Geniza Lab

Legal fragment. Appears to be the settlement of a marital dispute between Yūsuf and Sitt al-Ahl. Dating: Mentions the date Shevat 1437 Seleucid, which is 1125/26 CE. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. See also the description for T-S NS 320.57 + ENA 2386.4, which is related. NB: Goitein and Gershon Weiss refer to this fragment as "T-S NS 320.54."

Small fragment containing Hebrew text. Difficult to identify.

Bill of sale for a female slave. Dating: Perhaps second half of the 11th century or beginning of the 12th century, based on the hand. This is either the final version or an additional draft of the same document as in ENA 4020.11. Seller: Ṣedaqa b. Moshe ha-Levi. Buyer: Yosef b. Shelomo. Slave: Tawfīq. Price: 25 dinars. (Information from OZ, AA, CP, ASE.)

Fragment of a letter from Avraham the son of the Gaon probably to Efrayim b. Shemarya, in Fustat. (Identifications by Gil; Goitein understands this to be part of the same document as T-S NS 320.42 and says that both are written in the "unmistakable hand" of the Gaon Shelomo b. Yehuda.) Dating: before 1035 CE (per Gil). The first few lines preserved here are written in Arabic script, and the end of the letter is in Hebrew. NB: When Goitein refers to "T-S NS 320.16," he generally means the manuscript that currently has the shelfmark T-S NS 320.42.

Bill of sale for a female slave. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1469 Seleucid, which is 1157/58 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Seller: Sitt al-Dalāl bt. Abū Naṣr, probably [the wife or widow of ...] known as Ibn Saʿdān. Buyer: Abū l-Bayān Moshe ha-Levi the merchant in the Dār al-Ṣarf. Price: 13 dinars. Slave: A Persian woman named Qaḍīb. Signed by: Mevorakh b. Natan he-Ḥaver; Peraḥya b. ʿAdiyya. On verso there is a biblical text.

Account of payments received.

Legal fragment. From a bill of divorce. Dated 15 Iyyar [..]67 Seleucid. Wife: ʿAmā'im. On verso there is a fragment of text probably attesting that the bill of divorce was delivered into her hands.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Listing mainly foodstuffs such as sumac and ṭaḥīna and salt, as well as firewood.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Written in an unusual hand; Goitein calls it "papyri script," probably referring to the early documents edited by Blau and Hopkins in "Judaeo-Arabic Papyri" (1987). There are also some interesting spellings, e.g., ואמגיר for ואמא גיר. The addressee is supposed to send the silk that Abū l-Faraj wants. The sender then orders some goods for himself, e.g., a qumqum of rosewater. Most of verso consists of a price list, mentioning goods such as soap, almond, mastic, saffron, tragacanth (kathīrāʾ), henna, sumac, pistachio, sesame, usnea/lichen (shayba), labdanum, and kohl. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Recto: Letter from communal leaders, in Alexandria, to the judge Shemuel, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Unclear; likely early 13th century, based on handwriting and Goitein's identification of the judge Shemuel as the same one mentioned in T-S 10J16.6. Regarding a woman in Alexandria with a sick daughter, whose husband had fled his creditor and gone to the capital. The letter says that she had been deserted for a long time, that she had to maintain herself and her little girl, to pay rent, and on top of this, was sued in court by the creditor of her husband. The writers of the letter ask in the politest terms that Shemuel approach the Nagid for action in this matter. Verso: Letter from the judge Shemuel to the Nagid. The writer reports that he had sent several summons to the runaway husband, but since both the High Holidays (approx. September) and Hanukka (approx. December) had passed without response from him, sterner measures were now required, and, to the judge's dismay, the Nagid had to be troubled. The matter was of utmost seriousness since the Alexandrian wife asserted that her husband had married another woman and was living with her in Cairo. Clearly, the police now had to be instructed to bring the man to court by force. But only the Nagid, as official representative of the state, was authorized to give that order. (Information from Goitein, Med Soc, III, pp. 203–04 and Friedman, Jewish Polygyny, pp. 213–16.) ASE.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: 1108. Location: Fustat. Written in the hand of the court clerk Hillel b. ʿEli. An agreement between Abū al-Faḍl Mevorakh b. Abraham Ibn Sabrī and Abū ‘Imrān Moshe b. Mordecai ha-Kohen for a yearlong partnership in a shop selling olives and food commodities. Mevorakh and Moshe invested 80 and 50 dinars, respectively. Moshe seems to be in charge of the shop, garnering two-thirds of the profit and being responsible for two-thirds of the losses. He must prepare a reckoning at the end of the year, without required notarization. However, if the partnership has decreased in value, there is to be a judgment between the partners. The partners are not allowed to quit the partnership before the end of the one-year period, after which they may either renew or terminate it. However, if they decide to terminate, Moshe has two months to return Mevorakh’s investment. Mevorakh, a Parnas, must have been involved in social welfare tasks. Moshe has much autonomy in the shop, taking on “trust in Heaven” that he will not defraud his partner in absentia. (Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 257)

Will in which irdabbs of wheat were assigned to the heqdesh (pious trust) and another purpose. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 543)

Receipt on behalf of the elders of Jerusalem. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal documents, possibly from a court notebook, as there are entries on both sides. Recto: Involves a man and a woman, payments received, a release from further obligations, and a document from the Muslim courts detailing the remaining installments. Written and signed by Avraham b. Natan Av. Also signed by Ṣadaqa b. [...] and Hillel b. Yosef ha-Levi. Verso: Involves a betrothal (ואקנינא מן אל ארוס...). Signed by Avraham b. [...], Mevorakh b. [...] ha-Kohen, and ʿEli b. Yeshuʿa. NB: There may be Goitein notes somewhere that have been misplaced.

Memorial list of successive members of the community of Fustat embedded in one of the regular prayers. (Information from Bareket)

Money order of the Qodesh. Dated: 1477 Seleucid, which is 1165/66 CE. Issued by Shemuel b. Seʿadya, for 9.5 dirhams, from the collection of the compound of the Jerusalemites, to Abū Manṣūr b. Avraham al-Dimashqī. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 309 #71.) See also Goitein, Med Soc II, App. A, 136. NB: Goitein cites this document as T-S NS 320.32.

Three drafts of legal documents. (a) Recto: פוטיתי bt. Eliyya, the divorcee of Yosef b. Elʿazar and the mother-in-law of Yosef b. Yiṣḥaq appears before the court of David b. Daniel "the Exilarch." Evidently she and Yosef b. Elʿazar are coming to a settlement about the payment that will be due to her on account of the divorce, which may be substantially lower than what was agreed upon in their ketubba. (See Zinger, Women, Gender, and Law (PhD Diss), 143n43.) (b) Verso, main text: Location: Fustat. Dated: Monday, 24 Iyyār 1403 Seleucid, which is 1092 CE. Berakhot b. Moshe, the husband of Jalīla bt. Abū ʿAlī, and Ḥalfon Ibn al-Tūzī, the husband of Jalīla's sister Sumr, sue for their share in the inheritance of the recently deceased Abū ʿAlī. Somehow also involved is Abū ʿAlī's mother known as Ibnat al-Tarshāʾ ("daughter of the deaf woman"), who may have died in Alexandria. (c) Verso, margins: Perhaps a deed of sale for a property; mentions the large sum of 70 dinars. Mostly in Aramaic. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (1100–38). Nafisa, the daughter of Kathir, the widow of Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen, sells the female slave Tawfiq, a minor, to the merchant Abu al-Barakat b. Sha'ya for the considerable sum of 18 and three/fourths dinars. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 331, 501)

Draft of an account for shipping flax, by Nahray b. Nissim and his partners. Around 1059. The account contains details about the purchase expenses, for about 1,200 kg of flax, and the expenses for their shipment, probably to Alexandria. The writer might be Abu Ali ha-Kohen (Nahray’s relative). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #839) VMR