Geniza Lab

Letter of appeal for charity. The writer lost his wealth "in an instant" and had to wander in search of help. He received it from people who knew his family and honor (hod) and saw the books and letters (iggerot) he was carrying, which were confirmed,with signatures from various communities in the east (Ṣova, Ashur, Adina). He is in great need, in spite of his "fathers," and seeks help. It is near a holiday and he has expenses and sick people to take care of (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Accounts on building repairs in a boy's script. Superscribed Abū Saʿd. Information from Goitein's index card.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Not completed (perhaps because of an error in lines 4 and 5). Location: Fustat. Dated: Elul 1552 Seleucid, which is 1241 CE. Groom: Yeshuʿa ha-Talmid b. Shemuel ha-Levi. Bride: Sitt al-Rashīda bt. Yeshuʿa ha-Talmid, an orphan and a virgin. The document also states that he 'betrothed' her, indicating that there was no formal betrothal which preceded this document. Marriage payments: 40 + 10 = 50. The script resembles that of ʿImmanuel b. Yeḥiel but is not identical. On verso there are jottings in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Bill of divorce (geṭ). Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 22 Adar II 1472 Seleucid, which is 1161 CE. Husband: Yaʿaqov b. Binyamin. Wife: Sitt al-ʿIrāq bt. Moshe. Written by Peraḥya b. Yosef. Also signed by Nadiv b. Yeshuʿa. The agent to give her the geṭ (documented on verso) was Yaʿaqov b. Yosef ha-Kohen. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Lease of a ruin belonging to the Great Synagogue of Ramla, ca. 1038. The "people of the Great Synagogue," i.e. the representatives of the congregation of the Palestinians, in Ramla, lease one half of a ruin owned by the synagogue, to a certain Sedaqa b. Yefet al-Shiraji. The lease is for a period of 20 years, at the price of hald a dinar yearly, to serve for repairs and other needs of the synagogue. The lessee intends to repair the ruin. His investments in stones and timber will be considered as covered after that period. He will then have to decide whether he wants to live there and pay rent at the prices then current or to live elsewhere; in either case, if there is a balance from his investment which will not have been covered, the congregation will return it to him. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 147 #5)

Marriage contract of a ransomed captive woman, Damascus, possibly [10]82/3 or [11]82/3.

Court record written by Avraham b. Shemaya, concerning a settlement between Abu Surur b. Natan and Moshe b. Moshe. Dated 1099. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 452, and from Goitein's index cards)

One folio from a court ledger. Recto: Court record in the hand of Avraham b. Shemaʿya. Dated: End of Nisan, probably 1410 Seleucid, which is 1099 CE. Abū (l-)Surūr (Sason) b. Natan says that he previously sued Abū ʿImrān Moshe b. Moshe Ibn Majjān about various business disputes (maybe this is the lawsuit recorded in L-G Misc. 50), but now that he has found the relevant accounts, they can settle. He lists the commodities/values that he thinks he is still owed. Moshe b. Moshe says that they split up a long time ago and that he doesn't owe a penny, but if Abū l-Surūr takes an oath, he will pay. Verso: Court record in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Dated: Thursday, 10 Sivan 1410 Seleucid, which is 1099 CE. Sason b. Natan appears before the court and asks them to summon Abū ʿAlī Yefet b. Sahlān al-Arjawānī. The court summons Abū ʿAlī, who acknowledges that his business partner Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Arjawānī had given him a vessel (fuqqāʿa) containing mercury (zaybaq) intended for Abū l-Surūr Sason b. Natan. Abū ʿAlī states that if Sason pays him the 12 dirhams which he paid for the mercury, he will give it to him. On the next page after this document, there is a fragment of a third court record, with the name Nissim b. Nah[ray?] at the bottom. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Court record containing an agreement between Abu al-Muna and Abu al-Fadl regarding a debt of 55 dinars, 35 of which were to be paid immediately and the remaining 20 at the middle of Kislev. Dated Heshvan 1410/ October 1098. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 512, and from Goitein's index cards)

CUL Add.3414 (c?). Noted and copied by Baneth. Goitein looked for this document in 1965 and could not find it; speculated that perhaps it was removed from this folder and placed under glass. Legal document. Shelomo b. Yefet al-Qudsī owes 102 dinars to Mevorakh b. Elʿazar. A delay of seven months is granted. Meanwhile Mevorakh will sell 70 garments (thawb) for Shlomo in Damietta. If he cannot provide all of the garments, he will pay 1 1/3 dinars for every garment. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

India Book I, 10–11: Court proceedings from Fustat dealing with the dispute between Yosef ha-Lebdi the India trader, and Yequtiʾel b. Moshe, 'the representative of merchants' in Fustat. Dated: Monday, 12 Tammuz 1409 Seleucid, which is 14 June 1098 CE. These are the proceedings of the seventh session. Just before Lebdi and Yequtiʾel were about to make a solemn oath by the Torah, important merchants intervened in an attempt to prevent such a serious undertaking. The two sides agree to postpone the oath ritual until the arrival of the messenger of 'Yemen and India.' This agent was to deliver the testimony of Ḥasan b. Bundar, the representative of the merchants in Aden. A few further claims between the two were also dealt with.

Letter from the tailor Yaʿaqov b. Ṭahor to Yehuda al-Ḥalabī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 24 Elul (4800 +) 197 AM = 4997 AM, which is 1237 CE (the numbers for 4800 are implicit in letters from this period). The letter concerns textiles and asks the addressee to give 26 dirhams to R. Ḥananel (the father-in-law of Avraham Maimonides [d. 1237], who is also referred to in the document as 'our lord'). (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 409, and from Goitein's index cards.)

India Book I, 18b: The settlement of the lawsuit between David ibn Sighmar, the representative of Moshe b. Labrat, and Yosef Lebdi. A draft of the settlement is preserved in the recto (I, 18a). This final version was signed by five prominent members of the community: Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel, Avraham b. Natan, Nethanel b. Yefet, Hillel b. Eli and Avraham b. Shemaya.

India Book I, 18a: Settlement (canceled draft) in the lawsuit between David ibn Sighmar, the representative of Moshe b. Labrat, against Yosef Lebdi. The final version of the settlement is preserved on the verso (I, 18b). The cancellation is marked by three vertical strokes.

India Book I, 16: Two court records regarding Moshe b. Labrat b. Moshe b. Sugmar and Yosef b. David al-Tarabulusi, from the court in Fustat. November 12, 1097 and March 8, 1098. In the handwriting of Hillel b. Eli. The records are regarding a disagreement about selling pearls. Yosef refuses to give Moshe his money and profit, because he has counter-claims. The disagreement came before the court twice (November 1097 and March 1098). Moshe is a judge in Mahdiyya, as his father was before him. The court members in Fustat are Hillel b. Eli, Shlomo ha-Kohen b. Yosef, Ishaq b. Shemuel ha-Sfaradi, Avraham b. Natan, Netanel b. Yefet, and Avraham b. Shma’aya. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #625.) VMR.

Recto and verso: Draft of a legal document. Abu Saʿd al-Levi undertakes to provide his elderly father Shemuel with food and drink and the money for the capitation tax, since his father had traveled widely on business and was too exhausted for regular work. This fragment also contains an unrelated legal document dated 1232 CE (see separate PGP record). (Information from Mediterranean Society, vol. 5, pp. 122–23, and from Goitein's index cards.)

Recto: Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Monday, 1 Av 1543 Seleucid, which is 1232 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. The young man Abū l-Bahāʾ b. Abū l-Baqāʾ, known as the indigo merchant (tājir al-nīl), declares that he will diligently try to provide for himself(?). (Information from Goitein’s index card)

India Book I, 1–2: Court proceedings dealing with the dispute between Yosef ha-Lebdi the India trader and Yequtiʾel b. Moshe, 'the representative of merchants' in Fustat. Dated: Monday, 2 Kislev 1409 Seleucid, which is 9 November 1097 CE. The document lists their commercial dealings and contains much information on trade of textiles, silverware and corals. The document is written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. Note that the lower part of CUL Add.3421 is Doc. I, 4 in the India Book (see separate record).

Recto: legal document from the Fusṭāṭ Bet Din, dated 18 Iyyar 1409 (= 22 April 1098 CE), regarding a financial claim made by Joseph b. Isaac against Abū Manṣūr Aaron b. Mevasser. Witnessed by Nathaniel b. Yefet, Nissim b. Nahray, and Isaac b. Samuel. Written by Avraham b. Natan AV Verso: continuation of a legal document starting at the bottom of Add.3420 verso, dated 15 Iyyar 1409 (= 19 April 1098 CE) in Fusṭāṭ. David b. Yaʾir testifies that he was in the synagogue on a certain Wednesday, 10th of the month, when Karīma bat ʿAmmār, known as Wuḥša the broker, went there and asked Moses the teacher and Maʿālī ha-Kohen, brother of the sexton, why the judge ʿUlla ha-Levi b. Joseph had summoned her. She was told it was because she owed ʿUlla 5 qirāṭs, but had neglected to appear in court when he had tried to legally recover the money from her. Karīma reportedly expressed surprise that ʿUlla was making such a fuss about a relatively small sum of money. Written and signed by Nissim b. Nahray, and witnessed by Isaac b. Samuel and Abraham b. Šemaʿya. (CUDL)