Geniza Lab

Marriage contract (ketubba) from Tyre, ca. 1079.

Legal document. Record of release. Dated: 1014. Location: Fustat. This partnership release, from the court of Abraham Maimonides, describes itself using the Aramaic term "tavra", referring to the "breaking" of the partnership relationship and a renunciation of further claims. Abū al-Bahā b. Abū al-Ḥasan al-Dilātī the beekeeper releases his nephew Moses ha-Kohen from all obligations resulting from "all of the joint enterprises (mu‘āmalāt) which were between us from the beginning of time until now", as well as any concomitant oaths. Any further details of this family partnership are not included in the release. Goitein identifies three other financial documents between Abū al-Bahā and Moses, all of which concern loans from Moses to his uncle. That the present document is dated between the dates of two of these documents suggests that despite this document ending a partnership, their mutual financial dealings continued. As the other documents are all concerned with the repayment of loans from Moses to his uncle, it seems likely that Moses was the source of capital for this partnership, and one of their "mutual dealings" was an investment partnership. Presumably Moses would have released his uncle from any further claims in a separate document. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 135)

Letter from Yūsuf b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī, in al-Mahdiyya, to Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: August 3, 1063, based on Gil's assessment. The letter contains details about shipments of goods and about the route of ships from and to al-Mahdiyya, as well as a price list. It also mentions a lawsuit filed against Yeshuʿa by one of his Sicilian partners. Yūsuf opens with several lines of sympathy for Yeshuʿa's health problems. First, he was happy to learn of Yeshuʿa's recovery. Then, two letters came with news that he had gotten worse (mā intahā ilayhi ḥālak). Then, Yeshuʿa's own letters came with news of his recovery. (Information from Gil, vol. 3, p. 245, and from Ben-Sasson, p. 393.) ASE

Letter from Nissim b. Yiṣḥaq al-Tāhartī, in Sūsa, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1052 CE. The letter mentions the connections that Nahray has with the Tāhirtī family as well as business matters with two Muslims, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and his son Abū ʿAbdallāh (Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ,
s s
I. 39 and margin). It mentions also Nissim b. Ya'aqov, who leads a center of learning in Qayrawān. The writer respects Nahray and will try to get him the books that he wants. Nissim opens the letter by conveying his concern for Nahray's eye disease, and his happiness that Nahray's condition is better now than "when the doctors frightened you regarding it" (r4–6). Later, in the context of Nissim's troubles this winter, he conveys the news of a woman (identity unclear) who is very sick (recto, right margin). (Information in part from Gil, Kingdom, 3, pp. 319–24, #389)

Letter from the lepers of Tiberias to Shemuel b. Ezra (Jerusalem?), approximately 1030.

Letter fragment reporting about a dignitary in prison from whom a declaration was taken to be given both in a Jewish and a Muslim court. Possibly dated to the 11th century. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef to the fifth in the Yeshiva, probably 1064. The writer strongly advises against travel to a distant land (possibly Germany) that would take 3 years to reach, and warns that the Jewish scholars in that place were no better than local scholars. Moreover, they speak a barbaric language and have rude manners. The local Jewish community also limited traveling businessmen to a stay of no more than one month (ḥerem ha-yishuv). (Information from CUDL)

Letter to Efrayim b. Shemarya on behalf of the lepers of Tiberias, approximately 1050. People with skin ailments were drawn to the hot springs of Tiberias and those without means to support themselves were sent with letters appealing to the generosity of communities such as Fustat by describing their sufferings in graphic terms. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Shelomo Ha-Rofe b. Eli, Tripoli (Lebanon), 1039. Shelomo b. Yehuda writes about Natan b. Avraham, a young challenger who had set himself up as a rival Gaon in Ramla and had written letters to Egypt soliciting support. Shelomo was livid and describes how he set off for Ramla and excommunicated Natan and his supporters. He warns Shelomo b. Eli that any letters arriving from Natan should be ignored as they are ‘iniquitous scribblings and mischievous missives’. Verso: Address and, in a different hand and ink (brown), a Hebrew piyyut referring to the story of Pharaoh and the exodus, concluding in two lines at the top of recto.

Letter to a hazzan, Ben Sadoq, who is asked to intervene on behalf of the writer, Menashshe nin Shemaiah, before Sar Salom, head of the community of Alexandria. The writer says he’ll be in Alexandria at the New Year, God willing. Ca. 11th century. Menashshe signs his name at the end surrounded by a motto. Verso: small amount of illegible text in a different hand and ink. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Avraham b. Sahlan, Fustat, probably December 1028. Verso: Address in Arabic script, postscript in Judaeo-Arabic.

Letter from Awad b. Hananel from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, ca. 1060. In the handwriting of Avraham b. Abi al-Hayy and concerning business matters, specifically a shipment of nuts that was send by the writer to Nahray, and a shipment of oil that Nahray sent to the writer. Also mentions several other goods, and an apartment belonging to Nahray in Alexandria, in which the writer lives. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 3, #567) VMR

Later document: Petition/letter of recommendation from an unidentified sender, apparently in Fustat, to Yoshiyyahu Gaon. In Hebrew. Dating: Ca. 1020 CE. This is a letter on behalf of the brother of Daniel b. Sahl ha-Melammed, who sent Daniel a letter crying out about his harassment at the hands of somebody (Gil suggests this was a Fatimid military officer but does not explain why). This person claimed in Muslim courts that Daniel's brother was his slave, but "God forbid that a Jew should be a slave of a Gentile, all the more so of a Jew like him" (r34–38). Various Jewish dignitaries are mentioned, including Elḥanan Rosh ha-Seder. Yoshiyyahu is asked to intervene. This fragment also contains a state document in Arabic and a Hebrew piyyuṭ in a different hand than the letter (larger and cruder).

Marriage contract (ketubba) in the Palestinian style, probably from Tyre, ca. 1089-1099.

Letter fragment from the brothers Yosef and Nissim the sons of Berekhya, Qayrawan, to Yosef b. 'Awkal, Fustat (sent in 1007-1013). (pp)

Marriage contract (ketubba), in the Palestinian style, from Ṣā, Egypt (Sa al Hajar, a village on the east bank of the Rosetta branch of the Nile, in the delta, next to the ancient Egyptian city of Sai's/Sai), in 1081 C.E. The bride is a divorcée, and the advanced marriage gift is only two dinars while the dowry totaled a mere five and one/third dinars. (Ed. Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 175-81) EMS

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Nissim of Qayrawan to the Tunisian port of Qabis, c. 1000. The letter concerns legal questions asked by the addressee from Sherira and Hayya Gaon. Verso: Address and an unrelated literary work in Judaeo-Arabic, badly faded. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Shemuel the Third b. Hoshana, Jerusalem, to Shemarya b. al-Hanan, the leader of the Babylonian Jewish community in Fustat ca. 1010. Shemuel writes to introduce the young Natan b. Avraham. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract (ketubba); line two begins with the phrase "on the river," the only clue to establishing the provenance of the document. Dated 4844 A.M. (1084 C.E.) (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 217-26) EMS

Letter in the handwriting of the Ascalon scholar and scribe Natan b. Mevorakh, from Avraham (Ibrahim) b. Ḥalfon b. Nahum to Eli ha-Kohen b. Yahya in Fustat, Egypt, regarding communal friction over the muqaddam (local community head) of Ascalon appointed by the Ra'is al-Yahud (Head of the Jews of the Fatimid empire) David b. Daniel. November 17, 1087, or November 13, 1090.