Geniza Lab

Letter in Hebrew by the muqaddam (head) of the community of Minyat Zifta, announcing that he had excommunicated a debtor according to an instruction by the Nagid. The Nagid had previously arranged for the debtor to repay part of what was owed to his creditors, but he reneged on his agreement and an excommunication was about to be enacted against him as per the Nagid’s instructions. The muqaddam, however, asks for a respite of one or two months for the debtor. Ca. 14th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, 465 and CUDL)

Legal agreement between spouses on the issue of second wife, in the hand of Natan b. Shemuel Ha-Ḥaver, Fustat. The groom, Saʿadya b. Siman Tov, known as Abu l-Ḥasan, states that if his wife permits him to marry another woman, if she should then desire a divorce, he will divorce her, and she will have access to her delayed settlement throughout the marriage. The document also states ‘Her mother is present and hears all this’. (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes and index card linked below.

Awaiting description

Letter from David Kohen to the Nagid R. Natan Sholal, the penultimate Nagid of Egypt. Dating: end of the 15th century.

Fragment of an old court record in which a divorcee, Mubaraka bint Atiyya, is promised 3 dinars per month by her husband, Azarya b. Benjamin, but the reverse side shows a payment of only half a dinar. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 267)

List of personal names, probably intended to establish claims on an estate or a will. (Information from Goitein's index cards) Recto: Piyyut on the occasion of a marriage. (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi, dated 1449 (= 1138 CE). A tax-farmer (ḍāmin), Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya b. ʿUlla (known as Abū l-Munā the perfumer b. Ḥasan), grants Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Yaʿqūb a license to sell and dye silk for 18 dinars per month in a certain quarter of Fustat for the duration of Abū l-Surūr’s tenure in office. Abū l-Surūr promises not to accept any higher offer or to discontinue the lease (paying a fine of 100 dinars if he does so). Abū Isḥāq may subcontract the labour to others if he wishes and Abū l-Surūr agrees to use his influence with the police if any subcontractors evade payment of their dues. Abū l-Surūr reserves for himself the right to employ female brokers (bayyāʿāt, "saleswomen") in the quarter in question. Signed by [...] Kohen, descendant of Yosef Kohen and Natan b. Shemuʾel, and written under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (1127–1139 CE). On verso are a few lines in Arabic.

Legal document written by Mevorakh b. Natan b. Shemuʾel, a court clerk and judge. Abu 'Ali al-Qazzaz b. Khalaf the silk worker testifies that he had received 19 dinars from his wife, Khulla bt. Natan, for which he has mortgaged his possessions and his estate after his death, just as if they had formed part of her marriage contract. She might have inherited the money from her father. Dated documents of Mevorakh: 1150-1181. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 465)

Recto: opening lines of a legal document dated Thursday 1st Shevet 4746 and 1297 (= 986 CE) in Fusṭāṭ, in which Shelomo b. Isaac gives testimony to the court. Verso: poem or sermon in Hebrew, continuing in the right and upper margins. (Information from CUDL)

Lease of a plantation owned by the Qodesh, ca. 1150 CE. A deed of lease is drawn up by the court, by which a plantation of date palms is taken over for cultivation by a certain Hiba. The plantation belongs to the qodesh, and is probably located near the synagogue of Dammuh. The tenant will pay the qodesh 88 dinars, in annual payments of 11 dinars each, for eight years, i.e. the period of the lease. Out of the 11 dinars, 1.33 dinar will be paid in eleven monthly installments, whereas 9.67 dinars will be paid in the month of Tishri (when the harvest is over). The tenant will also have to carry 1000 palm branches to the Nile (apparently also in the month of Tishri, intended for the feast of Sukkot). The tenant agrees to run the ox-driven irrigation water wheel continuously, and will not cut down any plants aside from necessary pruning. The deed is written in the hand of Judge Natan b. Shemuel. (Information from CUDL and Gil, Documents, pp. 262 #50)

Calligraphic document in which the witnesses testify that a bill containing an obligation by Menashshe b. David to Yehuda b. Yosef, Ibn Januni, is correctly copied in order to be sent to Egypt. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Long piece from a deed of sale of a female slave. Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa ha-Levi sells his slave Jaḥūn to Abū l-Riḍā. In the hand of the scribe Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (1100-1138 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Responsum quoting Ishaq al-Fasi (1013-1103), among other Spanish and Andalusian religious authorities. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter fragment reporting about a dignitary in prison from whom a declaration was taken to be given both in a Jewish and a Muslim court. Possibly dated to the 11th century. (Information from Goitein's index cards)