuke and offend me or put me to shame and use harsh words all the time. I have not deserved any of this. I swear by God, I do not believe that the heart of anyone traveling away from his wife has remained like mine, all the time during all the years - from the moment of our separation to the very hour of writing this letter - so constantly thinking of you and yearning after you and regretting to be unable to provide you with what I so much desire: your legal rights on every Sabbath and holiday, and to fulfill all your wishes, great and small, with regard to dresses or food or anything else. And you write about me as if I had forgotten you and would not remember you had it not been for your rebukes, and as if, had you not warned me that the public would reprove me, I would not have thought of you. Put this out of your mind and do not impute such things to me. Travel Beyond the Coromandel Coast You rebuke me with regard to the ambergris [a valuable perfume]. You poor ones!!! Had you known how much trouble and expenses I have incurred to get this ambergris for you, you would have said: there is nothing like it in the world. This is the story: After I was resurrected from the dead

4 and had lost all that I carried with me I took a loan of [... ] dinars and traveled to countries beyond al-ma'bar [in India]. I checked my accounts [with my abacus]. I took them and paid to one of our coreligionists who traveled back from al-ma'bar to Aden... and for it he bought for you... Drunk but Pious This was my way of life from the moment I left you until I arrived in Aden (and from there to India) and from India back to Aden: Day and night I was constantly drinking, not of my free will, but I conducted myself in an exemplary way and if anyone poked fun in foul speech in my presence, I became furious with him, until he became silent, he and others. I constantly fulfilled what God knows, and cursed my soul by fasting during the days and praying during the nights. The congregations in Aden and in India often asked me to lead them in prayer, and I am regarded by them and regard myself as a pious man. As to Divorce - The Choice Is Left to You Now in one of your letters you adjure me to set you free, then letters arrived from the old man [her father] saying the same. Later Ma'ani b. al-dajaji met me and told me that you came to his house before he set out on his travel. You had given him nutmeg paste as collateral on a loan of 100 dirhems, but he released 20 dirhems to you. Please let me know whether this is correct, in which case I shall return this sum to him. He reported also that you had asked him to return to you letters which your late father - may God have mercy on him - had sent with him, but he had said to you: "I have already packed them away on the boat." Then you said that these letters were not written with your consent and you asked him not to deliver them to me. Now, if [divorce] is your wish, I cannot blame you. For the waiting has been long. And I do not know whether the Creator will grant relief immediately so that I can come home, or whether matters will take time, for I cannot come home with nothing. Therefore I resolved to issue a writ which sets you free. Now the matter is in your hand. If you wish separation from me, accept the bill of repudiation and you are free. But if this is not your decision and not your desire, do not lose these long years of waiting: perhaps relief is at hand and you will regret at a time when regret will be of no avail.

5 And please do not blame me, for I have never neglected you from the time when those things happened and made an effort to save you and me from people talking and impairing my honor. The refusal was on your side, not on mine. I do not know whether this is your decision or that of someone else, but after all this, please do not say, you or someone else: this is our reward from him and our recompense. All day long I have a lonely heart and am pained by our separation. I feel that pain while writing these lines. But the choice is with you; the decision is in your hands: if you wish to carry the matter through, do so; if you wish to leave things as they are, do so. But do not act after the first impulse. Ask the advice of good people and act as you think will be the best for you. May God inspire you with the right decision. Source: Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, edited and translated by S.D. Goitein.