Geniza Lab

Legal document. Partnership record. Dated July 1103. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. This fragment concerns ownership interest in a partnership between Mōda‘ and Abraham al-‘Assāl. In the document, Mōda‘ calls upon Abū al-Faraj al-Bazzāz to testify that Mōda‘ has an interest in the partnership, while Abraham seems to claim that he or he and his wife are the sole owners of the capital. Abraham apparently invested capital with Mōda‘ for the operation of a shop, and upon distribution of the profits it became unclear whether the capital was intended to be simply a deposit with Mōda‘ or if it would be (per Maimonides) "half a loan…and half a deposit". Apparently, these details were left unspecified when Mōda‘ first became involved in the venture. Subsequently, Mōda‘ seems to have called two individuals – one (perhaps a scholar) identified only as Head of the Congregations ("Rosh ha-Qehillot"), and Abū al-Faraj – to the shop to clarify the nature of his relationship with Abraham. Thus, the present document reports that the Head of the Congregations affirmed in a qinyan that Mōda‘ was indeed a partner with Abraham and not simply an employee. Signed by Abraham b. Shemaiah and Isaac b. Samuel ha-Sefardī. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 218)

Legal document with testimony from Sitt bt. Yosef b. ‘Amram and her mother Jamila bt. Yaqub describing that Yosef (the former’s father and latter’s husband) left 50 dinars with Abu al-Bishr Azhar, whose heirs claim that he gave 157 silver dirhams to Yosef. The remaining amount of 12 and one-dinars is then paid out. The document is signed by Hayya al-Kohen b. Yeshua ha-Kohen and Avraham b. Aharon he-haver; dated Tammuz 1415 of the Seleucid era. EMS

Legal document written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Thursday, 24 Sivan 1416 Seleucid (= 1105 CE). Statement in which Shelomo b. Avraham al-ʿAssāl (the honey maker) asks that his wife Nāshiya bt. Shemuel ha-Kohen should receive a divorce deed from his brother in case he dies and she has to marry him in a levirate marriage. Also signed by ʿEli b. Yosef ha-Kohen. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Official confirmation at court of a debt of 60 dinars contracted three months earlier before a notary, Ab 1417/ July 1106.

Court record. Dated: Middle decade of Ṭevet 1417 Seleucid, which is December 1105 CE. Describing a married woman—Mudallala aka Sitt Baghdād—depositing part of her jewelry as collateral for a debt incurred by her brother, written on the reverse of the woman’s ketubba (marriage contract), as clearly stated: “The court entered the deposition of these objects on the back of her ketubba.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:113, 449; 4:430.) T-S 13J2.14 and T-S 10J28.14 appear to be two copies of the same document (Goitein). EMS

Iqrar ('acknowledgment') document stipulating a term of three months for the repayment of a sum of 10 dinars and noting that repayment is to entered on the reverse side, Iyyar 1418/April 1107.

The widow of Abu al-Fadl Sela b. 'Amram arranges with his bride Mubaraka bt. Shelomo ha-Kohen that she agrees to live with his son in the same apartment and to eat with him at the same table. In the case the son marries, she promises to be like a sister to his future wife. In the case her husband dies, she has no right to live in the house. Elul 1112, Wednesday, September 4, 1112. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Testimony in which a wife, a widow with three sons, releases her husband from from all obligations other than paying the delayed marriage gift and dowry and letting her live in his house for five years after his death as promised, and declares that her three sons would have no claims whatsoever against him and that her husband would not sue her sons, in Sanbutya/Sunbat, Adar 1427/February 1116.

Al-Asad b. Abu al-Faraj al-Sayrafi known as Ben Numan receives a loan of 1580 (the half 790) dirhams from al-Muwaffaq b. Nusayr of which 180 will be paid back after one month and then 30 dirhams every month (at its end). Mirs, November 1337. Verso: note concerning al-Muwaffaq, 1326 Nov./Dec., Tevet. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Legal document [[written in Damietta and validated in Fustat in the court of the synagogue of the Palestinians, which describes itself as acting on behalf of the High Court of the Yeshiva of Jerusalem which had now moved to Cairo]](??). Nissan 1448/March 1137.

Court record concerning the posthumous settlement of the affairs of a merchant who had sold partnership goods from Tripoli, Lebanon, in the various 'houses of the wukala' in Fustat, and had died leaving behind him two sons, Tammuz 1405/July 1094.

Legal document. Abu al-Hasan Shelomo b. Menashshe haKohen gifts a new enslaved woman, Rahaj, to his wife after selling the enslaved woman, ʿIlm, who was part of the wife's ketubba. The wife's name is Sitt al-Nasab bt. Abu al-Muna Yitzhaq. Scribed and signed by Halfon b. Menashshe. Also signed by Natan b. Shelomo. (Information from Goitein's index card and Weiss's dissertation)

Sitt al-Baha bt. Eliyya, the bride of Abu l-Ḥasan, receives on the day of her qiddushin from Abu Kathir b. Yahya 18 1/2 dinars deposited wth him. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Legal document connected with the tax-farmer of Atfīḥ. In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel. Location: Fustat. Dated: Adar 1450 Seleucid, which is approximately February 1139 CE, under the authority of Shelomo. This Shelomo was evidently from Damascus and briefly served the head of the Jews after the death of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (last seen alive in T-S 12.694, January 1139 CE). (Information from M. A. Friedman's article on Zuta, p. 474 note 3.)

Court minute, in the hand of Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver. Location: Fustat. Legal document concerning the Sicilian Abū Yaʿaqov Yosef b. Moshe al-Kohen awho has a first wife in Damascus and is not allowed to marry a second wife in Cairo before depositing what is due to the first wife with the court. Dated: Ṭevet 1451 of the Seleucid Era (= 1140 CE). Signed by Yeshuʿa b. Yoshiyya, descendant of Shemaʿya Gaʾon and Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver. (Information from CUDL.) There is a translation and commentary in Goitein's attached notes.

Betrothal record from 1093 in which the obligatory betrothal gift is 4 and one/sixth dinars. The document also stipulates the daughter receives the uppermost floor of a house; if she preferred to live elsewhere, she would receive rent, but her father and his heirs were responsible for the payment of the ground rent and watchman. Signed by Eli ha-Kohen b. Yahya, Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq (the Scholar), and Ezekiel II ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver b. Eli he-Ḥaver I. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:522, 3:445, 4:96, 374) EMS

Court record bearing the signature of judge Shelomo b. Yosef, late Head of the court of the Academy,' Fustat, Kislev 1405/December 1093 (date and day of the week do not seem to match).

Legal document. Record f release. Dated: February 1095. Location: Fustat. This document was drawn up following the termination and settlement of a commenda between Solomon b. David al-Dustarī/al-Tustarī and Benaiah b. Moses. As part of the settlement, Solomon was allocated ten dinars and change, five dinars and one qirāṭ to be paid immediately by Benaiah. The balance is to be collected by Solomon, acting as an agent to collect on debts owed by Jacob al-Ḥarīrī and Jacob al-Ṣabbāgh to Benaiah. The debtors will then make monthly payments of the balance to Solomon. Benaiah stands as guarantor for the debts. This document is a final release from Solomon to Benaiah, leaving only the uncollected debts. Goitein writes that "the investor lost almost 50 out of 70 dinars confided to an overseas trader, but was convinced by ‘the elders of the community’ that he had no claim against him." The "convincing" seems to have been the normal settlement procedure required for release; though the document refers to the agreement as a commenda (muḍāraba), its details don't confirm that it totally follows the model of the Islamic muḍāraba – for example, the active partner is left owing funds to the investor, suggesting that simply liquidating the invested assets was insufficient to satisfy his obligations to the latter. However, had the active partner borne no responsibility for loss (as in an Islamic muḍāraba), this would have sufficed. The verso – as yet untranscribed – is a form for a power of attorney, with "John Doe" substituted for parties’ names. This document seems to be unrelated to the recto, despite the allusion to a power of attorney ("wakāla"). (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 215)