Geniza Lab

Letter from Judah b. Ḥalfon to the Nagid (Abraham Maimonides), with a partial address, inverted, on verso. Verso also contains a list of the community of Fusṭāṭ’s weekly expenses, in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Replacement ketubba from Ṣanʿāʾ, Yemen, for Sālim ibn Hārūn al-ʿUzērī, known as Zuhra, and Ḡinā bat Sālim b. Shakir al-Tām, dated 6 Tammuz 2210 of the Seleucid era (= 14 June 1899 CE). Written and signed by Levi ibn Yaḥyā al-Najjār. The deed, a replacement for a ketubba that was lost, was written in the Jewish quarter, Qāʿ Bīr al-ʿAzab. Verso contains an additional legal note concerning the arrangements for the repayment of a debt owed by the husband to his wife. (Information from CUDL)

Letter fragment, preserving only the opening line, seven lines from the top margin and, on verso, the address. The letter is addressed to Abū Zikrī Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef ha-Kohen descendant of Yehosef ha-Kohen Bet Din. Greetings are sent to Ibrāhīm b. Yaḥyā and his brothers Abū l-[...] and Abū l-Maʿālī. Verso contains the address in Arabic script and in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Opening of a letter, with address on verso; no names preserved. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dated: Monday, 26 Ḥeshvan 5342 AM, which is 1581 CE. In which Budayrī acknowledges that he owes ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn al-Ḥimṣī a debt of 12 gold Venetian ducats (peraḥim), which he will repay within 2 months. Signed by Yosef b. Meir Somekh ha-Kohen alongside another elaborate signature. Verso contains confirmation of receipt (of only 6 ducats?), written transversely in relation to recto. The note on verso is dated: first decade of Nisan 5342 AM (so well beyond the two month repayment that was agreed upon). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: geṭ dated Nisan 1581 of the Seleucid era (= 1270 CE). The couple are ʿAzīz ha-Levi b. Ḡanāʾim and Muwaffaqīya bat Joseph ha-Levi from Fusṭāṭ. A space has been left for the husband’s home town, and the deed is unsigned. Verso: draft of a document in Judaeo-Arabic with many jottings. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Beginning of a legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: 6 Shevaṭ 156[7?] Seleucid, which is 1256 CE. (Might also be 1564 Seleucid = 1253 CE.) Drawn up under the authority of a leader with many titles including דגל הרבנים; this is presumably David b. Avraham Maimonides. One of the parties is Abū ʿAlā b. [...] and another is Amīn al-Dīn. (Information in part from CUDL)

Verso: Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Court record dealing with a dispute between Saʿadya and ʿEli ha-Levi over a sum of 8 dinars. It refers to the price of honey. (Information from CUDL)

The end of a legal document, preserving only a number of signatures: Joseph b. Abraham b. Sa[ul], Shemuʾel b. [...], Ibrahim b. Moses, Sahl b. Khalaf the teacher and Joseph b. Khalaf. (Information from CUDL)

Power of attorney granted to ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Yaʾish, and referring to the woman Malk bat Moses. Three witnesses sign, Moses ha-Levi b. Shela ha-Levi, Mevorakh b. Yeshuʿa and Saʿadya b. Mevasser. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: record of the testimony of Zerubabel and Nisan b. David, and referring to Isaac b. Zerubabel. Verso: list of the quoted authorities in Pirqe Avot with talmudic cross-references, starting with Yehoshuaʿ b. Peraḥya. (Information from CUDL)

Agreement between Sitt al-Baqāʾ and her husband Tahor ha-Levi the astrologer (al-Munajjim) b. Namir concerning money owed from the ketubba. Signed by Moshe b. Yehuda and Hillel b. Yosef, and dated Marḥeshvan 1460 of the Seleucid era (= 1148 CE). (Information from CUDL.)

End of a legal document with many signatures, including David ha-Kohen b. ʿAmram, Elʿazar b. Saʿadya, [Ju]dah ha-Kohen b. Ṭoviyya and [...] b. Yakhin ha-Kohen. (Information from CUDL) See also Goitein notes linked below(?).

Confirmation of the payment of a loan, from Joseph, followed by an instruction to return the pledged copy of the Torah, both signed by Isaac b. Saʿadya. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document concerning the appointment by the court of an agent for orphans, who will collect what is due them from their mother when they reach maturity, and the postponement of their debts. Dated: Tammuz 1310 of the Seleucid era, which is 999 CE. (Information from CUDL and from Catalogue of the Jack Mosseri Collection, p. 193.)

Legal fragment, concerning the return of marriage payments and goods. Sums are quoted in bunduqi (בנדקי) (probably 16th century). (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in Arabic script. Dated: Dhū l-Qaʿda 419 AH, which is 1028 CE. Written transversely in relation to the text on the other side. Accompanied by Hebrew jottings (זכרון עדות, written twice, inverted in relation to the Arabic text). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Ishaq b. Avraham appoints Furat b. Yosef as a power-of-attorney against neighbors who had taken possession of the house he had inherited in the village of Manda in the Galilee. Dated ca. 1030 and written by Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya (Goitein) or by Efrayim b. Shemarya (Bareket). (Information from from Bareket, p. 147, and from Goitein's attached notes.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, dealing with the affairs of a woman following a divorce. (Information from CUDL)