Geniza Lab

Legal deed. Location: Qūṣ. Dated: Shevaṭ 1527 Seleucid, which is 1216 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. In which the physician Abū l-Manṣūr Elʿazar b. Yeshuʿa ha-Levi gifts the entire contents of his late wife’s dowry, “consisting of gold, silver, copper, and other items worth 200 Egyptian dinars,” to his two minor daughters, Nasab and Kufūʾ (or Kufāʾ?). The declaration was made in the house of Abū Saʿd Seʿadya, in the presence of his son Abū l-Mufaḍḍal Yehuda ha-Talmid ("the scholar"). (Information from Eve Krakowski, “Female adolescence in the Cairo Geniza documents,” PhD diss., The University of Chicago, 2012, 34; and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:278–79, 489) EMS

Certificate of kashrut. Location: Alexandria. Dated: First decade of Tammuz 502[.] AM, which is 1260–69 CE. Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū l-Karam b. Bū l-Barakāt purchases 97 moulds (qālib) of Sicilian (Rūmī Siqillī) cheese from Jewish merchants who have arrived in Alexandria. The cheese has a seal on it, and reliable witnesses testify that it is kosher (lā rayba fīhi, a phrase borrowed from Quran 2:2). Witnesses: Yehuda b. Aharon Ibn al-ʿAmmānī; the teacher Yefet b. Yosef ha-Melammed. Cf. T-S 13J4.8 for a very similar document from 1243 CE (signed by the same Yehuda).

Recto contains the top part of a testament made about two weeks earlier (on 8 May 1241), written in the same hand. Abū al-Fakhr al-Jabbān (the cheese seller) b. Saʿadya gave his mature virgin daughter, Karam, two thirds of a house as well as 130 black dirhams. His mature virgin granddaughter, Rashīda, received two dinars and his mature wife, Ḥasab bt. Abū Naṣr ha-Kohen, received one dinar in addition to the two dinars of her delayed marriage gift. He also released her from any oath. The rest of his property was given to Abū al-Fakhrʼs son, Ibrahim. For the verso, see separate record. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender, and Law, 385) EMS

Sale contract in which Sitt al-Ikhwa d. Futuh sells to her brother one eighth of a house belonging to her in Alexandria for nine dinars. Her husband confirms the sale. Fustat, 1241. For additional edition and translation, see Zinger, "Women, Gender, and Law" pp. 352-354. See also, T-S 8J6 14A.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Legal document in which a paternal cousin of a man’s wife renounces his inheritance rights on one-fourth of a house belonging to her against ten dinars promised to him by her husband in case she precedes him in death; ca. 1243 C.E. Unsigned, but mentions Yusuf as a witnesss. (Information from Goitein's index cards and Mediterranean Society, 4:279) EMS

Legal document. Dated: Tuesday, 13 Tishrei 1564 Seleucid, which is 1252 CE. Signed by Efrayim b. Shemuel the teacher. Stating that Nissim b. Sar Shalom ha-Levi, from Damascus but living in Egypt, had been found guilty of insulting, cursing and beating his wife Sutayt bat Ṭoviyya and was put under pressure to divorce her, but following his promise to reform (after the initial lines of the geṭ had already been written on verso) the divorce was not completed. However, should the testimony of one man, Muḥriz b. Ṭahor ha-Levi the cantor, be recanted, it would on its own be sufficient to prove him guilty, and he will have to divorce her and pay her the 70 dinars due from the marriage contract. One specified person is appointed to be an efficient witness against him in case of his misbehaviour. (Information from Goitein's notes and CUDL.)

Verso: Bill of divorce. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1564 Seleucid, which is 1252/53 CE. Husband: Nissim b. Sar Shalom ha-Levi of Damascus, the same husband from recto. This document was not completed.

Recto: Beginning of a court record. Location: Cairo. Dated: First decade of Ṭevet 1593 Seleucid, which is 1281/82 CE, under the reshut of David I Maimonides. Nothing is preserved from the body of the document except for the name of one of the parties: Abū Naṣr al-Levi. On verso there are two poems in Hebrew, one attributed to Solomon the younger (הקטן) and one to Yehuda ha-Levi. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

C1: Page from a court notebook dated Thursday, 26 Kislev, 1026, December, unsigned, because only one witness appeared, Eli ha-Kohen b. Yefet. He conferred the right from Mawhuba bt. Yusuf ha-Kohen b. Avraham, widow of Yusuf ha-Yadu'a b. Bikar, vouching (ḍaminat) for Shlomo (Sulayman) b. Yusuf, that he could marry her daughter Sitt al-Dar bt. Yusuf ha-Kohen any time between now and Passover. If it was prevented, she would have to pay 15 dinars. If he would not marry until Passover he would have no claim except in the case of illness. He had no claim on this מהר (mahr, pledge of a cash dowry usually divided into two portions).C2: Page from a court notebook dated Monday, 7 Tevet, 1026, December. Netanel b. Aaron ha-Shulhani (known as Ibn al-Qata’if) acknowledges the guarantee likewise that Mawhuba bt. Yusuf made the understanding (mentioned in 1, above) and adds that these 15 dinars were the ones which were claimed from the bride's brother. C1 and C2 are both written by Yefet b. Daud. At the end of page signs Shemuel ha-Kohen b. Avtalyon and Efrayim b. Shemarya. See also T-S 8J6.18 (a, b and d). (Information from Goitein's index cards). EMS and VMR

Page from a court notebook concerning the verdict of the court in Fustat, written by Avraham, son of the Gaon, December 1026. See also T-S 8J6.18 A and B and T-S 8J6.18 C.

Page from a court notebook dated Thursday, 12 Kislev, 1026, in the hand of Yefet ha-Hazan b. Daud, who signs alone. Sulayman b. Yusuf made ‘amlāk’ (denoting the transferring of ownership of properties) for Sitt al-Dar bt. Yusuf and gave 15 dinars to ‘Umar, the brother of Sitt al-Dar. These were ‘rahīna’ (security, i.e. collateral). See also T-S 8J6.18 C and T-S 8J6.18 D. (Information from Goitein's index card). EMS and VMR

Beginning of a court record. Cairo, 1495/6. (Ashtor, Mamluk, p. 121) Corrected in comparison with Goitein's typed transcription and the photocopy of MS. (Z.F.)

Legal document. Fragment (upper left corner). Location: Fustat. Dated: 4974 AM = 1525 Seleucid, which is 1213/14 CE, under the reshut of Avraham Maimonides. Having to do with a lease (ijāra) between Sitt al-Kafāʾa bt. Abū l-Khayr and [...] ha-Kohen ha-Zaqen ha-Mekhubbad Paqid ha-Soharim [...] al-Naḥḥāl. Same scribe: T-S 8J6.1, T-S 8J6.2, T-S 8J11.6, and probably T-S 16.341.

Deed of remittance, dated 5316 (= 1556 CE) between Isaac b. ʿOvadya (possibly including his brother-in-law, Yaʿir) and Zephaniah b. Ḥayyim Saragossi (סרגוסי). The remittance is from business dealings and debts, including the proceeds of a sale of barrels of wine in Egypt. Signed by ʿOvadya ha-Levi the doctor and Nathan b. Makhlūf. (Information from CUDL)

Deed, written in 5318 (= 1558 CE) in Rashid (ראשיד, Rosetta), settling debts between Shelomo, Rahamim and Reuben. Signed by Abraham b. Shelomo Levi the judge (חקאן), Saʿadya Abū l-Khayr (בולכייר), Elyaqim Ashkenazi b. Shelomo, Menaḥem Delmedigo and Moses Benjamin b. לא״א (either לאדני אבי or לאהובי אבי) the holy, the humble, כה״ר Jacob. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document from Egypt dated 5323 (= 1563 CE), between Hoda b. Zeraḥ Damuhi and Moses, a repairer of books, known as מג׳מגם (on verso, מג׳מג׳ם). Signed by Abraham b. Isaiah the cantor and Shelomo Maʾazuzi (מאזוזי). Verso contains Moses’ name, written transversely in relation to the text on recto. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document from Jerusalem dated 417 according to ‘Pereq the lesser’ (= 1657 CE) concerning a disputed inheritance. Jacob Espadil (אישפדיל) made a statement before the court detailing how Kelaiah (כילייא), the wife of Isaac ʿOvadya, kept back some of the inheritance from her late sister Oro (אורו), widow of Shelomo Pesante (פיזאנטי), which had been left to the orphan Judah (יאודה). Words have been deleted and additions made between the lines and in the left-hand margin. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document from Egypt, dated 5562 (= 1802 CE), concerning Isaac Mizraḥi. (Information from CUDL)