Geniza Lab

Legal document of appointment for a synagogue beadle, in in Judaeo-Arabic. Translation in Goitein, Sidre Hinukh, 188. year: 1095-1159

Bill of divorce (get) from Fustat 156[.] to the count of deeds (somebody wrote in pencil 1563, i.e. 1252, perhaps the date was more visible at that time or he examined the document in ultra violet light). [ ] son of Sar Shalom ha-levi from Damscus divorce Sutayt bt. Tuvya . The get is unsigned.

Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic dated to 1510–29 = 1199–1218. On the other side is a poetical letter in Hebrew responding to a previous letter received.

Account for building operations, ca. 1155-56. Very damaged fragment of a leaf, in which several entries in an accounting of building operations are preserved. An otherwise known compound, Dar al-Kaziruni, is mentioned. Data about plastering, building, and carpentry work are included. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 285 #58)

Colophon written by Hillel ha-melammed b. Perahya in Damascus, 5036=1275.

Letter from Jalāl al-Dawla. Dated: 1237 CE. Concerns in part a negotiation between members of the Jewish community and Christians about preventing Jews from entering Jerusalem. The writer mentions that the Christians welcomed him and his companions, and also mentions the town's ruler. VMR.

Register, legal: biofolio of a notebook with legal and communal entries. In the first entry Abu al-Faraj al-Saigh b. Abu Ishaq Ibrahaim al-Maghrebi allows his wife to give thier son 10 shares of a house that belonged to her father. Signed are Ḥalfon ha-kohen b. Elazar and Shemuʾel b. Mevasser ha-Melammed. The year 27 is written and going by the script I assume 1527 is meant, i.e. 1216. In the next entry Barakat b. Munajja testifies that she owes Abu al-rida ha-levi 160 dirhams on top of a previous debt of 134 and a half dirhems. The third entry is a sale of a slave by Abu al-Faraj to Banat b. Yaaqov. On the back are accounts of communal collections.

Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic dated to [50]44 or [50]74. Bunayn from Alexandria is mentioned.

Danzig in his catalogue identifies this fragment as a responsa, but there is no sign for it. On recto the order of reading in Hanukah and beginning of the month. On top the year 1100 is given. On verso Biblical commentary and discussion on Bavlli Shabat 13b. AA

Ketubba. Dated: 12 Ni[san] 1571 Seleucid, which is 1260 CE, under the authority of David I Maimonides. This was not the first marriage of the bride. The husband name was Yaaqov and the delayed marriage gift was 7 dinars. The earnings of the bride is exchanged for her cover, and there is a immersion condition. There is a trustworthiness clause and also a condition regarding the children of the husband from a previous marriage - probably they will be living in their home until they marry. The hand is almost certainly that of ʿImmanuel b. Yeḥiel. Another interesting feature is that the ketubba is not signed and then someone attached a piece of parchment with two signatures: Elʿazar b. Shelomo ha-Levi and Avraham b. Seʿadya.

Ketubba from Fustat, fragment, 1234. Shela b. Yefet marries Ma'ani bt. Moshe - on the back are two lines "an exegesis for half of the book of exodus [...] darosh of the sages blessed be their memory."

Accounts in Arabic script.

Letter concerning the dispatch of gold from the congregation in Bilbays, to be delivered in Jerusalem to 'the synagogue of the Yemenite' and to 'the rabbis,' 1214. The margins and verso are filled with accounts in Arabic script.

List of communal collection and expenses. Looks like a 13th century hand.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Yosef to a certain [son of] Natan he-haver. The letter mourns the passing of Madmun (the Nagid of Yemen) and is dated to Marhesvan 1151, thus establishing the date of Madmun's death. See Goitein-Friedman, Madmun (India Book II), 12. This letter is India Book VI, 3.

Court notebook. Location: Fustat. The tall pages are unusual for court notebooks. Contains 7 entries. Dated: 1532 Seleucid, which is 1220/21 CE. The scribe seems slightly dyslexic (e.g., writes fādiya for fāʾida and ḍamān for ḍāmin). (1) Partnership in a shop. Between [...] Futūḥ and Sulaymān. (2) Lease. Property: Ṭabaqat al-Burj (referring to a tower? or to a dovecote?). Period: 10 years. Lessor: Bū l-Faraj Ibn al-Abzārī. Lessee: Bū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Ṣabbāgh. Rent: 12 dirhams/month. (3) Involves Makārim b. Bū l-Riḍā. Details are difficult to discern; involves a house, an inheritance, and a sale. This one is signed: Ḥalfon b. Saʿīd ha-Kohen; עזראהל(??) b. Yefet ha-Melammed. (4) Difficult to read and crossed out. Maybe about a partial payment of a debt. (5) Betrothal (shiddukhin). Fiance: Bū l-[...]. Fiancee: Mudallala bt. Mufaḍḍal al-Ṣāʾigh. Delayed marriage payment (muʾakhkhar) is 50 dinars. This entry is incomplete and crossed out. (6) Debt contract. Abū l-ʿAlāʾ and Ismāʿīl the tax farmer of Minyat Ghamr acknowledge that they owe Bū Naṣr the brother-in-law of Sayyidnā (probably Avraham Maimonides) 773.5 dirhams. They will repay the debt over a period of 4 months. Apparently they will pay (the verb used is NQD, "assay") the 73.5 dirhams now, to make it a nice round figure. Eliyyahu (b. Zekharya) and Yeḥiel (b. Elyaqim) were the judges present. (7) This entry has been discussed and translated by Moshe Yagur as follows: "On the margins of the leaf is the first paragraph below, mentioning the birth of a mamzeret (lit. “a bastard girl,” referring to a Jew whose lineage is tainted according to rabbinic law). A paragraph clarifying the reason for the newborn’s legal state is given in perpendicular, noting the conversion of her mother. Thus the document serves as an example of some of the social and legal problems that could result from the marriage of a Jewish apostate. In addition, it suggests enduring ties between converts and their former community, given the prospect that the “bastard” daughter might choose to retain her place in the Jewish community. Translation: A daughter was born to the “son of the known one” (ibn yaʿlamū?) from Bint Ṭuwayr al-ʿAshāʾ, and she is a “bastard” (mamzeret). [It happened] in the year 1532 [of the Seleucid era, corresponding to 616–17/1220–21]. And [she is a bastard] because her mother had apostatized while she was married to Efrayim al-Damīrī, and he did not write a bill of divorce for her, and she married Bu ʿAlī “son of the known one” in a Muslim court [lit. “by non-Jewish law”]." (Information from Yagur, "Several Documents from the Cairo Geniza Concerning Conversion to Islam" (2020).) On the odd name Ṭuwayr al-ʿAshāʾ, perhaps "evening moth/butterfly," see the same name in T-S NS J293c from 80 years earlier and BL OR 5566C.9 (recto l. 26) from slightly earlier than that, and see Goitein's index card #19543 where he wonders if it might be a profession related to the evening meal—but it is clear from the identical name appearing in 3 unrelated documents that Ṭuwayr is part of the name.

Letter from Shelomo Kohen and Yaʿaqov Portos to Efrayim [...]. Dated: 12 Elul 5566 AM (1806 CE). (Someone wrote the date 1706 CE on the fragment because they read the century digit as a ת, but more likely it is a ק, with the initial הת implied.)

Letter from Avraham Hamān and Gavriel Ḥefez to Karo y Frances & Company. Dated: 1 Elul, 5568 AM, which is 1808 CE. (Someone wrote the date 1708 CE on the fragment because they read the century digit as a ת, but it is a ק, with the initial הת implied.)

Letter from Natan ha-kohen b. Mevorakh, Ashkelon, to Avraham b. Elazar, Fustat. Dated 1130. This is a letter of recommendation for a man who recently lost his sight from ophthalmia. Bottom missing. On verso is a text in Arabic script.

Legal document. Location: Malīj. Dated: Monday, 11 Tevet 1800 Seleucid, which is 1489 CE. Looks like a monetary transaction regarding real estate. Interesting blessing for the nagid: יזכיהו לסעודת לויתן.