Geniza Lab

Geʾonic responsa, including discussion of the laws of inheritance. (Information from CUDL)

Geʾonic responsa. (Information from CUDL)

Geʾonic responsa. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract (ketubba) stating that the 200 zuz were "established by the holy college" and the dinars bear the sign "of the temporal ruler." Date, location and witnesses are not preserved, but the marriage probably took place outside of Egypt, as a gift of an ‘Egyptian sheet’ is mentioned. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 301-9) EMS

Long fragment of a letter, written in large letters, starting with praise for a judge, but later complaining about something. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: 1406 Seleucid, which is 1094/95 CE. Written in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Location: Fustat. Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Mevorakh al-Maqdisī and Abū Saʿīd ʿAmram b. Yosef each bring three hundred dinars into a joint venture in an apothecary shop, and agree to split profit and loss equally. Line 11 mentions Avraham b. Yefet the Mumḥe, who traded with Avraham b. Mevorakh in the absence of ʿAmram. Goitein deduces that ʿAmram "was not supposed to contribute work regularly" as the text implies that he will not always be in Fusṭāṭ. However, it's also possible that ʿAmram traveled as part of his responsibilities to the partnership, perhaps buying commodities to be sold in the apothecary shop. The sale of certain commodities in the shop were allocated to the partnership, while the partners were also allowed to sell other commodities and credit their individual accounts with the proceeds. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 141)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Draft of a legal document. Dating: 13th century. Abū l-Karam b. Ḥananyahu the Judge buys from Abū l-Ḥasan Yefet ha-Levi one quarter of a flour mill (ṭāḥūn) in the Mamṣūṣa quarter of Fustat, in the portico of Ibn Khīra, for his unmarried daughter, Sitt al-Khafar. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 327, and from Goitein's index cards)

Verso: Draft of a legal document in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. Dating: Mentions a period beginning Iyyar 1542 Seleucid, which is 1331 CE. Concerning the lease of two properties owned by Sitt al-Nabaʾ bt. Abū Isḥāq Ibn al-Amshāṭī, the wife of Abū l-Baqāʾ Elʿazar b. Abū l-Faḍāʾil. She leases a bustān with a house and a qāʿa (also referred to as a half-house) to Abū l-Riḍā for 7 years against 52.5 dirhams (i.e., 7.5 per year), which will be used for renovation of these properties. Abū l-Riḍā may also use the fruits of the bustān for himself. (Information from Goitein's index card and Mediterranean Society, 3:327, 328, 500, 501.) EMS

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Letter from Nissim b. Yiṣḥaq al-Tāhartī, in Sūsa, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1052 CE. The letter mentions the connections that Nahray has with the Tāhirtī family as well as business matters with two Muslims, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and his son Abū ʿAbdallāh (Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ,
s s
I. 39 and margin). It mentions also Nissim b. Ya'aqov, who leads a center of learning in Qayrawān. The writer respects Nahray and will try to get him the books that he wants. Nissim opens the letter by conveying his concern for Nahray's eye disease, and his happiness that Nahray's condition is better now than "when the doctors frightened you regarding it" (r4–6). Later, in the context of Nissim's troubles this winter, he conveys the news of a woman (identity unclear) who is very sick (recto, right margin). (Information in part from Gil, Kingdom, 3, pp. 319–24, #389)

Ghulayb ha-Levi b. Shelomo receives from his brother Salama ha-Levi b. Salman (!) a loan of seven 'good dinars' for two years and pledges as a collateral a part of the house the two had inherited from their father. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Early legal document, in Hebrew rather than Arabic, in which the widow of Zekharya b. Othniel and his daughter Farha, acting for the still-minor boys, appoint the widow's father, R. Aharon, and his brother Maymun as their representative to retrieve whatever possible from the dead man's estate. The document is addressed to a prominent person abroad and signed by 23 persons. Tunis, 10th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 410, and from Goitein's index cards)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Letter from Labrāṭ b. Moshe b. Sughmār, in al-Mahdiyya, to his brother Yehuda, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: January 9 (12 Shevat), 1058 CE (Gil) or 1061 CE (Ben-Sasson). Labrāṭ congratulates Yehuda on the birth of his firstborn son. There may be a prayer for God to protect the infant from the evil eye (r11–12; the first letter of the word is smudged; Gil reads al-ḍaw' rather than al-sū'; neither one is strictly grammatical). Labrāṭ heard from Zakkār that the infant was a girl and was only reassured when Yehuda's letter arrived with the news that it was a boy. Labrāṭ keeps the blessed letter with him and kisses it and puts it before his eyes; he gave it to his sister this week but made her promise to return it (r4–18). Labrāṭ continues with business affairs. There is an elaborate response to what Yehuda said about the pain Labrāṭ caused him by rebuking him about a business decision taken by Yehuda. Labrāṭ only wrote anything because it concerned somebody else's merchandise. As for what is owed to him by Yehuda, what are 20 dinars next to their relationship, which is worth the whole world? If Yehuda was agitated by Labrāṭ's rebuke, Labrāṭ is now agitated by Yehuda's response. Furthermore, this sum is nothing compared to what they already lost in Qayrawān. As the proverb goes, "If nothing is left of your provisions except a single cake, you might as well throw it into the sea" (r18–32). The letter continues with matters of trade between Ifrīqiyya, Sicily, and Egypt. Numerous people are mentioned: the Nagid, Nissim, Abū Hārūn, Ḥayyim b. ʿAmmār, the boy of Ḥassūn, Ḥassūn b. Mūsā, Yehuda b. Mūsā, Abū ʿAbd Allāh, the notables of Qayrawān and al-Mahdiyya, Isḥāq b. Bar[hūn?], and Yosef b. Eli al-Kohen. People who came from Palermo said that Zakkār was sick but then recovered (r33–57). Labrāṭ is delighted to hear that Yehuda has been studying Torah, Mishna, and Talmud with 'the Rav' (r58 and margin). Verso consists mainly of greetings. Labrāṭ is surprised at Yehuda's rebuke for Nissim's failure to send him letters. (Gil identifies this man with Nissim b. Moshe ha-Shelishi.) Nissim hasn't even written to Labrāṭ, who is two hours away from him. "He is dying, and he should write you a letter?" (v11–13). Nissim redeemed a Bible codex which belongs to Labrāṭ and Yehuda, and which had been plundered in one of the wars of Ifrīqiyya. Labrāṭ now wishes to make arrangements to reimburse Nissim and get it back (v13–17, 23–24). Labrāṭ concludes with the bad news of Ifrīqiyya, Sicily, and al-Andalus (v35–40). The price of wheat has skyrocketed this summer; Qayrawān is a ruin; the Bedouins are waging war on each other; people are worried about Sicily this year, for the Franks have attacked with a great army; they ('Franks') have also invaded al-Andalus this year and destroyed many of its villages, killed many people, and imposed taxes on all the areas they conquered. (Information in part from Gil, vol. 4, p. 36; Ben-Sasson, p. 36.) ASE.

Letter from the lepers of Tiberias to Shemuel b. Ezra (Jerusalem?), approximately 1030.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Betrothal register (53a according to Friedman) between Biqa (?) b. Moshe known as Abu Kāmīl and Mimuna bt. Ḥasan. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS

Betrothal register (53b according to Friedman) between Manṣur b. [...] b. Yiṣḥaq b. Saʿīd b. Pinḥas to Zahara bt. Yaʿaqov haKohen the scribe. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS