Geniza Lab

Prosbol document (registration of a loan at the court, thereby exempting it from automatic cancellation in the Sabbatical year), written in Fusṭāṭ in Elul 1535 (= 1224 CE) and signed by Yeḥiʾel b. Elyaqim and Elijah b. Zechariah. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dating: 12th century, under the reshut of the Gaon Netan'el ha-Levi. Needs examination for content. Witnesses: Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi and Efrayim b. Ḥalfon.

In a short note, a letter brought by Tiqva b. 'Amram from Farah b. 'Ayyash is presented to the court in Cairo. The letter was studied by Ezekiel ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver b. Eli. Dated Sivan 1416/May 1105. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, 213, and from Goitein's index cards.) CUDL description: Testimony by Ezekiel ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver b. ʿEli he-Ḥaver, dated 9th Sivan 1416 (= 1105 CE), and referring to Faraḥ b. ʿAyyāsh and Tiqva b. ʿAmram. Written and signed by Abraham b. Nathan Av Bet Din; witnessed by Shela ha-Levi b. Moses the teacher, [...] b. Shemarya and [...] b. Jacob. (Information from CUDL)

Legal fragment. Dated: 14[..] Seleucid. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe.

Bill of divorce (geṭ). Location: Aleppo. Dated: Av 1500 Seleucid, which is 1189 CE. Husband: Elʿazar b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, called Abū Naṣr al-Ṣārifī from Egypt and Sitt al-Gharb bt. Yehuda from Egypt, with witnesses Ṭoviyya b. Eliyya b. Tamīm he-Ḥaver and Elʿazar b. ʿAmram. Verso: permission for a representative, Avraham b. Ḥananʾel, to collect the divorce money, signed by the same witnesses. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein notes linked below. And description for MS 8254, fol. 15 (PGPID 32292) for the whole story.

See join (PGPID 2739) for description and transcription.

Recto: Legal document in Hebrew. Late. Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen b. Barukh attests that he owes Yaʿaqov Esprial (?אישפריאל) 4,800 diwani muayyadis ('fine and good ones') for the merchandise and books ("los Shir ha-Shirim" are mentioned on verso) that he acquired. He will repay 60 muayyadis every 15 days. The date of the first payment ("paga") is given. Verso: Document in Spanish, related to recto. The year 5428 AM is mentioned, which is 1667/68 CE.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involving Abū l-Baqā' and the late Abū l-Riḍā, who had business dealings in Yemen. Needs further examination.

Beginning of a court record from Fusṭāṭ, dated Marḥeshvan 1578 (= 1266 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Geṭ from Fusṭāṭ, dated Sivan 1455 Sel. (= 1144 CE). The parties are Saʿadya ha-Kohen b. Yakhin and Sitt al-Dār bat Ḡālib, with witnesses Munajjā ha-Parnas b. Shelomo and Nathan b. Shemuʾel he-Ḥaver. (Information from CUDL)

Legal fragment. Mentioning Sulaymān and [...]m ha-Dayyan. See Goitein notes linked below(?).

Fragment of a partnership agreement. The trader [Abū l-Surūr] Peraḥya [b. Tiqva ha-Levi?] Ibn al-Amʿaṭ (known from several other documents from the second half of the 12th century) declares that he has received a sum of money from the trader Abū Naṣr b. Elʿazar al-Levi [...] ha-Negidut with which he will travel to upper Egypt (al-Ṣaʿīd) and do business. (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Separate documents on recto and on verso. The document on recto deals with the sale of a dār in the 'alley of lupine (turmus).' The document on verso involves a woman named [...] b. Ḥananya known as Bint Ibn ʿAṭā'.

Marriage contract, fragment. In Hebrew and Aramaic, with the dowry list in Judaeo-Arabic. The bride may be [...] bt. Yosef.

Bill of divorce. Dated: Wednesday, 10 Elul 1395 Seleucid, which is 1084 CE. Location: New Cairo. Husband: Elʿazar b. Avraham. Wife: Sitt al-Ahl bt. Yiṣḥaq.

Legal document. Probably a release. In the hand of the court scribe Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (c.1181–1209).

Marriage contract. Small fragment. The bride is named Nujūm.

Fragment of a document of sale in which Nahray b. Nissim, the well-known banker and communal lender (d. 1096), buys from his brother-in-law and the sons of the latter's late brother one-third of a house worth 150 dinars. The total value of the house was 450 dinars. (Information from Goitein, Mediterranean Society, III, p. 37; IV, pp. 19, 287)

Small fragment of a ketubba, mentioning various sums in dinars. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage document in Hebrew. Late. Possibly just a formulary, as it is introduced with the header "זהו טופס." Currencies: Venetian peraḥim and muayyadis/medins.