Geniza Lab

Deathbed will. in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo. Location: Fustat. Dated: First third of Av 1448 Seleucid, which is July/August 1137 CE, under the reshut of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. (The signing was deferred to the middle third of Av.) Testator: Abū l-Ḥasan Yehoshuaʿ b. Abū l-Riḍā Shemuel ha-Meshorer. The dying man appoints his mother-in-law Mubāraka bt. Ḥifāẓ (and not his wife Sitt al-Dār bt. Yefet) as the executor of his will and guardian of his three children. He leaves his silver cup and other items to his son Hiba and the jewelry to be divided amongst his daughters Sitt al-Fakhr and Sitt al-Banāt. He makes arrangements for his business partnerships in rose water and safflower with Mufaḍḍal b. Hiba al-Ḥarīrī and with Abū l-Ḥasan the Qaraite. His wife Sitt al-Dār will live with her children for as long as she remains unmarried. He gives 6 dinars to his father and 4 dinars to his mother. Along with jewelry and household items, the ornate head garment used on the celebratory occasion of the first cutting of a boy’s hair is also mentioned. (S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 5:152, 565; 4:148-9, 210-11, 394, 423-4) EMS. ASE.

Bill of sale for a female slave. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe as well as Elʿazar ha-Kohen b. Shelomo ha-Rosh b. Yehosef Gaon. Location: Fustat. Dated: first third of Sivan 1437 Seleucid, which is 1126 CE. Contents: Shelomo ha-Shammash b. Natan sells to his wife Labwa a minor Nubian female slave (waṣīfa)

Marriage contract (ketubba) from Damsis, Egypt, 1083.

Prayer: a version of El Male Rahamim.

Legal document(s). This fragment contains the bottom two lines of one document and the entirety of a second document (though a vertical strip from the right side is missing). Location: Unidentified. Dated: [..]18 Seleucid. The first document is signed by Shelomo b. Fashshāṭ and Yiftaḥ ha-Kohen b. Ṭoviyya. The second document is signed by the same two men with the addition of Seʿadya b. Avraham. The second document concerns Yaḥyā b. Suwayd, his wife, and his father-in-law (perhaps [...] b. Moshe b. Ṭarsūn). It seems that the father-in-law has accused Yaḥyā of making off with the deed to the house. Yaḥyā declares that he has neither given nor appropriated the house whose deed disappeared. A ḥerem stam will be pronounced on anyone who possesses the deed and does not bring it to the court, after which the house will be registered in her name before a Jewish court. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Bill of release. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Karīma, known as al-Wuḥsha al-Dallāla (l. 18), releases Sitt al-Ḥusn (l. 21) from any responsibility for a gift (l. 26) that she has granted her, and from any obligation resulting from previous connections between them. Karīma's son Abū Saʿd and her other heirs likewise release Sitt al-Ḥusn and her heirs. It is also stated that Karima, the grantor, is entitled to repossess the gift, and 1s allowed to sell it, in time of need, and therefore the term māḍiya (1. 26), complete, is intentionally omitted. No details of the gift and the release have been preserved. Witnesses: Menashshe ha-Kohen b. Yaʿaqov; Moshe b. ʿUlla; Yeshuʿa ha-Levi b. Ṣedaqa (who appears in T-S 20.87 as a builder and as a scholar, ll. 16–21); and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. The qiyyum (validation) is signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya; Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi; and Ḥalfon b. Ghālib ha-Ḥazzan. The name of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe appears in the body of the validation (as one of the witnesses of the original document), and his validation marks (| חלפון הלוי ביר מנשה נע |) on both sides of his name appear too (1. 37). Goitein commented that he had never seen a scribe's identification marks in a validation, when the name is recorded and not signed. Thus, this phenomenon should be regarded as an innovation by Ḥalfon and perhaps he was the only one to do it. (Information from Gershon Weiss's edition.)

Letter. One of the small handful of Judaeo-Arabic papyri. Labeled "papyrus I" in the classification of Blau and Hopkins. Dating: Probably 9th century or earlier. Unlikely to have come from the Cairo Geniza; it is possible that most or all of these documents derive from a commercial circle in Ushmūn. This is a letter from Ḥusayn b. Suwayd to his business partner Abū Yaʿqūb Isḥāq b. Ṣadaqa. (Same sender and addressee as Judaeo-Arabic papyrus XIII.) It deals entirely with shipments of garments and payments. (Information from Blau and Hopkins, and from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 282.)

Recto and verso: Letter. One of the small handful of Judaeo-Arabic papyri. Labeled "papyrus II" in the classification of Blau and Hopkins. Dating: Probably 9th century or earlier. Unlikely to have come from the Cairo Geniza; it is possible that most or all of these documents derive from a commercial circle in Ushmūn. This document is by far the most extensive and well-preserved Judaeo-Arabic papyrus known (at least this was true in 1987). It is also the first to have been discussed in print (in 1886/87). This is a letter from Yaʿaqov b. Yosef possibly to somebody named Yom Ṭov and/or to [Yose]f b. Menaḥem Shuqayr in the Jews' Market (Sūq al-Yahūd), possibly in Ḥawz Shuqayr ("the precinct of Shuqayr"). The addressee may be the father of the sender. The letter discusses numerous shipments of textiles and money. (Information in part from Blau and Hopkins and from Gil.)

Verso: Document(s) occupying the verso of one of the small handful of Judaeo-Arabic papyri. Labeled "papyrus III" in the classification of Blau and Hopkins. Dating: Probably 9th century or earlier. Unlikely to have come from the Cairo Geniza; it is possible that most or all of these documents derive from a commercial circle in Ushmūn. There are 5 distinct sections in addition to the address of the letter from recto. It seems that these sections are epistolary experiments, at least in part relating to the complete letter on recto. Some of them may be drafts of a response from the addressee of the letter on recto. (Information from Blau and Hopkins.)

Two very small fragments with minimal text surviving. Goitein's notes below mention Avaraham b. Perahya/Ibrahim b. Farah perhaps as the potential scribe?

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Pitom (=Fayyūm). Dated: Thursday, 20 Iyar 4758 or 4768 AM (4738 can be ruled out, as 20 Iyar was not a Thursday). This is an agreement outlining conditions under which a wife, Salma bt. Natan, is taken back by her husband, Ibrāhīm b. Salām, after a period of separation. The conditions reflect a downward change in social stratum. This document was published by Assaf in the Marx Jubilee Volume and translated nearly in full by Goitein in Med Soc III, p. 215. Witnesses: Moshe b. Yosef ha-Kohen; Sar Shalom ha-Levi b. Nissin; Salma b. Shaʿya, Yosef b. Seʿadel, Shubayyib b. Shekhanya, al-Giddem ("the amputee"), and Ṭayyib b. Avishay. The witness Yosef b. Seʿadel also signs T-S 12.496, T-S 12.198, and Bodl MS heb. b 12/7; the latter two were validated by Shemarya b. Elḥanan (ca. 980–1010). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Deed of compensation, Tyre, November 1019.

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to "the one I am angry at," viz., his father-in-law Abu l-Faraj in Alexandria. Shelomo is upset at the lack of letters. He also wants Abu l-Faraj to discipline Abu l-‘Izz (presumably Abu l-Faraj’s son of the same name), whom Shelomo claims is a drunk and a debtor and a disgrace. Abu l-Faraj should command Abu l-‘Izz to stop associating with friends who are a bad influence on him. Abu l-‘Izz borrowed 20 dirhems from Shelomo but now claims that he owes only 16. But this is no matter, Shelomo writes self-pityingly, because he recently lost nearly 250 dirhems on expenses for his daughter who died at 3 months of age. Discussed in Krakowski, Coming of Age in Medieval Egypt, Princeton University Press (2018), p. 254.

Informal note from Ibn al-Ḥarizi (apparently the famous Spanish Hebrew-language poet Yehuda al-Ḥarizi) to Eliyyahu the Judge. Dating: Before 1225 CE and probably after ca. 1215 CE. (Our main source for the biography of al-Ḥarizi is Ibn al-Shaʿʿār al-Mawṣilī, whose section on al-Ḥarizi has been published and discussed by Yosef Sadan in Peʿamim 68.) In Judaeo-Arabic, with many crossed-out phrases and interlinear corrections. He had intended to travel by sea from Alexandria to ʿAkkā in Palestine, but he is preoccupied on account of his books and effects worth 7 dinars that he has left in Alexandria and cannot bring with him. He fears they will be damaged if he has them sent with a muleteer. He has been forced to do something himself (travel with them? travel without them? the preposition "ʿan" is confusing here). He wants Eliyyahu to ask Ṣadaqa the Jew to help him, or at least stay in his place "until I return from Alexandria." He also fears that the goods won't reach him if he goes ahead to Bilbays (spelled בולביס) east of Cairo and waits for them. He says there is no need for Eliyyahu to come resolve the matter himself. He sends regards to al-Rayyis al-Muhadhdhab. On recto there is Hebrew poetry in a different hand, at least one poem by Yehuda ha-Levi. (Al-Ḥarizi tore up the literary text in order to get a blank page for his letter). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.) This letter was edited by Blau and Yahlom in Masʿe Yehuda (2002), 271–75. A note in Goitein and Friedman, India Book II, p. 459 n. 8 (and English edition p. 521 n. 8) indicates that there is some disagreement about the interpretation of the letter (or at least its opening). ASE

Legal deed: testimony dated 1195. For further information and edition, see D. Z. Baneth, "Te'udot min haggeniza lehayye haqqehillot bemizraim" (Geniza documents on Jewish communal affairs in Egypt), in Alexander Marx Jubilee Vol., 1950, pp. 72–93 (87–89). Also mentioned in Shaked.

Will of a pregnant woman. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Tishrei 1449 Seleucid, which is 1137 CE. Testator: Sitt al-Ahl bt. Ṣadoq b. Mevorakh Rosh ha-Qehillot. Sitt al-Ahl is the wife of Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Yehuda. Sitt al-Ahl's mother is Ḥasana bt. Shelomo ha-Kohen, the sister of the well-known judge Natan b. Shelomo. She is close to giving birth and contemplating dying during childbirth and seeks to provide for the child “male or female” who would survive the mother. The woman bequeaths generously to relatives and charities, including “forty dinars to the "mastūrīn" poor in Cairo and Fustat. "The woman's husband had children from a previous marriage, and she was, therefore particularly eager to safeguard the future of the child she was expecting. This had already been done to a large extent in her marriage contract, where it was stipulated that the dowry which she brought in, as well as payments due to her, would go to her children, to the exclusion of other heirs of her husband. In addition, she now wants half of a house, given by her to her mother prior to her marriage, to revert to her future child. The other half belonged to her, and both she and her husband were eager that the whole should become the property of the expected newborn. The old lady, however, had earmarked 60% of her share for her brother and nieces and 40% for charitable purposes. In view of this, our document stipulates that the gifts intended by the old woman will be made by her son-in-law in case after her death, while the half of the house referred to will be registered as property of the newborn. The expecting mother belonged to one of the leading families of the community, as her grandfather was Mevorakh Rosh ha-Qehillot, a man prominent in the politics of the community in the middle of the 11th century. On the other hand, her maternal uncle, the judge Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo, signatory of many documents in Fustat during the years 1122–48, was a refugee from Palestine, which was occupied at that time by the crusaders. It stands to reason that her mother, too, had come from Palestine and had, therefore, no possessions of her own in Cairo. This explains why she was given in her old age, one-half of a house by her daughter, who had inherited or received it as a gift from her father's family, or perhaps left to her by a former husband." (Information from Goitein's attached notes and from Mark Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, 196; S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 3: 232, 475) EMS. ASE.

Legal record. Dated: 1 Elul 1449 Seleucid, which is 1138 CE. Abū l-Karam b. Ibrāhīm releases Amat al-Qādir Ibn al-Dustarī ("ibn" is unusual for a woman: perhaps it is an error, or Ibn al-Dustarī is the family name) and acknowledges that he owes her 3 dinars that he will repay in installments of 1/3 dinar per month. Note that all of Goitein's notes and Weiss's edition for PER H 89 refer only to the earlier document written on recto.

Deathbed will. In Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Minyat Ashna. Dated: Monday, last decade of Shevaṭ 1461 Seleucid, which is January 1150 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. The testator is Ghazāl al-Ṭawwāf ("the nightwatchman") who never married and had no children. He leaves all of his possessions to his closest known relatives, his cousins (banāt ʿamm) Sitt al-Nās and Sitt al-Diyār. Peraḥya b. Yaʿaqov of Minyat Zifta, the son-in-law of Sitt al-Nās, stands as security for paying this money to any other heir with a greater claim who should make themselves known in the future. Signed by: Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe; Shelomo b. Zurʿa; and Shela b. Yefet.

Legal document. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Minyat Zifta. Dated: last decade of Tammuz 1467 Seleucid, which is July 1156 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. David b. Zurʿa will repay a large loan of 183 dinars to Shemuel b. Yehuda ("the Pride of the Enlightened") in 12 half-yearly installments of 15.25 dinars each, beginning in Av 1467 and ending in Tammuz 1473. The debt came from former dealings between the two, based on testimony before a Muslim court, i.e., there is already at least one debt contract against David b. Zurʿa drawn up in a Muslim court. Shemuel b. Yehuda the creditor also testifies that he will stand security for his partner Shemarya b. Sheʾerit ("Kelil ha-Yofi") in everything to do with this arrangement; this Shemarya is not previously mentioned (except perhaps in the missing beginning of the document), and his role in the debt is not clear. Signed by: Avraham b. Musāfir; Avraham b. Yakhin; ʿAmram b. Shemary ha-Kohen; and Yefet b. Yosef. The qiyyum (validation) is signed by: the judge and muqaddam Shabbetay b. Avraham ha-Ḥaver; Mevorakh b. Natan ha-Gevir; and Peraḥya b. Shemuel ha-Melammed. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Join with T-S 16.334?