Geniza Lab

Verso: Will of Maymun b. Khalfa. Location: Fustat. Dated: Thursday, 17 Tammuz 1383 Seleucid, which is 5 July 1072 CE. Witnessed by Yosef b. Elʿazar Ibn ha-Shofeṭ and Moshe b. Shelomo. Details about Maymun’s belongings, including goods that are in other’s hands and money that belongs to Maymun, or that he owes others. Also mentions several books that belong to Nahray b. Nissim. (Information in part from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #565.) On recto there is a much earlier Muslim marriage contract. VMR

Marriage contract in Arabic script. Dating: 1028–36 CE, based on the mention of the judge ʿAbd al-Ḥākim b. Saʿīd (b. Mālik) b. Saʿīd. Groom: ʿAlī b. Ṭāhir the gatekeeper (bawwāb). Bride: Fāṭima bt. Abū l-Ḥasan. The document is cut off on the left, presumably by the scribe who reused the document for the Jewish will on verso several decades later (see PGPID 5919).

Witness statement in which a proselyte known by the name of Abu al-Khayr takes out a Torah scroll from the Holy Ark and proclaims a ban on an adversary. This statement concerns Yehuda b. Chaim, about his behavior in the synagogue when the ban was pronounced, and his subsequent incarceration. Dated 25 Tevet 1393/ November 1081. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 306, 592 and from CUDL)

Bill of sale in which a Nubian female slave named 'Salt' is sold for 15 dinars. Dated 24 Tammuz 1395/ July 1084. (Information from Mediterranean society, I, p. 137)

Legal document. Record of release. Dated 1085. Location: Alexandria. This document is a largely-complete release signed and executed by well-known members of the rabbinical court of Alexandria. The litigants are Yosef b. Shemuel and the judge Menashshe b. Pinḥas. Although the details of the relationship between the litigants are not explicitly stated, the release clauses suggest that a partnership existed between the two of them. Items listed include currency, raw and smithed precious metals, clothing, textiles, and other merchandise, suggesting that the partners were involved in a trading partnership. Yosef releases Menashshe (and not vice versa), suggesting that Menashshe was the active partner in the partnership. Like the "soundness of mind" clauses, the release from oaths appear in releases from partnerships and powers of attorney. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 242)

Digest of a marriage contract. Location: Fustat. Dated: 14 Elul 1405 Seleucid, which is August 1094 CE. Groom: Yakhin the cantor. Bride: Sitt al-Kull, a virgin. Marriage payments: 50 + 105 = 155 dinars. The fragment also contains drafts of various legal documents (one involving the rent of a house in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ and 125 dinars; another involving Abū l-Surūr's claim that he came to Fustat with 25 dinars and spent it all) and letters (one to a judge called al-Rayyis), and many jottings. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 406, Goitein's index cards, and CUDL.)

Deathbed declaration of an old man, bringing his two sons before four witnesses and explaining that all he possesses in cash is 33 gold pieces. In view of such a small estate, he was afraid they would quarrel, wherefore he decided to arrange the distribution while still capable. Dated November 1103/ Heshvan 1416. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 409; V, pp. 133, 134, 542)

Deed of sale of a female slave named Shaʿal (or Shuʿl or Shuʿal). Written in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Dated: Last third of Kislev 1420 Seleucid, which is 1108 CE. Seller: Abū l-Ḥasan Menashshe b. Seʿadya ha-Kohen known as Ibn al-Maṣmūda(?). Buyer: Ṣedaqa b . Yehuda. Price: 21 dinars. Signed by: Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi, Yosef b. Yaʿaqov, Yeḥezqel b. ʿEli ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver. (Information from Goitein's attached notes.)

Recto: Deed of sale written by Natan b. Avraham Av. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Tuesday, 5 Kislev 1420 Seleucid, which is 10 November 1108 CE. Sitt al-Aqrān bt. Yosef ha-Kohen, the wife of Yehuda b. ʿAllān, sells her Nubian female slave Naʿīm to Sitt al-Munā bt. Natan/Hibatallāh, the widow of Nahray b. Nissim, for 20 dinars. There is a clause stating that Yehuda b. ʿAllān permitted (? amḍā li-zawjatih) this sale. Witnessed by Menaḥem b. Shemuel, Yaʾir b. Seʿadya ha-Kohen, and Ṣemaḥ b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi. Verso: Subsequent deed of sale in Arabic script. Sitt al-Munā sold Naʿīm to the Christian physician ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Maqāra(?) b. Hārūn for 20 dinars. Dated: First third of Dhū l-Qiʿda 508 AH, which is March/April 1115 CE. Witnessed by Hibatallāh b. Ḥasan (=Netanʾel b. Yefet?). (Information from Goitein's index card, Aodeh, and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, 918.)

The widow of the Cairene judge Avraham b. Natan confirms having received from her son-in-law everything that was owed to her from the estate of her late husband. The judge's daughter, as the only heir, had paid her mother whatever was owed her from her marriage contract or her husband's will. Dated Adar 1427/ March 1116. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 483)

Deed of sale of a female slave, signed by Avraham b. Shemaya and Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Menashshe. Dated Av 1430/ August 1119.

Sulayman b. Mahfuz frees Mufarrij b. Ya'ish and his wife from all obligations regarding an inheritance. Dated Sivan 1395/1084 (date in document) or 1375.1064 (date given in Mediterranean Society II, p. 570 n. 34). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 491, and from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document concerning a wife agreement to the reduction of her delayed marriage gift from 70 to 20 dinars and renounces the title of trustworthiness granted her in the marriage contract. Dated Nisan 1437/April 1126. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 256, 412, 483)

Witness statement concerning a young man named Sedaqa the Meshorer b. Semah, an agent in a business venture in pharmaceutical plants, olive oil and gallnuts, amounting to the considerable sum of 90-91 dinars, who asks for witnesses on a Sabbath, because of the urgency of the matter. The witnesses accompany him to the house of a dying man, Abu al-Ma'ali al-Dhahabi Shelomo b. Yakhin, with whom he had a loan regarding some commodity Abu al-Ma'ali confirms that the sum mentioned was indeed all due to Sedaqa and declares that he is his trusted agent. Dated Kislev 1438/1126. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 136, 543)

In a matter of inheritance, 'Ammar b. Makhlūf had been sued by a relative recently converted to Islam and had promised to pay him 20 dinars if he forced another relative, Abu al-Mufaddal, to give an oath concerning the same sum. Abu al-Mufaddal swore the oath, but 'Ammar was imprisoned in connection with this affair. In this document, 'Ammar withdraws his accusation that it was Abu al-Mufaddal who had caused his imprisonment and otherwise harmed him. Dated Nisan 1452/ March 1141. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 290, 491)

Legal document recording that Sitt al-Husn, daughter of Saadya, sought a gold tiara ('isaba) that she had pawned to the recently-deceased physician Abu al-Murajja b. Daniel against a loan of 24 dinars, from his heirs. A witness testifies that the deceased had forgiven the loan. Dated Tammuz 1440/ July 1129. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 487). Written by Halfon b. Menashshe Halevi.

Verso: A man who possessed five-eighths of a house gives one-eighth to his wife and her son as lodgings 'belonging to them forever.' Dated Shevat 1443/January 1132. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 259) Recto: Legal document recording that Sitt al-Husn, daughter of Saadya, sought a gold tiara ('isaba) that she had pawned to the recently-deceased physician Abu al-Murajja b. Daniel against a loan of 24 dinars, from his heirs. A witness testifies that the deceased had forgiven the loan. Dated Tammuz 1440/ July 1129. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 487)

On a Saturday, a dying man, Salim al-Halabi, a dyer was visited by friends, among them a creditor, who reminded him of a sum of 16 dinars and 4 qirats still owed to him. Salim assured him that he would get his money, but wished to discuss the matter after the Sabbath. When the creditor replied that he was unable to return, Salim reiterated his pledge, and his son, who was present, confirmed that he was ready to pay his father's debt, even if it was twice as high. Dated Iyyar 1467/ May 1156. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 135, 543)

Copy of a will of Mahara bat Avraham ha-Kohen that had been made and dated in Alexandria in January 1143, issued at the request of her nephew, to whom his dying aunt had willed 10 dinars and also money to other family members. She stipulated that any money remaining after the payment of the burial expenses and of the sums bequeathed by her to relatives (with the exclusion of her son) should be given to the poor, but charged her executor with this task, not the officials of the community chest, while the court was to choose the charities worthy of consideration. Dated in November 1153. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 111, 545)

Deed of testimony. Location: al-Maḥalla. Dated: Monday, 16 Sivan 1471 Seleucid, which is 1160 CE, which is 23 May 1160 CE, under the authority of the Gaʾon Netanʾel b. Moshe ha-Levi. (This is the earliest known document to refer to Netanʾel as Gaʾon; see also T-S 8J5.21 from later in the same month.) A cantor named Sheʾerit b. Shemarya ("the glory of the cantors") testifies that he has borrowed 13 dinars from Abū l-Maʿālī Shemuel b. Yehuda against a collateral of jewelry. Witnesses: Yefet b. ʿOvadya and Shelomo b. Yefet. Witnesses for the validation (qiyyum): Meʾir b. Hillel b. Ṣadoq, Yosef b. Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen, and the teacher Natan b. Ḥalfon. (Information from Frenkel and Goitein, Med. Soc. vol. 2, pp. 541 n. 117).