Geniza Lab

Letter dated ca. 1050, sent by Sedaqa b. Zakariyya from Alexandria to his partner Barhun b. Salih al-Tahirti in Fustat. The letter mentions shipments of lacquer and specifies amounts of money available to the addressee. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 567)

Marriage contract. Location: Barqa (Libya). Dated: Thursday 5 Elul 4750 AM, which is 28 August 990 CE. The contract explicitly states that it follows the local custom of Tripoli, Libya, and has some peculiar traits which set it apart from similar documents from other countries. The bride, Ḥasana bt. Yosef al-Ṣarfī, was an heiress. This may account for the fact that she was not provided with a trousseau by her father but received a payment from her future husband, Aharon b. Yeshuʿa, to buy herself an outfit. The settlement is signed by 36 persons, possibly all guests present, only two of whom were witnesses. (Information from Goitein notes linked below.)

Letter from Mūsā b. Yiṣḥaq in Sfax to Yehuda b. Moshe Ibn Sughmar in Fustat. Contains details about shipments of coins, oil and soap from the Maghreb to Fustat. The recipient is asked to buy goods, mainly flax, in Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom)

Letter in the hand of Berakhot b. Shemuel to his father-in-law. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. He complains about neglect. He mentions al-Shaykh al-Rashīd, whom he forgives for neglecting him because he is usually so generous, and Abū Manṣūr, whom he does not forgive because he cannot imagine his excuse. He concludes by asking the addressee to conciliate his daughter (the writer's wife, ṣāḥibat al-bayt), because, as a result of his pain and his illness and the meager support he receives (or "care," as in the wife being remiss in household duties, which is Zinger's suggestion), his "character became constrained" and he became irritated (ḍāqat akhlāqī wa-ḍajirtu), and they had a fight. The addressee should do this in such a way that she doesn't sense that the writer told him. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, 188, 189.) Same writer as T-S 13J21.35, which is signed Abū l-Barakāt. There are many more letters in his hand. See Zinger's dissertation, p. 261. ASE

Letter to the Nagid Avraham Maimonides (1205-1237) concerning public affairs.

Legal document concerning settlements among a family. Location: Qayrawān. Dated: Wednesday, 14 Iyyar 4810 AM, which is 1050 CE. Yosef b. Adoniyya ha-Kohen gave to his second wife, Ḍiyā' bt. Elḥanan, a complete ʿuluww (architectural term). The wife gave 1/2 of the ʿuluww to her daughter from a first marriage (Mawlāt bt. Yosef ha-Kohen) and 1/2 to the narrator of this testimony, her son from a second marriage, Abū l-Maʿālī b. Yefet; Abū l-Maʿālī now gives his half to his stepsister Mawlāt. This ʿuluww is located above the portico (sqīfa) of Zina bt. al-Fājū(?); its eastern boundary is the house of Yehuda b. ʿAmram; its southern boundary is the house of Yehuda b. Seʿadya b. Rawāda(?). Witnesses: Yosef b. Yehuda Rosh ha-Seder; Nissim b. Avraham Ḥarīrī; Avraham b. Yosef. Ed. Simha Assaf, "Old Genizah Documents from Palestine, Egypt and North Africa (conclusion)," Tarbiz 9 (1938), p. 215. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Legal document. Location: Damietta. Dated: 7 Tishrei 4750 AM, which is 9 September 989 CE. Action concerning an estate in Nisibis [Naṣībīn], Mesopotamia, brought before the elders of Damietta (here called Ḥanes). Sahl and Ḥusayn, the sons of the late Yehuda, complain about Neṭira b. Toviyya ha-Kohen, with whom their late father had left 1,320 silver pieces. The sons now claim the estate of their father from Neṭira, who had “confessed before God and the elders,” whereupon each son received his share of the estate: 330 silver pieces each. It is difficult to tell from the digitized images, but it seems that this document was cut into pieces, the pieces were pasted into a long vertical strip, and the blank verso was reused for a Hebrew literary/liturgical text. (Information from Goitein’s attached notes and translation.)

Marriage contract written by Yefet b. David, signed between the groom Yefet b. Shelomo and the bride Beracha bat. Shemarya in October 1029 in Jerusalem. (Information from E. Bareket)

Marriage contract (ketubba). In the hand of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 15 Sivan 1368 Seleucid, which is 1057 CE. Groom: Mawhūb b. Kathīr. Bride: Mubāraka bt. Shelomo. Witnessed by Ḥalfon b. Shabbat, Ḥasan b. [...] ha-Kohen, Yaʿaqov b. Yosef, Shelomo b. Yaḥya, Mevorakh b. David, Yefet b. David b. Shekh[anya], Seʿadya b. Yaʿaqov, and a poor signature (שלהן כרר) that may be misspelled. On verso there is liturgy in Hebrew, apparently relating to the peace offering. (Information from CUDL.) NB: Goitein's index card for Bodl. MS heb. a 2/5 erroneously refers to a 1492 CE ketubba for Ḥayyim b. Moshe Fakharūn and ʿAzīza bt. Shelomo b. Shūsha.

Ketubba fragment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Sivan 1438 Seleucid, which is 1127 CE. Groom: Tiqva b. Peraḥya ha-Levi. Details of the dowry (nidūnya) total 174 as far as visible. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: middle third of Iyyar 1414 Seleucid, which is 1103 CE. Unsigned but complete document on vellum, in which a court, as warden of the two minor orphans of Shemuel b. Yefet, permits to use 50 dinars out of the 74 dinars left to them, for urgent repairs of a house in in the alley of מכיל, Old Cairo, left to them also. The money is held by Abū l-Faḍl al-Sharābī Shela b. Elʿazar. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Legal document dated Nissan 1145 CE (1456 Seleucid), under the reshut of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya, certifying that Abū l-Faraj has paid the 20 dinars he owed to Abū l-Maʿānī.

Will of a silk-weaver named Abū l-Faḍl b. Barakāt Ibn al-Maqdisī, dividing his house, workshop, and other belongings to his four sons. In the hand of Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi. Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 15 Kislev 1500 Seleucid, which is December 1188 CE, under the authority of the Gaʾon Sar Shalom ha-Levi. Signed by: Shelomo b. Nissim and Levi b. Avraham ha-Levi (may be identical with Abū Sahl Levi the cantor, father of Yedutun and Moshe b. Levi; may also be the same Levi b. Avraham who appears in T-S NS J273 in connection to a silk workshop). There is a full translation and commentary in Goitein's attached notes. ENA NS 76.435.6 + ENA NS 76.435.7 is an earlier, messier version of the same document (same scribe, same date, signed by the same witnesses).

A long letter of recommendation on behalf of Obadiah the Proselyte, by Barukh b. Yiṣḥaq of Aleppo, written in elegant and vocalized Hebrew. For more information, visit https://johannes-obadiah.org/navigator.php?Manuscript=Epistle%20of%20R.%20Barukh%20of%20Aleppo&PageNum=1.

Legal document in Arabic script. Dating: mentions the end of Dhū l-Qaʿda 563 AH = 1168 CE. Seems to be a commercial contract involving a shop and specifying the goods to be sold. Mentions "bayʿ al-ḥiṣṣa" "sale of the share". Needs further examination. It was cut up and glued into a rotulus configuration to be reused for piyyuṭ on the other side (an interesting Hebrew poem in the voice of Moses, addressing God). In the margins of the original document, there are another few lines in Arabic script (different hand/document), probably the beginning of a letter starting with a basmala and a Judaeo-Arabic recipe involving rosewater and boxthorn (ʿawsaj), perhaps a medical prescription.

Letter of appeal for charity addressed to a certain Rosh ha-Qehillot. It is written entirely as a Hebrew poem. There are lengthy descriptions of the sufferings of the sender and his children as well as praises for the addressee.

Recto: Letter from a woman to her distant husband, al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab, who has been away for many years, urging him in various ways to return. She appeals to his charitable deeds; how the Jewish community has been bereft of his presence; and how at this rate, his children will only know him through those charitable deeds (8–11). She urges him not to listen to anybody else but to her only, "Get up! Rise! And earn the World to Come" (14–15). By repenting and returning he will also earn [the merit of saving] her life, "for as long as this continues, I have become very weak. Every hour I wonder if my weakness will increase. [If you return,] you will not have grief in your heart that you did not see me and that I did not pray for you before my death. I do not doubt in your love for me, as you must not doubt in my lasting love for you. Even if you have changed with the separation for all this time, and have been absent from my sight, my heart too has been absent" (17–23). She then reiterates her old age, her weakness, and her poverty. This letter is noted by Oded Zinger in his dissertation, p. 54, in the context of other letters from women to distant husbands. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic tafsir, Psalms 113:4–116:6 (Neubauer-Cowley Catalog). ASE.

Letter from Khaluf b. Musa, probably from Mahdiyya, to Yoshe’a b. Isma’il al-Makhmuri, Fustat. September 8, 1051. The writer mentions goods that he bought and shipped. It seems that there is tension between the business partners, but they keep the business as usual. The goods are mainly linen, spices (pepper and others), and textile. Also mentions a Jewish sailor. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #581) VMR

Autograph letter by Avraham Maimonides to the muqaddam of Minyat Ghamr and Minyat Zifta. A cousin of the muqaddam, al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab, was per earlier agreement allowed to substitute the muqaddam in leading communal prayers and ritual slaughtering. However, the muqaddam was worried that this arrangement would weaken his own position and tried to prevent al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab from acting as his substitute. Avraham Maimonides admonished the muqaddam for his jealousy and urged him to keep the agreement. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below.) Possibly related to T-S 24.38, a letter from Minyat Zifta reporting on a squabble between al-Shaykh al-Sadīd and al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab over the duties of the muqaddam.

Legal document. Partnership record. Dated: 1140. Location: Fustat. The brothers Abū al-Faḍl and Abū al-Riḍā Yosef b. Berakhot, owners of a sugar factory, take on Yosef b. Peraḥya and Peraḥya b. Nissim (possibly Ibn Yiju, great-grandson of Avraham Yiju, the India trader) as investors, investing 400 and 200 dinars respectively. There is a reference to "Arabic documents" which record the dimensions and location of the factory, and the fact that the brothers inherited part of the factory and purchased the balance from their father. The investors allow the brothers to pursue other investments outside the partnership with partnership funds. Withdrawals from the partnership capital are recorded as a transfer of a share of the ownership from the brothers to the investors, and any rent on this share goes to the investors. The investors are required to return the partial ownership of the factory when the funds are repaid. The Arabic documents record the sale of the factory (and presumably the transfer of the shares) as a "fixed" purchase. The brothers remain active partners in the five-year partnership. Partnership profits are divided equally, despite the unequal investments. The brothers will account for their expenses by subtracting from partnership profits 2 dinars per molded block of sugar. Per Goitein, a document at shelfmark T-S NS J215 describes the eventual sale of the factory discussed in this document. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 23-25)