Geniza Lab

Legal document. On top: legal document in which an uncle gives his possessions in equal shares to his dead brother's sons and daughters and appoints their mother as his executor. Dated ca. 1030 (Information from Mediterranean .Society, III, pp. 281, 489). Names: צדקה בן אברהם, מבורך Judeo-Arabic. On the rest of the page a poem by Eli b. Amram see עלי בן עמרם מנהיג ומשורר - עורכים: בארי, טובה;ברקת, אלינוער, תש"פ AA

Letter from Moshe b. Elʿazar the teacher (ha-Melammed) to Elʿazar the scholar (ha-Talmid). In Hebrew (for the introduction and address) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body). The writer excuses himself for not having written earlier because of illnesses. Probably there is an epidemic: amrāḍ wa-awjāʿ wa-mawt. He reports that al-Ḥamishi ('the Fifth') died, but the addressee's family is well. They have moved to a new location. Abū l-Maʿānī al-Kohen sends regards. The writer begs indulgence "for the magnitude of my ignorance, for I wrote this (letter) after drinking the medicine. I am sick. I did not know what/how to write [...]. I know that you will not blame me for this." It is not completely clear what lapse he is referring to. Perhaps the lapse of having written God's name incorrectly (פאללל) and crossing it out in the previous line. Information in part from Goitein's index cards. ASE.

Legal fragment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involving someone named Ṣadaqa, wine, 100 dinars, and a period of a year. May be an indirect join with T-S NS J401i.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to the Nagid Moshe b. Netanʾel. This is enigmatic, since there is no known Nagid named Moshe b. Netanʾel outside of this letter. Friedman argues that the addressee must be Moshe b. Netanʾel ha-Levi (otherwise known to have held the title Gaʾon) and that this letter must have been written after the death of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya (d. ca. 1159) by one of his supporters, expressing fealty and the rightful title of Moshe b. Netanʾel ha-Levi to the title of Nagid. The sender calls Moshe (and/or his ancestors?) “one of the pegs on which a person must hang himself (an yataʿallaqa bi-hā),” a translation of the maxim from the Talmud Yerushalmi “Fortunate is he whose ancestors earned merit for him, for he has a peg (yated) on which to hang himself (lehitalot).” (Information from M. A. Friedman's article on Zuta, p. 482.)

Will of Moshe b. Adiyya who declares that his wife did not owe him anything, but that not all she was owed in her marriage contract had been delivered to her. In addition he gives her a present of some wheat. He gives his sister two dinars and his niece one dinar and donates a Torah codex to the synagogue of the Palestinians in Fustat. His son is the only and exclusive heir who cannot be sued by anyone. Dated Tammuz 1351/ June 1040. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 139, 544)

Legal deed in the hand of Eliyahu Ha-Kohen b. Shelomo Gaon, written in Damascus, 1031

Power of attorney written by Avraham, son of the Gaon in his own hand, October-November 1039 (Gil).

Marriage document. Karaite deed of betrothal of Amat al-Waḥid אמה אלואחד daughter of Ḥalfon and Ḥaifon ha-Levi ben Daniel b. Bundār. Early 11th century, Cairo [?] (data from Olszowy-chlanger Judith. Karaite Marriage Documents from the Cairo Geniza, 1998, p. 308. Musafir b. Yitsḥak מסאפר ב. יצחק and Shiloh b. Yoseph שלה ב. יוסף testified that she is not coerced and free in her mind. Hillel was probably her marriage agent. Hebrew. AA Dating: 11th century

Legal document describing a gathering to assess the bride's dowry. Fragment, only the right half is preserved.(Provably written by Moshe b. Perahya, the muqaddam of Mahala an-Kubra. Seems to be written under the authority of David Maimuni. AA) Verso: List in Arabic script, perhaps an account.

Legal query about a business dispute followed by the responsum, signed by Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen.

Legal document. Damaged and faded legal document (bill of release??) from 1053. Judeo-Arabic and Aramaic On verso a poem in Hebrew by Eli b. 'Amram. AA

Legal document: Obligation of the husband to provide for his divorcee in the hope of remarriage, Fustat, 1089

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. For the community's expenses on the synagogue quarter. Dated: 427 AH, which is 1035/36 CE. (A previous PGP entry said 1427 Seleucid = 1115/16 CE.) On verso there are further (related) accounts mainly in Arabic script but with some Judaeo-Arabic at the bottom. These are dated 429 AH, which is 1037/38 CE. Apparently edited in Ora Vaza Molad's MA Thesis, pp. 108–98.

Legal document. An agreement between Shlomo b. Avraham and the mother of his daughter (probably divorced) regarding her support. The year is [1]403 (1092) in Fustat. Verso is blank. Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Court notebook containing several documents. (i) Marriage contract (ketubba), segment discussing the groom's promises to the bride regarding her exemption from oaths. (ii) Record of an adoption in which a man "sells" his newborn daughter, 16 days old, whose mother had just died after childbirth, to a prominent lady for five dinars and promises that he will not interfere with the girl's upbringing. (iii) Legal document dealing with a business partnership between Yefet b. Wadʿa and Abū Zikrī, and also with a man who was married and divorced before consummation in Tyre and remarried in al-Mahalla.

Margin of recto: Fragment of the Arabic portion of a marriage contract, discussing the groom's promises to the bride regarding her exemption from oaths; margin on recto. Bottom of the page , straight lines at 90 degrees to main text.

Legal document. Court record. Dated: 1084. Location: Fustat. This document contains a partial court record of a partnership between Yefet b. Wad‘a and Abū Zikrī. While Abū Zikrī was away travelling, Yefet invited Sa‘āda to join the partnership, for which Sa‘āda was to be paid 1.5 dirhams each day. Sa‘āda purchased henna for the partnership, and he called the court to validate his testimony that the value of the henna had dropped. As Yefet both invited Sa‘āda to the partnership in the absence of Abū Zikrī and agreed to pay him a daily wage, he appears to have been either the senior partner or a passive investor, while Abū Zikrī and Sa‘āda are active partners. Given that Yefet has invited Sa‘āda to join the extant partnership (instead of contracting a new partnership with Sa‘āda) Yefet and Abū Zikrī likely both had capital investments in the intial partnership, and Yefet had the task of investing the joint capital while Abū Zikrī pursued other trading opportunities. Unusually, the agreement between Sa‘āda and the other two partners required him to take an oath attesting to partnership accounts should the partnership assets lose value. The remainder of the document (lines 8-28) is a draft of a marriage agreement of a couple who were divorced in Tyre and subsequently reconciled in al-Mahalla. It provides specifics as to the dowry (including money, textiles and clothing, a drinking cup, and a mirror) but lacks the names of the relevant parties. This fragment may have been a page from a notary’s register. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 75-76)

Legal record of an adoption in which a man 'sells' his newborn daughter, 16 days old, whose mother had just died after childbirth, to a prominent lady for five dinars and promises that he will not interfere with the girl's upbringing. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 248, 249) Verso, right column.

One side: Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. Settlement of a business dispute. Ṣedaqa b. Shelomo (together with his father Shelomo b. Seʿadya) acknowledges that he has received 5 dinars from Ṣāliḥ b. David ha-Kohen and that he is only owed 5 more dinars, which will be paid over a period of 4 months (Nisan through Tammuz, the year is lost), 1.25 dinars each month.

The other side: Unidentified document in Arabic script.