Geniza Lab

Ketubba dated 1551 of the Seleucid Era (= 1240 CE), for […] bat Ṣedaqa the elder. Witnessed by Saʿadya b. Solomon ha-Levi. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Letter from the judge Yefet b. Shelomo to Meshullam b. Elʿazar ha-Kohen. Greetings to the addressee's sons Elʿazar and Shelomo. There are many lines of ornate introduction in Hebrew, followed by a few lines of good wishes for the holidays in Judaeo-Arabic. The rest of the fragment is torn away. (Information from CUDL and from Goitein's index card)

Recto: agreement between Moshe b. Yehuda the cantor and Ḥasan b. Salmān. Another copy of the same contract found in T-S NS J161 + T-S 12.5. Verso is faded and illegible. (Information from CUDL and Moshe Yagur.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Dated: 12 Ḥeshvan 1467 Seleucid, which is 1156 CE. Groom: Peraḥya b. Tiqva ha-Levi. Bride: Sitt al-Thanāʾ bt. Avraham. Signed by Berakhot b. Shela ha-Kohen, Nadiv b. Yeshuʿa, and Shelomo b. Shemuel ha-Levi. Approved by Ḥiyya b. Yiṣḥaq, Efrayim b. Meshullam, and Hillel b. Ṣadoq. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Fatimid decree. The decree is from the period of al-Hafiz (1131–49) and mentions the congregational mosques of al-Ḥākim (in Cairo) and al-Ḥāfiẓ (it is not clear which the second mosque was). Marina Rustow

Letter of Abu Ali Yehezqel b. Netanel, Alexandria, to his brother Ḥalfon, 1140, written on a fragment of a Fatimid decree (see separate record). Egypt, probably Qalyūb; Adar II; February 21 - March 20, 1140

Chancery document. 6 lines preserved. Reused for piyyutim. Needs examination.

Bill of release, dated 1066 CE, concerning the heirs of Ḥasan b. Solomon: his children Ḥalfon b. Ḥasan and Shela b. Ḥasan, his brother Ḥalfon b. Solomon, and his wife Hinda. Signed by Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef, Yehuda b. Menashshe, and Ḥayyim b. ʿAmmār, and approved by Mevorakh b. Seʿadya, Joseph b. Elʿazar Ibn ha-Shofet, and Ruwayya (רויה) b. Shemuel. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Letter from one community to another (possibly from Byzantium to Egypt), appealing for assistance on behalf of prisoners and the poor. Signed by Joseph b. ʿAm[..], Ḥayyim b. [...], Moses b. [...], and Nathan b. [...]. On verso there is a midrash on Esther, quoting Psalms 8:3 and 29:11. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Bill of gift, in which a house in Qaṣr al-Šamʿ is given by [Isaa]c b. Abraham to his daughter, the wife of Mevasser b. Ḡalib. The house is described as abutting the houses of Abū Yaḥyā (אבו יחיי) the uncircumcised, Yošaʿnaʾ (יושענא) the uncircumcised (both Christians), and Abdah Zerah Šalalʿabʾad (עבדה זרה שללעבאד). Witnessed by [...] b. Ṣemaḥ. Dated 126[.] of the Seleucid Era (= 948-958 CE). Verso: alchemical text mentioning a cooking pot and the following ingredients: lead, arsenic, urine, silver, egg white, salt, and blood. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Beginning of a ketubba.Location: Fusṭāṭ. Bride: Sitt al-Milāḥ bt. Moshe, a widow. Groom: Sason. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (1100-1138 CE), and written under the jurisdiction of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (1127–1139 CE).

Legal document(s) in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Recto: Decision of the court on repairs in a compound partly owned by the Qodesh. Dated: 1134 CE. A certain Obadiah, co-proprieter of a compound of which a quarter belonged to the qodesh, carried out repairs in that compound. The repairs were agreed upon by the representatives of the qodesh, their urgency having been recognized. Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Ṣedaqa al-Ramli was appointed to supervise the building operations, and Obadiah advanced the sums that were necessary. A total expenditure of 24 dinars was now recognized by the court. Obadiah was given the right to collect rent from the part of the compound belonging to the qodesh, up to a total of 6.25 dinars, which included the sum due him from the qodesh, and a former debt of .25 dinar. Verso: Approval of the court record. The verso, which is very deteriorated, includes details of an accounting between the qodesh and the same Obadiah, here called 'Abdallah, the Arabic equivalent of the former. This accounting obviously represents the fulfillment of the agreement between the two parties. The representative of the qodesh is Abū l-Maʿālī, which nickname most probably referred to Judge Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen ha-Meʿulle, who is also a signatory of the agreement. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 254 #47 and CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Confirmation of money transfer from Yosef b. Musa ha-Tahirti to Yehoshua b. Natan. December 15, 1046. Berekhya b. Nissim gave money to Yehoshua. Yosef receives 72 dinars and 2 kirats from this money, for what Musa b. Alush owed Yosef’s brother – Barhun. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #822) VMR

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

Letter from Yehoshuaʿ Ha-Kohen B. Yair, Tiberias, to the communities of Aleppo, approximately 1020.

Copy of a long letter sent by Ḥananya b. Yosef ha-Kohen, Av Bet Din. Dating: ca. 1020 CE, according to Gil. Probably addressed to the community in Fustat. Mentions Tiberias and a ban of excommunication on the Mount of Olives. The writer excuses his delay in responding to the previous letter, as he was suffering a severe relapse of his illness at the time that he received it. Gil summarizes the contents of the letter as follows: "At the beginning of the eleventh century, Geniza letters definitely disclose that Tiberias is no longer the seat of the yeshiva. The av-bet-din of the yeshiva, Ḥananya ha-Kohen b. Yosef, mentions in his letter the serious differences within the Tiberias community and the yeshiva’s intervention. It appears that Ḥananya's brother served as judge in Tiberias, and when he died, the people of Tiberias asked the yeshiva to send them someone to take his place. Someone was indeed sent, after a group of Tiberian notables promised they would treat him well, but that person apparently tried to discard the authority ofJerusalem, and even took the liberty of proclaiming leap years(!), whereupon the Gaon and the yeshiva excommunicated him. Nevertheless, he continued to do as he saw fit and even organized a faction of supporters, and it seems that they also took for themselves the revenue from the ritual slaughtering that was intended for Jerusalem. [Two brothers in Fustat were apparently helping him.] It does appear, then, that there was some sort of rebellion in Tiberias which tried to re-establish the old order." On the biography of Ḥananya ha-Kohen Av Bet Din, see Gil, History of Palestine, section 854 (pp. 664–65). And see ENA 4009.4 (a letter addressed to him from Sicily) and Moss. Ia,9 (a document drawn up in his court, dated 1007 CE). (Information from Gil and CUDL.)

Avraham b. Rason buys from Yeshua Abu al-Fadl b. Eliyyahu 9/24 of a sugar factory for 150 dinars. He permits him to buy it back for this sum any time during 3 years. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Will of a notable, dividing his landed property, his flocks of sheep and all the orchards possessed or leased by him between his brother and his children. Dated ca. 1090. This is a copy of the original will found in Bodl. MS heb. b 13/46. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 117, 425)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Dated: 23 Shevaṭ 1393 Seleucid (= 1082 CE). Location: Probably New Cairo. Groom: the nasi and head of the Jews David b. Daniel b. ʿAzarya (in office 1082–94), son of the gaʾon Daniel b. Azarya (in office 1051–62). Bride: Nāshiya bt. Moshe b. Aharon ha-Kohen, the daughter of a Qaraite notable, who brings in a dowry of almost 900 dinars (or over 1100 dinars?). As the bride is from a prominent Qaraite family, and the groom is a high-ranking Rabbanite, there are special clauses in the contract stating that the groom will not force the bride to compromise her Qaraite principles, and the bride will join her husband in observing the Rabbanite feasts. Attested by the Bet Din and witnessed by Yequtiʾel b. Moses, Nissim b. Maḥbūb, Shelomo b. Yiṣḥaq, Yeḥezqel b. ʿEli he-Ḥaver, Hodaya b. Yoshiyya, Yosef b. Shemuel, Yosef b. Elʿazar, Ṣedaqa b. Muvḥar, Aharon b. Avraham, Netanel b. Yefet he-Ḥaver, the cantor Aharon b. Avraham, Hillel the Cantor b. [...], Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq. (Information from CUDL and Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 136, 456.)