Geniza Lab

Legal document, probably from the time of Avraham Maimonides, mentioning also Rabbenu Hananel, also known from this period . Dealing with a couple who agreed on divoce and describing the divorce procedure. Ed. David , "Divorce" 2:299-301.

Letter from Khiyar b. Ya'aqov to Abu al-Mufaddal Hibat Allah b. Yeft. The letter seems to discuss ome dispute between various parties which may end up in Muslim court. Names mentioned: Abu Zikri son of the Hijazi woman, Abu Faraj Nissim b. Atiya. and Avrahahm (al-Qal'i?)

Letter from Saʿīd, in Alexandria, to his brother Bū l-Majd Meir b. Yakhin the cantor, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary hand and phonetic spellings throughout, including the use of the alif-lam ligature as a lam-alif. Dating: First quarter of the 13th century. Saʿīd complains about the lack of letters from Meir and reminds him that their mother is critically ill (marīḍa ʿalā khuṭṭa), and that she is only sick on account of the fact that she will not see Meir before she dies (mā maraḍhā illā sababak alladhī mā tarāk min qabl an tamūt). Saʿīd inquires about the clay vessel (burniyya) he had sent containing medicines (or ink for the inkwell? this part requires further decipherment). He has heard that Meir's daughter's daughter has died, and he sends his wishes that she be replaced with a boy. He continues, insensitively, "My wife has given birth to a daughter." Then, "Do not ask about my illness, which you know about." The economy is bad in Alexandria and prices are high (bread is five dirhams). Bū Saʿīd the son of the Qa[ḍī?] has died, and Ibn Ghulayb is likewise ill. Saʿīd sends his regards to Meir's wife. Their other brother (Hilāl), Maʿānī, and Maḥāsin and his son Abū l-Najm all send their regards. ASE.

Letter from Barhūn b. Iṣḥaq al-Tahirtī, in al-Mahdiyya, to ʿAyyāsh b. Ṣedaqa, in Fustat. Dating: 21 October 1049. The writer asks ʿAyyāsh to step in for Nahray b. Nissim who is about to travel to Būṣīr to buy flax. Discusses various family matters. The writer mentions his plans to write to Abū Naṣr Ḥesed b. Yashar al-Tustarī, demonstrating that the latter was killed in 1050 rather than 1049. On verso is an addendum in the hand of Nissim b. Iṣḥaq, the writer's brother. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 293-294.)

Letter probably dealing with communal matters. The writing is very faded and the content is unclear , al-Rasha' (the evil one) is mentioned.

Letter from Umm Abū l-Munā to her 'father.' He is sick and she is worried about him. She and her family are also suffering from poverty and difficult times. Mentions Abū Naṣr and Umm Barakāt.

Prenuptial agreement. The marriage is to take place in seven years when the bride comes of age, meaning at the time of the agreement she was five years old. She is not an orphan: her father is mentioned (his name is Yishaq and the grrom's name is Moshe b. Perah. The hand looks like Yefet b. David.

Letter in Hebrew to the communal leaders of Sicily (maybe Palermo?). On the back is a writing trial from the book of Esther and some sort of large text boxed in by a line.

Engagement (shiddukhin) contract. Draft. Late. There appears to be an Ottoman-era seal. Groom: Moshe b. Yehuda. Bride: Saʿādat bt. Avraham Dukkān (or Dakkān?), virgin. The conditions agreed upon between the groom and the bride's father are as follows. Early marriage payment: 5 (Venetian) peraḥim. Delayed marriage payment (called qushan/קושעאן): 5 peraḥim. The earnings of her labor are his, and he must provide her clothing. There is a monogamy clause (unless they live for 10 years without a child). The marriage will take place before Shavuʿot, or there will be a fine of 4 peraḥim. Damascus is mentioned and is perhaps the place where they lived. The paper has a number of pen trials for this very same document, as well as a beginning of an entry for other documents: (1) Doña Reyna the widow of Yiṣḥaq Re'uven received 60 peraḥim from her ketubba. (2) And another marriage-related document, groom: Moshe b. Avraham, Bride: Qamr.

Partnership release. Dated: 1091. Location: Fustat. Verso: Avraham b. Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen irreversibly releases Abū al-Faḍl/Abū al-Mufaḍḍal Netanel b. Yefet from any obligations concerning a partnership. Avraham had purchased two baskets of indigo and silk as an investment on behalf of his Alexandrian partners – the silk was damaged on its initial journey to Fusṭāṭ and Avraham liquidated it completely, settling the balance with Nathaniel and terminating the partnership. Abraham’s partners include Nathaniel’s mother and sister (see lines 23 and 27-31). The recto is another partnership agreement (for which the verso is possibly a draft), which reveals Abraham to be an investor (not the active partner), investing funds with Peraḥ/Peraḥya ha-Kohen, who also adds funds and takes the total to Damascus to import goods to Fusṭāṭ. The partnership is to last the duration of a single trip to Damascus, and Peraḥ is to receive half of the profits to Abraham’s capital as well as all profits to his own capital. Peraḥ is liabile for losses, as with the isqra. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 65-66)

Letter from the French rabbi Shemuel b. Yaʿaqov to Avraham Maimonides. Published and discussed in Friedman, "The Nagid, The Nasi and the French Rabbis" Zion 82 (2017), especially pages 238–42.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (bottom only). Dated: 23 Ḥeshvan 1539 Seleucid, which is 1227 CE. Sending greetings from Abū l-Faḍl and asking the addressee to write them back.

Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Small Damīra (דמירה הקטנה). Dated: 6 Adar II 1546 Seleucid = 1235 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. Someone (name not preserved) releases Abū l-Fakhr b. Sayyid al-Ahl from any claim regarding a partnership (muʿāmala) they had involving wine and other products. Signed by Maṣliaḥ b. Shemarya and Moshe b. Peraḥya.

Legal document. Not much survives from the larger context but since it involves the release of several sisters of a man after they received their "right" (haqq), it is probable this was a quittance after the division of an inheritance. The document is valuable for containing the names of several women. The document make the qinyan from the wife (of the deceased?) Sitt al [?] bt Abu al-Fadl and the (deceased's?) three daughters: Sitt al-Rutab the widow, Sitt al-Jamal the mature woman, and [Sitt] al-'ilm the wife of Hibat Allah b. Abu al-Fadl. They release Abu al-Tahir/Tahor b. Avraham/Ibrahim.

Recto: Accounts (or prescription?) in Arabic script. Sepiolite (zabad al-baḥr), 2.5 dirhams; rock salt (milḥ andarānī); white lead (isfīdāj); pepper (filfil); long pepper (dār filfil); sanbal/sunbul (spikenard). Verso: Note from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Berakh'el ha-Talmid (incomplete).

Legal deed from 1234/5. The content is not clear but it deals with paying rent. The sum of 20 dinars is mentioned, perhaps as a fine - so maybe this is an agreement to restore a house beloning to the pious foundation while living in it? This understanding is supported by the text on the other side mentioning: "The desired (אלרצוי i.e. רצוי הישיבה written with a typo: אלרציו) will live in the house which he built." Written by Shemuel b. Ḥalfon.

Legal document from 1233 or 1236 about the pesiqa. On the back is a talmudic qoute.

Testimony regarding bridal consent to marriage. Two manuscripts that deal with the marriage of a bride named Karam. The two manuscripts contain the bride's consent to the marriage, her receiving the initial marriage gift (Muqaddam) and an appoint of a representative on her behalf. The first manuscript, ENA NS I.95a, from the 3rd of Nissan (Monday, the 14th of March) year 1244, is a testimony of witnesses that the bride gave in their presence her consent to the marriage to the aforementioned Groom, and that she received the initial marriage gift (Muqaddam) and accepted the sum of the delayed marriage gift (Me'ukhar). The story takes an unexpected twist in the second manuscript dated two days afterward. While the wife testified in the previous document that she received the initial marriage gift and accepted the sum of the delayed marriage gift, in the second document she appoints her brother to receive the initial marriage gift and to set the sum of the delayed marriage gift. Since the ending of the first document did not survive it is impossible to determine what took place in those two days. The wife might have wanted to testify that she received the muqaddam but things did not turn out the way they should have (the two sides might have fallen into dispute and the agreement was not signed?) Thus, direct involvement of the bride's wife was required. Another option is that the brother's appointment as representative was carried out informally before receiving the initial marriage gift, but only later was this formalized in court. [NB volume number in shelfmark is roman numeral I, not Arabic numeral 1]

Legal document, probably late, involving a transfer (of funds?) to Safed and Avraham b. Ayyash. The judge of the westeners is also mentioned.

List of what Mahfuz collected from the properties of the pious foundations. The year 1183 is mentioned. On the back the year 1184/5 is mentioned in connection to the garden around the holy site of Dammuh. published in Ora Vaza Molad MA Thesis.