Geniza Lab

List of sums owed to or by a teacher, including 2.5 dirhams per weeks for teaching a son or orphan. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Four legal queries and one responsum in the handwriting of Daniel. b. Azarya. A part of a collection of questions that were sent to b. Azarya or one of his ancestors, as "Nasi" or "Rosh ha-Gola". The first question is about money that is kept by a guardian for orphans. The second deals with the value of promising money without a contract. The third is concerning a person who says bad things about his wife and as a result his son was seen by the community as "Halal". The fourth is about the responsibility of a person that inherited a vow that he did not fulfill. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, pp. 704-712) VMR

Letter of recommendation for a needy widow with two children from Damascus who, on recommendation of a letter from the muqaddam of Ascalon, had received what the community of Bilbays was able to come up with. Now she and her two orphans are recommended to Yiṣḥaq b. Sasson, the Cairene member of Maimonides' court, for more help. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 503)

Letter conveying instructions from the Nagid on behalf of a female orphan, evidently the response to a petition. She has lost most of her father's estate through expenses. She should be placed 'under the care' of Abū l-Faraj b. Abū l-Ḥasan al-Levi. Everything that has been brought to Fustat should be returned. On verso there is an inventory of goods (left to her? for her trousseau?). (Information from Goitein's index card.)