Geniza Lab

Legal document. Oath by Ibrahīm b. Naḥḥās concerning payment for a house, of which Abū ʿAlī retains the right to enter. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Quittance given to the carriers of goods sent from Yemen by a husband, Efrayim b. Yaʿqūb, to his wife. Written by Hillel b. Eli. On the verso another legal deed dealing with an oath, written by another hand.

Letter in the hand of Yehuda b. Ṭoviyyahu (muqaddam of Bilbays, active 1170s–1219). In Judaeo-Arabic. Containing a complaint about illness. The purpose of writing seems to be that the sender is unable to support a Ḥaver who came to stay with him. “[I was] constrained by my great expenses for medicines and chickens… An illness came upon me, on top of my chronic illness: shortness of breath and fever...” Mentions the boy Abū l-Bayān and al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab. Cites Berakhot 3b: “A handful cannot satisfy a lion, nor can a pit be filled up with its own clods.” Goitein read the word farrūj as surūj (meaning lamps -"perhaps he stayed up at night"), but see, for instance, Halper 410 and DK 238.3 for the formula "the medicine and the chicken." Regards to "our rabbi Avraham (Maimonides)" in the margin. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.) Join: Alan Elbaum. AA. ASE.

Draft of a court declaration written by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu regarding the estate of the late physician (al-mutaṭabbib al-ḥakīm) Ibrāhim b. Mukhtār Ibn Ilyās. He bequeathes his property—including medical books (nusakh ṭibbiyya)—to the synagogue of Dammūh. Also mentions "al-rayyis Nuʿmān" and another physician with many titles Sulaymān/Shelomo.

Letter begging for help from a communal authority ('sayyidnā'), written by Abu Sahl b. al-Ahuv during a famine. Likely early 13th century. He opens with condolence for the death of the recipient's brother and the hunger of the brother's family before going into his own sad tale. Ibn Imran recently stole 100 dinars that were buried in Abu Sahl's house and also took items from his house and sold them. Due to Abu Sahl's age and weakness, he could not act to stop this. Abu Sahl has in the past benefited from charity from the recipient and from al-Tiferet Abu l-Mahasin (a man of this title and kunyah is mentioned in T-S NS J347, dated 1219/1220), but now requires more assistance. Abu Sahl's dependents include an old woman and a sick man who cannot sleep day or night. Abu Sahl has had to buy oil instead of bread, "so that he does not die in darkness." Abu Sahl himself has been ill for the last month. He turned to al-Shaykh al-Nezer, who told him that Sayyidnā ordered for him to receive bread in the distribution, but it has been three weeks and he has not received any bread. He concludes by asking the recipient to investigate the young man (Ibn Imran) who plunged them into this desperate state. ASE.

Letter addressed to Abu al-Ḥasan Yedutun ha-Levi asking for help to collect money owed the writer by his brother so he can open a store in Alexandria.

Letter from Efrayim b. Nissim, apparently in the Rīf, to Yiṣḥaq b. Barhūn al-Tāhartī, Fustat, ca. 1040. (Gil)

Court record in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. Refers to a rent; 20 dinars; a power of attorney; a period of 5 years; Aharon ha-Kohen; Nissim.

Recto: Note from Efrayim to al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab Abū l-Thanāʾ. In Judaeo-Arabic with a Hebrew superscription and ending with a ه (for انتهى). Dating: Probably late 12th or 13th century. He wants a loan or advance of 3.25 of something (nuqra dirhams?). Verso: Probably the response. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender says that he doesn't owe anything, also that he is busy with צדע אלזינה(??) and "the arrival of the sultan in Fustat."

Verso: Legal agreement. Probably in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Avigayil bt. Eliyya ha-Kohen gives her husband David b. Eliyya the right to remarry his divorcee Ḥasana bt. Yehuda. The bottom of the document is not preserved, so we do not know if there are signatures or not. This document may be the notes of the scribe or the court rather than the legal agreement itself. On recto (see separate record) there is a fragment from a letter by an untrained hand.

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic, in a rudimentary hand. Mentions a distressing matter ("and we are perishing..."). Asks for a thawb (garment).

Letter, fragmentary, from Isma’il b. Barhun ha-Tahirti from al-Mahdiyya, to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal from Fustat. Mentions some information about the Sultan interfering in trade matters. Mentions Yosef b. Brahya and the Nagid – Avraham b. Ata. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #119) VMR

Letter in the hand of Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel b. Netanel ha-Levi, Ḥalfon's brother, while in Qalyūb. Mentions Abū l-Faḍl and Abū l-Ḥasan who are known from other IB VI documents. The writer had received two shawls and a fūṭa (waist-wrapper) which in Qalyūb were worth 1.5 dinars and 0.5 dinars respectively. He sends greetings to Abū l-Fakhr, Abū l-Ḥasan al-Bazzāz (the clothier), and a different Abū l-Ḥasan. He asks for the news of the sick person in the house of the latter Abū l-Ḥasan. Makārim and his siblings also send greetings. ASE.

Ketubba fragment written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. The groom's father named Elazar.

Letter, fragmentary, from Isma’il b. Barhun ha-Tahirti from al-Mahdiyya, to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal from Fustat. Mentions some information about the Sultan interfering in trade matters. Mentions Yosef b. Brahya and the Nagid – Avraham b. Ata. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #119) VMR

Contributions to a collection of loaves of bread for the poor, ranging from 100 pounds (a qintar) down to 1/2 pound. Instead of bread, one person gives three dirhams. Most of the contributors of larger amounts are introduced with the title 'my lord the elder,' while most of those giving small ones are simply called by name, such as: Yaʿaqov-1/2, Ibrahim Ibn al-Mawazini (maker of scales)-1, the oil-makers-1, the Karaite-1/2. No consistency, however, was observed in this distinction. The donors of the third and fourth largest amounts (25 and 10 pounds, respectively) receive no title, while others giving only two pounds do. The handwriting of this much-effaced document is of the calligraphic type used in books, which is extremely difficult to locate and date. Reason: The list is headed by Abu Zikri (taking him as son of Eliyyahu the dayyan, who was a prominent physician in Alexandria), while R. Yeshu'a is second, even though he donated only 4 pounds 'The haver' is also listEd. All three are conspicuous in T-S 10J16.6, the complaint of the administrator of the quppa in Alexandria, who was threatened with death when he retained certain quantities of wheat in order to meet emergencies in time of scarcity. The Nagid might have asked that all the relevant lists connected with the breadbasket of the community be submitted to him, one of which (the present list) would have finally made its way into the Geniza. If the above reasoning is correct, the document should be dated ca. 1230. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 491-492, App. C 53 and from Cohen)

An account containing details about items sold. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 152)

Legal document. Commenda. Following the Talmudic isqa method whereby the agents have some responsibility for losses, the active partner or partners (Abū Sa‘d and his son Abū al-Ma‘ānī) collect 2/3 of the profit and bear equal responsibility for losses, while the investor Abū Naṣr collects 1/3. The divison of losses is not clear due to the manuscript's deterioration. While Udovitch (1970, pg. 239) suggests that the fact that the active partner in a qiraḍ bears no liability for loss is ideal for long distance trade, the partners in this agreement seem to plan to travel and still use the Talmudic model rather than the qirāḍ. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 45-47)

List of debtors or contributors

Court order. In Hebrew. Dating: Second half of the 16th century, based on the assessment of Avraham David. Anyone who has knowledge of the whereabouts of any of the possessions of Avraham קולודרו, the son-in-law of Yosef Qalʿī—or of the whereabouts of Avraham himself—must inform the court within 3 days on pain of excommunication.