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ENA 4020.2
Recto: Partnership record. Dating: 1096. Written in the hand of Hillel ben Eli. Describes a settlement between Yaḥyā and Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh. Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh loans 210 dinars to and places some agricultural commodities with Yaḥyā. Yaḥyā agrees to take upon himself the maintenance of the poor of Fusṭāṭ for a year in the event of nonrepayment. The repayments do not appear here because this would have been recorded only on the debtor’s copy of the loan agreement. Yaḥyā’s testimony that he paid his debt wouldn't be accepted without these records, but testimony by Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh (the creditor) is to be accepted without such condition.
Verso: Court record. Dating: 1116. Part of a court record detailing a different partnership. Abū al-Surūr Simḥa ha-Kohen brings a power of attorney to pursue the claims of the brothers Abū al-Ma‘ālī and Abū al-Wafā Tamīm b. Yeshu‘a regarding a partnership held by their dead brother Mevorakh, with Yaḥyā (the same Yaḥyā from the recto) and Abū al-Ḥusayn the money-changer. The structure of the partnership is unclear, but it seems likely that Mevorakh was an investor and Abū al-Barakāt had always been the active partner. Upon Mevorakh’s death, Yaḥyā and Abū Ḥusayn claim 2/3 of the partnership assets, leaving Simḥa to collect the remaining 1/3 for Mevorakh’s heirs. The verso is written in a different hand from the recto, likely that of Nissim b. Naḥray. Signed by Barukh b. Yiṣḥaq, the chief judge of Aleppo.
The connection between the two documents is Abū al-Barakāt and Yaḥyā. Per Goitein, this Abū al-Barakāt is not the Mevorakh mentioned on the recto but rather Abū al-Barakāt Mevorakh b. Shelomo al-Ḥalabī, and Yaḥyā is Abū al-Ḥasan Yaḥyā ha-Kohen b. Shemuel ha-Kohen al-Baghdādī. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 56-60)
Editor: Ed. S. D. Goitein, India Book 7 (in Hebrew).
Library: JTS
Type: Legal document
Tags:
trade debt ib7 aleppo 12th c 11th c agriculture india trade loan partnership hillel b. eli nissim b. nahray