Geniza Lab

Legal document. Partnership dissolution. Dated: March 1029. Location: Fustat. This document, emerging from the court of Abraham b. Sahlān, records the dissolution of a partnership between Ibn al-Kashshāsh Isḥaq b. Elijah and Samḥūn b. Tamīm. Isḥaq is to pay six dinars at the end of roughly seven months, at the end of the month of Tishri of the next year, and Samḥūn thereby absolved Isḥaq of any further obligation. Isḥaq also agreed that if he were to travel to the West without Samḥūn, that he would pay the six dinars prior to his departure. Court record dealing with the affairs of two business partners signed by Avraham he-Ḥaver b. Sahlan, Shemuel ha-Kohen and Sadaqa b. Yahya. Dated Tishri 1341/September 1029.

Note from Sahlan b. Avraham, leader of the Babylonians in Fustat, to Aharon the Cantor ha-Mumhe b. Efrayim, in which he informs him that a certain physician has arrived from Jerusalem, bearing letters from the Gaon to people in Fustat, ca. 1035.

Letter opening, fragmentary, from Natan b. Avraham to Shelomo b. Natan (Natanel ?), Fustat, approximately 1040. The main body was probably in Judaeo-Arabic. Verso: only the letters רשל in Hebrew script (marked as an abbreviation). (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Letter addressed to Shelomo b. Yehuda, the gaon of the Palestinian yeshiva. Dating: 1025–51 CE. This is a fragment containing 12 lines from the beginning of the letter. In the margins of recto and on verso, there is also a will concerning gold for a man's daughter.

1r-v: Agreement between Sari b. ‘Eli and Sedaqa b. […] with regard to goods left by Musafir b. Yish‘i. Shari undertakes to pay after his return from Alexandria, no later than after 40 days. Dated Iyyar, 1028, and witnessed by seven signatories, headed by Yosef ha-Kohen, the judge. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Beginning of a court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tammuz 1402 of the Seleucid Era (1091 C.E.). Avraham b. Ṭoviyya ha-Levi is mentioned, no other details preserved. EMS. Probably a join with T-S 8J8.7 + T-S AS 150.120, in which case this is a debt contract certifying that Ibrāhīm owes money to Meshullam. Join by Oded Zinger.

Verso: Letter in Arabic script. Probably related to the legal document on recto, since some of the same names appear. At the top the names Bishāra and ʿAllān b. Saʿīd appear. The letter mentions: someone's in-law Abū Isḥāq; Abū Saʿd al-Ḥalabī; collecting money from someone; Yūsuf; and various business reckonings and instructions. Concludes by mentioning a letter for Sayyidnā al-Rayyis al-Nāsī. Needs further examination.

Letter from Yosef b. Farrah in Busir to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat, c. 1055 CE.

Legal document draft in which Mevorakh b. Shelomo, known as Ibn al-Natira, declares to owe Meshullam b. Mevasser b. Pinhas al-Damiri 120 and one-half dinars. Dated 1409 of the Seleucid Era (Iyyar 1100). (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Account of the Qodesh: building expenditures and revenue from rent, ca. 1039. This record contains details about sums of rent collected from "the Estate of the Synagogue of the Palestinians" for A.H. 429 and 430. It was written at the end of 1039. The revenue list mentions the first period during which Dar Qutayt was inhabited whereas before it had been empty. The building expenditures refer in part to the synagogue. The three parts of the document have found their way into three different boxes of the Taylor-Schechter Collection. Written in the hand of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 167 #11)

Record of the activities of the qodesh at the end of the 10th and the first half of the 11th century, up to 1034 CE. Written ca. 1040 CE. This record which was intended for public display, lists the achievements of the qodesh, as far as the properties dedicated to the Synagogue of the Palestinians are concerned. For each stage the names of the parnasim who were in charge of the qodesh are listed. At the end of the 10th century apparently only two or three compounds comprised the real estate dedicated to the Synagogue of the Palestinians. During the seven administrations of parnasim listed in this record, new compounds, apartments, and shops were added either by purchase or by construction, made possible by the revenue from the earlier ones. Several major repairs of the extant buildings and also repairs and improvements in the synagogue are listed. The main part of the document deals with the period of the persecuations under al-Hakim. The synagogues were destroyed and the materials they were made of sold by the Muslim authorities. Later, the period of reconstruction is recorded. The concluding part stresses the custom of giving full publicity to the accounts of the qodesh; also, the duty of any dissatisfied person to file his claims before the court, otherwise risking excommunication. Gil includes ENA 2738.1 as part of this join, even though it is a distinct manuscript containing a draft of the document, of which T-S Ar.18(1).35 + T-S 20.96 is an improved copy. The first word in line 1 of ENA 2738.1 is the last one in line 19 of T-S 20.96. All three fragments are in the hand of hazzan Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya (according to Gil). ENA 2738.1 may actually be in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya. (Information from CUDL and Gil, Documents, pp. 136-137 #3)

Account: building expenditures and revenue from rent, ca. 1039. This record contains details about sums of rent collected from "the Estate of the Synagogue of the Palestinians" for A.H. 429 and 430. It was written at the end of 1039. The revenue list mentions the first period during which Dar Qutayt was inhabited whereas before it had been empty. The building expenditures refer in part to the synagogue. The three parts of the document have found their way into three different boxes of the Taylor-Schechter Collection. Written in the hand of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 167 #11)

List of contributors to charity during the time of Abu Ya'qub al-hakim, headed by Mahfuz al-Suri, ca. 1095 (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, App. C 79)

Account of the Qodesh: revenue from rent, ca. probably 1043. This record written by Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya still refers to "the four months" mentioned in T-S 20.168, and seems therefore to be a continuation of it. It refers mainly to the collection of the arrears that were enumerated in the former part. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 195 #23.) See also Goitein's note card.

Account of the Qodesh: building expenditures, ca. 1040. Written by Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya, listing a series of items connected with the reconstruction work of that period. Clay and gypsum are being prepared for plastering. The removal of debris of ruined buildings also figures here, old pillars and an old pipe being demolished and old ceilings uncovered. The wall, apparently of the synagogue, is still under construction. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 185 #17)

Letter of business written in the 11th century, mentioning the rīf (‘the (Egyptian) province’). (Information from CUDL)

Accounts; dated 465 AH (= 1072/73 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Letter written in the 11th century, mentioning Abū Isḥāq Barhūn. (Information from CUDL)

Letter draft from the Rabbanite leaders of Fustat/Cairo to the Rabbanite leaders of Ashqelon. Dating: Summer 1099 CE. The letter recounts how the Nagid Mevorakh exhorted the Jews of the community to donate money for the redemption of captives and Torah scrolls, and how in response the Jews of Fustat have donated 123 dinars. The first transcription here is for DK 242, and the second is for T-S AS 146.3. For a detailed discussion, see Goldman, "Arabic-Speaking Jews in Crusader Syria" (diss.), 42–48.

Court record of a case in which an orphan girl wishing to dispose of a piece of property that was held in trust by the court had to have her action confirmed by the man to whom she was betrothEd. Drawn up in Fustat, Tammuz 1393/June 1082. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 89, 445)