Geniza Lab

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (left side). Dating: 1127–38 CE, based on the references to Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (last line). Detailing the purchase of half a house in Cairo that was conveyed by inheritance. After the death of the wife of Abū l-Faḍl b. al-Barakāt (known as Ibn al-Wutayd), ownership of her house (which she had previously inherited) was divided between her husband, Abū l-Faḍl, and her daughter from a previous marriage, Naẓar bt. Ḥalfon. Naẓar’s husband, Sālim/Shelomo, then bought Abū l-Faḍl’s half of the property. Ḥalfon b. Yaʿaqov Ibn ʿAqbān testifies to the facts of the case, as the property and individuals are known to him. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Letter fragment from the brothers Yosef and Nissim the sons of Berekhya, Qayrawan, to Yosef b. 'Awkal, Fustat (sent in 1007-1013). (pp)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (dates: 1100–38 CE). Fragment (long vertical strip from the right side). Bill of release issued by Ibn Kūjik (בן כוגך) to his former business partner in a shop, Yefet. Signed by ʿEli b. Eliyya. On verso there are pen trials or magical amulet, in a crude hand, followed by the Hebrew alphabet. Verso has been pricked all around the edge. The Ibn Kūjik who appears in this document may be identical with Abū l-Maʿālī Yaʿaqov b. Yosef Ibn Kūjik from T-S 10J7.10, fol. 2r. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: 11 Iyyar; dating: 1126 CE. Change of a will signed by Ḥalfon b. Ghalib and Yefet b. Efrayim two days before the death of the testator, saying that Najiyya is to receive part of a house from her dying maternal aunt on condition that she and her husband, Abū Naṣr Mevasser ha-Levi, renounce all other claims on the estate. A freed woman (Nashū) will receive another part of the house and a man promises to marry her and never divorce her. Yefet b. Ḥadīd is also released by the dying woman. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Ghalib the cantor and Yefet b. Efrayim (Information from Goitein's index cards.) This document consists of two fragments; the right side is document T-S 16.44 and the left side is document T-S 12.613, the break between the two documents is indicated in the transcription by /.

Two fragments of a legal document. The right fragment is a summons written by Yefet b. David the cantor, summoning Nehemiah b. Avraham to court. In the left fragment the court gives Shelomo b. Moshe 2 dinars for buying flour for orphans. (Information from E. Bareket, Shafrir Misrayim, pp.138, 167, 169, 252)

Left side: See Friedman, Teuda, 3, 72 and SDG index card

Letter written by [Joseph b.] Elʿazar in Palestine, mentioning various individuals including Abū l-Faraji, Elʿazar the doctor, Joseph the doctor, ʿAbd al-Karam, Sulayman b. ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, and David the Spaniard. The letter also refers to the house of Shemuʾel the prophet. Dated using the phrase ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם, of which the last word is dotted. This equates to 140, i.e. 5140 (= 1380 CE). Assaf (1944:190), however, suggests לי should also be dotted, giving a date 1420 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes linked below.

Legal document: deed of release given by Rina bt. Yosef, widow of Maymūn b. Yaʿaqov al-Ghallāq (the locksmith), to her deceased husband’s brother, Yosef b. Yaʿaqov, to his sisters Malika (מלכה) and Fulfula (פלפלה/"Peppercorn"), and to Sahlān b. Avraham b. Sunbāt. Dated: Monday, 26 Nisan 1298 Seleucid (= 987 CE). Location: Fusṭāṭ. Witnessed by Fashshāt b. Shemuʾel, Baqāʾ b. Mevasser, Efrayim b. Ṣadoq, Efrayim b. ʿEli, Elʿazar ha-Levi b. Menaḥem, Efrayim b. Ḥabib, Abraham b. Saʿīd Kohen, Ibrahīm b. Zakariyyā; Hillel b. Ṣedaqa, Yaḥyā ha-Levi b. Abraham, Moses b. Ṣemaḥ ha-Kohen, and Aaron ha-Kohen b. Sar Shalom (?) (שר שאלם). On verso there are pen trials in various hands, including signatures and biblical phrases. The date Tevet 1397 (= 1085 CE) is written along with the names Mevorakh b. Mufarrij ha-Kohen (vocalised) and Ṣedaqa b. ʿAmram. (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Legal document. Copy of a Qaraite proxy appointment for a marriage, one of only two such documents known from the geniza. Dating: ca. 1040–47 (based on the people mentioned). Bride: Amat al-ʿAzīz bt. Ḥizqiyyahu the Qaraite nasi; groom: Yefet (Ḥasan) b. Ibrāhīm al- Tustarī of Fustat, son of Abū Saʿd Ibrāhīm al-Tustarī. The bride appoints her father, the nasi, to contract the betrothal; he in turn delegates the role to ʿEzra b. Yishmaʿel (Shemuʾel) b. ʿEzra. While the original proxy deed was written in Jerusalem, this copy is from Fustat. The well-known Qaraite grammarian Abu l-Faraj Hārūn (here, Aharon b. Yehoshuaʿ) serves as witness. (Information from Olszowy- Schlanger, Karaite Marriage Documents, 213, and from Rustow, Heresy, 277–78)

Recto: acknowledgment of debt, dated 1128 CE. Yeshuʿa b. Yaʿaqov (known as Sayyid al-Kull), whose father was known as Abū l-Munā al-ʿAṭṭār, acknowledges his debt to Abū l-Karim Nadiv b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (known as Ibn Saʿadān). Signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya. See separate record for verso (transfer of the debt). Both recto and verso are in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL.)

Verso: transfer of the debt detailed on recto. Dated: 1129 CE. Yeshuʿa b. Yaʿaqov now owes money to Abū l-Ḥusayn Ibn al-Sharābī. Signed by Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver, and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Both recto and verso are in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL.)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Marriage contract (ketubba), in the Palestinian style, from Ṣā, Egypt (Sa al Hajar, a village on the east bank of the Rosetta branch of the Nile, in the delta, next to the ancient Egyptian city of Sai's/Sai), in 1081 C.E. The bride is a divorcée, and the advanced marriage gift is only two dinars while the dowry totaled a mere five and one/third dinars. (Ed. Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 175-81) EMS

Letter describing a sea voyage from Tripoli to Sicily (CUDL). “Of another Jew we read in a Hebrew letter that in a large ship, in which thirty-six or -seven Jews and about three hundred Muslims traveled, he was 'the treasurer and commander' (probably fixing the fares and deciding where the goods of the merchants should be stowed). Like Makhlūf, this 'treasurer' was a scholarly person and used the time before the departure of the boat to study with the writer of that Hebrew letter, a rabbi from Christian Europe.” (Goitein, Med. Soc. x, B, 2, 139.) Bibliography: Assaf, Texts, 133.

Recto: A merchant in Fustat releases another merchant from a debt of 85 dinars. Dated 1286/ 974. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 253) Verso: aggressive magical recipes in Judaeo-Arabic in a different hand than that on recto. (Information from CUDL)

Court record written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Location: Fustat. Dated: Middle decade of Ṭevet 1432 Seleucid, which is 1120 CE. Detailing an allowance for a widow, Sitt al-Ḥusn bt. ʿEli, and her baby, Sitt al-Fakhr bt. Yakhin ha-Kohen, from the community chest. Abū Manṣūr Yakhin b. Abū l-Ḥusayn Yaḥyā ha-Kohen (known as al-Ḥalabī al-Ṣayrafī, i.e. the Aleppan banker) died penniless and as his widow is still nursing their baby she is unable to work. She asks the community judges to give her a monthly allowance (20 dirhams) while she is nursing and raising her daughter. The judges agree, but rule that the money given should be considered a debt granted to the baby by her mother, and that in future the mother will be able to collect the debt from the baby or from the baby’s heirs. Signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya, Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel, and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL.)

Fragment of a marriage contract of Sittuna with some items of dowry. Dated ca. 1000. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 413, and from Goitein's index cards)

Court record with several signatures, dated 1622, mentioning an appeal by several poor men who are imprisoned in iron chains. Signatures include those of Shemuʾel di Medina and Raphael b. [...] ha-Kohen. (Information from CUDL)