Geniza Lab

Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi agrees to bring to court a husband and his wife, the latter being accused of frightening another man's wife with practices of necromancy forbidden by religion. (Information from Mediterranean Society II, pp. 332, 599)

Record of statement of release issued by the court of the Nagid Avraham Maimonides (1205-1237). Dated Iyyar 1538/May 1227.

Legal document. Partnership dissolution. Dated: March 1029. Location: Fustat. This document, emerging from the court of Abraham b. Sahlān, records the dissolution of a partnership between Ibn al-Kashshāsh Isḥaq b. Elijah and Samḥūn b. Tamīm. Isḥaq is to pay six dinars at the end of roughly seven months, at the end of the month of Tishri of the next year, and Samḥūn thereby absolved Isḥaq of any further obligation. Isḥaq also agreed that if he were to travel to the West without Samḥūn, that he would pay the six dinars prior to his departure. Court record dealing with the affairs of two business partners signed by Avraham he-Ḥaver b. Sahlan, Shemuel ha-Kohen and Sadaqa b. Yahya. Dated Tishri 1341/September 1029.

F.1: calendrical reckoning for the years 1018–19 and 1019–20 CE. F.2: legal documents. Recto: document, mentioning Abū Abraham Ismaʿīl b. Ṭalyon, Maḵlūf b. Mūsā and a large number of objects; dated Adar 1338 of the Seleucid Era (= 1027 CE). Below is a document concerning debts which Judah b. Ḥudayd owes Ḵalaf b. Sahl. Signed by Samuel ha-Kohen b. Avṭalyon and Aaron b. Isaac, and dated Kislev 1336 of the Seleucid Era (= 1024 CE). Verso: document from Fusṭāṭ concerning financial matters between Isaac b. Elijah, known as al-Qaš[...] and Samḥūn. Dated Nisan 1340 of the Seleucid Era (= 1029 CE), and signed by Abraham he-Ḥaver b. Sahlān, Samuel ha-Kohen Roš ha-Qahal b. Avṭalyon and Ṣedaqa b. Yaḥya. Below is an addendum, concerned with modalities if Isaac travels abroad; with the same three signatories. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Note from Sahlan b. Avraham, leader of the Babylonians in Fustat, to Aharon the Cantor ha-Mumhe b. Efrayim, in which he informs him that a certain physician has arrived from Jerusalem, bearing letters from the Gaon to people in Fustat, ca. 1035.

Statement of payments to a tenant of the Qodesh, ca. 1160. A certain al-Nadiv, otherwise known as the perfume maker, tenant of a compound partly owned by the qodesh known as al-Burj, receives several sums from the funds of the qodesh. This money is to be used for completing repairs in his apartment and some others. The statement is in the hand of the judge Mevorakh b. Natan. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 289 #60)

The beadle as cashier of the Qodesh, ca. 1162. The beadle Mahfuz, of the Synagogue of the Palestinians, receives the revenue from the orchard of the qodesh. This is a short entry, signed by two members of the court. In another entry, the revenue from rent collected from tenants of the qodesh by the parnas Abu'l-Ma'ali is also received by the same beadle. The record also mentions the person under whose authority these operations take place, namely the Gaon Netaniel b. Moshe. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 291 #61)

Legal document for a partnership between Berakhot ha-Levi b. Shemuʾel and Ṣedaqa b. Ṣemaḥ. Dating: 1127–39 CE, as this was drawn up in the court of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. Signed: Yosef b. Ḥalfon b. Yosef ha-Kohen. (Information in part from CUDL.) Join by Oded Zinger.

Letter that purports to be from the followers of the King Joseph b. Solomon, near Ancona (Italy), addressed to a certain Avraham. In Hebrew. King Joseph has crossed the Sambatyon river and amassed a mighty army of all the tribes of Israel. The tribes have drawn lots to determine who will march on whom. One part is "camped in the desert" a 4-day march from Rome, and they will soon attack it and conquer it. A second part will conquer Mecca and Jeddda, a third part will gather the dispersed Israelites from the West, while the fourth part will gather the Israelites from 'beyond Eden' (though Mann understands this as Aden) and come back with Elijah the Prophet. This letter is likely related to the messianic activities of David Reuveni in Italy in the years following 1524 CE. See Miriam Eliav-Feldon, "Invented Identities: Credulity in the Age of Prophecy and Exploration," JEMH 3,3 (1999), p. 209f.

Printed copy of a letter that purports to be from the tribes of Gad and Reuben, in the Holy Land, to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The latter are urged to repent, especially those who live in Christian lands and have succumbed to mixed marriages. The letter refers to the Jews in the "city of Spain" (note that this is spelled אספיא) and the "city of Italy" (spelled טליא) and among the Philistines. The letter reports that the tribes of Gad and Reuben are living in security and prosperity, successful in all their wars and living in perfect piety. Also, the Jews of India are reported to be more powerful than all their neighbors. Dating: Mann suggests that the reference to the Jews in Spain means that it comes from before the expulsion in 1492. If this surmise is correct, the printed letter does not pertain to the activities of David Reuveni (in contrast to T-S 8J33.2, which probably does) but rather to a more general ferment of interest in the lost tribes of Israel.

Letter from Yeḥiel b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Ṣarfati, in Jerusalem, to an unnamed addressee (probably the judge Menaḥem b. Yiṣḥaq b. Sasson), probably in Cairo. In Hebrew. Dating: Early 13th century. He is inquiring what should be done with the money of the heqdesh that the addressee had endowed for the building of a ritual bath (miqve). There is no need for a miqve, as Yeḥiel has already made one in his own house. The rains have already ended, and the Gentiles do not permit bathing in the Shiloaḥ spring, so there is nowhere else to build one. Yeḥiel argues that it is good for the women to immerse themselves in his house, so that his wife can instruct them on proper practice (including ḥafifa and immersing in the evening rather than the morning). He wants to know if his previous letter arrived with a Gentile named ʿAskar(?). See Roni Shweka's article on this letter and Yeḥiel's subsequent letter, Moss. IV,9 + T-S NS 312.98 + T-S 8J31.4 + T-S 6J9.12 (PGPID 3783).

Letter opening, fragmentary, from Natan b. Avraham to Shelomo b. Natan (Natanel ?), Fustat, approximately 1040. The main body was probably in Judaeo-Arabic. Verso: only the letters רשל in Hebrew script (marked as an abbreviation). (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli to Elʿazar b. Yosef, the brother of "the great rabbi" Seʿadʾel b. Yosef. In Judaeo-Arabic with some Hebrew. Fragment (upper part of recto). (Information in part from CUDL)

Upper part of a letter from Musa b. Yusuf b. Nissim, possibly to Ishaq al-Nafusi (line 8), who had written regarding the wife of his son Abu Zikri, apparently asking her to travel. Musa tells him that she cannot travel for several reasons, among them that she has been sick since Sukkot.

Letter written by a woman and sent to the address: 'money-changers' square' in Cairo. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 448)

Letter, fragmentary, from Tyre in Hebrew and Arabic, including a Passover greeting and mentioning Natan ha-Kohen and Mevorakh ha-Kohen.

Letter, fragmentary, containing greetings and mentioning the Gaon Yaʿaqov and Nethanel ha-Sar, a descendant of Shemarya the Sixth. Alternate description: "Letter in tiny script, addressed on verso to Nathaniel ha-Sar ha-Gadol [...], mentioning a number of other partial names and titles. Letter continues diagonally in the right-hand margin. There is a short note in a different hand written upside-down in the margin on recto, giving Passover greetings from Mevoraḵ ha-Kohen b. Nathan ha-Kohen he-Meʿulle the judge to a woman whose sons are greeted as ‘ha-Sarim ha-Gedolim’. A Judaeo-Arabic letter in a third hand fills the blank space above the address on verso. (Information from CUDL.)

Notarized grant of permission to travel until a specific date given by a wife to her husband and an empowerment by the notary to issue her a bill of divorce should the husband not return within the prescribed time. Written in Fustat in Tammuz 1356/July 1045.

Fragment of an account containing names and amounts of money in dinars and dirhams.

Legal document in Hebrew containing a declaration by a wife that her husband abandoned her when he travelled abroad eight years ago to the land of Israel. She has witnesses to support her claim.