Geniza Lab

Recto: Document in Arabic script, possibly a state administrative memorandum, possibly a letter. Verso: Letter concerning business matters in Judaeo-Arabic. Continues on recto. (Information from CUDL and from Marina Rustow)

Betrothal contract between Abraham ha-Kohen and Sitt al-Ḥasan bat Arye b. Judah. Arye is the ex-husband of Karima al-Wuḥsha and Sitt al-Ḥasan may be the daughter of Karima al-Wuḥsha, as Sitt al-Ahl bint Ibrahim (presumably the daughter of Abraham and Sitt al-Ḥasan) is described as the granddaughter of al-Wuḥsha (see T-S 13J1.21, dated 1150 CE). Dated Thursday 19th [month and year are lost], in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (1104-1138 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Legal document concerning a house, apparently in the quarter of Qaṣr al-Rūm, which includes a lengthy description of the location and conditions of the house. Mentions Abū l-Mufaḍḍal Saʿadya ha-Kohen and ʿOvadya b. Shemuʾel, as well as Christians and Muslims. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document concerning payments of large sums of money, mentioning precious objects of pearls and gold. Mentions Shemuʾel ha-Kohen b. Yaḥyā and Isaac b. Shemuʾel. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document from Fusṭāṭ in the hand of Shelomo b. Elijah, written under the authority of Abraham Maimonides and dated Tammuz 1531 of the Seleucid Era (= 1220 CE), concerning Abū l-ʿAzz b. Abū ʿImrān, known as al-Sharābī. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document with testimony from Abraham b. Shemuʾel (known as Ibn al-Nabāt) concerning financial matters involving [...] bat Jacob. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a pre-nuptial agreement written under the authority of David b. Abraham (David Maimonides) concerning the groom Aaron and the bride Shamsiyya. (Information from CUDL)

Beginning of a legal document from Fusṭāṭ, written under the authority of Abraham Maimonides and dated Iyyar 1531 of the Seleucid Era (= 1220 CE). Probably in the hand of Shelomo b. Elijah. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document from Fusṭāṭ in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, concerning financial arrangements after a divorce. Written under the authority of Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen and dated Ṭevet 1444 of the Seleucid Era (= 1133 CE). Signed by Nathan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo. Verso: list of monthly payments, also mentioning Abū l-Riḍā b. Faraj b. ʿAzarya and Hillel b. Nathan. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document with the testimony of Natanʾel b. Tamīm concerning a signature he witnessed for Saʿīd b. Yūsuf, who releases Mufaḍḍal b. Salāma b. Saʿīd of any future claims related to a signature that he, in turn, had given on behalf of Ibn Najīb al-Dawla. Signed by Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo ha-Kohen and, in the right margin at ninety degrees, Efrayim b. Yosef. There was a Fatimid official named Ibn Najīb al-Dawla who was active in the early twelfth century. MR

Recto: accounts submitted by Abū l-Barakāt Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to al-Talmid Abu l-Faraj, headed by مملوكه שלמה אמת. In Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. The first row is a list of names (e.g., Sulaymān, Hilāl, Bū l-ʿIzz) with numbers underneath. In the next section, mentions a copper worker (naḥḥās) and a Jewish silk dealer (al-ḥarīrī al-yahūdī) and various goods. At the bottom, فكتب بو البركات للتلميذ ابو الفرج اليهودي وصلولات الله علا سيدنا(؟) والحمد لله. On verso there are four more lines of commodities' names in Arabic script accompanied by Greek/Coptic numerals. Finally, there are legal jottings in Judaeo-Arabic written by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. In the upper left corner: the name Seʿadya b. Shelomo. At the bottom, "Before us, the court, the above witnesses signed and sealed and witnessed for the groom and the bride. Written by Shelomo b. Eliyya. Ḥalfon ha-M[...] b. [...] ha-Ḥazzan. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: legal document concerning ʿArūs b. Joseph and Sibāʿ al-Lādiqī. In the margin is a draft of a legal deed in another hand. Verso: draft of a power of attorney, mentioning Abū l-Mufaḍḍal. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's note card.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, mentioning Tamīm ha-Kohen. (Information from CUDL)

Levirate case in which a widow appoints an attorney to sue her brother-in-law with the demand either to marry or to free her. Dated: 20 Sivan 164. The dating clause is written clearly, but there's a key to interpreting it. Ashtor interpreted it incorrectly as (5)164 (AM) = 1404 (History of the Jews in Egypt and Syria under the Mamluks, vol. 3, p. 100 n. 2). Goitein corrected Ashtor's reading to 1204 because, as with many other 13th c documents in the geniza, you have to add 4800 to the stated date, so 4964 AM = 1204. To write 4964 in Hebrew, you would have to use a lot of characters, since the alef-bet only covers up until 400. So 4964 would be דתתקסד (that is, 4(000) + 400 + 400 + 100 + 60 + 4). But since in 1204, everyone knew the 4000 + 400 + 400 part, they just omitted it and wrote 164. So the document dates to 1204.

Letter from a certain Ḥ[alfon] (?) to Shemarya b. David requesting an appointment as a religious functionary. Egypt, 1213 (?). He cannot work because of his weak vision. The handwriting resembles that of Moshe b. Levi (d. 1212), who may have written the letter on behalf of the petitioner—but this is speculative. ASE.

Legal document: testimony about the will of Yosef Lebdi. This fragment, written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli, records that before leaving for his last journey, Lebdi made the will. Friedman dates the fragment to the beginning of the 12th century.

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involving Abū l-Ḥasan Shelomo ha-Kohen and Abū Isḥāq Avraham. Regarding a business partnership (sharika).

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Refers to "the dues of the people of Ashqelon now living in Bulbays" (Goitein saw this as evidence of a Landsmannschaft-like organization). Mentions a qintar of something, a man named Yaḥyā b. Najm al-ʿAkkawī (see DK 237.1, l. 32), probably the appointment of an agent, and the aforementioned Yosef and Isḥāq. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Informal note from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to his 'brother' Abū Isḥāq. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. The sender congratulates the addressee on deliverance from some kind of danger. He asks him to let him tag along (yatbaʿ athārahū) when he sets out to buy grapes from the vineyards (ghīṭān). On verso there is unrelated text in Arabic script. (Information in part from CUDL and from Goitein notes and index card linked below.)

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes linked below.