Geniza Lab

See PGP 15888

Letter from Peraḥya b. Yosef Yijū, in al-Maḥalla, to Abū l-Fakhr Saadya b. Avraham Ibn al-Amshāṭī, in Fustat. Dating: 1161–72 CE. Peraḥya conveys his happiness to have learned that the family members of Abū l-Fakhr who had been sick are now recovered (and for this reason opens the letter with Deut. 7:15, "The Lord will ward off from you all sickness"). Peraḥya is supervising the production of kosher cheese and encountering difficulties: "I have already perished from the cheese and have become perplexed as to what I should do." He writes that he would like to travel to Sicily or Damascus {al-Shām}, but since 'the little one' (his cousin and wife, Sitt al-Dār) was grown up and "had no one in the world except God" (that is, her father was dead), he could not do this. Peraḥya thanks Abū l-Fakhr for his generosity with his brother Shemuel, and he urges him to help convince Shemuel to come to Peraḥya's town, where the congregation will accept him as a schoolteacher with a salary of 20 dirhams a week plus gratuities (nawāfil), a generous salary for a teacher. Information from Goitein and Friedman India Book 3.

Petition for assitance due to poverty to Netanel ha-Levi (putting us in the secnd half of the 12th century). On the back there is a draft of a piyyut.

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 an unsigned draft (with additional legal jottings in the upper margin). T-S NS 320.15 appears to be the final version of the same document (though the lower part along with any signatures are missing, and that too may have been a draft). Seller: Ṣedaqa b. Moshe ha-Levi. Buyer: Yosef b. Shelomo. Slave: Tawfīq. Price: 25 dinars. (Information from OZ, AA, CP, ASE.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dating: refers to a period of time beginning in Nisan 1424 Seleucid, which is 1113 CE. Involves Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa [...] al-Ramlī and Abū Yaʿaqov [...] Avraham. The acknowledgment has to do with a portion of a house in Fustat that is located on the alley of Michael (זקאק מכיל); maybe a lease or a temporary sale. Signed: ʿEli b. Yeḥezqel ha-Kohen. On the back two names are listed: Yefet b. Ḥalfon ha-Levi and Ḥasana bt. [Manṣūr?]. It looks like this was a meant to be a summary of marriage arrangement.

Letter of congratulations to the Hizqiyahu the Qaraite Nasi and his 3 sons on the birth of a boy from a certain Shemuel.

Bifolium from a court notebook. Dating: One entry is dated 1411 Seleucid, which is 1099/1100 CE. The four pages have four different cases recorded in four different hands. The details of each case are hard to make out due to the poor state of preservation. 1. A certain (Abū l-)Ḥasan b. Yaʿaqov al-Āmidī is asked to hand over various Bible codices to Yehuda b. Ḥayyim ha-Melammed. 2. Concerning garments sent from Sicily to Damietta to Yemen. The parties are Shalem, Tiqva, Ṣedaqa al-Dimashqī, Ḥusayn, and Ibn Masʿūd. Signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel and Avraham b. Shemaʿya. 3. Appointment of an agent in a commercial matter. Mentions Abū l-Faḍl, Ṣāliḥ b. Meshullam, and 6 dinars. 4. One entry involves a testimony of [...] the judge b. Natan Av ha-Yeshiva about the delivery of a bill of divorce (get). Involves Elʿazar b. Shelomo. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Bill of sale, faded, of a house from Damascus, 1113–14. There is a rashut statement for Hisdai ha-Nasi. Some of the names are quite interesting: Safiya the wife of Karam b. Avraham known as Siraj al-Hanukka (i.e. Hannuka lamp). Also mentioned is Meshullam b. Yishaq ha-qosem al-Ma'ari.

Moshe b. Abu al-Hayya hands over to Shela b. Yefet a release after receiving 37 dinars for a box of saffron. Written by Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef. Dated February 1068. (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 600, #800)

Agreement made by Abu al-Faraj Yaʿaqov b. Avraham b. Allan with his business partner Efrayim b. Ismail al-Jawhari, who takes care of his commercial interests in the Maghreb, containing details about the partner's wage and the goods. (Information from E. Bareket, Shafrir misrayim, p. 53 and Yehudei misrayim, p. 198) In the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya (MR)

Letter by Sahlan ha-mumhe (b. Avraham) discussing the meaning of difficult words in a piyyut by ha-Qalir.

Letter from the Jerusalemites to Bishr ibn Ghalib, the parnas of Fustat, apparently 1024.

Page of the record book of the rabbinical court of Fustat, in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. Trimmed at top, bottom and one side. Recto: a bill of sale or a quittance. Verso: Top contains last lines of a record dated last day of Nissan, 1472 Sel. = 14 April 1116, signed by Nissim b. Nahray; Avraham b. Shemaya he-haver. Main entry is a legal document also dated 1116 (4427), citing a document written by the chief rabbi of Aleppo, Barukh b. Yishaq, a power of attorney for Abu Surur Simha ha-Kohen, representing the brothers Abu l-Ma'ali and Abu l-Wafa, and Abu l-Ḥasan al-Halabi al-Sayrafi. (Information from Goitein's 8.5x11 notes; see attached scan).

Court record book of 1116 from the rabbinical court of Fustat, in the hand of Hillel b. Eli (OZ thinks it is Ḥalfon b. Menashshe). Trimmed at top, bottom and one side. Recto: a bill of sale or a quittance. Verso: Top contains last lines of a record dated last day of Nissan, 1427 Sel. = 14 April 1116, signed by Nissim b. Nahray; Avraham b. Shemaya he-haver. Main entry is a legal document also dated 1116 (1427), citing a document written by the chief rabbi of Aleppo, Barukh b. Yishaq, a power of attorney for Abu Surur Simha ha-Kohen, representing the brothers Abu l-Ma'ali and Abu l-Wafa, and Abu l-Ḥasan al-Halabi al-Sayrafi. (Information from Goitein's 8.5x11 notes; see attached scan).

Recto: Partnership record. Dating: 1096. Written in the hand of Hillel ben Eli. Describes a settlement between Yaḥyā and Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh. Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh loans 210 dinars to and places some agricultural commodities with Yaḥyā. Yaḥyā agrees to take upon himself the maintenance of the poor of Fusṭāṭ for a year in the event of nonrepayment. The repayments do not appear here because this would have been recorded only on the debtor’s copy of the loan agreement. Yaḥyā’s testimony that he paid his debt wouldn't be accepted without these records, but testimony by Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh (the creditor) is to be accepted without such condition. Verso: Court record. Dating: 1116. Part of a court record detailing a different partnership. Abū al-Surūr Simḥa ha-Kohen brings a power of attorney to pursue the claims of the brothers Abū al-Ma‘ālī and Abū al-Wafā Tamīm b. Yeshu‘a regarding a partnership held by their dead brother Mevorakh, with Yaḥyā (the same Yaḥyā from the recto) and Abū al-Ḥusayn the money-changer. The structure of the partnership is unclear, but it seems likely that Mevorakh was an investor and Abū al-Barakāt had always been the active partner. Upon Mevorakh’s death, Yaḥyā and Abū Ḥusayn claim 2/3 of the partnership assets, leaving Simḥa to collect the remaining 1/3 for Mevorakh’s heirs. The verso is written in a different hand from the recto, likely that of Nissim b. Naḥray. Signed by Barukh b. Yiṣḥaq, the chief judge of Aleppo. The connection between the two documents is Abū al-Barakāt and Yaḥyā. Per Goitein, this Abū al-Barakāt is not the Mevorakh mentioned on the recto but rather Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh b. Shelomo al-Ḥalabī, and Yaḥyā is Abū al-Ḥasan Yaḥyā ha-Kohen b. Shemuel ha-Kohen al-Baghdādī. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 56-60)

Letter from Musa b. Abi al-Hayy, from Busir, to Abu al-Ifrah Avraham (Arus) b. Yosef, Fustat. August 5, 1084. The letter contains details about the purchase of linen. Mentions that a Christian person from the Delta region sends money to his wife in Fustat, with Musa. In addition, mentions some goods as rose extract, and money transfers. )Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #468) VMR

Letter sent from Busir by Musa b. Abu al-Hayy to Abu al-Afrah Arus b. Yosef in Fustat, containing details about flax and other goods. Dated August 1084. (Information from M. Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 556)

Legal document. it seems to be a release. Signed are Yishaq b. Mevorakh, Avraham b. Yeshu'a, Yisrael b. Yefet, and Hayyim b. Sasson b. Hayyim from the Ben Sabra family.

Letter from Yehuda ha-melammed b. Aharon ha-Rofe to Yehiel ha-Rav. The year is given but is hard to read (in Friedberg it is read a 1526=1215). In the verso f the letter some monetary dispute is discussed involving a ban, Dina demalkhuta dina and the wife of Sadoq.