Geniza Lab

Qiyyum (legal approval of court record). AA

Sales contract between Yosef b. Efrayim and Sadaqa b. David Ha-Kohen. Fustat, 1103. The verso contains a beautifully drawn-up poem by the Egyptian poet Sahlan b. Avraham.

Record of the testimony of Tiqva, known as Raja' (רגא, ‘hope') b. 'Azariah the cantor, concerning someone from Damascus whose name is only partially preserved as ‘known as the son of the hod-carrier' (אלטיאן, though possibly to be read אלעיאן). Although not much of the document is preserved, it was probably all in Hebrew, suggesting a date early in the 11th century. (Information from the Cambridge Genizah Research Unit via FGP).

Letter from Yosef b. Farrah in Busir to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat, c. 1055 CE.

Fragment of a responsum (or a letter). In Judaeo-Arabic. EMS. On verso there is an ofan for Roš ha-Šana. The refrain is ה’ אלהים צבאות מי כמוךחסין יה, and a second strophe starts עליונים ותחתונים שמו. (Information from CUDL)

This is not a formal letter, but a short memorandum written by Yosef b. Avraham in Aden to Avraham Yiju in Mangalore around 1134-1137. The document details various dealings of copper items.

Account by Avraham Ibn Yiju of Indian products sold for another merchant, Aden, ca. 1141-44.

Memorandum containing order of copper vessels from Yosef b. Avraham to Ibn Yiju, Mangalore, India. Aden, ca. 1134-1137.

Legal document issued under the Nagid Shemuel in which Sitt al-Baha, after having received ten dirhams and her promised monthly payment of five dirhams, releases a certain individual (name cut off). (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Recto: Letter to David the Nasi b. Daniel, in which the writer informs him that he has arrived in Alexandria. Verso: jottings in Arabic script. (Information from CUDL.)

Letter from Yehuda b. Simḥa, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1050 CE. The writer trades in pearls and coral. He asks Nahray to sell one of his shipments. He writes that when he imported pearls, through Spanish merchants he had to pay heavy taxes. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 386-387, #729). VMR. Note that Gil identifies the sender as Yosef b. Yehuda b. Simḥa, who also sent ENA 3793.6. This is possible, but the word "Yosef" is not preserved on this fragment, and the hands do not seem to be identical. ASE

An agreement between two treasurers and Yosef b. Yiṣḥaq.

Will of Na’ima bt. Yaʿaqov stating that one-half of a house with a store in Malij that she bought from her son for six dinars, with the money she received from her second husband at divorce, was to be divided as gifts: one-quarter to a grandson and the other quarter to a granddaughter. Twelfth century. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 4:275) EMS

Legal fragment. Last few lines only. Mentions a claim granted to Maṣliaḥ b. Yosef. Witnesses: Avraham b. Shemaʿya; Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi. (Information from CUDL.)

Document containing a list of blessings for a benefactor, to be publicly recited during service at the synagogue. The noble patron, a representative of merchants living around the twelfth century, is a recipient of blessings in five other documents as well. The piece opens with a prayer on the ancestors and other deceased relatives of the notable and lists four titles for him: “Pride of the Kohens,” “Delight of the Nobles,” Trustee of the Merchants,” and “Eye of the Congregation.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:162, 554) EMS

Legal question addressed to Jehiel b. Eliakim.

Beginning of a letter written to two people addressed as 'mawla'.

Recto: late legal document, detailing the financial arrangements between the woman Sitt al-Bayt b. Aaron the merchant (אל תאג׳ר), her husband Joseph the carpenter (אל נג׳אר), and her brother and mother. The document is unfinished and undated. Verso: different legal document involving the same parties, written in Egypt and dated 1st Ḥeshvan 5326 (= 1565 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Copy of a deathbed will. Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday, 20 Sivan 4845 AM, which is June 1085 CE. Testator: Moshe b. Aharon ha-Kohen. Mentions his wife Munā bt. Hiba; his partner Abū l-Khayr al-Ger; and Abū Zikrī. His wife will get the price of codices to be sold. There are many additional details; see Goitein's index card for further information.

Deed of partnership. In Hebrew. Dating: First half of the 16th century, based on the names and the hand of the scribe (who was prolific in this period). The parties are Yehuda b. Yaʿaqov Senyor (שיניור, not שיכור) and Moshe b. Yosef Bagilyer (באגלייר). The business is tanning (bi-l-madābigh / באלמדאבג). (Information in part from CUDL)