Geniza Lab

Court record concerning a widow who has received back her dowry but is still owed her marriage gift, in Bilbays, Elul 1515/August 1204 (Elul 12th does not match Tuesday as the of the week). On verso liturgical poems.

Legal. Bill of partnership. The partners are זכרי בר כלף, Moshe and Reuven. They were merchants in jewels with Mordechai from Alexandria. Hebrew. (FGP)

Legal document. Fragment (lower right corner). In Hebrew. involving Moshe, Mordechai, Reuven and Zikrī. Concerns something Abyssinian: בענין הביעה של הכרזה חבשייה ה[...]. Dated: 20 Iyyār 5320 AM, which is 1560 CE. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Witnessed by the scribe, Yosef b. Meʾir Somekh ha-Kohen, and signed by Aharon b. Re[uven]. (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal document concerning a partnership. Abraham Mosseri receives money from Nissim Shelomo Algazi, as previously agreed. Mentions the name Isaac Shunina. Witnessed by Ḥayyim ha-Levi, Joseph Yonah, Moses Mosseri, [...] b. Zechariah Mosseri (mentioned in the text as the brother of Abraham), and dated 1st Tevet 5508 of the Era of Creation (= 1747—8 CE) in Cairo. (Information from CUDL)

Records of three betrothal agreements. The first is a receipt dated Monday, first day of Pesaḥ, mentioning the groom Yaaqov Ḥanan b. Yosef Ḥanan and the bride Kaḥla bat David Jannāḥ. The second mentions the groom Efrayim Ḥakīm b. Elihu Ḥakīm and Suqar (?) bat Shemuʾel ha-Levi, dated Nisan 5577 of the Era of Creation (= 1817 CE) in Cairo. The third mentions the groom Menaḥem Wadish b. Shelomo, and the bride Miriam bat Elijah ʿAṭias. Efrayim Ḥakim acts as a representative of the bride. Dated: 5578 of the Era of Creation (= 1818 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Fragment from a legal document, probably from Fusṭāṭ, mentioning Shemuʾel b. Jacob. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document recording acknowledgement, made through a Muslim notary, for the granting of a loan by a beadle of an Iraqi synagogue in Fustat, Eli b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Kohen, of 28 and one/sixth dinars that was delivered to the son of a Jewish judge - Yair ha-Shofet ha-Nadiv Pe'er ha-Kahal is a son the known family Ben al-Shofet, descendant of Abu al-Bishr Azhar Ya'ir b. Avraham (middle of 11th century). 'Our' Ya'ir was active in the early 12th century. MY. (S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 1:251, 463) EMS On verso a different legal deed, unfinished.

Deed of a loan of 377 nuqra dirhams granted by a banker to the proprietor of a sugar factory to be paid back in weekly installments of 25 pieces, in Fustat, [157]6/1265.

Legal document granting an extension of due date on a debt, Fustat, 1265.

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes linked below.

Record of testimony of three witnesses on a quarrel in which Abu Ishaq b. Yahya al-Najib, a communal official, was involved, Tammuz 1461/June-July 1150.

Letter from Peraḥya b. Yosef. VMR Very faded.

Fragment of a ketubba (marriage contract) which stipulates that the bride would move from Tyre to Akko in twelve months, ca. 1028-1037. Text in Arabic script on verso.

Letter from Yosef b. Peraḥya Yijū, in Mazara, writing to an important merchant, also in Sicily., ca. 1154. Yosef states that his sins are the source of his misfortunes. These misfortunes include a swelling (waram) in the finger of his eldest son Peraḥya who assisted him as schoolteacher. They have been looking for an effective medicine for some time without success. ASE.

Letter written by a poor physician who had not bought “one thread” of a new suit for two years and his children were going hungry. The writer further notes that “By chance I befriended a man from Damascus who introduced me to the family of Sayf al-Islam. I entered their house and treated them, whereupon they fixed for me a payment of one dinar every month.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:256, 579, 580) EMS

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee is asked to intervene in a divorce case where the woman is being treated unfairly by her husband, who is trying to bilk her out of her dowry (qumāsh) and delayed marriage payment (muʾakhkhar). Likely a draft, based on the format and numerous corrections. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from Hillel to Yaʿaqov, delivered by Mansur b. Furayj, concerning the buying of silk and a turban. VMR

Likely a deathbed will. Shemuel b. Yosef grants executorship of his estate to his brother Yehuda. Written in Damascus. Rivlin says date is 1003 CE (but the hundreds column is missing both times the date is written). (See Rivlin, Inheritance and Wills, doc. 5, pp. 316-318)

Legal document from Fusṭāṭ, apparently concerning the sale of meat (and its ritual purity); mentioning ‘our lord’ Nathaniel ha-Levi. Signed by various people including Moses b. Shelomo and Yaʿir b. Shemuʾel. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a list of beneficiaries of charity similar to T-S K15.93, App. B 6, and in the same hand. Much effaced. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 441, App. B 7, dated 1040-1060)