Geniza Lab

Minute fragment from the bottom of a legal deed written by Halfon b. Menashshe Halevi. AA

Legal fragment in the hand of Halfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Concerning work on a large furnace (al-kūr al-kabīr). Mentions 140 pounds; 12 dirhams; a wage of 9 dirhams for every worker; and 5 dinars which have been advanced.

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Small fragment (upper left corner of recto). Mentions Elʿazar the cantor. Nothing else is preserved here. AA

Small and much damaged fragment from a legal document written by Halfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (1100–38) under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (1127–39). There are mirror imprints of another legal document in Aramaic on both verso and recto, also in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe; much of the text is legible, but few or no specifics of the case. AA

Legal fragment with release formulae. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. The parties are Abū Zikrī and Berakhot. They might be identical with the parties in T-S 16.247 (Abū Zikrī b. Yosef ha-Kohen and the ḥaver Berakhot b. Aharon ha-Kohen ha-Jalīlī).

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Very damaged. Some of the letters have left holes in the page. Might be a deathbed declaration(?) by Abū l-Faraj Hibatallāh (the same as in T-S 8.172?). There are reports of direct speech, including some from a woman. AA. ASE.

Small fragment from a legal deed relating to Abū l-Faraj al-Jubayli, and his trip to Yemen. Written by Halfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi.

Small fragment from a legal deed, probably a bill of release of Abu Imran, written by Halfon b. Manshshse Halevi.

Small fragment from a legal deed, involving at least 4 individuals: Shemuel, [...] b. Hanin, Elaz[ar] and Abi al-Hasan the banker - probably relating to a partnership. Written by Halfon b. Menashshe Halevi.

Small fragment from the beginning of a legal deed. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (1100–38 CE). Involves Abū l-Faraj Hibatallāh and Abū Saʿd known as Ibn al-[...].

Enormous bill of release. Written and signed by Halfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: last 10 days of the month of Shevat 1445 Seleucid, which is 1134 CE, under the jurisdiction of Masliah Gaon. A woman named Ḥisān bt. Yakhin/Thābit acknowledges receipt of something (probably a substantial sum of money) from Yehuda/Shibl b. Natan. There follow several dozen lines of elaborate release formulae. Also signed by Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. AA

Fragment of a marriage document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, dated 1123/4 CE.

Court record. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: Ṭevet 1438 Seleucid, which is 1126/27 CE. A woman (Ḥasana bt. Menashshe ha-Kohen the wife of Elʿazar b. Mevorakh ha-Kohen) had sued her brother (the banker Abū l-Ḥasan Shelomo b. Menashshe ha-Kohen) in the Muslim courts after she learned that the female slave (Iftikhār) she had purchased from him (for 17 dinars) had "defects" (ʿuyūb) which made her want to return her. They settled the matter when her brother agreed to reimburse 1.25 dinars of the purchase price. She has now received the settlement money, and she releases her brother from all subsequent claims against him in this matter. (Information in part from Craig Perry via FGP.)

Legal deed in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Barakāt ha-Kohen rents from his sister 1/4 of a house in the alley of the synagogue, which she had inherited from her father Abū l-Khayr b. al-ʿAraqī for a period of 10 years. Goitein's note card suggests that the rent is 5 dinars, but she gives this to him as a gift, on condition that he make the necessary repairs.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, involving Berakhot and Yosef b. Yeshuʿa.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involves Abū Saʿd and a house.

Legal document. Partnership agreement (copy). Written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Tishrei 1424 Seleucid, which is 1112 CE. Same case as T-S NS 321.50. Both fragments refer to the renewal of a trading partnership worth 3,750 dinars for which profits are divided equally, and the partners are granted an allowance for their maintenance. The parties are Berakhot b. Yaʿaqov; Abū l-Wafāʾ Tamīm b. Ḥalfon. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 260.) NB: T-S Misc.28.263 is sometimes mistakenly cited as T-S Misc.28.283.

Legal document. On parchment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involves [...] b. Ṣadaqa ha-Zaqen and an Abū l-Riḍā. Mentions the port of ʿAkka and somebody who drowned in the Indian Ocean. Med Soc III, IX, C, 4, n. 48. Acre was taken by the Crusaders in 1104. (Information from Goitein's attached notes.)

Multifragment. 25 fragments, most of them legal, almost all of them in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. See Goitein's index card.