Geniza Lab

Power of attorney. Location: Fustat. Dated: 4976 AM, which is 1215/16 CE, under the reshut of Avraham Maimonides. In which the daughter of Menaḥem ha-Talmid b. Menashshe appoints her husband Sulaymān/Shelomo b. ʿAmram ha-Levi for some purpose (not preserved). (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Verso: List of "those who have not received their share" (al-bāqiyyīn bi-lā akhdh), i.e., in the distribution of wheat. Dating: Probably 1215–40 CE, based on Goitein's assessment and the date of the document on recto. There are three lists. I. Parties receiving wheat. II.Twelve parties (of whom at least six are repeated from list I) getting sums, mostly of 2.5 or 5 (dirhams). III. Names without any explanation added, some identical with those in the list T-S NS J440. The neglected people listed were mostly outsiders, either foreigners (Rum/Byzantium, Persia, Jerusalem, Barqa, etc.) or from Egypt itself (Alexandria, al-Mahalla, Minyat Ghamr, Benha, Damira, Dakarnas). The overlinings may mean these persons have now received, which would explain the fact that mostly it is the same names above and below that are overlined. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 462–63, App. B 85.)

Legal document. Dated: 1529 Seleucid, which is 1217/18 CE, under the reshut of Avraham Maimonides. In which Abū al-Barakāt/Berakhot al-Sukkarī releases his maternal aunt Sitt al-Khibāʾ bt. Moshe ha-Kohen from any claims resulting from the inheritance of Moshe ha-Kohen (i.e., his grandfather and her mother.) This document was left unfinished. (Information from Goitein's index card) EMS

Recto: Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to a certain Abū l-Surūr (probably an elder relative, since he is addressed as "father"). In Judaeo-Arabic. Faded and damaged, and only the upper part is preserved. Verso: Draft of a generic legal document—a "trial of style," according to Goitein. Location: Fustat. Dated: Thursday, 29 Tammuz 1536 Seleucid, which is 1225 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. Probably written by Judge Eliyyahu b. Zekharya (AA). (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS.

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Thursday night, 23 Tammuz 1538 Seleucid, which is 1227 CE. ʿIbād and her sister, the daughters of Abū l-Majd, release each other from mutual claims. Signed by Judge Eliyyahu. Signatures validated on verso by Avraham Maimonides and Yaḥyā b. Elyaqim. (Information from FGP and CUDL.) ENA NS 21.18 and T-S 8J6.6 + T-S 10J4.4 are related to the same case.

Legal document. Unsigned. Location: Fustat. Dated: Last decade of Tammuz 1540 Seleucid, which is 1229 CE. In which Shelomo b. Eliyyahu purchases from Abū l-Faḍl b. Maḥāsn Ibn al-Kāmukhī ("preparer of vinegar sauce") a codex of the Prophets for 65 dirhams. The conditions include the right to buy it back within the first two months (until Rosh Hashana). On verso there are two lines of draft text for a version of the same document.

Fragment of a Hebrew deed in which witnesses testify that Ezra b. Shemuel b. Ezra, the representative of the merchants, came to them to complain about his sister, Mubāraka. He asked the witnesses to go and convince her to retract her claim to a share from her father’s inheritance. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender, and Law, 346, 349.) EMS. Join: Oded Zinger.

Court record. Dated: 3 Av 1542 Seleucid, which is 1231 CE. Partnership contract made after one of the four partners fell sick and was unable to travel to Syria with his partners.

Legal document. Commenda. Dated July 1231. Unsigned form of a commenda agreement between four parties (Abū Sa‘d b. Ibrahīm al-Ṣabbāgh, Abū Manṣūr b. al-Sūkkari, Suleymān b. ‘Imrān al-Ṣabbāgh and Futūḥ b. Abū al-‘Izz al-Ṣabbāgh), all of whom are to travel to al-Shām to trade. Tthe scribal notes were likely composed quickly, with the intention of subsequently filling in these details when the fuller agreement was written. The amount of the partners’ investment is specified only for Abū Sa‘d b. Ibrahīm al-Ṣabbāgh, who lays out 82 and 11/12ths dinars. Prior to departure, Abū Sa‘d fell ill and was unable to travel. Generally, this situation might require the ill (active) partner to be demoted to an investor; the division of profits here may reflect such a restructuring. The three active partners are allocated 13/24ths of profits while Abū Sa‘d is allocated 11/24ths, while losses are split evenly. The additional twelfth of the profit is allocated to the partners as "wages for their work and maintenance". Separately, Abū Sa‘d places 19 dinars in a commenda with Suleyman b. ‘Imrān with a similar division of profits and losses. It is unclear why Abū Sa‘d places the bulk of his investment with the three partners and then an additional investment with only Suleyman. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 182-183) Verso: Legal document. Court record. Dated: First third of Av 1542 (1231 CE). Legal document concerning a loan of 215 dirhams between Shelomo ha-Levi b. Shemuel and Abu Sa'd Sa'adya b. Avraham the dyer, to be repaid in one lump sum after the lapse of twelve months. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:385) EMS

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes linked below.

Short letter from Avraham b. Natan Av ha-Yeshiva ("the head of the (Palestinian) Academy") to an unknown recipient (called only Rabbenu). In Judaeo-Arabic. Acknowledging the receipt of a large consignment of "kaysī" cheese and the corresponding heksher (certificate of kashrut) brought by Ṣadaqa b. Shemarya. According to Goitein's notes, the sender "at that time" was the Jewish Chief Justice of Cairo, and he is writing to his colleagues in Fustat. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Formulary of an oath to be given by the mother of Abū l-Ḥasan to him, concerning a female slave and other possessions, especially spices; oath was necessary after the death of her brother. On verso there is a poem about Sarah the wife of Abraham. All in the hand of Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Note from a teacher (Shelomo b. Eliyyahu?) to (his brother?) Abū Zikrī, complaining, "The master promised to talk to our lord Ḥananel and tell him that I specialize in teaching neglected children (mustahmalīn) to read, but the master has not done a thing.” (Information from Goitein's index card.) EMS. NB: The transcription listed below for verso must belong to a different shelfmark.

Testimony of Abū Saʿd al-Ḥarīrī Ḥalfon b. Isaac, referring to Abū l-Ḥasan and Hiba b. Abraham. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter in the hand of Elḥanan b. Shemarya in which he states that Ḥasan b. Saʿdān b. Aṣbagh met the late Caliph "this week." Someone said that Ibn ʿImrān brought a fatwā from al-Shām saying that people must only go to Yaḥyā b. Shemarya (=Elḥanan himself) for judgment. The chronology is perplexing, unless the caliph died a few days before the letter was written—maybe this is why Goitein's index card says "Dreams." (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card) VMR. EMS. ASE.

Business letter, which begins after seven lines of poetical complaints about separation, concerning camphor (kāfūr) and garments (aksiya) transported by Abū al-Afrāḥ ʿArūs. (Information from Goitein's index card). EMS

Legal deed in Aramaic copied three times, partially written and signed by Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen and signed by Moshe b. Yahya Majjani. Ca. 1060.

Letter addressed to Ibn Sa’id b. Abu Nasir concerning an order of textiles, including two ‘khaysha’ (a type of linen cloth), a ‘tafadila’ (a tailored piece), and specificities in the colors of green, gold, and brown. “Iraqi purple” dye is also mentioned. EMS

Letter from Abū l-Najm to Eliyyahu the Judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. Asking him to send the crimson red silk in his possession (al-maftūl wa-l-shaqīq) with a third person. The letter is torn off here, and the bottom part is missing.

Request for a responsum concerning a carpenter who let his Muslim employees work making doors on a Saturday. He was ordered flogged by some scholars, while others wanted him to be fined and excommunicated as well. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:297, 330, 590, 599) EMS