Geniza Lab

Money order of the Qodesh. Ca. 1162-63. The judge Shemuel b. Saadya ha-Levi wrote and signed an order to pay 9.5 dirhams to the children of a certain Hiba, the brother of Abu Ishaq al-Mukari, said to be thier share in the revenue of the "Estate of the Jerusalemites." (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 308 #70)

Letter from Sulaymān to Abū l-Bayān. In Judaeo-Arabic. Very brief and hastily written. The writer asks the addressee to kindly bestow the favor that he previously bestowed (or that his father bestowed?), urgently. There is a single line in Arabic script at the bottom, probably repeating the urgency of the request (لا تنعاق).

Legal document from Fustat, 1181.

Draft of a request addressed to Sayyidnā. Written in an unusual combination of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic in Arabic script: ينعم سيدنا يعرفني ما בקי ללשיך פל في الشهادة الذي بيده مكتتبة בערכאות של גוים עלי בן פל بميتين(؟) וכמסון דרהמא ונצף והי עלי ימין פל . . . . The sender wishes to know how much is still owed to 'so-and-so' by 'the son of so-and-so' according to a deed of debt from the Muslim courts originally for 50.5 (or 250.5?) dirhams. On verso there is a similar note in a mixture of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic in Arabic script, along with a draft of a beginning of a Jewish legal deed dated Ṭevet 1559 Seleucid, which is 1247/48 CE. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Calandar for the year 1153/54 CE. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Verso: Cheque written and signed by Abū Zikrī Kohen. Dated: Tishrei 1454 Seleucid, which is 1142 CE. Abū l-Khayr Khiyār is to pay the price of the pepper, namely, 8 dinars.

Recto: Unidentified document (accounts?) in Arabic script. Written in the form of a list, in a neat (chancery?) hand. Needs examination.

Testimony dating to 1107 CE regarding a house, which is now a wreck, located near the 'house of the shofet' and (belonging?) to the daughter of Abū Naṣr b. Dāʾūd al-Ṣayrafi. Dealing with whether the proprietor of the ruin is entitled to dispose of his rubbish there. The fragment contains 4 consecutive testimonies by different people: [...] b. Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen, Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan b. Menashshe. Signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuʾel, Yosef b. Saʿadya, ʿUlla b. Yosef ha-Levi, Sar Shalom b. Hiyya. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, 23.)

Legal document. Written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: 1425 Seleucid, which is 1113/14 CE. Sitt al-Kull bt. [...] makes a declaration of some kind in favor of Abū Saʿd b. Darī (דרי). Goitein's index card: "We learn from this that Darī is also a name for a free man."

Recto: Court record. Dated: Sunday, 12 Ḥeshvan 1461 Seleucid, which is 1149 CE. Incomplete. In which Sayyid al-Ahl testifies that he heard Abū l-Faraj ask Abū Isḥāq b. al-Shofeṭ for some wheat from the storehouse (makhzan) and the dispute over this that ensued.

Verso: Legal document: agreement with the Qodesh. Dating: ca. 1160. An agreement is concluded between a certain Ṣubḥ and his wife, and the qodesh, represented by Abū Naṣr Yeshaʿyahu ha-Levi, the general administrator of the estates of the qodesh. Since the couple own nine qarārīṭ (=3/8) of the house of which the qodesh owns the rest, the repairs needed in the house could not be made without their collaboration. As a pledge for their part of the cost, they temporarily waive the ownership rights over their part as long as Yeshaʿyahu ha-Levi wants it. They also will accept the sum of the expenditures stated by him without question. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 292 #62)

Legal document. Dating: Approximately 15 weeks prior to Ḥeshvan 1451 Seleucid, which is 1139 CE. Concerning a debt of 90 dirhams to be paid in weekly installments of 6 dirhams. The parties are [...] b. Ḥananya and Yeshuʿa. Payments will only be count toward the debt if they are recorded on the back of the contract. On verso there are jottings as well as two discrete notes (records of payments?) in Arabic script. Needs further examination. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Court record notebook containing various subjects. part from a legal deed sigend by Hiyya b. Yiṣḥaq from 1154 on recto andverso

Account of the qodesh, ca. probably 1158. Fragment of an accounting between the qodesh and, apparently, its partner in the ownership of a compound, known as Hiba al-Abzari, one eighth of which belongs to the qodesh. This can be inferred from the fact that the qodesh returns sums previously paid by that man for the ground rent (ḥikr). A former agreement seems to have imposed monthly payments of 10 dinars upon the co-proprietor, to settle his debt. The new computation stretches over a period of nine years, 1149-1158 - years 1461, 1465, 1466 sel. (1149-50, 1154, 1155), and years (5)50, (5)51, (5)52, (5)53 AH (1155-1158 CE). It shows that 50 dinars are still owing to the qodesh. This sum is to be paid on the spot, and the account has the tone of a deed of release, indicating that money was about to be paid. Coptic numerals are used. Written in the hand of Judge Hiyya b. Yitzhak, and signed by him. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 274-276 #56)

Partnership agreement. Location: Fustat. Dated: Av 14[..] Seleucid, which is 1089–1188 CE, but if Goitein's identification is correct (hand of Hillel. b. ʿEli), this can be drastically narrowed. The parties are [...]l ha-baḥur ha-ṭov ha-talmid and Mishaʾel ha-Levi ha-baḥur ha-ṭov. ENA 3737.8 might be an indirect join. NB: Goitein refers to ENA 4011.45 as ENA 4011.47.

Legal deed in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dating: mentions 1138 Seleucid, which is 1126/27 CE. Mentions the name Abū Isḥāq Avraham. Probably a contract of a debt.

Legal document(s). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dating: 1134 CE. Recto and verso are distinct documents, but they may be related. One side is signed by Ḥalfon and by ʿEli b. Menashshe ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver. The other side is signed by Moshe b. Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen and Zakkay b. Moshe. Needs examination for content.

Recto: Bill of sale of for a Nubian female slave named Mulḥ. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Unsigned. Location: Fustat. Dated: 7 Kislev 1412 Seleucid, which is 1100 CE. Seller: Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf b. Netanel. Buyer: Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf. b. Efrayim. Price: 20 dinars.

Verso: egal note in Arabic script. The one who appoints the agent: Abū l-Faraj Shūʿā b. [...]. The agent: Zuhayr b. Ibrāhīm. Purpose: the sale of a house and a shop.

Legal document. In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel, who also signed the validation (qiyyum). Dating: ca. 1145 CE (but it is not clear where this estimate comes from). Abū l-Ḥasan owes 66 dirhams to the parnas Sālim. If not paid according to the agreed-upon installment plan, Sālim will sue him for the entire sum in Muslim courts. Witnesses: Yefet b. Shaḥrūr ("Blackbird"); Avraham b. Yehuda ha-Kohen. The qiyyum is notable for the fact that it doesn't actually list the names of the witnesses. It is signed by David ha-Paliṭ b. Yosef, Ḥiyya b. Yiṣḥaq, and Natan b. Shemuel. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) NB: Goitein refers to ENA 4011.49 as ENA 4011.50.