Geniza Lab

Hebrew poetry.

Hebrew poetry.

Hebrew poetry.

Hebrew poetry.

Legal document. Dated: Sivan 1411 Seleucid, which is May/June 1100 CE. Ghanya bt. Ḥusayn and her divorced husband Hillel b. Faraj agree that their little boy will stay with his mother for four months. He shall pay a total of 1 dinar of maintenance for that period. Signed by: Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel and Yosef b. Ṣedaqa.

Literary text. Biblical glosses in Judaeo-Arabic?

Legal document of the court of Fustat, dated Nisan 1411/March 1100. Yosef, the son of Yosef, the milkman (labban), receives from 'the money of the poor' one dinar as a loan to be paid back in weekly installments of two dirhams. A term is set for the beginning of the repayment, but not for its end. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 383)

Legal query addressed to Yiṣḥaq b. Sasson ha-Dayyan, with his responsum and signature. Concerning an upstanding man whose only trade is teaching Torah but who is a bachelor. If someone objects to his teaching Torah because he is unmarried, what is the law? The responsum cites the Mishna and Gemara of Qiddushin 82a and explains that he may continue teaching children but that he may not go to their houses to teach them, because there are usually women around. ASE

Marriage contract (ketubba). Left upper part. Dated: Nisan 1380 Seleucid, which is 1069 CE. (10 +) 20 = 30. As far as preserved, the dowry is worth at least 70 dinars. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from Nissim b. Ya’aqov from Qayrawan (Ifrīqiya) to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat, May 19, 1027. The writer asks Ibn Awkal to hurry with the shipments and answers to and from Rav Hayya Gaon. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #162) VMR

Legal document. Fragment of a beautifully written ketubba. Early style. Ca. 1080. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Legal document. Very damaged. Location: Probably Cairo; only ''אל" is clearly legible of the location's name, but only three common locations begin with "al" (al-Qāhira, al-Maḥalla, and al-Mahdiyya), and the rest of the word is plausibly קאהרה. Dating: The date is lost, but Avraham ha-Rav ha-Gadol in line 3 has to be Avraham Maimonides, and Rabbenu Menaḥem is mentioned in line 12, a person known from other early 13th-century documents. (Menaḥem is introduced in line 7, where he is called Menaḥem ha-Rav ha-Gadol be-Yis[ra'el] Yeḥid ha-Dor, as in T-S 8J15.7.) Another person mentioned in this document: Yiṣḥaq ha-Sar ha-Nikhbad. Somebody attests that he received 25 dinars for something. Perhaps for a property sale, because a location is given in lines 11–12 (.... al-ākhar bi-darb qaḍīb). ASE

Legal document. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Ṭevet 4957 AM, which is November/December 1196 CE. Yeshūʿā b. Elʿazar receives from ʿAlīya (possibly his mother, or rather a more distant relative) a house located on the outskirts of Alexandria near the funduq. It seems that ʿĀliya owns this house in partnership with Mūsā b. Abī l-Munā al-Labbān. Against this he will provide her with domicile (in the same house), food, and medicine (mashrūb), and will pay her 15 dirhams per month. No signatures. (Information from Goitein’s index card.) The handwriting seems familiar and may be identifiable—the same scribe may have also left literary fragments in the Geniza.

Ketubba, fragmentary. Groom: Yosef Kohen b. Khalūf. Likely from North Africa. Resembles Bodl. MS heb. a 2/2 (from Barqa, 990 CE). (Information from Friedman, Jewish Marriage in Palestine, Vol. 1, pp. 165, 269, and 288.) On verso there are piyyutim.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: New Cairo. Dating: ca. 1080 CE. Groom: Yosef b. Yeshuʿa b. ʿAllūn. The bride is not a virgin. Marriage payments: 3 + 6 = 9. Dowry adds up to 15 dinars. Same (poor) handwriting as T-S 12.442. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Fragment (narrow strip from the middle). Location: New Cairo. Dated: Elul 14[..] Seleucid, corresponding to the range 1088–1189 CE. Names mentioned include Yefet, Abū Sahl ha-Kohen, and Yeshuʿa. The bride is not a virgin. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Business letter sent from Qayrawan by Efrayim b. Ismail, probably to Yaʿaqov b. Yosef b. Awkal in Fustat (Gil) or from Ifrīqiya by 'Alush b. Yeshua to Ismail b. Avraham in Egypt (Ben-Sasson). The letter deals mainly with merchandise and shipments of goods. Dated to the beginning of the 11th century (Gil) or the first third of the 11th century (Ben-Sasson). (Information from Gil, Vol. 2, p. 312 and from Ben-Sasson, p. 219)

An account for Yosef b. 'Awkal followed by a short letter, probably to Ibn 'Awkal.

Letter from Yūsuf b. Q[...] al-[...]ān to Abū l-Faḍl [ʿAṭallāh?] b. Yaʿqūb. In Judaeo-Arabic. Very rudimentary hand. The writer is in distress for some reason, and he seems to have run out of his money thanks to Ibn Asad, and he thanks the addressee for his prior help. The details of his story are difficult to decipher. Verso was reused for accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, but these are too faded to read.

Court record in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Moshe b. Elḥanan releases his wife Mudallala from the obligation to leave a house of his mother (in which he put her while going abroad) in the case that he does not return. This release is not valid if he should return. Witnesses: Avraham b. Yeshuʿa; Avraham b. Shemaʿya; the ḥaver Yeḥezqel b. ʿEli ha-Kohen; [...] b. Yosef b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. Pinḥas b. Yahaboy ha-Levi. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)