Geniza Lab

Letter from Natan b. Yehuda of Alexandria to Sasson b. Meshullam, a judge of Cairo. The letter contains many personal matters that reflect the milieu of the political elite in Alexandria and Cairo. The letter reveals important details on the life of Avraham b. Yaʿaqov Darʿī. On al-Darʿī's deathbed, he accused the writer of having sent a messenger to intercept a medical prescription and swap it with a counterfeit prescription, hence murdering him. Apparently, the person who served as the representative of Mevorakh b. Saadya (referred to in the letter as 'the rayyis Abū l-Faḍl) in Alexandria after the year 1094 died in the end of the first decade of the twelfth century due to a sudden disease. The letter quotes a lament of Shemuel ha-Nagid. (Information from Frenkel)

Court record of the settlement of accounts and debts after the death of Moshe b. Ishaq, written by Efrayim b. Shemarya. Dated spring 1041. (Information from Bareket)

Drafts of two legal documents, the first a declaration by a father regarding bequests to his sons. Incompletely drafted in Fustat. Dated 155?/1238-1248. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 135, 543)

Drafts of two legal documents, the second (on the top of the verso) is a deathbed will by Yeshuʿa b. Avraham. He bequeaths to Sitt al-____ bt. ʿElazar five maṣrī dinārs (and something else that's effaced). RR

Power of attorney given by Yosef the hazzan b. Nissim to Yefet b. Natan to deal with the grantor's house. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter by a man to his brother in Fustat whom he informs about the attempted delivery of 38 dirhams of his (brother's) money to a certain Tahir who, however, was not to be found.

Letter from Abu al-Nasr b. al-Melammed mentioning the impending divorce of his nephew and niece. Abu al-Nasr describes himself as suffering 'dispersion and separation from family and friends' after he traveled from Fustat to Alexandria, where he hoped his mother would join him. He adds that he will spread the fame of his benefactor at warehouses and social gatherings. He also writes that his wife refused to return with him to Alexandria after he had had to flee to and spend some time in Fustat after having gone bankrupt in Alexandria. He now wants to divorce her unless the recipient can restore peace between them. Finally he remarks that he wants to pay the capitation tax.

Bifolio of a court register in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe consisting of four pages and containing four court cases. 1r: Legal document concerning a quittance of debt, dated 1440 Sel. (1129 CE), written under the authority of the gaon Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen. Mentions Abū l-Maʿālī b. Yūsuf (known as Ibn Tamar) and Yeshuʿa b. Ḥananya. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo. 1v: Will of Kulla b. Shabbat, mentioning Yehuda Ibn al-Sofer, the daughter of Kulla’s brother Abū ʿAlī al-Kohen and Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen b. ʿEli. 2r: Legal document concerning a quittance of debt, dated 1446 Sel. (1135 CE). Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and Elʿazar b. Yosef. Mentions Yaʿqūb Abū l-Maʿālī b. Yūsuf, known as Ibn Kujik (כוגך, Kushek, Persian 'Small') and Abū ʿAlī b. Shemuʾel b. Shelomo, known as Ibn al-Dustarī. 2v: Legal testimony declaring that Hassun of Ascalon was the father of Abū Saʿd, the illegitimate son of Wuhsha the Broker. Mentions Abū ʿAlī al-Parnas Yefet b. Maṣliaḥ, Ibn al-Sukkarī, Ḥalfon ha-Kohen b. Yosef and Abū Naṣr al-Kohen Ibn al-Kamūkhī. (Information in part from CUDL)

Copy of the will of Khulla bt. Shabbat in which she lists her assets (three different dārs held in partnership with her two sisters and one of their sons) and her intention to sell her ghulām (enslaved man) and split the proceeds as charity for Dammūh and burial expenses for the poor. The court tries to convince her that her charitable funds should be used to restore a bible codex (muṣḥaf) worth the same amount of money, but Khulla declines. The document also mentions: Yehuda Ibn al-Sofer (as the scribe of the original will), the daughter of Khulla’s brother Abū ʿAlī al-Kohen (as being owed 6 dinārs) and Yeshuʿa b. ʿEli ha-Kohen (as a witness). RR This is folio 1v in a bifolio of a court register in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashse consisting of four pages and containing four court cases. Another folio is dated 1135 CE. For transcription see attached edition by Goitein, or see Rivlin, Inheritance and Wills, #47, pp. 371-373

Bifolio of a court register in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe consisting of four pages and containing four court cases. 1r: Legal document concerning a quittance of debt, dated 1440 Sel. (1129 CE), written under the authority of the gaon Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen. Mentions Abū l-Maʿālī b. Yūsuf (known as Ibn Tamar) and Yeshuʿa b. Ḥananya. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo. 1v: Will of Kulla b. Shabbat, mentioning Yehuda Ibn al-Sofer, the daughter of Kulla’s brother Abū ʿAlī al-Kohen and Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen b. ʿEli. 2r: Legal document concerning a quittance of debt, dated 1446 Sel. (1135 CE). Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and Elʿazar b. Yosef. Mentions Yaʿqūb Abū l-Maʿālī b. Yūsuf, known as Ibn Kujik (כוגך, Kushek, Persian 'Small') and Abū ʿAlī b. Shemuʾel b. Shelomo, known as Ibn al-Dustarī. 2v: Legal testimony declaring that Hassun of Ascalon was the father of Abū Saʿd, the illegitimate son of Wuhsha the Broker. Mentions Abū ʿAlī al-Parnas Yefet b. Maṣliaḥ, Ibn al-Sukkarī, Ḥalfon ha-Kohen b. Yosef and Abū Naṣr al-Kohen Ibn al-Kamūkhī. (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment. It seems that Abū l-Mufaḍḍal (line 9) undertakes to salvage something from the authorities (sulṭān, line 4). Information from Goitein's note card.

Fragment of a letter from Abū ʿAli b. al-Dimyāṭī to his brother Abu Saʿīd b. Hibat Allah (Ḥalfon b. Netanel). The writer mentions the silk trade, describes his joy when he learned that Ḥalfon recovered after taking a medicine, and invites him to visit him in Fustat. Transcription from Goitein’s handwritten notes.

Document (trousseau list) enumerating items of a dowry which amounts to 30 dinars and part of a house. Dated ca. 1090. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 128, 402, 454)

Letter relating the affairs of a teacher and scribe who had been offered a contract by the community to teach for 20 dirhams a week and asking the addressee to join him in copying books. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 559, and Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of internal government document, possibly fiscal ("māl ḍamānih li-shuhūr sana..."), dated 412 AH (1021/22 CE). Reused for Hebrew liturgical text

Letter from Yefet to Abū l-Barakāt the physician, in Fustat (bāb qaṣr al-shamʿ). which the writer alludes to some bad news ("ever since I heard the news, I have fasted in the daytime and prostrated in bed") and urges the addressee to keep him informed.

Draft by Avraham b. Natan of a document appointing 'Ulla ha-Levi ha-Parnas as the wakil of an orphan in Damietta, whose father had died in Fustat. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 295, 492, and Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (Barakāt al-Muʿallim) to al-Shaykh al-Rashīd ('the father'—evidently an elder relative). The note accompanies a gift of wine for a banquet in honor of finishing the study of Talmudic tractate (seliq). Shelomo asks him five times not to put him to shame by paying or by sending him a return present. In any case, he did not drink wine in this hot time, and the time of the grape pressing was near. Information from Goitein's note card.

End of a dirge for a woman who had died a month earlier. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Joseph b. Jacob Kohen in Bilbays to Elijah the judge, complains about economic conditions there. Early 13th century. (Information from CUDL)