Geniza Lab

Letter of condolences to Hillel b. ʿEli on the death of his wife (?), wishing him to find consolation in the marriage of his son. The writer, possibly Yiftaḥ ha-Kohen, asks for information regarding the return of the nagid Mevorakh b. Saʿadya from the Upper Egypt to the capital. Second half of the 11th century. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, p. 114.)

Deathbed will of a notable, dividing his landed property, his flocks of sheep and all the orchards possessed or leased by him between his brother and his children, and making stipulations for his widow. In the hand of and witnessed by Hillel b. ʿEli. The dying man appoints his brother as the will’s executor explicitly stating that no court may interfere with his actions. A copy of this will is found in T-S 20.99. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Goitein, Mediterranean Society, Vol. 1, pp. 117, 425 and Vol. 3, p. 259, 299, 493n97.)

Legal document. Scribed and witnessed by Hillel b. ʿEli. Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday 10 Tevet 13[..] Seleucid. The body of the document mentions a divorce that took place in Kislev 1393 Seleucid, which is December 1081 CE. The document itself was therefore drawn up between 1081/82 and 1087/88 CE. The case involves Barakāt b. Mubārak al-Tinnīsī and Ḥisāna bt. Ibrāhīm. Concerns the alimonies (two waybas of wheat, etc., per month) of a widow who was free from her obligations. It appears to be a summary of the court's ruling, and there is a note at the bottom, "We, the court/judges, received this copy and the copy of the original, and...." The former husband was from Tinnīs, and the witnesses were people from Palestine and Syria, and other foreigners. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Marriage contract between Arye b. Yehudah and Karima bat `Ammar. The latter refused to leave Cairo and live with her husband in Palermo, Sicily, resulting in legal arrangements and restoration of gifts; includes a detailed trousseau. Dated ca. 1080. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 402; 177 and 464 note 85) EMS. (Written bu Hillel b. Eli. AA)

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)

Page of the record book of the rabbinical court of Fustat, in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. Trimmed at top, bottom and one side. Recto: a bill of sale or a quittance. Verso: Top contains last lines of a record dated last day of Nissan, 1472 Sel. = 14 April 1116, signed by Nissim b. Nahray; Avraham b. Shemaya he-haver. Main entry is a legal document also dated 1116 (4427), citing a document written by the chief rabbi of Aleppo, Barukh b. Yishaq, a power of attorney for Abu Surur Simha ha-Kohen, representing the brothers Abu l-Ma'ali and Abu l-Wafa, and Abu l-Ḥasan al-Halabi al-Sayrafi. (Information from Goitein's 8.5x11 notes; see attached scan).

Court record book of 1116 from the rabbinical court of Fustat, in the hand of Hillel b. Eli (OZ thinks it is Ḥalfon b. Menashshe). Trimmed at top, bottom and one side. Recto: a bill of sale or a quittance. Verso: Top contains last lines of a record dated last day of Nissan, 1427 Sel. = 14 April 1116, signed by Nissim b. Nahray; Avraham b. Shemaya he-haver. Main entry is a legal document also dated 1116 (1427), citing a document written by the chief rabbi of Aleppo, Barukh b. Yishaq, a power of attorney for Abu Surur Simha ha-Kohen, representing the brothers Abu l-Ma'ali and Abu l-Wafa, and Abu l-Ḥasan al-Halabi al-Sayrafi. (Information from Goitein's 8.5x11 notes; see attached scan).

Letter by the scribe Ḥalfon b. Menashshe to his brother in law, with a long narrative about the difficulties he encountered procuring a tax receipt (bara'a) and the connections he used in order to procure it, some more useful than others. Also congratulates his brother in law on his sister having delivered a boy and a girl. (Information from Marina Rustow and from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 22, from Goitein's index cards; Goitein also has an English translation of this, to be uploaded soon.)

Legal document: quittance in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. A certain Avraham b. Shelomo Tiilmisani, acting as a custodian (apotropos), releases a certain Joseph b. Amram known as al-Fituri (?) in some commercial transaction. Aharon and Na'aman are also mentioned. Maybe Alexandria. The three fragments do not actually join but they are clearly related to the same case, and perhaps part from the same document. Join by Amir Ashur and Oded Zinger.

Legal document. Record of release. Dating: March 1097. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. This fragment seems to be the continuation a document, the beginning of which is TS 16.87 (PGPID 4094). In the section preserved here, Abū al-Faraj Nathaniel b. Moses and his brother Abū al-Barakāt Aaron release Abū al-Baqā Samuel b. Nathan the Ḥaver from obligations in a long-distance trading partnership which had taken their father, apparently the active partner, to Tripoli or Lebanon. The release clauses absolve Samuel from any further obligation in either “a partnership (shirka)” or “a commenda (muḍāraba)”. Although this fragment cannot be seamlessly joined to TS 16.87, that both documents are concerned with the partnership suggests that they go together. This evidence is strengthened by the fact that TS 16.87 is dated to the twenty-first of Adar in the year 1097, which was a Sunday; this could have been three days before the "Wednesday the twenty-fourth" mentioned in line 23 of this document as the delayed date of execution. While most of the bulk of the document is written by Hillel b. Eli (also a signatory), the notarization is written in different handwriting and attests to the fact that the undersigned witnesses recognized the signatures of the initial witnesses. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 81-82)

Legal document. A large damaged שטר אביזריה (= Bill of compensation), written by Hillel b. Eli (1066-1108). A certain Yosef is mentioned and also a sum of money to be paid to the Muslim authorities (שלטון). There is a qiyyum (establishment) of the bill on verso, but unfortunately no signatures have survived. Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Bottom part of a legal query written by Hillel b. Eli (Date: 1066-1107). Concerning a court record written by a scribe, agreement between two parties and witnesses testify at time of the qinyan. The writer ask whether an oath should be imposed on both parties. Very damaged. AA

Marriage document. Small fragment from what is seems as a ketubah, probably by the hand of Hillel b. Eli or Ḥalfon b. Menashshe Halevi. Shemuʾel b. Khalaf is mentioned. Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Legal fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 141[.] or 142[.] Seleucid, which is 1098–18 CE. Looks like the hand of Hillel b. Eli, in which case the date is close to the beginning of that range. Names: Nissim b. Avraham; Mevorakh; Abū l-Faḍl. Mentions a moneychanging shop and a sum of 6 dirhams/month. The substance of the document is difficult to determine from what remains.

One of three draft versions of a document concerning an official (muqaddam) in the community of al-Mahalla during the administration of Mevorakh b. Saadya (active 1079-1111). In the handwriting of Hillel b. Eli (active 1066-1108). The other two drafts are T-S 12.9 and T-S 20.125. Information from GRU catalog via FGP.

Formula for a validation by the court in the hand of Hillel b. Eli (1066-1107), including an interesting addition. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document. Court ruling. Dated: July 1084. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. Location: Fustat. Yaḥyā b. Samuel sues Amram b. Abraham for various commodities (wool, flax, and cinnamon in exchange for silk robes, silver scammony, and saffron) which represent the former’s investment with the latter. However, Amram seems to have placed the items in the care of Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Tinnīsī, who seems to have assumed responsibility for them by means of a power of attorney. Apparently, Aaron sold the items and prepared an account sheet, remitting the balance to Amram, who then settled his account with Yaḥyā. At the time the matter is to be adjudicated, Amram has left Fusṭāṭ and Yaḥyā asks for a continuance. Yefet b. Avraham, counterparty in the sale of a quantity of silver to Abū al-Ḥusayn, also appears in a number of geniza documents. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 110). Verso seems to contain another legal discussion with the same partners over similar issues.

On recto a right side of a bill of release, written on vellum, regarding woman’s ketubah. Written by Hillel b. Eli. On verso mirror letters of another document, probably a ketubah. AA

Legal document. Partnership record. Dated July 1103. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. This fragment concerns ownership interest in a partnership between Mōda‘ and Abraham al-‘Assāl. In the document, Mōda‘ calls upon Abū al-Faraj al-Bazzāz to testify that Mōda‘ has an interest in the partnership, while Abraham seems to claim that he or he and his wife are the sole owners of the capital. Abraham apparently invested capital with Mōda‘ for the operation of a shop, and upon distribution of the profits it became unclear whether the capital was intended to be simply a deposit with Mōda‘ or if it would be (per Maimonides) "half a loan…and half a deposit". Apparently, these details were left unspecified when Mōda‘ first became involved in the venture. Subsequently, Mōda‘ seems to have called two individuals – one (perhaps a scholar) identified only as Head of the Congregations ("Rosh ha-Qehillot"), and Abū al-Faraj – to the shop to clarify the nature of his relationship with Abraham. Thus, the present document reports that the Head of the Congregations affirmed in a qinyan that Mōda‘ was indeed a partner with Abraham and not simply an employee. Signed by Abraham b. Shemaiah and Isaac b. Samuel ha-Sefardī. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 218)

Draft, in the hand of the scribe Hillel b. Eli, of an addition to the last will of the parnas Eli ha-Kohen b. Yahya (documents signed by him 1057-1107). In his previous will, drawn up by the Andalusian judge Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel (see Mediterranean Society, II, p. 512 section 13) Eli had mentioned that one of his partners, Abu al-Muna Tiqwa b. 'Amram from Ascalon (see Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 212-214, 566, 567), owed him forty-eight dinars. The next day the witnesses reported that the partner had testified that Eli had withdrawn about six dinars, whereupon Eli asked them to include a declaration that he had been under the impression that the sum withdrawn had been profit made leaving the forty-eight dinars Eli had invested in the partnership intact. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 134, 212-214, 542)