Geniza Lab

Official letter from the office of one of the later Maimonidean Nagids. Headed with an elaborate Emet. Perhaps instructing Avraham ha-Zaqen to help the bearer of the letter who is a deserving man from a good family; he should receive charity without knowing who the giver is. On verso there is a note in Judaeo-Arabic and Greeek/Coptic numerals concerning a qāʿa.

Letter of a prisoner mistreated by a Maghribi guard and affected by illness, who asks a notable ("my brother, Abu Imran") to intervene for him with a judge. He mentions an incident on Friday when he attempted to use the toilet after three days without a bowel movement, which is when the guard beat him. "They were also allowed to send letters out of prison, some of which we still have, and since in one such letter a complaint is made against a particularly wicked jailer who cursed and beat the writer without reason, we may assume that in some places at least the authorities in charge did not tolerate excesive cruelty." (Med Soc II, 373 and Goitein's index card.)

Subsequent use: Two legal drafts from the court of the Nagid Mevorakh. Fragmentary and incomplete. #1: Beginning of a statement about a brawl between Shelomo b. Avraham (may be the same troublemaker as in T-S 24.74, another brawl document) and Sason b. Natan at the gate of the Dār al-Ṣarf. The two parties were dragged before the qāḍī, the parnas came and said he’d represent one of them and take care of it the following day in the Jewish court, but then an hour later the amir Shahm al-Dawla had the two squabblers and the parnas dragged before the Ṣāhib al-Bāb (possibly even the high Fatimid official also known as al-wazīr al-ṣaghīr). Salāma and Sason reached a settlement and had to pay a brokerage fee (5 dirhams each?). "They also said" that someone had tried to beat Shelomo with a crop (miqraʿa), only for Sason to intervene and grab the crop out of his hand, 'out of fear lest the gentiles intervene between them.' #2: A testament in which a father gives the house in which he lives to his baby daughter Sitt al-Gharb, who was still nursing, with the exclusion of her brothers. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) ASE

Original use: State report. In Arabic script. Nearly four lines are preserved, wide space between the lines. Refers to the arrival of a mighty decree (sijill muʿaẓẓam) possibly issued in response to a situation the sender had previously written about (jawāban ʿammā kāna ṭāliʿ bihi(?) min ḥāl...).

List in same large characters as T-S 16.209v, mentioning everybody by his first name or otherwise abbreviated. At bottom, a line followed by 'al-shamiyyin b' no doubt meaning that this collection was made on a Monday morning in the synagogue of the Palestinians. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 475, App. C 10 [1st half of 11th century])

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Consists almost entirely of legalese. Involves a parnas and his wife Sitt al-Milāḥ.

Beginning of a legal document. Involves the moneychanger (al-shulḥani/al-ṣayrafī) Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAmram b. ʿEzra, the head of the Alexandrian congregation, who makes a declaration in favor of somebody important (חבר בסנהדרין גדולה). None of the substance of the document is preserved.

Legal fragment. Mentions various precious goods (aʿlāq) and amounts of money. No names.

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Mentions Tinnīs. Mentions: the speaker wishing to will his or her money away; an amount owed to the speaker by Abū l-Munā b. Abū Naṣr; a price of 36 dinars; the speaker going down to Tinnīs (to collect the money?); not wishing to involve a young man in the affair; summoning R. Ṭoviyya al-Kohen and 3 Jews (as a court).

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Refers to a gift given by a woman named Fāḍila and refers to a man's paternal grandfather. No other details preserved.

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Refers to: David; a court session; a dead man; sending 'upright elders' to a woman; the will of the dead man; demanding from (or suing?) the woman for that which the will requires; Rabbenu Dosa ha-Sar na-Nikhbad.

Legal testimony. Upper right corner. Mentions Maṣliaḥ Gaon. A man makes a declaration beginning with "Eight _____ ago...."

Legal fragment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe? No names preserved. Warns someone about paying something and may mention the Gaon or at least someone important (hadrat adonenu).

Legal fragment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Refers to: a period of one year; an aforementioned document; "that I sell you the wine for the duration of this year"; Abū Saʿd; a third of something. May be an indirect join with ENA NS 17.2.

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Drawn up under the authority of the head of the yeshiva [Maṣliaḥ?] b. Shelomo. Power of attorney is granted to an agent after the refusal of a debtor to remit a debt against a note. Mevorakh b. Seʿadya (l. 16) sent his agent Berakhot (l. 19) to collect some jewelry (l. 7) such as, two bracelets of amber with golden heads (l. 4), from a certain David (l. 18) (perhaps identical with Yeshuʿa al-Qarawī, l. 9). However, the debtor refused to render the items, claiming that the note presented by the agent (l. 10) did not authorize him to issue a proper valid release after handing over the precious items. The court considered his request justifiable (ll. 11-12) and accordingly the creditor gave the agent his power of attorney (ll. 16-17), and sent him to collect the debt and properly issue a release to the debtor (ll. 18-21). No signatures are preserved. (Information mainly from Gershon Weiss.)

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. A mother concludes a contract for the teaching of her boy in Arabic. Malīḥa the sister of Shelomo Ibn al-Amʿaṭ ha-Levi and Abū l-Faḍl Ṣadoq b. Shemarya agree that the latter will teach the Arabic script and the calculations of baqasāt(??) and dhāqāt(??) to Hiba b. Abū Saʿd (presumably her son) for two dinars. NB: This document is sometimes cited as T-S NS J401.21. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Petition filed by a woman asking the help of the community since her husband did not return from his travels. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Two fragments regarding the same matter. Date not preserved. The woman brought her case before the court asking for an allowance in order to provide herself with living expenses. Her arguments were as follows: her husband left her for a short time and did not intend to spend the winter away from home; however, by that time he had already been absent more than six months. In order to support herself, she had had to sell whatever remained of her dowry. Her request of the court was two-fold: a. as mentioned above, to fix her an allowance for living expenses, and b. to confirm in a recorded document that all that she was obliged to sell in order to survive should be regarded as due her from her husband. This latter request was immediately met; but a decision on the former request was delayed, with the hope that the husband would soon return. Because the husband delayed his return, and she repeated her requests for help, it was decided to grant the woman an allowance on a temporary basis. It seems that she was one of the notables of the city and she was not even deprived of her servants who were also taken into account when the amount of the allowance was determined. No signatures are extant. (Information from Gershon Weiss.)

Legal fragment. Needs examination.

Legal fragment. Needs examination.

Legal fragment. Needs examination.