Geniza Lab

Letter written by a sick man who asks the recipient to buy him a female slave, for "I have no one to give me medicine," and the children are sick (maṭrūḥīn) as well. Someone in the past told him not to buy a female slave, but now this person tells him to buy one. However, he has no way of accessing his money. Abū l-Faḍl has not been helpful in this matter. He urges the recipient (possibly his brother, since he invokes "my master's upbringing" of the recipient) to do his utmost to get hold of the 5 dinars belonging to the writer, and to go to the Rayyis Abū l-Najm and purchase a female slave with the money. At the bottom appears the signaure Shelomo ha-Levi b. Moshe ha-Shishi, but this name is not completely legible and may not belong to the letter. The handwriting of this signature may be consistent with that of Shelomo ha-Levi b. Moshe ha-Sheviʿi, who appears in T-S 16.356, a legal document dated 1120 CE. If the two are the same person (one before and one after his promotion), this letter was composed some time after 1120 CE. Verso contains several of the same phrases from recto. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter from a man, probably in Alexandria, to his 'brother,' probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer's maternal uncle has recently died. The bulk of the letter deals with a dispute whose details are difficult to reconstruct. Much of it seems to be reported speech between the writer and a woman. The writer also complains of difficult economic circumstances and the high price of flax and yarn. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) ASE

Unsigned deed from Fustat, dated May 1217, concerning the potential marriage of a female slave, Akramiyya. She had been purchased by As'ad, the physician when she was an infant, raised under him, and then freed. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:82, 443; Oded Zinger, Women, Gender, and Law, 283) EMS One of two copies; the other is ENA 2559.13 (PGPID 6594). Alternative description: this is a second draft of an unsigned testimony from late Iyyar 1528 sel., regarding the origins (and implicitly, eligibilty for marriage) of Akramiyya. It is not stated specifically that she was a slave, or that she was freed. ENA 2559.13 is not another copy but an earlier version, from mid-Iyyar 1528, which includes erasures of text which indeed is not to be found in the later version.

Letter from Abū l-Majd, in Fustat, to Barakāt b. Hārūn Ibn al-Kūzī, in Alexandria, sent via the shop of Maḥāsin al-Ḥarīrī. Dated: Ramaḍān, 620 AH, which is October 1223 CE. Abū l-Majd complains of the difficult times and his illness, and the problems of selling a sick female slave who actively resists being sold (recto, margin). Part of his haste to sell her is that he was denounced to the government (ghamazū ʿalayyā l-dīwān) and lost 52 dirhams, evidently taxes related to the slave. (Cf. ENA NS 77.254, an outline for a deed of sale of a slave, where "if someone tattles to the government" is a specific eventuality that is addressed.) Abū l-Majd asks Barakāt to come to Fustat and try to sell her. If it weren't for the bitter cold, Meir himself would come with her to Alexandria. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Document concerning the sale of a female slave named Ḍiyāʾ. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tuesday, 1 Nisan 1537 Seleucid, which is 31 March 1226 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. CUL Or.1080 J273 is an unsigned copy of the same document. Witnesses include: [...] b. Elʿazar ha-Kohen; Yefet b. Adonim; Shemuel b. Simḥa.

Sale of a female slave. Seller: David Ha-Levi. 25 dinars. Probably 12/13 century. (Ashur estimation). VMR

Bill of sale for a female slave. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1470 Seleucid, which is 1158/59 CE, under the reshut of Shemuel b. Ḥananya. One of the parties is Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū l-Karam. Signed: Berakhot ha-Kohen b. Shela; Avraham ha-Kohen b. Aharon.

Letter from an unknown writer, probably in Alexandria, to Abū l-Khayr (?) b. Yūsuf, in Fustat, care of Abū l-Ḥasan al-Yahūdī al-Ṣā'igh in the market of the goldsmiths. The letter is in Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. The writer is furious that the addressee traveled to Fustat, leaving behind debts in Alexandria and abandoning his wife and children, "may God not reward you," and repeatedly demands that he return immediately. The writer reports that the female slave left for al-Maḥalla 10 days ago, and a terrible rumor reached them that she is either critically ill (marīḍa ʿalā khuṭṭa) or dead. The addressee's wife is also "sick in her knee"; she had a fall, and now cannot sit up or stand up. The writer sends regards to many people including the addressee's sister and her children; Abū Naṣr and his son Salmān (?); and the old woman asks after her daughter. The addressee's other sister, Sitt Riyāḍ, his mother, and everyone in the house ask after the addressee's sister. ASE.

Court records in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, including three different transactions involving female slaves.

Letter from an unknown sender to Eliyyahu the Judge (called Abū l-Faraj al-Dayyān), in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script ("[to be delivered to] Ibn al-ʿAjamī who should give it to the judge Abū l-Faraj"). The sender complains about a female slave (al-jāriya) and says that he only went to the trouble of bringing her to Fustat because it was Eliyyahu's idea. He asks Eliyyahu to take possession of her from Abū l-Makārim and pass her on to Abū l-Munā b. Ṣāʿid ("I heard that he is a (slave?) broker, and he is my friend, and he will do his best with her in accordance with his manliness and nobility and benefaction...."). He repeats the instruction to obtain the slave from Abū l-Makārim and to thank him. Possibly mentions a woman (קמטה?) who gave birth (but this is not at all clear), and then urges Eliyyahu to help him "for God's sake." He reports that Eliyyahu's sons—Abū Zikrī the physician and Abū l-Barakāt—and Eliyyahu's wife (ahl baytak) are well. The reason Abū Zikrī has not yet come in person is that he has "a touch of ophthalmia" (ramad yasīr). Join: Alan Elbaum.

Legal document possibly concerning the manumission and conversion of a female slave. Mentions [...]l b. Elʿazar. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from an India trader in Quṣ. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably end of 11th or early 12th century, based on Goitein's assessment. The writer departed when sick (wajiʿ) and arrived healthy in Qūṣ after a Nile voyage of 14 days. He reports that a tremendous Fatimid treasure had been commandeered by al-Bulyanī (perhaps the head of the tribe which commanded the Qūṣ-ʿAydhāb route). The treasure included 70 slave women, each with a eunuch and jewels and a chest of textiles. See Goitein's attached transcription and correspondence with Claude Cahen.

Letter from Abū l-Faḍl, in Alexandria, to his son Ismāʿīl al-Fāṣid al-Yahūdī, in Aden. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Dated: Iyyar of the year 571 AH, which is 1175/76 CE. Awaits more detailed summary. See Goitein notes linked below.

Court record. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: Ṭevet 1438 Seleucid, which is 1126/27 CE. A woman (Ḥasana bt. Menashshe ha-Kohen the wife of Elʿazar b. Mevorakh ha-Kohen) had sued her brother (the banker Abū l-Ḥasan Shelomo b. Menashshe ha-Kohen) in the Muslim courts after she learned that the female slave (Iftikhār) she had purchased from him (for 17 dinars) had "defects" (ʿuyūb) which made her want to return her. They settled the matter when her brother agreed to reimburse 1.25 dinars of the purchase price. She has now received the settlement money, and she releases her brother from all subsequent claims against him in this matter. (Information in part from Craig Perry via FGP.)

Legal document. Scribe: Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Talmid (based on handwriting). Location: Fustat. Dated: Monday, 2[7] Kislev 1405 Seleucid, which is 1093 CE. ʿEli b. Yefet Ibn al-Wāsiṭī was summoned to the court of David b. Daniel b. ʿAzarya ha-Nasi (served 1082–94) to clarify the legal status of his daughter Milāḥ. ʿEli, who traveled between Fustat and Ashqelon, affirms that he bought a Nubian female slave named אכתרי (Aktharī? Ukthurī? Akthirī? Ikhtarī?) along with her daughter, in Ashqelon, for domestic service. After the daughter died, ʿEli freed the Nubian woman and married her, under the supervision of the Gaon Eliyya ha-Kohen (who served 1062–83). She subsequently gave birth to Milāḥ, who has now reached puberty. There was concern in Fustat that Milāḥ was actually identical with the original daughter whom ʿEli purchased and who died. ʿEli presents two witnesses from Ashqelon who confirm that the woman had no child when she married ʿEli. They were then asked about the interval of time between the marriage and the birth of Milāḥ, but they did not know. In any case, because Milāḥ was clearly born after the manumission of her mother, the court here acknowledges her as a legitimate Jew and grants her permission to marry whomever she pleases. This is one of the later documents known from David b. Daniel's tenure, and it is one of the handful of documents in which he is titled "Exilarch" (Rosh ha-Gola), none of which are earlier than 1092 CE. NB: T-S Misc.27.4.29 + T-S Misc.27.4.23 consists of two legal documents, both in the hand of Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Talmid, which have been glued together at 180 degrees to each other. (Information from Friedman, Jewish Polygyny, 314–19.) It seems that T-S AS 158.365 was originally connected to the main part of T-S Misc.27.4.29, or at least it relates to the same case; see separate record (PGPID 8366).

Legal document in the form of a letter addressed to the Gaon (Maṣliaḥ?). In Judaeo-Arabic. Signed by Yefet b. Shelomo and Elʿazar b. [...]. The bearer of the letter is Yosef b. Berakhot ha-Levi. He and his brother Hillel ha-Levi had shown up to the local court escorted by a messenger of the qāḍī, since Yosef had sued his brother Hillel in the Muslim courts, and Hillel was under house arrest (tarsīm). The dispute is over a female slave. Hillel claims that he purchased her from Yosef for 21.5 dinars 'without mushāwara.' However, Yosef claims that he sold her only 'with mushāwara,' and moreover, he only received 14 dinars. Yosef was asked why he sued his brother in the Muslim courts, and he said that he demanded from Hillel multiple times that he return the female slave and take his 14 dinars back. But Hillel refused, and Yosef became angry and took an oath to sue him in the Muslim courts. What happened next is harder to understand, and the document needs further examination. It seems they put the female slave and the 14 dinars in escrow for the time being. Hillel brought two witnesses 'who live with them in אלב[..."—"al-balad" would be the most common word, but the next letter doesn't look like a ל; maybe al-Bahnasā. The brothers, equipped with a letter each, are now coming to the capital for their suit to be resolved. Joins: Oded Zinger and Craig Perry. Description: ASE.

Legal document in which Abu al-Baqa gives to his married son Mukaram the rights to one half of the black female slave named Musk he had inherited from his deceased wife.

Dowry list (taqwīm). No names No muqaddam or me'uḥar. Among the goods is a female slave named Balgh al-Munā ('fulfillment of wishes'). (Information in part from Goitein's index card)

Bill of sale for a Nubian female slave. Dating: 1204–38 CE. THe seller and the buyer are named Hiba and Mevasser. On verso there is another legal document that mentions 'the house of Eliyyahu the Judge.

Legal record (#32). Bill of sale, outline. Stating that a bill of sale (ʿuhda) shall be written for the sale of the slave wailing woman al-ʿAbīr. Seller: Abū l-Barakāt al-Thiqa. Buyer: Not named. Price: 40 dinars + qīrāṭ. She is called both al-mughanniya ("singer") and al-nā'iḥa ("professional wailer"). Information from Goitein's notes.