Geniza Lab

Ketubba fragment (left side). Dated: 1374 Seleucid, which is 1062/63 CE. Groom: Hiba b. Moshe. Bride: Riḍā bt. Neḥemya ha-Kohen. The early marriage gift (muqdam) is 5 [dinars], and the grand total (line 11) of the dower is 55 [dinars], though that would leave little for the me'uḥar; jewelry and copper are also mentioned. Witnesses include: ʿEli b. Yaḥyā ha-Kohen; Yiṣḥaq b. Yeshuʿa; Yosef b. Shelomo; Netanel b. Menashshe; Yiṣḥaq b. Waḥsh(?); ʿUlla/ʿEli ha-Ḥaver b. ʿAmram. On verso there is a Hebrew poem praising God and creation (and perhaps also a powerful person). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Deed of sale for a portion of a house. Location: Fustat. Dated: Ṭevet 1468 Seleucid, which is 1156/57 CE, under the reshut of Shemuel b. Ḥananya. The dyer Makarim b. Salāma sells to his brother Abū l-Ḥasan b. Salāma one one-eighth of a house in the Surayya quarter of Fustat, which had been known as the residence of Yūsuf the father of Abū al-Khayr al-Saqqā' (the water carrier) for 5 dinars. His wife Sitt […] bt. Fahid lifts her mortgage. Written and signed by Mevorakh b. Natan. Also signed by Seʿadya b. Avraham. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Court record in which Abū Sulaymān Dāʾūd b. Abū al-Khaṣīb Zurʿa confirms to owe to Abū al-Maʿālī al-Tājir b. Abū al-Ḥasan al-Tājir, aka Shemuʾel b. Judah Ben Asad, 100 dinars which he will return in two yearly installments. If he were to be late in doing so, he owes a fine of 10 dinars to the poor of Egypt to be collected for them by the Court. This debt was originally made before a Muslim court. Here it is prolonged. Fustat, Marḥeshvan 1153, written but not signed by Natan b. Shemuʿel. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Goitein, MedSoc, Vol. 3, p. 9, Vol. 2, p. 110.)

Letter of condolences to Hillel b. ʿEli on the death of his wife (?), wishing him to find consolation in the marriage of his son. The writer, possibly Yiftaḥ ha-Kohen, asks for information regarding the return of the nagid Mevorakh b. Saʿadya from the Upper Egypt to the capital. Second half of the 11th century. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, p. 114.)

Account of the Qodesh: computation of total yearly revenue from rent, ca. 1041. A draft, written in Arabic characters apparently by Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya on the verso, probably after the recto had been display in the synagogue for several months. The parnas records the total yearly revenues, in gold and wariq (cash/silver). The revenue in gold was smaller than expected, and that in wariq bigger. Several additional revenue items and debts are listed. The account ended on 30 August 1041. (Gil, Documents, 179 #13) VMR

Account of the Qodesh: building expenditures, ca. 1041. Most items in this account refer to building operations at the synagogue. Some other synagogue expenditures, such as oil, are also listed. Further details refer to a number of compounds belonging to the qodesh. It is written in a calligraphic handwriting and the account was probably intended ofr public display in the synagogue. The handwriting of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya can be recognized. Since the document refers to oil used in the synagogue to the end of Elul 1351 Sel. (10 Sept. 1040), it was probably written in 1041. The verso of the document was used at the end of 1041 for an account written in Arabic characters. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 175 #12)

Legal testimony from Minyat Ashna, dated Tamuz 1461 (1150 CE), under the reshut of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya, in which Ṣedaqa b. Netanel ha-Ḥazzan, known as al-Raḥbī acknowledges a debt of 25 dinars to Shemuel ha-Sar b. Yehuda ha-Zaqen, known as Ibn Asad. He will pay 10 dinars over Elul and Tishrei, then 5 dinars each in Shevat, Adar and Nisan. ASE.

Letter from an older Maghribī traveler, in Alexandria, to his cousin, somewhere in the Maghrib. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1100 CE. Evidently this letter was never sent. The writer has spent the last five years in Egypt attempting to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He describes the various disasters of the years 1095–1100 to justify both why he has failed to reach Jerusalem and why too he has remained in Egypt instead of returning to his family and waṭan. First, he describes the chaos in Palestine under the Seljuq occupation ("many armed bands made their appearance in Palestine"). He next describes the 1095 siege of Alexandria in which the vizier al-Afḍal deposed Nizār and secured the caliphate for al-Mustaʿlī ("the city was ruined. . . the Sultan conquered the city and caused justice to abound"). He again prepared for travel "when God conquered Jerusalem at his [the caliph's] hands," i.e., in 1098, only to be foiled by the appearance of the Franks, who "killed everyone in the city, whether Jew or Muslim." The writer is confident that the Fatimids will retake Jerusalem this very year, so he intends to remain in Egypt until he sees Jerusalem or gives up all hope. The letter ends with the writer's protracted illnesses. Throughout these years, the land has been filled with epidemic diseases (wabā', aʿlāl, amrāḍ, dever). The wealthy became impoverished, "most people died," entire families were destroyed. The writer himself developed a grave illness (maraḍ ṣaʿb), which lasted one year, and was shortly followed by another grave illness, which has lasted four years and perhaps continues to the present day. "Indeed [true is] what the Scripture has said of the dreadful disease of Egypt (Deut. 7:15). . . . He who hiccups (yastanshiq) will not escape from it. . . . ailments and will die from them. . . . Otherwise, he will remain alive." Note that "yastanshiq" typically means "inhale" or "snuff" (e.g., water for ritual ablutions) rather than "hiccup." Information largely from Goitein's attached translation and notes, and Goldman, "Arabic-Speaking Jews in Crusader Syria" (diss.), pp. 38–42, where there is a thorough analysis of the letter's context and a discussion of the writer's penchant for hyperbole.

Fiscal document, in Arabic script. Large format with 16 lines preserved, marginal notes, and crossings out. The document is an internal fiscal Fatimid accounting document mentioning military spending from the year 500/1106-7. There are large sums of money and iqṭāʿāt. Mentions an official of al-Afḍal by the name Zahr al-Dawla Bandūd (?) al-Afḍalī. (See al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, III, 34).

Court proceeding from the court of Yoshiyyahu Gaon, approximately 1010. Testimony of two business partners who quarreled. Original document of their partnership done in Fustat by Shemariyah b. Elhanan.

Letter from Yehuda b. Saadya to the leader of the community of Sahrajt demanding that the case of a widow, the sister of a prominent banker to the government, be settled expeditiously.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: Sunbāṭ (סמבוטיה). Dated: Monday, 1 Ḥeshvan 1445 Seleucid, which is 2 October 1133 Seleucid, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon. Avraham b. Shelomo remarries his divorcee Rafīʿa bt. Shemaʿya. The bride and groom are very poor. Marriage payments: 1 + 3 =4. The dowry consists of 3 items, amounting to 5 dinars. Witnesses include: Elʿazar b. Avraham; Refaʾel b. Eliyya; Menaḥem b. Yosef; ʿAmram b. [...]. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Avraham b. Moshe ha-Kohen releases his cousin Sāda (i.e., Sitt al-Sāda) b. Abraham, the widow of his late brother Joseph, who was obliged to marry him as Joseph died without offspring, from all financial obligations resulting from her former marriage. Incomplete. Highly detailed legal definitions. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Ketubba fragment (the beginning and the signatures are torn away). Groom: Yeshaʿya b. Yehuda (his own name appears in l.16 and his father's name in l.1). Bride: Mu'ānis (? מואנס, in l.1). Marriage payments: 10 + 20 = 30 (Naṣirī dinars?). The total with the dowry: 373. Details of the dowry are in ll.7–10. Based on the menstrual purity clause (ll.15–16), and perhaps also based on the currency, Goitein estimates the date to be ca. 1190 CE. One of the conditions is that the bride may stay in her father's house for the first 2 years (l. 15). In verso there is an unidentified text block in Judaeo-Arabic, jottings in Arabic script, and medical ingredients together with quantities (part of a recipe), e.g., opium, boxthorn (khawlān), and zinc oxide (tutty/tūtiyā'). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: Jerusalem. Dated: Friday, 6 Ṭevet 5211 AM, which is 11 December 1450 CE. Groom: Khalaf Allāh b. Yiṣḥaq. Bride: Sitt al-Banīn bt. ʿImrān, a widow. The currency used is the gold ashrafī (first referred to with the generic name "peraḥim" and then glossed within the document as "the coin of the king of Egypt, called ashrafī"). Marriage payments: 5 + 10 = 15 ashrafīs. Dowry: 10 ashrafīs. One of the conditions states that "the inheritance is according to the custom of Damascus." Witnesses: Shemarya b. Yosef; Avraham/ʿAṭiyya b. Yaʿaqov. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Fragment (lower left corner). Groom: Natan b. Yosef ha-Dimashqi. Bride: Baṭrīqa bt. Ṣemaḥ, a virgin. No details of the marriage payments or dowry are preserved. Witnesses include: David b. Aharon ha-Levi; Shemuel b. Avraham; Yeshuʿa b. Avraham ha-Levi; Efrayim b. Ṣibyān ha-Kohen; the ḥaver Natan b. Yeshuʿa ha-Levi; Yaʿaqov b. Yosef b. ʿAmram ha-Shofeṭ. There is a validation signed by ʿAmram b. Shemuel and Sahlān b. Avraham (the head of the Iraqi congregation of Fustat 1034–49 CE). Here, Sahlān has the title Segan ha-Yeshiva and his father is called Beḥir ha-Yeshiva.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: New Cairo. Dated: Monday, 28 Kislev 1370 Seleucid, which is 1058/59 CE. Groom: Yaʿir b. Mevasser. Bride: Mubāraka b. Khalaf. No trousseau. The marital status of the bride is not defined. She most probably was not a virgin, nor a widow or a divorcee. Therefore, the worst conditions. Marriage payments: 1 + 2 = 3 dinars. Witnesses: Ṣedaqa b. Aharon ha-Levi; Ṣedaqa b. Yosef; Faraḥ b. Yaʿqūb; Ṣedaqa b. Shelomo ha-Kohen; Shemuel b. Maṣliaḥ; ʿEli b. Yeshuʿa; Bishr b. [...]; and Aharon ha-Mumḥe b. Avraham. On verso there is a Hebrew panegyric to a Gaon. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Deed of release. Yaʿaqov b. [...] releases a woman from all claims. Fragment (the beginnings of 9 lines are preserved).

Legal document. Small fragment from the bottom. Mentions a qāḍī known as Ibn Shaʿra, a certain Shabbetay(?), and a certain Sitt al-Tujjār. The scribe's hand may be known.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. David b. Yiṣḥaq Ibn al-Ṣafaṭ (? אלצפט) acknowledges receipt of a sum of money from Abū l-Barakāt Berakhot b. Yaʿaqov to conduct business with it abroad. When he returns to Egypt, 1/3 of the profit will go to the investor and 2/3 to the active partner. The same David b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi appears in T-S Misc.27.4.28.