Geniza Lab

Deed of compensation, Tyre, November 1019.

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to "the one I am angry at," viz., his father-in-law Abu l-Faraj in Alexandria. Shelomo is upset at the lack of letters. He also wants Abu l-Faraj to discipline Abu l-‘Izz (presumably Abu l-Faraj’s son of the same name), whom Shelomo claims is a drunk and a debtor and a disgrace. Abu l-Faraj should command Abu l-‘Izz to stop associating with friends who are a bad influence on him. Abu l-‘Izz borrowed 20 dirhems from Shelomo but now claims that he owes only 16. But this is no matter, Shelomo writes self-pityingly, because he recently lost nearly 250 dirhems on expenses for his daughter who died at 3 months of age. Discussed in Krakowski, Coming of Age in Medieval Egypt, Princeton University Press (2018), p. 254.

Informal note from Ibn al-Ḥarizi (apparently the famous Spanish Hebrew-language poet Yehuda al-Ḥarizi) to Eliyyahu the Judge. Dating: Before 1225 CE and probably after ca. 1215 CE. (Our main source for the biography of al-Ḥarizi is Ibn al-Shaʿʿār al-Mawṣilī, whose section on al-Ḥarizi has been published and discussed by Yosef Sadan in Peʿamim 68.) In Judaeo-Arabic, with many crossed-out phrases and interlinear corrections. He had intended to travel by sea from Alexandria to ʿAkkā in Palestine, but he is preoccupied on account of his books and effects worth 7 dinars that he has left in Alexandria and cannot bring with him. He fears they will be damaged if he has them sent with a muleteer. He has been forced to do something himself (travel with them? travel without them? the preposition "ʿan" is confusing here). He wants Eliyyahu to ask Ṣadaqa the Jew to help him, or at least stay in his place "until I return from Alexandria." He also fears that the goods won't reach him if he goes ahead to Bilbays (spelled בולביס) east of Cairo and waits for them. He says there is no need for Eliyyahu to come resolve the matter himself. He sends regards to al-Rayyis al-Muhadhdhab. On recto there is Hebrew poetry in a different hand, at least one poem by Yehuda ha-Levi. (Al-Ḥarizi tore up the literary text in order to get a blank page for his letter). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.) This letter was edited by Blau and Yahlom in Masʿe Yehuda (2002), 271–75. A note in Goitein and Friedman, India Book II, p. 459 n. 8 (and English edition p. 521 n. 8) indicates that there is some disagreement about the interpretation of the letter (or at least its opening). ASE

Legal deed: testimony dated 1195. For further information and edition, see D. Z. Baneth, "Te'udot min haggeniza lehayye haqqehillot bemizraim" (Geniza documents on Jewish communal affairs in Egypt), in Alexander Marx Jubilee Vol., 1950, pp. 72–93 (87–89). Also mentioned in Shaked.

Legal record. Dated: 1 Elul 1449 Seleucid, which is 1138 CE. Abū l-Karam b. Ibrāhīm releases Amat al-Qādir Ibn al-Dustarī ("ibn" is unusual for a woman: perhaps it is an error, or Ibn al-Dustarī is the family name) and acknowledges that he owes her 3 dinars that he will repay in installments of 1/3 dinar per month. Note that all of Goitein's notes and Weiss's edition for PER H 89 refer only to the earlier document written on recto.

Will of a pregnant woman. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Tishrei 1449 Seleucid, which is 1137 CE. Testator: Sitt al-Ahl bt. Ṣadoq b. Mevorakh Rosh ha-Qehillot. Sitt al-Ahl is the wife of Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Yehuda. Sitt al-Ahl's mother is Ḥasana bt. Shelomo ha-Kohen, the sister of the well-known judge Natan b. Shelomo. She is close to giving birth and contemplating dying during childbirth and seeks to provide for the child “male or female” who would survive the mother. The woman bequeaths generously to relatives and charities, including “forty dinars to the "mastūrīn" poor in Cairo and Fustat. "The woman's husband had children from a previous marriage, and she was, therefore particularly eager to safeguard the future of the child she was expecting. This had already been done to a large extent in her marriage contract, where it was stipulated that the dowry which she brought in, as well as payments due to her, would go to her children, to the exclusion of other heirs of her husband. In addition, she now wants half of a house, given by her to her mother prior to her marriage, to revert to her future child. The other half belonged to her, and both she and her husband were eager that the whole should become the property of the expected newborn. The old lady, however, had earmarked 60% of her share for her brother and nieces and 40% for charitable purposes. In view of this, our document stipulates that the gifts intended by the old woman will be made by her son-in-law in case after her death, while the half of the house referred to will be registered as property of the newborn. The expecting mother belonged to one of the leading families of the community, as her grandfather was Mevorakh Rosh ha-Qehillot, a man prominent in the politics of the community in the middle of the 11th century. On the other hand, her maternal uncle, the judge Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo, signatory of many documents in Fustat during the years 1122–48, was a refugee from Palestine, which was occupied at that time by the crusaders. It stands to reason that her mother, too, had come from Palestine and had, therefore, no possessions of her own in Cairo. This explains why she was given in her old age, one-half of a house by her daughter, who had inherited or received it as a gift from her father's family, or perhaps left to her by a former husband." (Information from Goitein's attached notes and from Mark Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, 196; S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 3: 232, 475) EMS. ASE.

Deathbed will. In Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Minyat Ashna. Dated: Monday, last decade of Shevaṭ 1461 Seleucid, which is January 1150 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. The testator is Ghazāl al-Ṭawwāf ("the nightwatchman") who never married and had no children. He leaves all of his possessions to his closest known relatives, his cousins (banāt ʿamm) Sitt al-Nās and Sitt al-Diyār. Peraḥya b. Yaʿaqov of Minyat Zifta, the son-in-law of Sitt al-Nās, stands as security for paying this money to any other heir with a greater claim who should make themselves known in the future. Signed by: Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe; Shelomo b. Zurʿa; and Shela b. Yefet.

Legal document. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Minyat Zifta. Dated: last decade of Tammuz 1467 Seleucid, which is July 1156 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. David b. Zurʿa will repay a large loan of 183 dinars to Shemuel b. Yehuda ("the Pride of the Enlightened") in 12 half-yearly installments of 15.25 dinars each, beginning in Av 1467 and ending in Tammuz 1473. The debt came from former dealings between the two, based on testimony before a Muslim court, i.e., there is already at least one debt contract against David b. Zurʿa drawn up in a Muslim court. Shemuel b. Yehuda the creditor also testifies that he will stand security for his partner Shemarya b. Sheʾerit ("Kelil ha-Yofi") in everything to do with this arrangement; this Shemarya is not previously mentioned (except perhaps in the missing beginning of the document), and his role in the debt is not clear. Signed by: Avraham b. Musāfir; Avraham b. Yakhin; ʿAmram b. Shemary ha-Kohen; and Yefet b. Yosef. The qiyyum (validation) is signed by: the judge and muqaddam Shabbetay b. Avraham ha-Ḥaver; Mevorakh b. Natan ha-Gevir; and Peraḥya b. Shemuel ha-Melammed. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Join with T-S 16.334?

Legal declaration in which the witnesses attest to the victory of Musa b. al-Ahuv (alias Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi) over Yizhaq al-Siqilli in retaining the position of muqaddam of Qalyub during Sar Shalom’s gaonate. Contains illuminating passages about the qualifications (lines 17-21) and the privileges (lines 21-24) of a muqaddam and the election process. Dated Sunday the 7th of Av, 1506/1195. In the handwriting of Moshe b. Levi himself. See also T-S 13J20.18 (in which Moshe b. Levi beseeches Sar Shalom not to believe an enemy's slander against him) and ENA 4020.4 (in which Sar Shalom confirms Moshe's position as cantor and slaughterer of Qalyub). ASE.

Letter from the community of Gaza to the court in Fustat, the second quarter of the eleventh century.

Fatimid state decree to a lower official, reused for a Coptic text dated 408–410 AH, hence datable to earlier than that; probably from the reign of al-Ḥākim, possibly even earlier. The Coptic text was partially published as CPR II 1 and MPER XVIII 55, and will be re-edited by Vincent Walter; full bibliography at https://search.onb.ac.at/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ONB_alma21324720350003338&context=L&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&vid=ONB&lang=de_DE&search_scope=ONB_gesamtbestand&tab=default_tab&query=addsrcrid,exact,RZ00003981. (Information from Marina Rustow and Vincent Walter, July 2021)

Legal document issued to the Majlis al-ʻĀlī concerning a female slave, witnessed by a judge Muḥammad Mūsá, dated Rabīʻ al-Awwal 810 H. [1407]. [Described on the paper wrapper as : "Acte de mariage entre Mahmoud ibn abdalla avec madame Galila Fatma la grande fille de son excellence el Gadi Fatima el Togan (gouverneur)" ; [next line] : "A.H. 810"]. Linked to item 37 (?).

Religious text mentioning the name of Saʻīd ibn Ḥasan al-Talimsānī. [Described on the paper wrapper as : "Poeme religieux d'un poëte inconnu" ; on a separate small piece of paper : "Poems of an unknown poet" ; [next line, in red] : "religious"].

Official letter of the Mamlūk period. [Described on the paper wrapper as: "une lettre de l'epoque des mamelucks caucasiens (?)" ; on a separate small piece of paper : "A letter from the mamlouk Circasian period"].

Receipt of payment (iqrār) in monies minted in copper, owed to ʻAlāʾ al-Dīn, dated 24 Ramaḍān 815 H. [1412]. [Described on the paper wrapper as: "reconnaissance du debiteur al Maalim ibn Aly ibn Omar el Kassida de payer sa dette au prince Al el Dine ibn Mar[--]oum el Farsi Shahine ibn Abdalla el Shahani" ; [next line] : "A.H. 510"].

Iqrār (deed of acknowledgment) on verso. Poem on recto.

Iqrār dated 7 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 902 H. (?) [1497]. [Described in the dealer's description as dated 702 H. [1302]].

Petition from the Mamluk period. [Described on the paper wrapper as: "Un esclave mamelouk demandant à son ancienne maitresse de retourner dans sa première maison" ; on a separate small piece of paper : "A mamlouk (slave) asking his ancient mistress to return him to her house. She has sold him to a man whose house is dirty and hot."].

Described in PUDL as a letter from a slave to his master regarding administrative matters.[Described on the paper wrapper as: "lettre d'un esclave à son maître expliquant sa methode d'administration" ; on a separate small piece of paper: "A letter from a slave who is called Gani Bek to his master explaining to him his method of administration"].