Geniza Lab

Letter from Egypt concerning agricultural business matters, mentions a pair of oxen purchased for ’15 large dinars’ and a pregnant young donkey for 4.5 dinars. Dated around the early or mid-tenth century. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:118, 124, 426; 4:28; 4:263, 448). Note the unusual orthography, e.g., תצֿכר = tadkhur and ובצֿאכ = wa-bi-dhāk. EMS. ASE.

Recto: ketubbah, with a trousseau list including a short robe (jukāniyya), a mantle (ridā) and a face cover (niqāb). Verso: Bill of release of dowry from [...] to her husband Abū l-Barakāt b. Abū [al-...] b. al-muqaddasī. Signed by Hillel b. Abraham, Eleazar b. Yeshuʿa. AA

Recto: Letter from a certain Yiṣḥaq to Shemarya (the father of Elḥanan b. Shemarya). In Hebrew. Contains blessings for Elḥanan to take the place of his father. (Information from Goitein's attached notes.)

Verso: Partnership contract. In Hebrew. Dated: Thursday, 24 Tammuz 1298 Seleucid, which is 23 June 987 CE. Yosef b. Yaʿaqov and ʿEli b. Qimoy each contribute two units of money with which they will trade. Goitein notes that as ʿEli b. Qimoy must have been very rich (see his ketubba, T-S 16.70, from 995 CE), this partnership was a form of philanthropy/charity. (Information from Goitein's notes.) Alternate description: Verso: Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: June 987. Location: Fustat. Joseph b. Jacob and ‘Alī b. Qīmoī each place two silver coins in a common purse; each will transact with discretion in unnamed commodities. The document is incomplete and unsigned; the clauses concerning distribution of profits and losses, if any, are not preserved. ‘Ali b. Qīmoī is known from his marriage-document (see T-S 16.70, PGPID 4091). (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 114)

Fragment of a marriage contract. This portion contains part of the trousseau list. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Formula of a will. AA

Court record describing an inheritance dispute concerning two brothers and two sisters. One sister was married to the paternal uncle of the claimant, and after she and her husband died, each of their two daughters retained one thousand dinars from the estate and gave the rest to their maternal aunt. She then married a man with sons from a previous marriage to whom he allegedly owed money. He passed away before his wife, resulting in a long and complicated legal process. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:286-287) EMS 

Marriage contract (ketubba), Qaraite. Bride: Sara bt. Sahl. Groom: Avraham b. Yaʿaqov. Signed by Saʿīd ha-Kohen b. Naḥum and Yosef ha-Melammed. Dating: 1089–1187 CE. Location: Egypt(?). Information from FGP.

Small strip from a Ketubbah on vellum, contains mostly trousseau list mentioning ṭabaristān probably in connection with a garment. No further details preserved. AA

Legal deed. Opening lines only; abandoned mid-way through the fifth line. Dated: Sunday, 1 Sivan 1539 Seleucid, which is 1228 CE, under the jurisdiction of Avraham Maimonides. Parties: Avraham b. Shela and Muvḥar b. Tiqva both known as sons of Misbāḥ. On verso there are a few lines in Judaeo-Arabic, possibly hijāʾ (invective) poetry: yā jāhil bālī wa-yā khabīth al-ṭawiyya kam.... Underneath there are a couple words in Arabic script together with Greek/Coptic numerals. AA. ASE.

Legal document. In Hebrew. Bottom only. Dating: Ca. 10th century, based on the signature of Ḥabīb b. ʿAday, who also signs T-S 16.189. Other witnesses here: Iyov b. Shelomo b. Shemuel b. Sh[...]; Hillel [...]; Ḥasan [...]; Ḥasan b. ʿEli b. Ḥashmonay.

Ketubba, with very little text preserved, mentioning the trousseau items. Witnessed by Shemuʾel ha-Levi b. Elʿazar. (Information from CUDL)

Deed of sale for a house in Fustat. In the hand of ʿImmanuel b. Yeḥiel (active ca. 1231–65). Fragment from the middle of the document. Landmarks listed include Masjid al-Qubba and the dwelling of the Nagid. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Awad b. Hananel from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1060. The writer is in urgent need of cash "I do not even have a single dīnār left, whatever I had, I purchased with it wheat", "I am in need of your generosity, I do not have a single dirham". Describes the increasing prices of wheat and beans. Mentions a shipment of nuts and oil. It seems that the writer lives in a house that belongs to Nahray. (Information from Gil). VMR, YU.

Colophon in a commentary to the book of Isaiah, mentioning that the book had formerly belonged to Yaʿaqov he-haver b. Ayyub and was purchased from him by Josiah he-haver b. Aharon ha-me'ulle b. Josiah, av of the court in Acre in the year 4791/1031. Later, presumably during the First Crusade, the book fell into Crusader hands and someone, holding the book upside down as if it was a Western book, wrote a short note in Latin identifying its contents: ‘[interpre]tacio esaya prophete’. During their conquest of the Holy Land, the Crusaders took not only prisoners for ransom but also Jewish books and scrolls. This leaf is presumably from one of the books that passed through Crusader hands but was eventually sold back to the Jewish community. (Information from CUDL)

Copy of a letter addressed to the Gaon R. Saadyah by a pupil of one of his disciples (only the concluding lengthy poem is preserved) and his reply. Saadiah's reply is prefaced with a heading in Judaeo-Arabic. Published Schechter, Saadyana, pp. 57-58. AA

What survives of this text consists mostly of an argument that calendrical decisions can only be taken by experts – which is too neutral to be identified with a specific historical context such as the Calendar Controversy of 921/2. Nevertheless, several features of this text point in the direction of the Calendar Controversy of 921/2. It implies in some places Palestinian hegemony in calendrical decisions, and it appears to repudiate the Four Gates, a Babylonian algorithm which we know from other sources was criticized by Palestinians at the time of the controversy. The text extant begins by arguing, largely through Talmudic quotations, that calendar decisions can only be taken by Palestinian authorities who are expert in the science of the calendar. A passage of the Babylonian Talmud (bRosh ha-Shanah 20b) is quoted to show that even Samuel, the great Babylonian sage (early third century CE), was ignorant in parts of this science. A lengthy passage of Palestinian Talmud (yRosh ha-Shanah 2:6, 58b) is then quoted, discussing who has the authority of making calendar decisions. Finally, the author dismisses the authority of those who determine the calendar on the basis of the molad and the Four Gates. In Stern's book on the calendar controversy, this is the is the first of two versions of the text. This presents what can be read in the fragment extant. The second version is a reconstruction based on knowledge of the quoted Talmudic passages and some textual conjectures (pp. 416 - 425).

Formularies for letters addressed to notables in Judaeo-Arabic, along with a few verses of Judaeo-Arabic poetry. Followed by a copy(?) of a letter of appointment(?) of Yoshiyyahu as the exilarch (Rosh Galuyot "of France and Sefarad and Ashkenaz and Maday and Persia and Greece"). AA. ASE.

Letter addressed to Yeshuʿa b. Shabbetay. Fragment: upper part of recto. The sender’s name is not preserved. Very little non-formulaic content is preserved. The sender reports that his mother is worried about something (presumably the well-being of the addressee). (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter from Shemuel Gaon b. Hofni to the community in Qayrawan. Around 1008. The writer assumes that the donations to the Babylon Yeshivas ended up in the Yeshiva of Pumbedita. The writer chooses Yosef b. Berekhya to be in charge of sending the money, after the passing of Ta’akov b. Nissim. He details Yosef’s virtues in his knowledge of the Torah, and his commentaries to the Torah, Mishna, and Talmud. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #54) VMR