Geniza Lab

The death of Shelomo Lebdi was not only a serious personal blow to his brother, Yosef Lebdi, but it also meant that Yosef could lose half of his property to his nephew, David b. Shelomo, depending on what type of partnership the court will determine to have existed between the two brothers. While I, 20 (Mosseri V 374 1 A3) shows a testimony forward by David, this document shows a testimony in the court of Fustat brought forward by Yosef Lebdi. Sedaqa b. David testifies regarding a rather large shipment (worth about 400 dinars) that Yosef deposited in his hands to be delivered in Tripoli (Libya) in the Maghreb to Shelomo Lebdi or his son David. The fragmentary state of the document prevents a detailed understanding of the events. The document is dated to August 17, 1101 (in the English edition the date is August 19, 1101).

Letter of a merchant in Egypt to the Maghreb containing information on Yosef Lebdi's arrival in Aydhab, after a successful trip to India. The writer asks the recipient to buy for him good quality corals and reports on the current state of Egypt and the Nile. He informs the recipient about the arrival of merchants in Qus, and about the merchandise they brought. Remarkable is the piece of information regarding the entire amount of merchandise that has arrived so far in Aydhab: 9,000/13,000 bales of goods. Among these merchants was Yosef Lebdi with a shipment of 80 bales of lac packed in Nahrwara, 50 bales of pepper and other merchandise. Friedman dates the letter to approximately 1101.

Legal rebuttal regarding the lawsuit between Yosef Lebdi and Wuhsha over the possession of 22 bales of lac. So far, six bifolia and two leaves have been identified, totaling 28 pages of what must have been 40 pages in 2 quires. It seems that the judge in the lawsuit ruled in Lebdi's favor. A certain 'rayyis' wrote and published a critique of the ruling and supported Wuhsha's position. The judge answered with a rebuttal, and what has survived in the Geniza is the rayyis's rebuttal of the judge's rebuttal. The writer often quotes passages from his original critique and from the judge's answer. While the document is complex and obscure, the positions of the two sides are simple. The judge believed Lebdi's agreement with his two partners, Farah and Abu Nasr, includes the 22 loads of lac in question, as long as the other party does not provide proof that it does not include them. The unnamed rayyis argued that since Lebdi had no proof that the 22 bales belonged to his partnership with Farah and Abu Nasr, they must be considered as belonging to Farah's and Abu Nasr's heirs, since the bales are in their possession. In other words, since the bales are in the hands of the heirs, the burden of proof must be on Lebdi. Farah and Abu Nasr, it must be remembered, were murdered in Aydhab. Lebdi was entitled to 29 shares out of 30 of everything in their partnership and Abu Nasr and Farah had between them only one share. Farah's heirs already took their small share of the 22 bales of lac. It is worth noticing that only Wuhsha is mentioned as 'the heir' to Abu Nasr, even though we know she had another brother and two sisters. The trial between Lebdi and Wuhsha took place in 1104, three years after Lebdi came back from India, because the judge intentionally delayed the proceedings to give the parties time to come to an agreement. The last fragment, whose place in the larger document is not known, contains the information that the case was brought before a Muslim judge, who ruled in Wuhsha's favor. This document was thus written during or shortly after 1104. ENA 2855 16: I, 27a p. 1 T-S Ar 47 245: I, 28, p. 1 ENA 2855 15: I, 27a, p. 2 T-S Ar 43 272: I, 27 T-S G2 60: I, 28a, pp. 1-8 T-S Ar 49 33: I, 28b. For further explanation of the complex codicology of this document see Friedman's notes in pp. 174-177 in the Hebrew edition, and pp. 242-244 in the English edition.

Power of attorney by Shemuel Ibn al-Lebdi from late tenth-early eleventh century Fustat. Shemuel appoints a man (only 'son of Ḥalfon' survives) to sue Nissi b. Yaʿaqov.

In this incompletely preserved contract, Yosef Lebdi provided merchandise worth 460 dinars with which the active partner Khalluf would trade. Lebdi will receive three-quarters of the profits and Khalluf one quarter. The contract is described as mudarabat al-tujjar, a merchants' commenda, which normally provides for a division of two-thirds and one third of the profit. Here the active partner did not make an investment on his side and so his share in the profits was lower.

The testimony of Arus b. Yosef about Lebdi's partnership with his brother Shelomo Lebdi. After Shelomo Lebdi drowned in the spring of 1099 on his way from Tunis to Spain, his son David had to secure his rights as heir. The first step was the testimony of Arus b. Yosef, a travel companion of Lebdi, who testified in the court of Fustat on the nature of partnership between the two Lebdi brothers. The document is dated to June 10, 1099.

India Book I, 9: Draft of court proceedings from Fustat dealing with the dispute between Yosef ha-Lebdi the India trader and Yequtiʾel b. Moshe, 'the representative of merchants' in Fustat. After seven weeks had past from the last session (see I, 8), it was clear that Lebdi and Yequtiʾel had reached no agreement between them. They returned to court and the trial continued. We hear that Lebdi was considering the desperate act of delaying the prayer in the synagogue (or appealing to Muslim authorities see p. 81 n. 1 in the Hebrew edition). The document is dated June 10, 1098.

Draft of an oath to be taken by Yosef Lebdi in which he enumerates his assets. Due to the litigation between Yosef Lebdi and his nephew, David b. Shelomo, following Shelomo's death, Yosef Lebdi was to make a formal oath stating that he had cheated neither his brother nor nephew. The draft is incomplete, probably because the elders of the community intervened and prevented such a respectable merchant as he from the shame of making such an oath. There is reason to believe that the detailing of Yosef's assets and dealings is complete.

The widow of Abu al-Barakat, the son of Yosef Lebdi, buys a sixth of two adjacent stores for 53 and three/fourths dinars. The widow was Sitt al-Sada, daughter of Abu Nasr al-Tinnisi. This same share of the two stores was bought at an earlier date by Abu al-Fadil, a physician, from his two nephews. These nephews retained the right to buy.

Court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tuesday, 21 Adar II 1377 Seleucid, which is 21 March 1066 CE. Maymūn b. Yaʿaqov declares that he acted as the authorized person for the brothers Shelomo and Moshe b. Avraham b. al-Lebdī, to receive the inheritance(?) of their father’s maternal uncle from Nissim b. Ḥalfon b. Benaya. It seems that Nissim b. Ḥalfon was supposed to pass on the money, books, and other items to the sons in Sicily, but he had traveled to Egypt instead. The completed document, signed by five people, shows that the brothers lived somewhere in the Maghrib and the problem was how to preserve for them the items concerned until they had them in hand. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #823, and from Goitein and Friedman, India Book.) The witnesses: Yosef b. Yiṣḥaq Fāsī; Salāma b. Avraham; Menashshe b. Yefet ha-Levi; ʿEli b. ʿAmram ha-Levi; Yehuda b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi. The validation (qiyyum) is signed by the ḥaver ʿEli b. ʿAmram (distinct from the ʿEli b. ʿAmram ha-Levi who signed the main document); Mevorakh b. Seʿadya; and Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe. VMR

India Book I, 14: Letter from Yosef Lebdi to Ḥasan b. Bundar, 'the representative of the merchants' in Aden, written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. There are several indications that the letter was composed in an early stage of the court case between Yosef Lebdi, the India trader, and Yequtiʾel b. Moshe, 'the representative of merchants' in Fustat. An important piece of information in the letter is that on his way back from India, Yosef Lebdi stopped at Mirbat, on the southern coast of Arabia, and from there continued straight to Dahlak, on the western shore of the Red Sea, thereby by-passing Aden (and Ḥasan b. Bundar) completely. Lebdi made arrangements with Bundar that he would forward the money that Lebdi and Yequtiʾel were owed. The fact that Lebdi did not settle his affairs in Aden contributed much to his current conflict with Yequtiʾel. At the time of writing of this letter, the fact that the large shipment of pepper, bought by Lebdi in India, had sunk on the way was unknown to Lebdi and Yequtiʾel in Fustat.

Legal document: testimony about the will of Yosef Lebdi. This fragment, written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli, records that before leaving for his last journey, Lebdi made the will. Friedman dates the fragment to the beginning of the 12th century.

Court proceedings in the case of al-Wuhsha (or al-Wahsha) against Yosef Lebdi. Wuhsha's representative, Moshe b. Yeshua, sued Lebdi for what he claimed was the share of Wuhsha's brother, Abu Nasr, in Lebdi's merchandise, sold or unsold. The document is written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and was signed by Eli ha-Levi b. Nethanel and Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel, one of the two Fustat judges. The document is dated to June 30, 1104.

Copy of three court proceedings involving the sale of a house. Najiya, the wife of the Yefet b. Avraham, 'The Pride of the Community,' made a 'conditional sale' of a house to Yosef Lebdi for 500 dinars. Lebdi moved his family to the ground floor and rented out the upper floors. For a year and ten months after the sale of the house, Lebdi still owed Najiya 80 dinars for the house. Only after he returned from another successful India voyage, he could pay this debt. The three court sessions were concerned with the rents due Najiya, an issue compounded by Lebdi's claim that the rent for the ground floor was included in the 80 dinars and the fact that the subtenants claimed that they paid part of their rent by repairs and upkeep to the house. The last court proceeding is apparently dated to April, 20, 1103. T-S 8J9.2 = IB I,24a.

Naba, the son of Abu al-Barakat, the son of Yosef Lebdi, appoints two attorneys to settle his claim over 'sugar, sugar molasses (qatara) and (other) goods'. Friedman identifies the handwriting to be that of Avraham Maimonides. This is important due to the legal terminology in the document. The appointment is carried out not only by the legal transfer of four cubits in the land of Israel, but also through the threshold of the house he inherited from his father. This draft was written in Fustat, before 1237.

India Book I, 13a: Letter fragment from Yosef b. David Lebdi to Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan b. Bundār, the representative of the merchants in Aden, written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. The letter deals with the ongoing litigation between Yosef Lebdi and Yequtiʾel (named on recto). The verso contains a sort of summary of the content of the letter. This suggests that this fragment was a draft copy kept in the dossier in Fustat. Friedman proposes that the statement in line 3, 'they sent with me,' suggests that Lebdi carried with him goods sent by at least one other merchants besides Yequtiʾel. The join (T-S AS 153.160) includes the phrase "from Dahlak" in the first line. Joins: Alan Elbaum.

Remnants of eight lines in the hand of the court clerk Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (dated documents 1100–38) consisting mainly of legal verbiage. Yosef Lebdi's son, Abū l-Barakāt, set out to retrieve the goods and other assets his father had left on the India route. Abū l-Barakāt appointed Yosef's widow, probably his own mother, as a caretaker to look after the estate until he returned from his voyage.

Awaiting description

Legal proceedings whereby two friends of Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq testify to the court of how Avraham betrothed his cousin, Sitt al-Ahl b. Yosef Lebdi. Apparently When Yosef Lebdi was alive, Avraham and his mother lived in the Lebdi residence. When both Lebdi and Avraham's mother died, Avraham sought to marry Lebdi;s daughter so that he would still be tied to the great merchant's house. He came to Sitt al-Ahl's house, with two male friends and a certain prominent member of the community to try to secure the match. Lebdi's widow, Sitt al-Ahl's mother, tried to stall and wait until Sitt al-Ahl's older brother, now the man of the house, came back from his journey. Avraham, however, did not want to leave empty handed and pressured the widow to agree. Sitt al-Ahl was summoned and she agreed to the match. Avraham betrothed Sitt al-Ahl with two rings, one of gold and one of silver, and gave her five dinars. All this was done in the presence of her mother and her younger brother. The betrothal was carried out in November 1118 and the court record is from January 1120. Friedman rightly notes that the record was made after it became clear that Sitt al-Ahl was not intending to marry Avraham and, indeed, the court ruled that she is legally Avraham's wife and required a formal bill of divorce. The story can also be read as how a young relative could pressure and almost bully his female cousin to agree to a marriage by coming into her house with two young male friends, while only her widowed mother and young brother were in the house.

Court proceedings in which the two brothers, Abu al-Fadl and Ma'ali, the sons of Ayyash, claimed certain assets of Farah, who was murdered in Aydhab, from a certain Abu Ali. In connection with this they asked the court to register that Lebdi had acknowledged in court a long time ago that he had no claims to these assets. Abu Ali, apparently, claimed that he owed the money to Lebdi rather than to the two brothers. The document is from 1106/7.