Geniza Lab

Partnership release. Dated: 1091. Location: Fustat. Verso: Avraham b. Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen irreversibly releases Abū al-Faḍl/Abū al-Mufaḍḍal Netanel b. Yefet from any obligations concerning a partnership. Avraham had purchased two baskets of indigo and silk as an investment on behalf of his Alexandrian partners – the silk was damaged on its initial journey to Fusṭāṭ and Avraham liquidated it completely, settling the balance with Nathaniel and terminating the partnership. Abraham’s partners include Nathaniel’s mother and sister (see lines 23 and 27-31). The recto is another partnership agreement (for which the verso is possibly a draft), which reveals Abraham to be an investor (not the active partner), investing funds with Peraḥ/Peraḥya ha-Kohen, who also adds funds and takes the total to Damascus to import goods to Fusṭāṭ. The partnership is to last the duration of a single trip to Damascus, and Peraḥ is to receive half of the profits to Abraham’s capital as well as all profits to his own capital. Peraḥ is liabile for losses, as with the isqra. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 65-66)

Fragment of a letter in Hebrew from the second half of the 16th century, mentioning attempts to prevent a certain edict, in which R. Yosef Karo was involved (he is mentioned twice in this letter). Damascus is also mentioned.

Small fragment from the beginning of a Judaeo-Arabic letter. Probably from a father to a son. The sender reports that [She]muel intended to travel to Damascus; that they were afflicted with heartsickness for various reasons. He then starts moral exhortations, quoting "the day is short and the work is plentiful" (Avot 2:15) and "if not now, when?" (Avot 1:13) and then tells the addressee that he has "destroyed all of us from the rajfa" (illness or emotional distress?), "so do what God shows you...." The text on verso (not yet transcribed) seems to consist of philosophical discourse with citations from rabbinic literature, possibly a continuation of the fatherly sermon. Needs further examination.

Fragment of a deferent Judaeo-Arabic letter mentioning something that arrived form Damascus; something the writer sent with Yaʿqūb; Rabbenu Ḥananel; "the matter of the dyer"; and a matter that the mawlā is asked to take care of.

Letter from a man, in Damascus, to his father, perhaps in Fustat. The sender expresses his longing and desperation in this foreign land, especially after the departure of Manṣūr ("the world closed itself in on me... I cry... and wish my soul would leave, but it does not"). He reports that he is revered, because he has successfully humiliated all the competing cantors, and now nobody dares to chant in his presence. (The father seems to be a cantor as well.) His father was upset that he entered the service of "someone like the ghulām"; Manṣūr will explain everything when he arrives. He was unable to send some of the goods for his brother; Ibn Abū l-Zakkār may have told him not to trust a potential bearer. He has sent with Manṣūr a mould of cheese worth 2.5 dirhams, and he has equipped Manṣūr with funds to keep the cheese well-oiled en route lest it dry out. He complains about the lack of sustenance in Damascus. He claims to fast most days out of sorrow/longing, and he repeatedly asks for prayers. He is worried that his enemies will gain the upper hand over him (he may have seen this in a dream? Verso, line 8). He describes the hospitality of his paternal uncles and their children and his maternal aunt. He asks for news of potential fiancees back home—his cousin (bint ʿamm) and Nabaʾ—since the locals in Damascus are trying to set him up with a local woman. He emphasizes that he would never get married with his father absent. He alludes to a period of a year when he had a falling-out with his father, a rift which is now healed (this may explain some of the over-the-top language of longing in this letter). He asks for some aqwāl, which should be sent to the house of the Nezer along with instructions to forward them to Aleppo should the son have traveled already. He concludes by warning his father to seal all of his future letters—"and not with a heavy seal." (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Small fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic historical chronicle mentioning al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh, the governorship of Damascus, the appointment of a certain Muṭahhar (?) after him, and Manṣūra. A new section begins in the middle of the page with the basmala.

Bill of divorce. Probably a draft: although it is signed, there are interlinear corrections for the date and for the husband's name, and there is no statement attesting that it was delivered. The description here is for the original text prior to the corrections. Location: Damascus. Dated: Wednesday, 7 Tammuz 5409 AM, which is 1649 CE. Husband: Shelomo aka Sulaymān b. Yaʿaqov Ḥabīb. Wife: Raḥel bt. Avraham/Ibrāhīm. Witnesses: Moshe b. Yosef(?); Ḥayyim b. Eliyya.

Two un-conserved letters, with no folio shelf mark allocated yet. One is a tiny note written on vellum, on which is a short note of greeting and a reply in a different hand, 13th century. JA The second fragment is from the bottom verso of a letter, on paper, addressed to the Head of the Jews in Mahala: וצל אלי דמשק אלי ריס אליהוד אלי מחלה כבירה . the address is also in Arabic script. JA, Arabic. AA

Letter. Request to Avraham Maimonides to write a recommendation to the head of a yeshiva in Damascus for Barakat b. Isma'il the clothier, from Alexandria, who is a relative of the writer. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from the physician Abū Zikrī, in Jerusalem, to his father Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. Abū Zikrī reports that his masters, the princes al-Malik al-ʿAzīz and al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam, were laying siege to Damascus and that he was unable to get through to them to request a leave. Although ill himself, the writer states that he visited the sultan’s palace every other day. The letter also makes a note of “our colleagues at Qūṣ.” (Eliyyahu Ashtor, “The Number of Jews in Medieval Egypt,” JJS 18 (1967), 18; and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:347, 603.) "Do not send me the biqyār (a goat-hair garment?), because I am not well, and I am thinking of how you will fare after my death. How terrible would it be to receive your garment in the tailor's packaging, unopened! Ever since you left, I have not even had a single week of health. Regarding the collyria and equipment that you requested, I have not been able to get to it, because I am ill. I am wintering in Jerusalem, because the army is at Damascus, and I am stranded here, and cannot leave without an order from the sultan." EMS. ASE.

Communal letter in Hebrew, from a city in Palestine (per Goitein and Mann) or Damascus (per Gil) to the yeshiva in Jerusalem (per Gil) or Fustat (based on the accounts on verso). Dating: 1050–55 CE, based on the likely identifications of Ḥaydara and Khaṭīr al-Mulk. "The extortion of payments of the capitation tax in advance is thus far known from Geniza records only for Palestine and for the second quarter of the eleventh century, a period of anarchy and misrule. According to one report, payment was asked a full five months before the Muslim New Year on which it was due." (Goitein, Med Soc II, p. 389.) The story in the document is very interesting. The sender describes that the Bedouins (הערביים) gained control over the city and collaborated with a judge, the nephew of Abū l-Sayyār(?), to cut off the water supply of the Jews. Whenever the Jews succeeded in swaying a ruler (כל מושל ושליט) to restore the water supply, their enemies united and denied that the Jews had any right to the water. Another ruler (shaliṭ) came to power this year, named Ḥaydara Dhakhīrat al-Dawla (appears also in T-S K25.249 in 1031 CE). The community sent emissaries to Egypt to obtain "a document (ketav) and a decree (nishtevan)" with three requests: (1) to restore the water supply, (2) to restore the right of slaughtering in the market, and (3) to prohibit collection of the (capitation) tax before the year has begun. The requests were accepted and the decree was issued by Khatīr al-Mulk (=the son of al-Yāzūrī, or possibly al-Yāzūrī himself; see Yaacov Lev, Administration of Justice in Medieval Egypt, p. 145)\. However, the ruler "read (the documents and the decree) and cast them from his hand" and demanded hefty bribes before fulfilling any of the injunctions. The Jews' enemies were outraged and protested, but gave up in disgrace when the ruler said that they would have to obtain a counter-decree annulling the first one. Nevertheless, the judge of the city persisted in demanding the capitation tax 5 months ahead of time, 250 gold coins from the community. On verso there are communal accounts in Arabic script—see separate record. For further analysis and identifications of the state officials involved, see Gil, History of Palestine, sec. 599, and Rustow, Lost Archive, p. 255.

An eloquent appeal by a learned merchant from Damascus who had lost all his riches. May be connected with verso, List of donors. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 474-475, App. C 8)

Hayfa, daughter of Sulayman Ibn al-Ariq, writes to the Ḥaver Eli b. Amram, the spiritual head of Jerusalem congregation of Fustat, during the third quarter of the eleventh century. She asks him to write to Damascus (from Egypt) to her husband Said b. Muamar, the silk weaver, after he had deserted her twice. She was forsaken by her family as well. She had a boy from Said and she wants his compassion or that he will set her free. (S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society; and Goitein's index cards) VMR

Deathbed will by Yefet ha-Levi. Location: Probably Damascus. Dating: Unknown, but see verso. In which he dedicates one-third of an orchard and a house located in the village of Hammuriyya near Damascus and stipulates the income of the estate is to be used to purchase food for students of the law. Two trustees are appointed, Yequti’el and Petahya. (Moshe Gil, Documents of the Jewish Pious Foundations from the Cairo Geniza, Brill, 1976, 482-4) EMS

Marriage contract (53d according to Friedman) between ʿEli b. Wahīb and Hiba bt. Yonah. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS

Betrothal register (53b according to Friedman) between Manṣur b. [...] b. Yiṣḥaq b. Saʿīd b. Pinḥas to Zahara bt. Yaʿaqov haKohen the scribe. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS

Betrothal register (53c according to Friedman) between Hillel b. Aharon haLevi and Tāma bt. Yiṣḥaq. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS

Betrothal register (53a according to Friedman) between Biqa (?) b. Moshe known as Abu Kāmīl and Mimuna bt. Ḥasan. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS

Marriage contract (ketubba) concerning a wealthy and influential family. Dated: 18 Kislev [48]41, which is 1080 CE. (Gil thinks 4741 AM and 979/80 CE.) The groom is [...] b. Shelomo from Damascus. The bride is [...] bt. […] b. [… ha-Ko]hen ha-Gizbar ("the treasurer") b. Shemuel b. Moshe ha-Kohen […] al-Qazzāz, and her agent is her uncle. Moss. VII,118.1 is in the hand of the same scribe (though probably not a join), and the Khalaf ha-Kohen ha-Gizbar mentioned there may be identical with the [...] ha-Kohen ha-Gizbar mentioned here. (Information in part from CUDL and Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 356.) EMS. ASE

Recto: Extract from Ruth 1. Verso: Fragment of a deed signed by Moshe ben Maymun, Damascus, late tenth century. The document includes a description of a piece of property that appears to have been part of a Palestinian-style ketubba and dowry. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 370-1 and CUDL) EMS