Geniza Lab

Fragment of a release in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe in the name of Sitt al-Dār and involving Abū l-Waḥsh Sibāʿ.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Large but fragmentary (only the ends of the lines are preserved). Deathbed will. Refers to: "one of them (his sons?), named David"; "strife and lawsuits between them (his sons?)"; Fustat; a sum of dinars, of which 8 are the delayed marriage payment (presumably for his future widow). Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and [...] b. Yefet, and others whose names are missing. The validation (qiyyum) is signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Ghālib ha-Ḥazzan.

Court record. A settlement between a brother and his two sisters concerning their late father’s inheritance, dated 1128/9. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. The late father’s property consisted of a perfumery, a storehouse, goods, capital and profit. The brother, Hillel, and the father were running the business as partners. According to the settlement, the older sister received a certain sum of money plus a monthly payment of 1 dinar. Her minor sister granted her share to her brother Hillel, as a gift, except for a certain amount of money, which was legally recorded in a bill of indebtness granted to her by Hillel, who continued to manage the business. The widow, Sitt al-Bayt, confirmed her daughter’s actions and guaranteed to be responsible to Hillel for any claims against him which the younger daughter might once make as heir of her father. No signatures are preserved. Verso is blank. (Information form Weiss, Legal Documents Written by Ḥalfon ben Manasse, Vol. 1, pp. 79-80 and Goitein index card and notes linked below.)

Fragment of a legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe.

Ketubba fragment. Opening only. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1[4]31 Seleucid, which is 1119/20 CE. Groom: [...] b. Tiqva. Bride: Ḥasana bt. [...].

Legal document, bottom part only, plus qiyyum/validation. Location: Fustat. Dated: [14]38 Seleucid, which is 1126/27 CE. Witnesses: Avraham b. Shemaʿya ha-Ḥaver descendant of Shemaʿyahu Gaon; Ḥalfon b. Menashshe; Meshullam b. Menashshe ha-Ḥaver; Ḥalfon b. Ghālib; Natan b. Yefet. The qiyyum is signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi; Zakkay b. Moshe; Menashshe ha-Kohen ha-Ḥaver b. [Yaʿīsh?].

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involves [...] b. Munajjā al-ʿAṭṭār and his young daughter. Involves giving something to his in-law Abū l-Faḍl Menashshe al-Raffā' ("the darner").

Legal document. Apparently unfinished. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated 1145 CE (Elul 1456 Seleucid). Involves a certain Abū l-Ḥasan b. Mūsā.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Concerns Abū l-Faḍā'il and his wife ("amḍā la-hā al-taṣarruf fī jamīʿihā"). No details preserved. Dated: 1135 CE, under the reshut of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. Witnesses: Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, Natan b. Shelomo, and Avraham b. Yeshuʿa (ZL). (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Cairo. Dated: 23 Nisan 1434 Seleucid, which is 1123 CE.

The first six leaves of a copy of the Ghurar al-Balāgha of Hilāl al-Ṣābi' — a book of formularies for letter-writing — copied in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Edited by Gottheil and discussed by Cohen in "Correspondence and Social Control in the Jewish Communities of the Islamic World," Jewish History 1, no. 2 (1986): 39-48.

Deed of gift to an engaged woman. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: 1440 Seleucid, which is 1128/29 CE. This gift was given in addition to the payment of the ketubba and the 'added to the ketubba',and the women could do with it as she pleases. Edited also at Weiss, Ḥalfon, Doc. #9.

Letter in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Addressed to someone important, possibly the Nagid, and possibly specifically Maṣliaḥ Gaon (based on some flattering phrases that also appear in other letters to Maṣliaḥ). He is writing to seek help on behalf of a man named Isḥāq b. T[hābit?] who has been arrested.

Fragment of a will in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (dated to between 1127 and 1139) in which a man on his deathbed, after having distributed his possessions, orders the sale of his riding beast and his wasif (servant) in order to pay the burial expenses. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 132; III, p. 432)

Legal document. Deed of sale for a house in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ that Levi b. Namer sells to Abū l-Ḥasan al-Ṣayrafī Shelomo ha-Kohen b. Menashshe ha-Kohen for 20 dinars, first 10 days of Sivan 1438, in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Witnesses: Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuʾel ha-Safaradi, Netanʿel b. ʿAmram. Cod.Heid.Or.78–80 were purchased from a dealer in Cairo by Adalbert Merx, who published them in 1894 and donated them to the University of Heidelberg Library after his death. (Marina Rustow)

Court record in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dating: Mentions the date Av 1425 Seleucid, which is 1114 CE. This is a post-divorce settlement. The former husband, Seʿadya b. Avraham, and the former wife, Jawhara bt. Seʿadya known as Abū l-Yumn b. al-Baṣal, release each other from all claims. She initiated the divorce by agreeing to forego the delayed payment from her marriage contract (this is known as "ransom" or iftidā'), and the court obligated him to give her the bill of divorce. The ex-husband does commit to maintaining their infant daughter by giving Jawhara 10 dirhams each month and 8 pieces of clothing each year. Information from Friedman's edition and from Goitein's index card.

Legal document. Partnership. Dating: 1100-1138. Location: Fustat. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. This undated fragment concerns a partnership in money-changing; the active partner was Abū al-Surūr Peraḥya b. Menashshe, brother of Ḥalfōn b. Menashshe. The woman Nasab, mentioned on lines 10 and 13, is Peraḥya’s (and Ḥalfōn’s) mother. Peraḥya handed over some amount to his mother, which she acknowledged and recorded as a debt. These funds seem to have been a loan out of partnership capital, indicated by the mention of “the funds in his hands”. On the other hand, no description of the partnership itself is preserved here. The name of Peraḥya’s partner is also not preserved, though it may have been Ḥasan Eli b. Maṣliaḥ (mentioned in line13). It is unclear what role Eli played in the transaction. The signatories are not preserved. But the title "Mordecai of his time" (see line 1) is applied to Moshe b. Mevorakh alone; thus, although his name is not preserved, this document may refer to Mevorakh b. Saadiah and his son Moshe. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 277-278)

Legal document. Large release in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated 1130 CE. Khalaf/Ḥalfon b. Yosef Ibn Qashqūsh declares to have no claims whatsoever against Abū l-Baqāʾ Elʿazar b. Evyatar al-Ahwāzī after the settlement of the inheritance of his wife. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Fragment of a will, written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, in which the donor, an old man being in good health, specifies the legacies made by him, especially in favor of his wife, emphasizing that they were irrevocable. Also he gives a bible codex, bible commentaries, and other books to synagogue in Alexandria. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, 133)

Fragment of a legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Mentions a Moshe ha-Levi ha-Zaqen.