Geniza Lab

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. "The court acts as the guardian of orphans in securing their late father's inheritance. Date not preserved. What can be drawn out from this fragment may be summarized as follows: the court, as the guardian of orphans (l. 4) and Abū l-Faraj Netanel (l. 5) (probably the deceased man's partner) came to terms (l. 7) concerning the rent (l. 8) of a house (l. 13), which was conveyed to the orphans as inheritance. What seems to be agreed upon is that Abū l-Faraj who owned a sugar factory, (maṭbakh) (l. 8), assigned it as security if something happened to the house, e.g., be confiscated by the government (l. 9), so that the orphans will not be deprived of their rights (l. 10), and will receive their due every month without delay (l. 11). Abū l-Wafāʾ was probably the executor of the deceased man's estate (ll. 2–3, 9), who concluded the deal with Abū l-Faraj. The record was duplicated and each party involved received a copy. Since the document in our possession is not signed, it is understood to be a copy rather than the original." (Information from Gershon Weiss.)