Geniza Lab

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Three fragments from the lower part of the document. Dated: Ṭevet 1435 Seleucid, which is December 1123–January 1124 CE. Involves: A deceased Sar Shalom; Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Menashshe ha-Levi Rosh ha-Qahal known as al-Jubaylī; Natan/Hiba ha-Levi; and Abū l-Riḍā. Abū l-Faraj agrees to deposit with Abū l-Riḍā a debt contract worth 75(?) dinars which are owed to him by Natan; the debt contract is dated the first decade of Dhū l-Qiʿda 517 AH, corresponding to Ṭevet 1435 Seleucid; its witnesses are Ibn al-Fāʾiqī and Ibn al-Amadī. Abū l-Faraj relinquishes his right to sue Natan for the total unless the government appropriates (yaʿtariḍ) from Abū l-Faraj anything pertaining to the estate of Sar Shalom, specifically the money that he (Abū l-Faraj?) transferred to his (Abū l-Faraj's? or Sar Shalom's?) son Zikrī. If the government does interfere, Abū l-Faraj has the right to retrieve the document from Abū l-Riḍā with the authorization of the court (i.e., after they have validated the claim that the government took the money), and Natan will have to pay. The witnesses testify that the debt contract has been deposited with Abū l-Riḍā. Two copies of the present document were drawn up, one for Abū l-Faraj and one for Natan ha-Levi. The witness signatures are not preserved on these fragments, though the top of one signature might be barely visible on T-S 8.153. Joins: Alan Elbaum. ASE

Legal document. Location: Damietta (אי כפתור). Dated: Thursday, 4 [...]n 1442 Seleucid, which is 1130/31 CE. Under the reshut of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. Involves a woman named Sitt al-Milāḥ whose husband committed "obscenities" (fawāḥish) against her. She is represented by her brother in her suit against her husband. Information in part from Zinger, "Women, Gender, and Law," p. 58. This document has apparently been edited by Yeḥezqel David (הגירושין בקרב היהודים על פי תעודות הגניזה ומקורות אחרים, pp. 260–62). Transcription awaiting digitization.

Legal document in Arabic script. Late. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Letter from al-Ḥājj Aḥmad [...] to his son al-Ḥājj Abū Zikrī. In Arabic script. Dating: Probably late (Mamluk or Ottoman-era). Reports that 'we arrived safely in [...]' (recto, l. 4). Mentions copper and mercury (verso, l. 2). Needs further examination.

Letter from a certain Yūsuf, en route from Damascus to Cairo, to the amīr Sanbāy, in Cairo (Ṣalība street). In Arabic script. Dating: Mamluk-era. The letter opens with greetings to Burhān, [...], al-Ḥājj Badr, the people of the Ṭashtkhāna (طشتخانة, apparently the place where the royal textiles were kept, washed, and prepared), the Mahtār al-Khayl (also a Mamluk title, taken from a Persian word, meaning something like groom/keeper of the horses), al-muʿallim Aḥmad, [...], al-Ḥājj ʿAlī, Muḥammad al-ʿIfrīt, Badr al-Dīn al-Mukārī, and the people (=women?) of the house. The sender's party has been delayed on account of the mules and the 'house,' but they hope to arrive soon. The amir ʿAlī Bey greets the addressee. Burhān is asked to get the house ready, for the women are going to arrive soon. The sender conveyed a memorandum/document (mutālaʿa) with orders for Abū Bakr al-Maghzī, but Abū Bakr disobeyed him. Also, no one extended hospitality to him in Damascus, even though he conveyed the muṭālaʿāt for Muḥammad (the addressee's brother-in-law?). "He did not attend to me or even break a loaf of bread in my face." ASE

Letter from al-Ḥājj Muḥammad [...] to his son. In Arabic script. Dating: Perhaps Mamluk-era. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Late. Needs examination. There are also a few words in monumental script.

State(?) document in Arabic script, calligraphic, with diacritics and vowels. Late. "We have looked into these matters. . ." Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Late. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Late. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Late. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Late. Needs examination.

Legal (or state?) document in Arabic script. Probably late. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Dated: 20 Shawwāl 864 AH, which is 1460 CE. Involves Yūsuf [...] and Samawʾal b. Yaʿqūb b. Mūsā (=Shemuel b. Yaʿaqov b. Moshe) the druggist, the Rabbanite Jew. A sum (perhaps a debt or loan) of 5 dinars is mentioned. A new section begins around line 7 or 8, which involves Nūr al-Dīn b. Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. Ismāʿīl known as Ibn al-[...] and someone titled Sirāj al-Dīn Sharaf al-ʿUlamāʾ Muslim Abū Jaʿfar [...]. Needs further examination.

Legal fragment. In Aramaic. Mentions the brother(?) of the Rayyis and Abū l-Barakāt.

Tiny fragment in Aramaic. Legal?

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Plausibly medieval. Notable for the use of red ink.