Geniza Lab

Four dowry lists. (1) Taqwīm (dowry list) for the marriage between Hiba b. Faḍā'il al-Ḥazzān and Riḍā bt. Tamīm al-Parnas. The dowry total is 66 dinars plus one-half of a house. Marheshvan, 1186. (2) Taqwīm (dowry list) for the marriage between Maʿālī b. Naṭīrā and Sitt al-Bayt bt. Makārim al-Parnas. The dowry total is 23 dinars. Marheshvan, 1186. (3) Taqwīm (dowry list) for the marriage between Abū Manṣūr b. Yiṣḥaq Ibn al-Dhahabī and Sitt al-Karam bt. Abū l-Barakāt. The dowry total is 180 dinars (includes jewelry, clothing, bedding, and copper), plus 7/24th of a house in Cairo. Kislev, 1186. (4) Taqwīm (dowry list) for the marriage between Abū l-Maḥāsin and Sitt al-Naba' bt. Menashshe. The dowry total is 140 dinars and includes clothing, jewelry, bedding, and copper. Tevet, 1186. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Engagement agreement from 1184. The date of marriage was set for the month of Elul in the following year, almost two years after the document was composed. The bride was orphaned from her father and there is no mention of a representative on her behalf as is common in many engagement agreements. This might indicate that she represented herself and that she was mature. However, the fact that two year would elapse before the marriage can take place might indicate that she was still rather young; see Goitein, Med. Soc. Vol. 3, pp. 92. } The father of the groom vows to take care of all the bride's expenses for five years after the marriage. It is possible that the groom was too young and the bride's family was concerned that he would be unable to provide sufficiently for the bride and thus sought to place this responsibility on his father. There is no mention of any fine on either party in the event that the marriage will not take place. Most of the contract is written in Aramaic and Hebrew but the conditions prevalent at the time in Egypt were written in Arabic and perhaps this indicates that they originated in the surrounding Muslim environment (in ENA NS 21.6 there are conditions in both Arabic and Hebrew and Friedman suggests that the conditions that have not yet won wider acceptance were written in Arabic; see Friedman, Polygyny, pp. 56-59).

An engagement agreement from the 18th of Tevet. The marriage is set a month and four months afterward. The bride is represented by her father, who also receives the engagement from the groom. Here, as elsewhere, there is no mention of a fine if any of the sides would cancel the engagement or the marriage would not be conducted at the agreed upon date.

Account of revenue and expenditure for Tishrei, Ḥeshvan, and Ṭevet. Dated: 1495 Seleucid, which is 1183–84 CE. This extensive accounting is written on two and a half leaves of the notebook of Shemuel b. Seʿadya. It lists the last expenditures for Tishri, and then the account of revenues for Heshvan, Kislev, and Tevet. It contains details of the rent from 22 apartments and compounds, which totals 715 dirhams. Several payments do not cover the whole period of three months, and refer to shorter periods. Then comes a very large list of expenditures reflecting large-scale reconstruction and repair operations. Involves Abū l-Bayān the collector. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 350 #89.)

Folio from a court ledger. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tuesday, 4 Shevaṭ 1496 Seleucid, which is January 1185 CE, under the authority of the Gaʾon Sar Shalom ha-Levi. Abū Naṣr b. Abū l-Khayr claims to have given to the female broker Sitt al-Dalāl bt. Abū ʿUmar two books belonging to his father, one of the Torah and one of Ketuvim, in order to offer them for sale. She claimed to him that they would fetch only 7.5 dinars and obtained permission to sell them to her own son Abū l-Maḥāsin b. Yefet for this price, taking 1/3 dinar as brokerage. Six years later, he learned the Torah alone was worth 20 dinars. Abū l-Maḥāsin is questioned about this. The story continues at length on verso (mentioning at one point the two witnesses Abū l-Bayān Ibn al-Ahuv (ZL) and Saʿīd al-Mawṣilī). This portion still needs examination. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

The main document is a liturgy. On the margin a strip from another document- a ketuba written by Mevorakh b. Natan (1150-1181 CE) was bound together. AA

Letter from Se’adya b. Yosef to his students in Fustat. Original letter was written in February or March 922. The date of this copy is unknown. Describes the events of summer and fall 921, when Se’adya was in Aleppo and heard about Aaron b. Meir’s intention to change the calendar. Also describes the Iraqi scholars’ opposition to his plans. Two pages (Bodl. MS Heb 56/82-83). (Gil, Kingdom, vol. 2, Doc. #6) VMR

Partially preserved 11th century copy three of three letters written by Saadya in the course of the 921-922 calendar controversy between Palestinians and Babylonians. There is an address in Arabic script. The letters are addressed to Saadya’s disciples Shelomo, Ezra and ʿEli in Fustat and recount the events of the Palestinian calendar declaration by Ben Meir and the Babylonian’s reaction to it. Saadya urges his addressees to uphold the dates of the Babylonians, and ensure that Jews do not eat leaven on Passover and desecrate the Day of Atonement. (Information from Rustow, Stern, The Jewish Calendar Controversy of 921-22, in Stern, S and Burnett, C, (eds.) Time, Astronomy, and Calendars in the Jewish Tradition. (pp. 79-95). Brill: Leiden, 2013. See also Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 17 and Goitein notes linked below, and the Penn Catalog.)

See Bodl. MS heb. f 56/82

Letter fragment from Alexandria reporting that a woman stood security for her husband. The phrase 'tabri'at ketubba' appears. There are repeated references to "this great catastrophe" and various legal proceedings. (Information from Goitein's index cards) Description from PGPID 6547: See join for description. This portion of the letter awaits transcription.

Letter fragment. Addressed to a certain Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm. May belong together with the preceding fragments.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. In fact there may be two documents here, written at 180 degrees to each other. (מע סכרה אלכביזה ואלדי ישהד אליה אבו אל...)

Accounts in Arabic script. Repeatedly mentions shahr al-aʿyād (presumably Tishrei) and al-ʿanṣara (Shavuʿot). Mentions Abū ʿAlī b. Isḥāq. Needs further examination.

Hebrew poetry. Including some alliterative tongue twisters.

Genealogical list of Shemuel b. Ḥananya's family.

Bill of divorce (get). Location: Fustat. Dated: Monday 5 Tamuz 1369 Seleucid, which is 1058 CE. Husband: Khalaf b. Shelomo. Wife: Nasāba bt. ʿAmmār. Scribed and signed by Aharon ha-Mumḥe b. Efrayim. Also signed by Ṭoviyya b. Hillel.

Colophon. Scribe: Natan ha-Kohen b. Yeshuʿa b. Yaʿaqov b. Yeshuʿa b. Yosef b. Peraḥya b. Shefaṭya. "In the colophons of books it is not uncommon to find the copyist mentioning his forefathers up to the seventh or eighth generation." (Goitein, Med. Soc., vi, 11 n.57)

Legal document. Ending only. The substance of the matter is unclear. There is a Shemuel and a Mufaḍḍal and a curse. Possibly a reconciliation agreement. Signed: Yefet b. Araḥ and Elʿazar b. Nissim. The qiyyum/validation is signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Seʿadya and Binyamin b. Yefet.

Legal document. Perhaps a partnership agreement (an najlis jamīʿan fī dukkān... wa-yataṣarraf fī l-dukkān bi-maḥḍar...). Names mentioned are Natan and Ṣadaqa ha-Zaqen ha-Ḥasid [b.?] Daniel ha-Levi.

Bill of divorce (get). Location: Fustat. Date missing. Husband: [...] b. Ṣadaqa. Wife: Nasāba bt. [...].