Geniza Lab

Legal testimony. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dated: Wednesday, 12 Shevat 5321 AM = 29 January 1561 CE. Yosef ארוייויץ b. Yaʿaqov Toledano acknowledges that he owes his mother, Doña Masʿūda (the same as in ENA NS 49.20?), 40 large gold ducats, and he will repay them within 30 days whenever she asks. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: partnership or other business agreement, mentioning Menaḥem Abū l-Saʿd. Verso: pen exercises, including alphabets. (Information from CUDL)

Draft of a legal document, notably made in a mixed Qaraite-Rabbanite court. Agreement by two parties in a complicated inheritance case stipulating obligations should one of the parties bring the case before a Muslim court. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tammuz 1366 Seleucid, which is July 1055 CE. Two women, Rayyisa bt. Tammam and Raḥma bt. Tammām, leave estates to their two brothers' sons, Mevorakh b. Yisrael and Shemuel b. Yehuda. A court of three (Avraham b. Shelomo, Nahray, and ʿEli ha-Kohen) will decide what will be sold and what divided between the two nephews. The new house of Raḥma bt. Tammām will be offered for sale. The verso contains Hebrew verses, rhymed piyyuṭ, headed ז׳ לשמעו. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index cards.) Join: Oded Zinger. Probably an indirect join with ENA 2727.13a.

Instructions for writing legal documents, in particular those dealing with debts, with formulaic examples in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

A rental agreement with Joseph ג׳לדיטי, priced in Venetian ducats (peraḥ zahav Veneziano). It is dated לצור according to the Pereq Qaṭan, which is probably [5]326 AM (=1566 CE). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe concerning payments; it includes a date, Sivan 1434 (= 1123 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Part of a legal document, with references to the court and witnesses, but no names preserved. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document (possibly a deed of sale) describing a house. Fusṭāṭ and Mamṣūṣa (a Jewish quarter of Cairo) are mentioned. (Information from CUDL)

Bill of divorce (geṭ). Location: Fustat. Dated: 26 Shevaṭ 1[5]40 Seleucid, which is 22 January 1229 CE. Wife: Maʿānī bt. Karīm. Verso contains the receipt, including a note in Arabic script. CUL Or.1081 J40 is documentation of her remarriage to her ex-husband 8 months later. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Testimony given by Moshe b. Ṭahor concerning the sale of a Nubian female slave. Location: Fusṭāṭ. Dated: Heshvan 1542 Seleucid, which is 1230 CE. Under the authority of Avraham Maimonides (‘the Great Nagid’). There is a decorated title, זכרון עדות ברורה. (Information from CUDL)

Small fragment of a ketubba, referring to ‘[.]5 gold dinars’. (Information from CUDL)

The end of a will, mentioning the names Yehoshuaʿ b. Nathan, Abū l-Surūr, [Abū] Kaṯīr b. Ezra, Abū Sahl b. Azhar and Menashshe al-Maḡrebi. It is signed by Moses b. Shelomo and Shemuʾel b. Shemuʾel. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: partnership agreement between butchers, named Dāʾūd Kohen, Ezra Bargut (ברגות) and Saʿīd b. Nissim. Verso: list of names and numbers, and mirrored text. (Information from CUDL)

Prosbol document (registration of a loan at the court, thereby exempting it from automatic cancellation in the Sabbatical year), written in Fusṭāṭ in Elul 1535 (= 1224 CE) and signed by Yeḥiʾel b. Elyaqim and Elijah b. Zechariah. (Information from CUDL)

In a short note, a letter brought by Tiqva b. 'Amram from Farah b. 'Ayyash is presented to the court in Cairo. The letter was studied by Ezekiel ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver b. Eli. Dated Sivan 1416/May 1105. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, 213, and from Goitein's index cards.) CUDL description: Testimony by Ezekiel ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver b. ʿEli he-Ḥaver, dated 9th Sivan 1416 (= 1105 CE), and referring to Faraḥ b. ʿAyyāsh and Tiqva b. ʿAmram. Written and signed by Abraham b. Nathan Av Bet Din; witnessed by Shela ha-Levi b. Moses the teacher, [...] b. Shemarya and [...] b. Jacob. (Information from CUDL)

Bill of divorce (geṭ). Location: Aleppo. Dated: Av 1500 Seleucid, which is 1189 CE. Husband: Elʿazar b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, called Abū Naṣr al-Ṣārifī from Egypt and Sitt al-Gharb bt. Yehuda from Egypt, with witnesses Ṭoviyya b. Eliyya b. Tamīm he-Ḥaver and Elʿazar b. ʿAmram. Verso: permission for a representative, Avraham b. Ḥananʾel, to collect the divorce money, signed by the same witnesses. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein notes linked below. And description for MS 8254, fol. 15 (PGPID 32292) for the whole story.

Beginning of a court record from Fusṭāṭ, dated Marḥeshvan 1578 (= 1266 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Geṭ from Fusṭāṭ, dated Sivan 1455 Sel. (= 1144 CE). The parties are Saʿadya ha-Kohen b. Yakhin and Sitt al-Dār bat Ḡālib, with witnesses Munajjā ha-Parnas b. Shelomo and Nathan b. Shemuʾel he-Ḥaver. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a partnership agreement. The trader [Abū l-Surūr] Peraḥya [b. Tiqva ha-Levi?] Ibn al-Amʿaṭ (known from several other documents from the second half of the 12th century) declares that he has received a sum of money from the trader Abū Naṣr b. Elʿazar al-Levi [...] ha-Negidut with which he will travel to upper Egypt (al-Ṣaʿīd) and do business. (Information in part from CUDL)

Small fragment of a ketubba, mentioning various sums in dinars. (Information from CUDL)