Geniza Lab

Deed of sale. In Hebrew. Location: Fustat. Dating: Probably 10th or 11th century. This range could potentially be narrowed based on identification of the parties and/or based on the partial date in the document (Thursday, 11 Shevaṭ). Mubāraka bt. Hiba ha-Levi attests that she has received 35 dinars from her husband [Abū l-R?]abīʿ Ibn Naṭīra as payment for a piece of property located in Qaṣr al-Rūm (here called "Qaṣr Edom") in 'the open alleyway' (ha-mavoy ha-mefullash). Other landmarks are given, including one named after [...] b. Avraham, and the courtyard of Abū Ayyūb.

Recto: Fragment of a late letter in Judaeo-Arabic from a son to a father. Verso: The page was trimmed and reused for what may be a legal record (?) in Hebrew drawn up in Fusṭāṭ/Cairo regarding the betrothal of a certain Yosef, dated 1720s CE (5480s, the last digit is unclear). The customs of Jerusalem and Eretz Yisrael are mentioned. Several other names are given, including Yehudah Masos (?) ha-Maʿaravi and a R. Yeshaʿyah. Needs further examination.

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Legal document: an agreement concerning a levirate marriage, second half of the 15th century.

Legal document in which Yaʿaqov Būqīya (?) appoints Yiṣḥaq Khabbāz as his agent to pursue a claim against Moshe b. Shemuel ʿAllūsh.

Late legal document in Hebrew involving the financial arrangements between David Siqil and Avraham Shunina upon the deah of Yaʿaqov Siqil (the father of David).

Document dated 21 December 1817 (12 Tevet 5578) in which Mordekhai Romano details the plan for medical treatment for the children of his niece Raḥel, who is the daughter of his brother Shemuel and the wife of Yāqūtī Yuʿbaṣ. Mordekhai will bring Dr. (al-Ḥakīm) Kaspa (?) to treat Raḥel's children who are blind from birth. The doctor is to receive 150 qirsh in advance (la-qūddām) and another 150 if he is successful. The last few lines are trickier to understand and may say that the second payment of 150 will come out of Raḥel's ketubba.

Legal document (right side only) dated 1701/2 CE (5462) involving Yosef Yedid and an orphan girl Sitt al-[...] and payments on the order of 2000 medins.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Moshe Bibas, Rashid, to Karo y Frances & Company, Fustat/Cairo. Longer than usual

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Yaʿaqov Roẓano, Damietta, to Yehuda Karo, Fustat/Cairo, dated 19 January 1798 (2 Shevat 5558). The margins are filled with sums and lists. ASE. MCD.

Late letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Yaʿaqov Yuʿbaṣ to קונפראדה כומסה דינה (?).

Bifolium from a late Hebrew register of monetary transactions. Every time the date appears it contains a tricky ligature, but it may be 549[.] (?) = 1730s CE. Many names are given throughout. The signatories for respective entries are David Samḥūn, Avraham ha-Levi, Aharon Ḥanūn, and Yosef Beirav. One of the entries is about the betrothal of Yaʿaqov Orta b. Mordekhai and Ruḥama (?) bt. Ḥayyim Mizraḥi. Needs further examination.

Legal document draft of a debt contract ("shtar/שטר," l. 7, 13) recording financial arrangments where Spanish Seville-minted reales "ריאליס שיבילייאנוס" are in use (l.4r). The location of the document's recording may be Dimyat (Damietta) which is denoted (l.2r) with the Aramaic place name "קפוטקייא" (Kapotakia). The next line mentions Avraham Menashshe, a resident of Damietta. In the body of the draft document, just before the middle section is crossed out, the names Shabbetay ha-Kohen and Mordechai Suriano appear (l.7). A reading of the date could be roughly 1834 CE (first third of Cheshvan 5595) yet it appears more likely that the Jewish calendar year/month is Cheshvan 5489 (l.6, 21) or roughly October 1728CE (this dating is closer to the Judeo-Arabic accounts in the same shelfmark and the alphanumerical digit "ה" can be cross-referenced with the with the same ligature, for example, in "השטר" (l.13). Possibly a scribe or Shemuel Rolo himself signs at the bottom of the document and within his signature we find the title "שליח" (l.24-25). The other pages on the recto and verso are filled with neatly organized accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, arranged according to the Islamic calendar and giving many names of Muslims such as Muhammed ʿAbd al-ʿĀtī (l. 5-6r, 28-29r) Mustafa al-Qabānī (l.13-14v). The accounts seem to be dated 26[?] Safar 1143 Hijri on the recto (where the Persianate rendering of the number 4 or ۴ is in use) which converts roughly to September 1730CE. MCD.

Legal document from Fustat/Cairo, dated January 1821 (5581). It seems to be a partnership agreement between various traders active in the early 19th century, including Yaʿaqov ʿAdda, Yosef Shtiwi, Shimʿon Frances, Moshe Yagi (?), Avraham Ḥafīs (?), Moshe Ḥanan, and Moshe Mizraḥī. Signed by many of these same people along with Saʿd Pinto.

Late legal document (fragment only) regarding amounts owed to each other by current or former partners, Moshe Ḥaddād and Moshe b. Yehudah. Someone named Yaʿīsh al-Mannāwī is also mentioned.

Late partnership agreement (incomplete) between Yaʿaqov Ḥassūn and [Yaʿaqov?] Zaytūn.

Recto: Legal document involving a business arrangement between Avraham Yuʿbaṣ and Shabbetay Skandarī and at least one other person. The bottom is missing, along with the date. Verso: On the left are two signatures of Nissim b. Yosef. On the right is a list of many men, some known from other documents ca. 1800 CE (including Shelomo Cesana), along with the names of certain synagogues or schools (? one is "Talmud Torah").

Late legal document in which Avraham Munīr b. Saʿd declares that he has received 25000 מ״ך as an investment from Moshe Kondiote (? קנדיוטי).

Partnership agreement dated November 1739 CE (Heshvan 5500) between Nissim Kaspi b. Moshe and Moshe Kohen b. Yehudah Kohen. Signed by Avraham Castro and Nissim (ha-ẓaʿīr) Kaspi and Moshe Magor[...].

Partnership agreement probably dated 1820/1 CE ([55]81)—but conceivably a century earlier if the half-missing digit is a ת rather than a ק—between Shelomo b. ידע (?) and Shelomo ha-Levi [here there is an unfortunately placed modern sticker] and Moshe ha-Kohen known as Manṣūrī.