Geniza Lab

Agreement concerning Levirate Marriage between the widow of Shelomo Ben Yosef Hanagid and Yeshu'a Ben Hanagid Yosef, Cairo, 1482.

Recto: legal document in which Abraham Shami (שאמי) b. [...] Shelomo Abū l-Khayr b. Saʿadya affirms that the widow of Judah Abū l-Khayr owes money to Abraham. Dated 6th Sivan 5321 (= 1561 CE) in Egypt, and signed by Elijah b. David חברייה and Aaron b. Shelomo Yeshu[.]. Verso: brief horizontal and vertical notes. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a legal document dated Wednesday, 1st Adar II 5323 (= 1563 CE) in Rashid. Signed by Pinḥas b. Moses (descendent of) Janāḥ (גנאח) ha-Kohen, Yom Ṭov b. [...], [...]. (Information from CUDL)

Power of attorney (שטר הרשאה) from Rachel the widow of Eliezer Zussman to her son Moses Zussman. Dated Friday 2nd Eyar 5324 (= 1564 CE) in Jerusalem, and signed by Moses b. Jeremiah Shemuʾel and Abraham Levi b. Moses the scribe. (Information from CUDL)

Document concerning the sale of a female slave named Ḍiyāʾ. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tuesday, 1 Nisan 1537 Seleucid, which is 31 March 1226 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. CUL Or.1080 J273 is an unsigned copy of the same document. Witnesses include: [...] b. Elʿazar ha-Kohen; Yefet b. Adonim; Shemuel b. Simḥa.

Partnership agreement between Yom Ṭov אלאלוו and Ṣemaḥ b. David אלגג. Dated: Tuesday, 1 Shevaṭ 5329 AM, which is 1569 CE. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Written by the scribe Badusa (בדוסא) b. Asher. There are no signatures apart from that of the scribe. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. In Hebrew. Concerning a debt of 52 Venetian ducats (peraḥim) owed by Avraham Aripol (אריפול) to Yaʿaqov Castro (קשטרו). Dated: Monday, 20 Av 5348 AM, which is 1588 CE. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Written by Yosef b. Meʾir Somekh (סומך) ha-Kohen. At the foot of the page is a postscript in a different hand, signed Yom Ṭov Miṭrani (מטראני), confirming the document was approved by R. Beṣalel Ashkenazi (אשכנזי). (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Legal document in Hebrew. Unsigned. Mentioning the following individuals: Jacob Bonsenior (בונשיניור), Nissim Noah and his brother-in-law Raḥamim b. Avraham Noah. Nissim bought books for the other two men to sell to the Jewish community in Yemen. Jacob collected money for Ḥevron from the Jewish community in Yemen. Dated: First decade of Tammuz 5495 AM, which is 1735 CE. Verso: three legal drafts. The first is a list of names documenting marriages and dowries: Nissim b. Mordekhay Sevili (סבילי) betrothed Ḥabiba bt. Elʿazar ha-Kohen, dated 5496 AM (= 1736 CE). The second is part of a legal deed in which Avraham b. Moshe Levi דכאכני receives money from the woman Raḥma bt. Elʿazar תלגאס, to invest in his business. The third is a draft of a letter from the sage in Cairo to the sage in Jerusalem concerning Moshe ha-Kohen Ṣedaqa who is in conflict with his wife Miriam bt. Eliyya Shami. The Jerusalem sage is asked to ensure Moshe returns to Cairo and gives a geṭ to Miriam. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in which Shemuʾel Elyon receives money from Mercada (מרקאדה) bat Jacob Arubaṣ (ארובץ) to invest in his business. Dated Tammuz 5521 (= 1761 CE) in Cairo, and signed by Joseph Kondiote (קנדיוטי = the Cretian) and Meʾir b. Shelomo Qalaʿi (קלעי). (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in which Moshe Ḥakim (חכים) receives money from Jacob, to invest in his business. Dated 15 Ḥeshvan 5579 (= 1818 CE). Unsigned. (Information from CUDL)

Beginning of a deed from Abu al-Faraj Yeshu'a ha-Levi to Abu al-Ala' al-Sabbagh b. Abu Sa'ad. Adar 1539 (February 1228) (Goitein index card) VMR

Draft of a lease of half a house with a garden for two years, stipulating that the tenant retains some of the rent for expenses on watering the garden, in Fustat, Adar 1540/March 1229.

Fragmentary legal record of testimony relating to the affairs of a business partnership, 1544/1232-1233.

Legal document in which Aharon b. Abū al-Riḍāʾ and his wife, Labwa (“Lioness”) bt. Abū Ghālib, release each other from all claims. Labwa releases Aharon from her entire ketubba payment, including her delayed marriage gift. She even goes so far as to give him her dowry as a gift. Furthermore, she commits to provide the maintenance and capitation tax for her older son, Furayj, for two years and to pay for his learning the craft of silversmithing. She will also provide maintenance for their young son, Raḍī, for ten years. Fustat, 19-28 June 1244. Verso: calendar calculation for the year 1250, a year that is peshuṭa and ke-sidran. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender, and Law, 384-7) EMS

Legal document. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Last decade of Kislev 5004 AM, which is December 1243 CE. Certificate of the purity of 180 moulds of cheese shipped from Messina for Abū l-Ḥasan b. Ṣedaqa. Signed by Yehuda ha-Melammed b. Aharon ha-Rofe and Yosef b. Simḥa ha-Kohen. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Acknowledgment of debt, unfinished. Debtor: Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen b. Yehuda ha-Kohen. Creditor: Abu Naṣr Yehuda ha-Levi b. Yeshuʿa the minister (ha-sar). Town of al-Banhā,, Sunday, 3rd of Tishri 1556 sel., (1244, the day of the week does not match the date. MY) (Information from Goitein's index card) Followed by post-classical rhymed seliḥot for the ten days of repentance on recto and verso, with an alphabetic acrostic. (Information from CUDL)

Three court record entries, two dated Tevet 1339/December 1027 and one Shevat 1339/January 1028.

Legal document. Transfer of money to the poor of Jerusalem, ca. 1085. Shelomo b. Hayyim, one of the leaders of the Palestinian Jews, had forwarded 20 dinars to the Rabbanite Jews of Jerusalem. He attests having gotten his money back from those in charge of the compound known as Dar al-maqadisa in Fustat, dedicated to the poor of Jerusalem. The money was returned out of the rent collected from the tenants of the compound. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 212 #32)

Legal document. Power of attorney. Sunday, last ten days of Sivan 1461 sel. (either 18th or 25th of June 1150). Also additional court or communal recordings.

Deposition by Yosef ha-Kohen b. Nataniel recording that he would not honor an agreement according to which 25 dinars out of a debt owed to him by Abu al-Khayr b. al-Tinnisi would be paid to him immediately, five at the end of the month, five in monthly installment of one quarter, while he would forego the remaining 20 dinars owed to him. That agreement was made under duress. 1174 CE. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS