Geniza Lab

Recto/verso:

Section:

Legal document. Record of release. Dating: March 1097. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. This fragment seems to be the continuation a document, the beginning of which is TS 16.87 (PGPID 4094). In the section preserved here, Abū al-Faraj Nathaniel b. Moses and his brother Abū al-Barakāt Aaron release Abū al-Baqā Samuel b. Nathan the Ḥaver from obligations in a long-distance trading partnership which had taken their father, apparently the active partner, to Tripoli or Lebanon. The release clauses absolve Samuel from any further obligation in either “a partnership (shirka)” or “a commenda (muḍāraba)”. Although this fragment cannot be seamlessly joined to TS 16.87, that both documents are concerned with the partnership suggests that they go together. This evidence is strengthened by the fact that TS 16.87 is dated to the twenty-first of Adar in the year 1097, which was a Sunday; this could have been three days before the "Wednesday the twenty-fourth" mentioned in line 23 of this document as the delayed date of execution. While most of the bulk of the document is written by Hillel b. Eli (also a signatory), the notarization is written in different handwriting and attests to the fact that the undersigned witnesses recognized the signatures of the initial witnesses. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 81-82)

Ed. P. Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture" (2007), 2. See T-S 16.87.

Recto/verso: recto

Section:

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: March 1097. Location: Fustat. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. This document is likely the top half of a document of which ENA NS 18.22 (PGPID 6925) is the final section. This section discusses the details of a partnership between Abū ‘Imrān Moses (dead at the time of document's writing) and Abū al-Baqā Samuel b. Nathan the Ḥaver. Abū ‘Imrān Moses contributed 124.5 dinars out of 484.5 dinars (the latter contributed the balance) and agreed to split profits and losses evenly. Moses traveled to al-Shām and sent merchandise back to the Fustat agency house of Abū al-Ṭāhir b. Rajā, a Muslim. This document was likely written directly after Moses’ death and concerns itself with the division of partnership assets between Moses’ heirs Nathaniel and Aaron and the investor Samuel, mentioning commodities deposited in the names of the heirs, and also those "allocated to the Elder Abū al-Baqā". The active partner bore responsibility for losses (similar to the Talmudic ‘isqa), though no additional amount was allocated to him for his maintenance or as compensation for his work. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 129)