Geniza Lab

Bill of release written by Hillel b. ʿEli (1066–1108 CE). Location: Damascus. Names mentioned include: Avraham b. Yeshuʿa, Yehuda b. Moshe the Damascene cantor, Menashshe b. Yefet ha-Kohen, Shelomo b. Moshe, ʿUlla b. Yosef ha-Levi, Ḥalfon b. Yiṣḥaq, the scholar Levi b. Netanel the cantor, the Nasi David b. Daniel b. ʿAzarya, Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen, Yeshaʿya b. Menashshe, Yehuda b. Moshe the cantor, Shelomo b. Mevorakh he-Ḥaver, Mevorakh b. Natan ha-Kohen, Avraham b. Shemaʿya he-Ḥaver, Menashshe b. Sibāʿ ha-Levi, Wahb b. Yeshuʿa, Aharon b. Moshe, and Meshullam b. ʿEli ha-Kohen. At the bottom of the document Shelomo b. Yosef ha-Kohen signs ‘Shelomo ha-Kohen son of a Gaʾon … grandson of Shelomo Gaʾon, descendant of Aharon’, although his usual signature - Shelomo b. Yosef Av - was apparently meant to placate the son of his father’s rival to the gaonate, David b. Daniel, in whose court he participated. In this instance, however, Shelomo decided against his customary diplomatic signature and emphasized his father’s credentials. (Information from CUDL.)

Court record in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli (ca. 1066–1108). Dated: Tammuz 1387 Seleucid, which is 1076 CE. Location: Fustat. Record of a partnership concerning half a qintar of opium. The participating parties are Avraham b. Elʿazar ha-Levi and Abū l-ʿAlāʾ ʿUlla b. Yosef ha-Levi. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards; Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 262, 582; EMS.) Join: Oded Zinger.

Letter draft from Hillel b. ʿEli, in Tyre to the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saʿadya, in Fusṭāṭ. Ca. 1094 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Two fragments, which may not directly join with each other. Dated: [13]99 Seleucid, which is 1087/88 CE. Groom: Yefet b. Menashshe. Bride: Mawlāt bt. Mevasser, a divorcee. Written by Hillel b. ʿEli (dates: 1066–1108). Signed by ʿEli ha-Parnas and Meshullam b. [...] (Information in part from CUDL.) AA. ASE.

Legal document. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli (1066–1108). Rough draft of an agreement between spouses, detailing the conditions that the husband must obey when he takes a second wife. It is implied that the first wife is barren. Among other things, the husband undertakes to leave the female slave to his first wife when he dies. On verso there is a distinct document, also in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli, dealing with a business partnership between Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm Ibn Ṭībān, Abū l-Ḥasan Yūsuf, and ʿUlla.

Fragment from a legal deed written by Hillel b. Eli (Dating: 1066-1108)

Later text: Brief note from Hillel b. Eli to Mevorakh b. Saadya saying that he has sent him Levantine parchment. Goitein's note card contains a full transcription.

Small fragment from a legal deed, probably written by Hillel b. Eli (Date: 1055-1108)

Fragment of a court record, probably a quarrel between partners about amount of money. Seems
s s
be written by Hillel b. Eli (Date: 1066-1108)

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: 1108. Location: Fustat. Written in the hand of the court clerk Hillel b. ʿEli. An agreement between Abū al-Faḍl Mevorakh b. Abraham Ibn Sabrī and Abū ‘Imrān Moshe b. Mordecai ha-Kohen for a yearlong partnership in a shop selling olives and food commodities. Mevorakh and Moshe invested 80 and 50 dinars, respectively. Moshe seems to be in charge of the shop, garnering two-thirds of the profit and being responsible for two-thirds of the losses. He must prepare a reckoning at the end of the year, without required notarization. However, if the partnership has decreased in value, there is to be a judgment between the partners. The partners are not allowed to quit the partnership before the end of the one-year period, after which they may either renew or terminate it. However, if they decide to terminate, Moshe has two months to return Mevorakh’s investment. Mevorakh, a Parnas, must have been involved in social welfare tasks. Moshe has much autonomy in the shop, taking on “trust in Heaven” that he will not defraud his partner in absentia. (Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 257)

Long strip from a ketubah written by Hillel b. Eli, and probably by Ishaq b. Shmuel (the Spaniard, see the join TS NS 324.87c), The groom's name is probably Michael and the bride [Sitt al S]ada d. Eli. AA