Geniza Lab

Court record of a legal agreement between a husband, Abū l-Ḥasan Shelomo b. Menashshe, and his wife, Sitt al-Nasab bt. Abū l-Munā, in which he undertakes to settle her in her own domicile. Before marrying, they had agreed to live apart from his female relatives should she request it. After their marriage, they tried living with his family, but arguments broke out, and Sitt al-Nasab invoked her right to live separately. But Abū l-Ḥasan found himself broken-hearted on separation from his female relatives, so the couple now agreed to live under the same roof as his family again, but (1) to give Sitt al-Nasab a separate apartment in the house, (2) that Abū l-Ḥasan’s mother and sisters would not be allowed to enter it, (3) that they are forbidden from requesting as much as a matchstick from Sitt al-Nasab. The details of this new agreement were negotiated between Abū l-Ḥasan and Sitt al-Nasab’s paternal uncle, Abū ʿAlī. Dated: Kislev 1430 Seleucid, which is 1119 CE. Location: Fusṭāṭ. In the hand of the prolific court clerk Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (no relation). Signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya and ʿOvadya ha-Kohen b. Mevorakh. The same couple also appear in T-S 13J2.20, dated 1445/1134.

Recto: letter of recommendation from Jerusalem to all cities on behalf of Shabbetay Karira b. Raphael (שבתי כרירא בן רפאל), dated Adar 5596 (= ca. 1836 CE). Signed at the foot of the page with 6 elaborate signatures. Verso: an addition to the letter, with one elaborate signature, dated 1837 CE. Information from CUDL.

Palimpsest, with Hebrew halakhic midrash over an unidentified Syriac text. Part of the same manuscript as T-S NS 258.140 and T-S 16.327. (Information from CUDL.)

Literary. Bifolium containing historical accounts of the first years of Islam, written in Judaeo-Arabic. The fragment consists of three divisions: (1) Address (khuṭba) by a Jew converted to Islam. (2) Letter by Muḥammad to Ḥanīna and the people of Khaybar and Maqna. (3) Muḥammad's genealogy.

Two deeds of sale of houses, Fustat 1261. Written by Emanuel b. Yehiel. AA

Two fragments of a deed in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: Last decade of Iyyar 1431 Seleucid, which is 1120 CE. In which Abū l-Faḍāʾil leases half of a house for a monthly rent of 7 qīrāṭs of gold from Abū l-Faḍl Ibn al-Qaṭāʾif and his daughter. An agent, Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli ha-Kohen is also mentioned. A ‘property chain’ was involved, in that the contract specifies that Abū l-Faḍāʾil will not be able to move into his accommodation until the new house of Abū l-Faḍl and his daughter is ready (it is currently being built). Signed by Shelomo b. Moshe ha-Levi (‘the Seventh’). (Information from CUDL.)

Ketubba (marriage contract). Location: Fustat. Dated: 20 Tammuz 1376 Seleucid, which is 1065 CE. Groom: Fuḍayl b. Efrayim. Bride: Ḥasana bt. Yosef. They subsequently divorced and remarried two years later: see BL OR 8663.1. On verso and continuing at the bottom of the recto is a poem or draft letter (to a Nagid?) in Hebrew. AA. ASE.

Letter from Jalāl al-Dawla, in Fustat, to Shelomo ha-Nasi b. Yishay, in Bilbays. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1240 CE. The writer describes the difficult economic state of his group staying in Egypt and says that they intend to go back to Mosul. As part of a litany of complaints, he mentions that he has been sick many times and nearly died (v25–26). His sicknesses also feature in T-S 12.654 and T-S NS 321.93. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, II, pp. 264f.) ASE

Very damaged and faded Hebrew letter, with many Biblical verses, seems to contain some moral instructions? Addressed to 'our brothers'. T-S 16.368 seems to be a join, but it is even more damaged. AA

Yaḥyā b. Zekharya ha-Shofeṭ and Zura ha-Levi b. Avraham testify in a case of inheritance that Baqi al-Hamati received from Sulayman al-Qutaita certain sums which were first deposited in the court of Damascus. Written and signed by Avraham ha-Levi. Signed also by Gamliel b. Joshia. Dated 995. (Information from Mediterranean Society, p. 600 and from Goitein's index cards)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Marriage contract (ketubba). One of the very few Byzantine ketubbot to have survived. Location: Mastaura, on the Meander River (in Asia Minor). Dated: Friday, 4 Nisan 4782 AM, which is 9 March 1022 CE. Groom: Namer b. Elqana. Bride: Evdokia bt. Kalev. The dowry is listed, including many Greek terms. There is a design with curlicues at the bottom of recto, and the text of the ketubba continues onto verso. Witnesses: Yehuda b. Navon, Moshe b. Leon, Shelaḥya b. Yosef, Moshe b. Shabbetay. (Information from de Lange's edition.)

Marriage contract (ketubba) in the Palestinian style, probably from Tyre, ca. 1089-1099.

Replacement for a lost ketubba (אירכסא). Location: Baalbek, according to both Goitein and Ashtor, although the remaining portion of the document only specifies the Biqāʿ Valley of Lebanon (בקעת הלבנון תחת הר חרמון). The name of the locale appears to end with לת—could it be Zaḥla instead? Dated: 21 Av 1564 Seleucid, which is 1253 CE, under the authority of the Nasi [...] b. Yeḥizqiyahu b. Yishai. Husband: Ismāʿīl b. Ṣemaḥ ha-Levi. Wife: Majdiyya bt. Mufaḍḍal. NB: An earlier version of the PGP record for this document linked it (erroneously?) to T-S Misc.27.4.23 and was credited "D.B. 3-20-89."

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Letter to a certain Shemuʾel, in a Spanish hand. (Information from CUDL)

Letter, dated at bottom: Iyyar 293 (= 1293 Sel. = 982 CE). Although the leaf is quite large, it is so badly mutilated and rubbed that only the closing blessings (thus indicating it is a letter) are preserved. (Information from CUDL)

Detailed account of a kosher butcher from Fustat, specifying the various community officials and other persons to whom he had made payments of 7 dirhams week after week during a full year. Dated 1179 or 1183. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 381, 382)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Halachic question by Ḥalfon on Yibbum matters It is possible to identify the writer as a copycat by his handwriting. While he was standing on the dock, he hastily wrote down this question, which was appended to a larger question (which did not survive or was not identified), and sent it to the sage who does not mention his name but calls him 'the greatest rabbi of the one and only generation... '. The question deals with a complicated case or two complicated cases in Yibbum law, in a woman who heard from the rumor that her husband was killed and that she did not agree to be married, and died, and the doubts about the inheritance of money her address had already collected part of it (fifty dinars), and Yibbum demanded that her heirs return it to him. Also discussed is the wording of 'loyalty' in her ketubah, which exempts her from an oath in collecting the ketubah, and its relation to the Talmudic sources. In the hinted halachic questions, a dispute between the 'disciples' was discovered and unwanted phenomena accompanied it. Ḥalfon asked the sage to rule on the law and explain his answer well, in order to eliminate the dispute. The connection of the possibility to Ḥalfon’s answer regarding Yibbum and Chalitzah mentioned in Khalaf's letter (document ח11) and the presumed identity of the alluded sage was discussed in the introduction. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)