Geniza Lab

Short letter to Joseph and his daughter Esther, in a crude hand and extremely colloquial language. C. 15th-16th century CE. On verso it states ‘(to the) house of Maʿtūq al-Miṣratī’. (Information from CUDL)

The judge (dayyan) Moshe is asked to approve Sheikh Ashaq (Issac) as a butcher (Shohet). VMR

Legal document, testimony from a woman concerning her debt and her husband's inheritance. In the hand of Yefet b. David, the scribe of Efrayim b. Shemarya’s court in Egypt, second quarter of the eleventh century. Refers to Yiṣḥaq ha-Kohen (probably b. Furat).

Letter mentioning R. Hananel he-Hasid, written in the time of David Maimonides I. (Information from Paul Fenton, Tarbiz 55 [1956], p. 78) VMR

Letter from Jerusalem written on recto and verso to someone addressed as 'my son and master' (probably Avraham ha-Kohen b. Yiṣḥaq b. Furat). First half of the eleventh century.

Inventory of items in possession of Abu al-Surur, including a ring with a semi-precious stone (‘fass’), an item adorned with four pearls, and various types of beads. Abu al-Mansur is also mentioned; signed by Yehosedeq ha-Kohen. EMS

Note from Ibn al-Maṣmūdī to Abū l-Barakāt (Shelomo b. Eliyyahu?), inviting him to be present in the Palestinian synagogue tomorrow morning לתמאם סנה אלטפלה (a minor fiancee's coming-of-age?), to come to the house together with the Dayyanim, and to prepare for the occasion something for which the writer would be grateful (perhaps a poem). Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter requesting to buy through “Ibrahim, the slave merchant” a female slave for the Nezer (Diadem [an honorifc]). (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:452; and Goiten’s index cards) EMS

Deed of compensation from the court of Efrayim b. Shemarya and in his handwriting. Concerning people from Tyre and a partnership, starting with an Arabic basmala.. (Information from E. Bareket, "The leaders of the Jews in Fustat", vol. 1 pp. 71-72, vol. 2, pp. 290, 380). VMR

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe ha-Levi to his brother the court clerk Ḥalfon (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5:422, 626; EMS). Join by Oded Zinger.

Legal document in which a deposited estate is handed over to the heirs. Mentions people including al-Dhahabī, Ṣedaqa ha-Kohen (called Zayn), and Ibn Ghazāl. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document dealing with inheritance issues (a gift followed by a release). Mentions Elijah b. Shelomo (?), Peraḥya b. ha-Levi b. Shelomo and Abū l-Surūr. Dated 1435 of the Seleucid Era (= 1124 CE), in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Court record concerning a sum that a husband owes his wife as part of a divorce payment. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 142-3) EMS

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: ca. 1210s. Location: Fustat. This fragment preserves the right side of a partnership agreement between Ibrahīm b. Mūsā al-Māyurkī ("from Mallorca") and another Ibrahīm b. Mūsā, whose origin isn't preserved in the text. Both would contribute both financial capital and labor. Funds are brought out into a single purse, suggesting that the act of qinyan effected the partnership. Both partners are to engage in trade. The division of profit and loss is not preserved, but line 10 hints that profits and losses were to be divided equally between the two partners. Line 11 affirms the partners' mandate to "avoid betrayal and indolence and neglect", suggesting this may have been a long-distance trading partnership. The partners promise "ethical and honorable", perhaps because certain norms of behavior are expected of the partners. This does not release the partners from the "oath of partners", though, so legal recourse for misappropriation or negligence remains possible. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 185-186) Probably in the hand of the same scribe, some bearing the signature of the same witness, and some cut in half vertically like this document: T-S 13J3.25 (dated 1215), T-S 13J3.27 (dated 1218), T-S NS 226.12 (dated 1217/18 CE), MS 8254, fol. 17a (dated 1216), T-S NS J242 (dated 1214), ENA 2727.23a, and T-S 13J22.18. Another Ḥalfon b. Elʿazar ha-Kohen document: T-S 247. EMS. ASE.

Legal record describing a husband trying to seize property, and declaring that his father-in-law’s accusations are false, even though the latter presented the court with two valid legal deeds as proof. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 66, 179) EMS

Fragment of an engagement contract concerning an esteemed family; five generations headed by a “grand mufti,” the highest juridical authority. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:103, 447.) EMS. Document consisting of the genealogy (to five generations) of Yeshuʿa ‘the honored bridegroom, the discerning student’ b. Daniel ‘the honored Sar’, and was presumably to be attached to a betrothal deed or to be copied into it. Possibly Qaraite, as it is in Hebrew. (Information from CUDL.)

Legal declaration. Dating: refers to the year 4826 AM, which is 1065/66 CE. (The document itself may be later.) Concerning Nahray b. Nissim's occupancy of larger of his wife's family's house. Nahray sends two witnesses (the narrator and ʿAmmār b. Farrāḥ al-Iṭrābulsī) to his in-law Abū ʿAlī al-Kohen, promising to pay him 1 dinar per month for the part of the house which may exceed one sixth. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Query from Nadiv b. Yiṣḥaq, “the son of the brother of Umm Nadiv,” asking whether a woman who was deserted by her husband with whom she had lived for ten years, but had not received a bill of repudiation from him, may marry another man. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society,1:591; 3:264, 485.) EMS. The remainder of the fragment is also filled with text. Apart from difficult Arabic text on verso, there is what Goitein calls an Arabic/medieval Greek/Romanesque (laʿaz) glossary, partially in Arabic script on recto and partially in Hebrew script on verso. There is some overlap between the Arabic script glossary and the Hebrew script glossary. Examples: khubz --> אבסומי (= Ψωμί), mawlāy --> senyor. Merits further examination

Recto: Memorial list (ancestry tree) of Maimonides’ wife’s ancestors. Written in 13th century handwriting (Goitein). Verso: List mentioning Netan'el, his son Berakhot and grandson Menakhem, and Netan'el’s brother Ya'aqov, and (probably Ya'aqov's son) Yosef. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: fundraising letter carried by emissaries from Hebron to Egypt. Verso: stamp impression and ink transfer with the name ‘Jacob’. (Information from CUDL)