Geniza Lab

Marriage contract (ketubba). Dated: 13 Tishrei 1608 Seleucid, which is 11 September 1296 CE. Groom: Elʿazar b. Shelomo. Bride: [...] bt. Yosef. Lists the trousseau and stipulates that the wife’s earnings should belong to her husband. Bears only one signature: Yosef b. Netanel b. Shela ha-Levi ha-Ḥazzan. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and from Goitein, Med Soc, Vol. 3, pp. 133, 159, 461 note 89.)

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: 1151. Location: Minyat Ashna (near Fustat). Following appeals by his deceased brother Binyam's widow to the court, Kathīr b. Avraham takes over the maintenance (1 dinar a month, an aboslute requirement) of his sister-in-law's orphaned children as a sort of partnership. The sources of this funding are a) rent revenue from shops in Malij left to the children by Binyam and b), the profit earned by Kathīr from 20 dinars’ worth of silk from estate of Binyam. Unusually, the "partnership" profits are not split according to a fixed percentage, but rather the children, as the "silent partner", receive a fixed amount each month. This is effectively a long-term loan or trust created under the structure of a partnership agreement. Per Goitein, Shemuel b. Yehuda ibn Asad, previous caretaker of the orphans, was apparently a regular caretaker and trustee for orphans; see PGPID 2658. Shemuel is the same Abū al-Ma‘ālī in PGPID 6581. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", pp. 7-10)

Legal document. In the hand of Shemeul b. Seʿadya ha-Levi. Location: Fustat. Dated: Iyyar 1480 Seleucid, which is April/May 1169 CE, under the authority of an unidentified Seʿadya, during the lifetime of the Gaʾon Netanʾel b. Moshe ha-Levi (see line 16; he may have even signed this document, but this needs to be checked against his handwriting elsewhere). Statement about an oath to be given by the executor of a will, Abū l-Maʿālī (aka Shemuel b. Asad). He had had to spend 220 dinars in order to get back a property belonging to the orphans under his responsibility from the hands of some state officials. He was then able to sell the property for 300 dinars. The uncle of the orphans bore the title Raḍiyy al-Dawla ("Pleasing the Government"), and the father of their guardian was a kātib, or government official. Signed by Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi; Netanʾel b. Moshe; Moshe b. Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen; and Shemuel b. ʿOvadya. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 299, 493.)

Legal document. Record of release. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1125 CE. This document describes release from a partnership in glasswork, explaining that Shemarya ha-Kohen (also known as Abū al-Wafā b. Menashshe ha-Kohen) demanded 9 and 1/6 dinars of his erstwhile partners Yiṣḥaq b. Yehuda and Yiṣḥaq's son Abū al-Karam. Yiṣḥaq gave Shemarya a settlement, andShemariah released him and his son from the partnership. The settlement of the partnership is effected through arbitration (“bederekh peshara”) by a number of “Elders of equity and propriety”. Per Goitein, Jewish courts of the Geniza period generally first sought settlements outside the court. Court decisions themselves not only required the attention of a higher court, such decisions also required an oath (a troublesome process for the court and the community). But a settlement through arbitration did not even require a qinyan. The judges in this case, Avraham b. Shemaʿya and Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi, are the two “permanent judges” of Fusṭāṭ of the period. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 12-14)

Legal document. Court record. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1134. Abū Sa‘d and Abū Sahl form a partnership lasting 6.5 months to manufacture and sell glass. Half the capital (20 dinars in total) invested by Abū Sa‘d is considered a loan to Abū Sahl, who pledges title to his home as a security. This may suggest diversion from the commenda model, where the active partner is not liable for loss. But the partnership also diverges from the ‘eseq model, wherein only the active partner transacts. Both the profit/loss characteristics and the working arrangement between the partners suggests a craft partnership. Abū Sa‘d is likely the senior partner: he is identified as al-Zajjāj, “the glazier” (i.e., a known personage in the field), while Abū Sahl is given no professional designation; as well, Abū Sa‘d invests all of the capital, suggesting that he may be short of liquid assets). Finally, the partnership stipulates that Abū Sa‘d need only work two shifts a week (suggesting he may have other business elsewhere), while Abū Sahl will work the rest of the week. Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen, mentioned in line 54, functioned as leader of the Jewish community of Fusṭāṭ from 1127 to 1139. The signatories to the document, Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen and Natan b. Avraham ha-Levi, signed 5 months after the agreement was initiated, for unknown reasons. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Society", pp. 17-21)

Legal query regarding a partnership between merchants. See also T-S 20.152 and T-S NS J161 + T-S 12.5.

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Avraham Ha-Kohen b. Yiṣḥaq. Probably Ca. 1030

Letter from Moshe b. Yiṣḥaq the Qaraite, in Jerusalem, to Shemuel b. ʿAzarya b. Mevasser, one of the leaders of the Qaraites in Fustat, Dating: ca. 1044 CE. Reporting on the state of the barley crop (for calendrical purposes) among other matters.

Letter sent to Shemuel ha-Nagid dealing with the production of cheese in Bashmur and its transport to Fustat. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 124, 428, and from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document, mentions ziqnei ha-yishmaelim. Deed of authorization of son to represent mother before her two brothers concerning the collection of debt at Efrayim b. Shemarya's court. Written in Tyre, confirmed in Fustat.

An interesting begging letter by Yosef, the Samaritan priest, who apparently belonged to the Samaritan congregation in Fusṭāṭ. The letter has been edited, translated, and analyzed by A. Cowley. There is a long preamble listing a great many names of God, grouped in alphabetical order, in Samaritan Aramaic. Here is Cowley's translation of the substance of the message: "The Lord reward [you with goodness] and favour and truth for the words which you spoke on the Sabbath to the distinguished elder, the Lord preserve him. Now, my brethren, if the word which you spoke before him had been (spoken) to a stone or a flint which can neither answer nor speak a word back, it would have been ashamed and confounded before you, but up to the present he has not given me any help, nor will he. I know the Samaritans to be without intelligence, caring only for the things that are seen (?), and that they have not done good in the sight of God, and will not. For they seek only a reputation in this passing world, whereas if they took pleasure in what is lasting they would have shown kindness to the poor, the afflicted and needy, the strangers and priests, such as I am. Now, brethren, I did not ask him for either gold or silver. I am a carpenter. I can make boxes, bedsteads, doors, and beams. I asked him to speak to the head carpenter for me that he should take me with him to work every day for wages enough for me and my family to live upon. He has not done so either from the fear of the Lord, or because of what you said, or for my sake. And now it is right that we turn our faces to the Lord our God, the fountain of goodness which is not shut up, the well of mercy. . . . " Part of a pair with T-S 16.26.

A query directed to Maimonides (d. 1204). Responsum.

Letter from Shemuel b. Yosef Yiju, in Mazara, to his brothers, Perahya and Moshe, in Alexandria or Fustat. Around 1156.

Late letter that begins in Hebrew and transitions into Judaeo-Arabic from an unidentified merchant to Yosef Muḥibb. He writes that he traveled this year to Tripoli (Libya?) to look for a Jew who took 100 peraḥim from him and fled to Venice. He was not successful. He has purchased garments and sent them with Saadya Kohen and Yaʿaqov b. Hīnī (also mentioned in ENA NS 50.25) to try to sell. Recto is damaged, but deals almost entirely with business matters. He mentions R. Yosef Nahon (?) who died after a year of being bedridden and consuming half of his wealth. In his will, he left 200 peraḥim for the study of Torah and for the visiting of the ill and for the poor. The writer also mentions the addressee's brother Khubayr, his own nephew Yosef, and Shelomo Abulafia. The addressee's sister Maḥbūba sends her regards and urges him to take care of their other sister and find a husband for her. On verso he returns to business matters and requests a Cypriot commodity (קוברסי/קוברסיין) and orders tin (קזדיר) from a place called גמאע אלטיילון. He mentions Yaʿaqov Bū Saʿda and David al-Ashqar. ASE.

Three distinct documents in Arabic script, chopped in half vertically and then probably glued together into a rotulus in order to be reused for the Hebrew liturgical or literary text found on recto. 1) Deed of lease (hādhā mā istaʾjara Ṣāliḥ b. Ismāʿīl b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad....). Dated: 484 AH = 1091/92 CE. 2) State or legal document with a registration note at upper left (uthbita fī dīwān al-ishrāf bi-Miṣr). Also concerning the same Ṣāliḥ b. Ismāʿīl b. ʿAlī. Later on mentions ʿAbd al-Muʿṭī. 3) Deed of acknowledgment (iqrār). The name of the person making the acknowledgment (the muqirr) appears in l. 2 followed by a physical description (... wāḍiḥ al-jabha...). In lines 4–5, the same Ṣāliḥ b. Ismāʿīl b. ʿAlī from the previous two documents appears. Needs further examination.

Letter from Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq to Abū ʿImrān Mūsā b. Ṣedaqa Ibn Nufayʿ. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender sent previous letters with Sālim b. Efrayim, including a power of attorney for the collection of goods shipped with Tamīm. If a certain commodity has been 'liberated' from ʿAydhāb, he has sent (or will send?) wax and Indian costus. Abū ʿUmar should sell these items in Egypt, purchase linseed oil and wheat, and send them to Khalaf (in Yemen). Mentions Karīm Ibn [Yi]ju(?) the tax farmer; Abū l-Maʿālī al-Qaysarānī; Aḥmad b. Ghūrī(?). See Goitein's attached notes for a transcription.

Legal document. Commenda. Dated: November 1132. Abū Zikrī Yehudah b. Yosef ha-Kohen and Ḥananel b. Nissim partner in a shop. The active partner performs a regular reckoning, the details of which are trusted without witness testimony. Profits are split evenly after expenses. The active partner is specifically prohibited from lending funds on to another partner; if he does so, those funds will be taken directly out of his share of the partnership. The laws of unlimited investment partnership (mufāwaḍa) permit a loan to be granted with both partners' permission, and the even split of partnership profits or losses is also reminiscent of the mufāwaḍa agreement. However, while the qinyan provisions here are mutual, the provisions concerning the work itself suggest that one of the partners is significantly senior. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 32-34)

Only the lower part of this document has survived. It is written in the form of a letter and contains a commercial account and also a court record of legal proceedings. The hand is that of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. It seems that on his way to India, Abu Barakat met Issac al-Nafusi in Aden and the latter gave him some merchandise to sell for him there. It is probable that the lost part of the document listed the selling of this merchandise in India. Next we have an account of what Abu Barakat bought for al-Nafusi in India. Then he lists the expenses (taxes, rent of warehouse etc) of his dealings in Aden. The last part consists of a copy of legal proceedings where Abu Barakat declares that he spent the rest of al-Nafusi's money that remained with him on the recently purchased house of al-Nafusi in Fustat. He did this according to the instructions of Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Nethanel, al-Nafusi's appointed representative.

Letter from Mahruz to Abu Zikri Kohen in Broach, Mangalore, India ca. 1145-48.

Legal document. Location: Minyat Zifta. Dated: First decade of Av 1465 Seleucid, which is July 1154 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Sābiq b. Abū al-Ḥasan the tax-farmer of dyeing acknowledges a debt of 32 + 1/3 + 1/4 dinars to Abū l-Maʿālī Shemuel b. Yehuda. He will pay back one-half by the end of Av (i.e., after one month has passed) and the other half by the end of Elul. Signed by Shelomo b. Zarʿa; Peraḥya b. Shemuel. The validation (qiyyum) is written and signed by Shabbetay b. Avraham (who may have written the entire document) and three others: Yefet b. Yosef ha-Melammed; Elʿazar b. Shemarya; and Shela b. Yefet. On verso there are a few words in Arabic script (unfortunately covered up by the conservators), possibly a filing note. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)