Geniza Lab

Legal fragment. Dating: early 12th century. Signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi. ASE.

Recto: Letter (or copy of a letter) in Hebrew, mentioning Hamadan in the antepenultimate line, and perhaps written there. The scribe signed his name, but the first part is faded: [...] b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Sefaradi. Underneath the signature, in different hands, in Judaeo-Persian and Hebrew: "The copy of the letter (nāme) of Efrayim [...], written by Toviyya b. [...]."; "The copy of the letter (nāme) of Efrayim b. ʿAzaryahu with nothing added or subtracted, written by Bū l-Faraj b. B[???]"; And then, "This is the copy of the letter (īn noskhe-ye nāme) of Efrayim. . . ." It is unclear if these statements relate to the letter above signed by [...] b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Sefaradi. Verso: In a different hand from all the hands on recto, a text in Hebrew. Unclear if it relates to recto. The whole document requires further examination. May be a join with T-S 24.52. ASE. OH.

Loan document. Location: Fustat. Dating: 969 CE. Published S. Assaf, "Shetarot 'atiqim," Tarbiz 9 (1937), 196-218. "The predilection for variety is confusing, especially in names. Both the Arabic and Hebrew parts of the name of a person consisted of various constituents. The scribes, using this possibility for variation, would introduce a person by one name and later refer to him by another, not mentioned before." (Goitein. Med. Soc. vi, 11 n.43)

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Deed of gift, in which a father (evidently Netanel) gives a complete house to his son Abū Saʿd b. Netanel (same as in T-S 12.567?). The landmarks mentioned include 'the blessed canal' (al-khalīj al-mubārak), the stable, the Lemon Tree Mosque (Masjid al-Laymūna) which overlooks the Khalīj, and the house known by the name of al-Ghazāla. (Information in part from Goitein's attached notes.)

Release given by Yakhin b. ʿEli to his brother Yeḥezqel. Dated: Friday, 7 Nisan 1409 Seleucid, which is 1098 CE. Likely in the handwriting of Hillel b. ʿEli. No further details and no signatures. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Possibly sent from Alexandria to an unidentified dignitary in Fustat (though Goitein suggests that the sender is in Fustat and the addressee in Alexandria.) The sender asks the addressee to continue visiting him as his late father ('al-ḥaver') and paternal uncle used to do. He heard that the addressee wanted to be in Fustat for the 9th of Av. The messenger reported to the sender that 18.5 dinars have been raised for the redemption of captives (Goitein apparently understood it differently, that the sender gave 18.5 dinars to the messenger). The sender has sent another letter either on behalf of or intended for (bi-rasm) Sayyidnā; the addressee is asked to deliver it. The margins of recto and the entirety of verso are filled with a list of names and numbers in tiny Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals—needs examination. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Description from T-S 12.502 (PGPID 7245): Court record. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Av 1434 Seleucid, which is 1123 CE. Fictive sale of a house, i.e., a debt credited under the deed of a sale of a house. "In a Muslim court a woman sold half her house (l. 6) to a man for 25 dinars (l. 7). The two parties came to terms that if the woman returns the sale money in full to the buyer after 26 months (l. 13), the house would be returned to her; the contract was signed in 1123 (l. 4) and was to expire in 1125 (l. 5). It is also stated that during this time, the buyer agrees not to collect any rent from her (l. 7) and not to charge her any interest (ribbit) (l. 8); only the purchase money invested (raʾsmāl) (l. 13) should be paid back. It was also agreed that the two undertook to be prompt in reversing the deal; i.e., the woman should pay the sum due a week or less before the deadline (l. 10). If the remittance of the mentioned sum is overdue, the man could refuse to return the house to her (l. 11). No signatures are preserved." (Information from Gershon Weiss.) See also Goitein's index card. Description from T-S 12.82 + T-S 12.553 (old PGPID 7264): Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1123 CE, based on the appearance of the same couple as in T-S NS 323.19 and BL OR 12299.12 + T-S 8.123. The husband is Elʿazar/Manṣūr b. Yefet/Ḥasan ha-Kohen, and his wife is Sitthum aka Sitt al-Jamīʿ bt. ʿOvadya. In the present document, Elʿazar's son Hillel is also mentioned. Elʿazar is apparently entrusting his affairs to his wife, and there is a reference to the eventuality of his death (l. 5). Goitein and Gershon Weiss believed T-S 12.553 to be a join with T-S NS 323.19 (which involves the same couple), but this is not certain. (Goitein and Weiss did not know about BL OR 12299.12 + T-S 8.123 or that T-S 12.502 and T-S 12.553 were from the same document.) Joins by Alan Elbaum (T-S 12.82 + T-S 12.553) and Oded Zinger (T-S 12.502 + {T-S 12.82 + T-S 12.553})

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Abū al-Wafāʾ Shemarya al-Dallāl receives a release from Abū l-Mufaḍḍal and his sister Nasab for all obligations resulting from dealings with their late father. Two witnesses, Abū l-Ḥasan Elʿazar b. Nuṣayr and Abū l-Munā, were brought by Abū l-Wafāʾ to testify. No signatures preserved. (Information from Gershon Weiss and from Goitein’s index card.)

Polemical composition narrating the story of the exilarch Bustanay. For a parallel text and fuller description, see PGPID 6078.

Fol. 1: Legal document. Location: New Cairo. The bottom is missing, but it seems it was also left incomplete since the day of the week and day of the month were not filled in. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Elul 1405 Seleucid, which is 1094 CE. Banāt bt. Binyām known as "son of the Rav" gives power of attorney to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllūn b. Mubārak to claim from her divorced husband Maḥāsin Ibn al-ʿInānī 24 dinars adjudicated to her by the court as well as alimonies and other expenses for their daughter since he had left the town. (Information from Goitein's index card.) Fol. 2: Upper right fragment of a legal document with an unusual opening: naqūl naḥnu al-qawm al-[...]. Mentions a "mufāwaḍa." Nothing else preserved. Distinctive hand. Unrelated to fol. 1.

Legal document, faded, but mostly intact and mostly legible with effort. Many names are mentioned. Needs further examination.

Executorship deed fragment in the hand of Eliyyahu Gaon, July 1066.

Letter, very faded, in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, mentioning an Abū Avraham b. [...] and an Abū Sahl and "the boys."

Legal document from Alexandria involving Benaya ha-Zaqen, Yeshuʿa, and Abū l-Barakāt and a debt owed or claimed to be owed. Dated Kislev of either 1102/3 or 1202/3 CE (1[.]14 Seleucid). Needs further examination.

Legal document fragment, perhaps 10th century, likely a release involving Shabbat b. Yeshaʿya and a certian Avraham. Verso contains jottings in Arabic and Hebrew characters.

Letter from a certain Moshe to his son, the physician Avraham. Fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. What remains is largely taken up with expressions of the preoccupation of the writer and his wife for their son's health. If they receive good news of Avraham, his mother rejoices, and if they receive bad news, she becomes sad and distressed. Moshe and his wife seem to be concerned because Avraham is traveling frequently (r11–15), and perhaps because of something to do with his wife (rm1). On verso, there are repetitive instructions about not allowing a certain man (Avraham's brother?) to go anywhere without taking Avraham's mother with him. At the end of the letter, Moshe reports that he has obtained the ophthalmic medications (ashyāf) from the physician Abū l-Faraj as requested, and has forwarded them along with a letter from the same Abū l-Faraj. Several towns of the Delta are mentioned in the letter: Bilbays, Minyat Ghamr, and—if this a place name—al-Ṣāliḥiyya. Avraham responded on the same piece of paper, writing nothing more than that he read the letter and thanked God for the health of his father and mother and the children. There are also some Arabic jottings on verso. ASE.

Carefully executed horoscope, written out by the cantor and court clerk Hillel b. Eli (ca. 1066-1100) and most probably ordered from a professional astrologer. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 233, 476, and from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a letter from Alexandria, probably from Avraham b. Yosef al-Sabag, to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. Contains information about merchandises that have been sent from Egypt to the Maghreb, including silver, pepper, and linen. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #208) VMR

Legal deed. On parchment. Particularly old. Dated: Monday, 6 Shevaṭ 4716 AM = 21 January 956 CE. Signed by at least thirteen witnesses, all in very shaky hands. The Kohen signs first, then the Levi. (Information from Goitein's index card.) Appears to have been torn and reused as the cover page for a literary volume, as verso has an ownership note for 'this daftar,' and a title: Alfāẓ Tafsīr wa-Ghayruh (sounds like a miscellany partly consisting of a biblical commentary) of ʿAmram b. Moshe al-Maghribī.

Acknowledgment by Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham ha-Maʿaravi of debt amounting to 600 niqar which he owes to David Kohen b. Shelomo, written in Fustat, 967.