Geniza Lab

Letter covering family matters – [dated June 29 1923] – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 170) – in Hebrew. (information translated from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 51). An original scan of the letter and Arabic translation of it appear in Al-Janiza wa-l-maʿābid al-Yahūdiyya fī Miṣr (pp. 190-194). The letter covers the inheritance of two brothers' shares in a piece of real estate (they are Sālim and Yaḥyā al-Sharfī. It refers frequently to a legal document (שטר) connected to the property that the two letter signers, David Barim[?] and Sālim b. Yosef Binyamin, are each confirming to have seen or currently maintain in their possession. Their statements at the end of the letter have a probative legal tone, for example: "אני הצעיר שכותב מכתב זה ראיתי השטר שהוא מאושר ומקויים שהקרקע כל[?] שני האכים". MCD.

Legal document. Bill of attorney, written by Yosef b. Shemuʾel Halevi and approved by Maimonides, in his own hand. Published: מע"פ פרידמן, ר' משה בן מימון בתעודות משפטיות מן הגניזה, שנתון המשפט העברי, יד-טו (תשמח-תשמט), עמ' 180-181. Names mentioned: סלימאן, מוסי, אבו אלמנגא, מחאסן Signed by: Shemuʾel b. Saadya Halevi (the scribe's father), Shemuʾel b. Yosef, Moshe Hakohen b. Mordechai Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Verso: Letter from Hananya b. Yehuda to Yehi'el the judge b. Elyaqim. The writer asks the addressee to come to Jerusalem and decide in a legal matter. Recto: Part of the (draft of) the opening of a badly written letter. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from a man of high standing to the Nagid Shemuel (in office 1140-1159), dealing with a case of clothing, and a man who had been forced to sell his female slave. She was now living with the man's sister, and he continued to spend most of his time with her. Verso: Account fragment in Arabic script with Coptic numerals.

Letter written by Mevōrākh b. Natan and signed in full by the Gaon Sār Shālōm ha-Levi. The latter rebukes the muqaddam, or head of the Jewish community of al-Maḥalla, for neglecting essentials in favor of trifles, citing as an example the cases of two women, one of whom sent a proxy to the Gaon’s court over a matter of 1 and 11/24 dinars, and the other of whom vexed her son-in-law by intrusion into his house, unfounded accusations, and suits before Muslim courts. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 336, 502). EMS

Letter segment concerning some legal issues with the signature of Shemarya. The first concerns Nissim al-Iskandarani who has entered into a business partnership with an unnamed woman. Mention is also made of Shemarya’s school. Greetings are sent at the end to Yosef b. Salim. (Information from CUDL)

Legal. Bill of partnership. The partners are זכרי בר כלף, Moshe and Reuven. They were merchants in jewels with Mordechai from Alexandria. Hebrew. (FGP)

Letter in the hand of Shemuel b. Natan to a circuit judge (Goitein's index cards). Nine persons mentioned by name acting as a board of arbitration with a circuit judge sent from the capital presiding. The circuit judge was advised by his superior to attempt a decision by law only if arbitration failed. Damira, dated ca. 1150. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 339, 601)

Legal document; Literary text. Recto: paraphrase of sections of Esther with biblical phrases in Hebrew (including Esther 8:8; 3:13); Coptic numerals. Verso: further paraphrase of Esther; tajriba in Judaeo-Arabic (from CUDL). The hand of the literary piece and the tajriba is by a known scribe, Yosef b. Shemuʾel Halevi (ca. 1180's-1210). Also on verso, on the right side of the page, a bottom part from a legal deed from Tishrei 1511 (1199) by a different hand. Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Coptic numerals. AA

Legal document. Minute fragment from a legal document. Verso is blank Judeo-Arabic. AA

Legal Document. Damaged legal document, probably a deed of release. A slave girl is mentioned. Names: Sālim b. al-Lakāf, Mufaḍḍal b. Būs[a'd]. A partnership with Khalaf b. bint […] is mentioned. Also mentioned a bill of debt on Abu al-Ḥasan. Judeo-Arabic. AA

Memorial list; legal document. On recto a memorial list for the family of דוסא בר יעקב. On verso an Arabic document. AA

Legal document related to remission of debts. Location: Fustat. Dating: 966-1011CE. The legal parties mentioned in the document include: Saʿa[dya], Ishmael, Salāma and Yefet. The attestation section mentions Nathan b. Manasseh, [Samue]l b. Jacob, Munīr b. [...]. The document is signed by Šemarya ha-Rav [b. Elḥanan ha-Rav], who served as the head of the Babylonian community in Fustat. (Information from FGP). MCD.

Legal document draft. The undersigned witnesses attest to the appearance of a certain Yahuda ha-Kohen before a rabbinic court. The draft was left incomplete in line two following the mention of ha-Kohen. MCD.

Legal formulary. An ancient fragment from a book of legal formulas, contains few types of deeds, among them a bill of release of a slave גט שחרור. Was published and discussed in: מרגליות, הלכות ארץ ישראל מן הגניזה, עמ' 1-3, 9-10, 14, 18-19, 27-31. On verso a broken date, only the number 88 is preserved. It seems that the first publisher had a more complete fragment, because he reads : ארבעת אלפים וחמש מאות ושמונים ושמונה שנה לבריית עולם, that is the year 828. Indeed, the other part of the document, in Which the date appears is TS NS 211.1 (fgp). On bill of release of slaves see יחזקאל דוד, הגט ונוסחאותיו על פי תעודות מהגניזה ומקורות אחרים, עמ' 172-175, where this document is mentioned. AA

Legal deed involving R. Yiṣḥaq Luria Ashkenazi and Rafa'el Kalonymos. Location: Egypt. Dated: Tevet 5319 AM, which is 1559 CE. The deed details the terms under which a certain Refaʾel Kalonymos will settle a loan with Yiṣḥaq Luria Ashkenazi by working in the latter's "bazares/באזאריש" in Alexandria (l.5). As Avraham David notes in his description, "bazares/באזאריש" is most likely a reference to market shops. The witness Yosef b. Meʾir Somekh ha-Kohen is also likely the scribe, given that he penned at least four other legal documents across the sixteenth century (T-S 13J5.6, Moss. VII.20.1, T-S AS 145.222,T-S 13J4.23.) The scribal production of Yosef b. Meʾir Somekh ha-Kohen is also widely attested in responsa: Rabbi Meʿīr Gāviṣōn, responsum 9; Rabbi Beṣalel Ashkenazi, reponsum 33; Rabbi Yaʿacov Castro, responsum 18; Rabbi Ḥayīm Kapūsī, responsum 33, cited in Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky, "The Community and its Institutions / הקהילה ומוסדותיה", in The Jews of Ottoman Egypt 1517-1914, ed., Jacob Landau (Jerusalem: Misgav Yerushalayim, 1988), 177. (Information in part from Avraham David's edition on FGP.) MCD.

Document that tells the story of Aharon ha-Levi and Ḥalfon, who collected money on behalf of the Rambam (Maimonides) for ransom of captives. They sent the Rambam a list of names and amounts of money which people agreed to pay, from the Jewish community in al-Mahalla. One of the community members sold his female slave and gave nine dinars of the payment to the Rambam's messenger. On the other side Moses Maimonides declares that he received the money. Av-Elul 1170. (Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, 316-318) VMR

Legal query or responsum. In Judaeo-Arabic. Apparently concerning a brother whose two sisters each own a share of a house, and he swore that he would not enter his sister's house; which portions of the house may he enter?