Geniza Lab

Bifolium of legal records, one of which is dated 1519 CE (Sivan 1830).

The end of a legal document, preserving only a number of signatures: Joseph b. Abraham b. Sa[ul], Shemuʾel b. [...], Ibrahim b. Moses, Sahl b. Khalaf the teacher and Joseph b. Khalaf. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Hebrew from the communal head of Ṣahrajt, a small Delta town, reporting on the local communityʼs handling of a particularly problematic case of marital strife. A man married the sister of his deceased wife, but the marriage was not a success, and, as the letter narrates the events, the wife appealed to a Muslim court to divorce her from her husband. (Information from Oded Zinger, Women, Gender, and Law (PhD diss), 65–66).

Legal record of the same case on the recto, which offers us an alternative vantage point against which we may evaluate the narrative imposed on this woman’s actions in the communal leader’s letter. Apparently, the wife (we now learn that her name was Saʿīda bt. David) was discontent with the handling of her case in her home town and travelled to the capital seeking justice. (Information from Oded Zinger, Women, Gender, and Law (PhD diss), 65–66).

Court testimony. Dating: 13th century. Abū l-Faḍāʾil b. ʿAbdallāh b. Shemuel attests that the estate, consisting of cloths, textiles and other things, of the late husband of Sitt al-Ahl bt. Elʿazar has been deposited with the widow Sitt al-Milāḥ bt. Seʿadya al-Muʿallim. Signed by: Aharon b. Peraḥya. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 200, 563, and Goitein's index cards)

Power of attorney granted to ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Yaʾish, and referring to the woman Malk bat Moses. Three witnesses sign, Moses ha-Levi b. Shela ha-Levi, Mevorakh b. Yeshuʿa and Saʿadya b. Mevasser. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: record of the testimony of Zerubabel and Nisan b. David, and referring to Isaac b. Zerubabel. Verso: list of the quoted authorities in Pirqe Avot with talmudic cross-references, starting with Yehoshuaʿ b. Peraḥya. (Information from CUDL)

Agreement between Sitt al-Baqāʾ and her husband Tahor ha-Levi the astrologer (al-Munajjim) b. Namir concerning money owed from the ketubba. Signed by Moshe b. Yehuda and Hillel b. Yosef, and dated Marḥeshvan 1460 of the Seleucid era (= 1148 CE). (Information from CUDL.)

Get (bill of divorce) dated November 1041 CE (Kislev 4802), from Dam[sīs]. Yosef b. Sūq[..] divorces Sutayt bt. Aharon. Signed by Shemuel b. Avraham and Seʿadya b. Maymūn.

Get (bill of divorce) dated 1058 CE (Nisan 1369) from Fustat. Nissin (!) b. Maḥbūb divorces Mubāraka bt. Ṭoviya.

End of a legal document with many signatures, including David ha-Kohen b. ʿAmram, Elʿazar b. Saʿadya, [Ju]dah ha-Kohen b. Ṭoviyya and [...] b. Yakhin ha-Kohen. (Information from CUDL) See also Goitein notes linked below(?).

Legal document dated 6 July 1564 CE (16 Tamuz 5324), Fustat, in which Sulaymān Ṣafiyy and the treasurers of the heqdesh of the Mustaʿrib congregation reach an agreement regarding the amounts owed by Sulaymān. He owes them ongoing rent payments for the līwān in an ʿaliyya belonging to the heqdesh in which he lives, as well as a prior debt of 123 muayyadis. In this document, he commits to paying 4 muayyadis a week, or 16 a month, of which 9 are for rent and 7 are for defraying his debt of 123 muayyadis. There are three different enforcement mechanisms: Sulaymān accepts a ban of excommunication upon himself if he fails to pay on time; he undertakes a vow; and he agrees that if he does not pay, the treasurers have the right to evict him through the Muslim court sytem, and he will have to pay the associated fees (by including this provision here, the heqdesh officers forestall the possibility that they will be accused of violating the halakha by resorting to the Muslim courts). The witnesses are ʿOvadya b. Avraham Ḥazzan and David b. Elʿazar Ḥonik (? חניך) ha-Levi (who also appears in ENA NS I.57 and ENA NS 29.11). On verso there is an archiving note: "the rental contract of Sulaymān Ṣafiyy, debt of 123 muayyadis to the congregation." Information from Dotan Arad's edition. ASE.

Confirmation of the payment of a loan, from Joseph, followed by an instruction to return the pledged copy of the Torah, both signed by Isaac b. Saʿadya. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a ketubba from Fustat probably from the year [13]93 = 1081/82 CE.

Tiny fragment from the end of a legal document, under the reshut of Shemuel ha-Nagid.

Power of attorney. In Hebrew. Location: Tiberias, Palestine. Dated: Friday, 1 Adar 4811 AM, which is 15 February 1051 CE. It seems that ʿAmram appoints [Abū] l-Faraj b. Salāma as his agent. Written and signed by Zekharya b. Moshe ha-Levi. Also signed by Mevasser b. Shelomo; Yiṣḥaq b. Shelomo ha-Levi; and Yiṣḥaq [b.] Avraham. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card and attached notes.)

Legal document. Location: Sammanūd. Dated: 1445 Seleucid, which is 1133/34 CE, under the reshut of the Gaon Maṣliaḥ. Names [...] ha-Kohen ha-Zariz b. Yosef ha-Kohen. The testimony is about a woman who "cries out and writhes in pain (tastaghīth wa-tataḍawwar) from her husband's beating of her with his foot." A group of Alexandrians then enters the story. The rest of the document is missing. ASE.

Legal document or letter. In Hebrew. Very faded. Seems to be dealing with monetary issues? Only few a phrases can be read: והיה על אביהם... באכסניה במקום רחוק... אצל יצחק... וארבעה עשר קיראט וחצי קיראט.

Legal document concerning the appointment by the court of an agent for orphans, who will collect what is due them from their mother when they reach maturity, and the postponement of their debts. Dated: Tammuz 1310 of the Seleucid era, which is 999 CE. (Information from CUDL and from Catalogue of the Jack Mosseri Collection, p. 193.)

This copy of a marriage contract from a record book from the Palestinian synagogue of Fustat is written on four pages of two folios consisting of page 1: Mosseri A 37 (=Moss. VII,37.2) and page 2: Mosseri A 76 (=Moss. VII,76.1). The marriage between Yefet b. Yaʿaqov and Ḥanna bt. Avraham mentions a dowry of 690 dinars which seems to be an exaggerated amount. The first page is in the hand of Yefet b. David, the second page by another scribe. Dated: September 7, 1043 CE (on New Year's eve). (Information from Goitein, Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 94, 446)