Geniza Lab

Legal deeds, templates from of a manual. A copy of deeds of legal interest in the hand of the scribe Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (documents of his are dated 1100-1138). Goitein (Med. Soc. 3:127) suggests that the deed was written around 1130, but does not explain the basis for this dating. The earliest identified ketubba that contain the monogamy condition as found here is from 1117, thus the deed was probably written after that year. Deed A, Ketubba: Ashur inserted this ketubba to his dissertation, which does not usually treats ketubbot, because of its proximity to the other deed and due to the unusual condition it contains. The husband vows to provide his wife with a female slave and, in case the present slave dies, to replace her with a new one. It is probable that Ḥalfon copied this condition from a real ketubba, since it is unlikely that this condition was common enough to be included in a manual of deeds. Deed B: deed complementing the Ketubba. Deed which records the dowry that was not stated in the ketubba. The deed was written on the reverse side, from line 8 onward, after the end of the ketubba in Deed A.

Leaf from a book of legal procedure and formularies.

Decree, probably. 3.5 words from the end of a line. Reused for writing exercises (including a Judaeo-Arabic jingle about Nebuchadnezzar destroying the temple).

Letter of congratulation for the holidays. Written in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Probably a draft, as the fragment was already torn before this text was written. The text of the letter draft is surrounded by copious jottings in Hebrew and Arabic.

Letter from Shemarya b. Maṣliaḥ, in Fustat, to the Nagid Yaʿaqov b. ʿAmram, in Qayrawān. Dating: probably spring or summer of 1039 CE, and in any case 1038–42 CE, the period of conflict between Natan b. Avraham and Shelomo b. Yehuda over the gaʾonate in Palestine. The letter drafts on both recto and verso are about that conflict and the question of the loyalties of the community of Qayrawān. Signed by Shemarya but from a group of people; Shemarya's signature is in a different hand from the letter itself, and according to Gil, the scribe is Ghālib b. Moshe ha-Kohen, the son-in-law of Efrayim b. Shemarya. Both Gil and Cohen assume that additional leaders of the Fustat community were planning to sign the letter. This letter covers some of the same ground as the letter on verso; we additionally learn that the support that Natan b. Avraham claimed to have secured in the Maghreb came from the elders of Qayrawān. Jacob Mann published T-S 18J4.16, and Mark Cohen discovered the join with ENA 3765.10 and the significance of this pair of letters. (Information from Goitein, Cohen, Gil, and CUDL.)

Letter from Avraham b. David Ibn Sughmār (according to Gil), in Fustat, to the Nagid Yaʿaqov b. ʿAmram, in Qayrawān. Dating: Probably spring or summer of 1039 CE, and in any case 1038–42 CE, during the period of conflict between Natan b. Avraham and Shelomo b. Yehuda over the gaʾonate in Palestine. The letter drafts on both recto and verso are about the conflict and the loyalties of the community of Qayrawān. The sender asks the Nagid, who had previously petitioned the Muslim official Abū l-Qāsim Ibn al-Ukhuwwa on Natan’s behalf, to show his renewed support for the legitimate gaʾon, Shelomo b. Yehuda. This letter also mentions the arrival in Fusṭāṭ of the Nasi Daniel b. ʿAzarya and presents him as a great reformer, banning the ownership of female slaves, excommunicating miscreants, and cracking down on music. As an afterthought, the sender alludes to terrible wrongs being inflicted by Natan b. Avraham's relatives. One remarkable thing about this letter is that it was written at least a decade before Daniel b. ʿAzarya served as gaʾon (beginning in 1051 CE after the death of Shelomo b. Yehuda). It's also one of the key sources for Daniel b. ʿAzarya's lineage: it says that his father was the exilarch ʿAzarya b. Shelomo b. Zakkay, whose elder son Zakkay (Daniel's brother) established the dynasty of Nasis in Mosul whose descendants crop up throughout the Geniza documents of the next two centuries. Jacob Mann published T-S 18J4.16, and Mark Cohen discovered the join with ENA 3765.10 and the significance of this pair of letters. (Information from Goitein, Cohen, Gil, and CUDL.)

Court records. Location: Fustat. Dating: c.1082–94 CE, as the reshut clause of the second document invokes David b. Daniel [b. ʿAzarya]. The fragment includes the end of one document and beginning of another one. The first document involves Shelomo b. Avraham and Ya'ir ha-Nadiv Pe'er ha-Qahal b. Avraham b. Ya'ir (also known from T-S 28.6). The second document involves Thābit b. Yūsuf known as Ḥammār, Khibā' bt. Menashshe the wife of Yefet, and a sum of 15 dinars.

Letter of condolence from Daniel b. Azarya on the death of Yosef ha-Kohen Av Beit Din b. Shelomo Gaʾon, early 1054. (Moshe Gil)

Letter of condolence from Daniel Nasi b. Azarya on the death of Ephraim b. Shemarya, addressed to his son-in-law Ghalib.

Letter of Daniel b. Azarya, December 1051.

Letter (fragment) from Daniel b. Azarya (ca. 1055) to Eli b. Amram, Fustat, 1052.

Letter from ʿEli b. ʿAmram, in Fustat, to Yosef b. Shemuel ha-Nagid Ibn Naghrila, in Spain. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: c.1055 CE, as this is a letter of condolence upon the death of Shemuel ha-Nagid. ʿEli describes the memorial service held in Fustat when news of Shemuel's death reached them, and he mentions the titles granted to Yosef by Daniel b. ʿAzarya. The letter concludes with a poem in honor of Yosef and his brother Elyasaf. In fact this poem is essentially identical with one that was was originally composed for Avraham b. Sahl al-Tustari and his brother. This document was first published by Mann in Hebrew Union College Annual vol. 3 (1926), 257–308, at 287. See FGP for an extensive bibliography.

Commercial accounts in Spanish. Dating: [erhaps late 15th century, based on the script. Involves Jews. Lists debits and credits ("devo a rebbi Samuel"). Mentions the ducat ("el ducado") exchange rate. Verso contains a summary with the accounts (almost entirely numerals). (Identification kindly provided by Daniel Duran Duelt.)

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: mid-12th century. Probably from an India trader. Mentions numerous business transactions, Maḥrūz, and Abū ʿUmar Ibn al-Baghdādī (who also appears in T-S 10J24.4).

Letter addressed to Pinḥas b. Meshullam, a judge of Alexandria in the time of Maimonides. In Hebrew. There are copious praises for the addressee. The sender says that he praises him to R. Yiṣḥaq and R. Naḥman. Shemarya Ḥazzan arrived with a letter from Pinḥas for the sender. The bottom of the letter is torn off here. The margin mentions that Maimonides has sent something (presumably a letter to Pinḥas). On verso there are praises for God in Judaeo-Arabic, jottings about a medical subject in Arabic script, and some literary text in Hebrew.

Account written by ʿArūs b. Yūsuf. Four pages. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Fragment of an account in Judeo-Arabic. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Account of sums written by ʿArūs b. Yūsuf. Four pages. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Account of sums written by ʿArūs b. Yūsuf. Four pages. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Late.