Geniza Lab

Responsum by RADBAZ concerning immersion of women in the Nile. Published Glick, Sridei Teshuvot, p. 275-289. See also TS K25.222.

Responsum regarding qiyyum of legal documents

Fragment from a legal query concerning the bill of divorce given by Moshe Qudeisi, which is claimed to be given forcibly, and therefore is not valid. Published Glick, Sridei Teshuvot, p. 517-521

Responsum regarding a marriage permission to the chained wife of a silk dealer, who was on a business trip in the villages of Egypt and was murdered by bandits. His body was found, together with those of others, and was identified by gentiles, who gave his details to Jews who went to search for him. Published by Glick, Sridei Teshuvot, p. 416-443. AA

Recto: Legal query with responsum. Dating: First half of the 11th century. Concerning a cantor who took an oath not to lead prayers in the synagogue or to slaughter for the congregation in the market. In order to release him from the vow, the heads of the congregation asked him questions such as, would he have taken this oath if he knew that people would say that he was an idiot? If he knew that his family would get mad at him? If he knew that people would say that he was a melancholic (sawdāwī) and therefore prone to taking many oaths? He responded that he would not have taken the oath. Thus, they released him from his oath. The responsum is damaged but appears to state that the release from the vow is invalid. (Information from Amir Ashur via FGP.)

Letter from Yeḥiel b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Ẓarfati, in Jerusalem, to an unknown addressee, in Alexandria. The letter consists of a halakhic discussion, mostly in Aramaic, perhaps a responsum. It concludes with a report that Yeḥiel arrived safely in Jerusalem. Verso: Apart from the address there are jottings or accounts(?) in Arabic script. Information in part from FGP.

Query addressed to R. Yosef 'the Rav' concerning a case of inheritance. Headed by the unusual בשמ רחמ וחנינא. Involves several brothers, one minor. Quite damaged. (Information from Goitein's index cards.)

Responsum of a gaon, copied into a literary compilation.

Responsum regarding a cantor who mistakenly called to six readers instead of seven in Shabbat Hodesh. Published Glick, Seridei Teshuvot, II, p. 894-888.

Query and response in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, who was the leader of the Jerusalem congregation in Fustat between 1007 and 1050. Bareket notes that there are fragments of his legal writings in the Geniza and suggests that these were collections of responsa (Bareket, Jewish Leadership, 120). The many amendments in the manuscript suggests that this is an answer he has composed himself, thus providing further confirmation to Bareket's suggestion that he used to compose responsa literature. It is hard to understand the nature of the responsum at hand due to its state, but it seems like it deals with a woman who appointed her sister's husband as a representative for the marriage. It appears that she sought to re-marry her previous husband while her brother-in-law agreed to a marriage with another man. The woman claimed that she did not intend to appoint him as her representative and that there were no witnesses to such an appointment. The Rabbi decided that the marriage to the other man were invalid and the woman may marry her previous husband. If the marriage to the other man had been conducted she would have been forbidden by Jewish Law to her previous husband This manuscript should be added to the corpus of manuscripts of Efrayim b. Shemarya published by Bareket, Jews of Egypt 1007-1055.

A Geonic responsum. AA

Responsum? Small fragment from the bottom of the page, written by the hand of Menashshe b. Ya'aqov (1116-1132. Compare with DK 187, p. 6r, where he signed his name). To the best of my knowledge we don’t have legal documents written by him. Also, the format of the fragment is identical with those of his responsa. Judeo Arabic. AA

Responsum. Long and narrow strip of paper, containing a responsum regarding the property of orphans. It seems that the ruling is not to deliver the property to the claimant. Citing BT ketubbot 87a, and probably BT Baba Batra 23a and Arakhin 22a. Also mentioning a legal deed that has to be fulfilled and a testimony. On verso remains of an Arabic text. (Description from FGP by A. Ashur). Judeo-Arabic and Aramaic. AA

Legal query with Avraham Maimonides' autograph responsum and signature. Description from Penn Catalog: "The recto contains three related inquiries, in three separate paragraphs. Each of the inquiries is signed with the common salutation ושכרו כפול מן השמים; In the remaining exterior edge of the lower two thirds, written lengthwise to fit the open space, is R. Abraham's six-lines of reply, probably in his own hand. The reply starts with the headline אלגואב and is signed אברהם ברבי משה זצ״ל; The inquiry deals with the debt of an unnamed widow. Published from this source in the edition edited by Goitein and Freimann: Teshuvot / Avraham ben ha-Rambam ; Abraham Freimann and S. D. Goitein [editors]. Jersualem : Meḳitse nirdamin, 1937, p 202-204, item no. 118; The folio has been folded lengthwise into two halves, after the primary inscriptions. The verso bears a secondary inscription that fits this fold. It contains two columns of Hebrew poetry; The right column is filled by a poem in honor of a prince named Joshua, that starts מה תצרי מה תרחבי. Published from this source by Israel Davidson: Ginze Shekhṭer. New York : Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1928-1929, v. 3, p. 307-308; The left column, ll. 1-5 is a short poem that starts צורי חסדיך, published, from a different source, by S. Wertheimer: Sefer Zikhron le-rishonim ṿele-aḥaronim / Solomon Aaron Werthaimer. Yerushalayim : Bi-defus ha-Aḥim Solomon, 1909, part 3, p. 6a; Followed by Judah ha-Levi's יפה נוף (in H. Brody's: Diṿan / Yehudah ha-Leṿi (Judah, ha-Levi) ; Heinrich Brody [ed.] Berlin : Ḥevrat Meḳits nirdamim, 1910-, v. 2, p. 167 and also in Harkavy's edition: Yehudah ha-Leṿi / Albert Harakvy [ed.]. Ṿarsha : Aḥiasaf, 1893-1895, v. 1, p. 7); Under the heading אחר מאברם בן אזרא ז"ל, Abraham ibn Ezra's לאלהים כלתה נפשי (in the Diwan of Abraham Ibn Ezra: Diṿan le-Rabi Avraham ben Ezra / Aḳiva ben Yosef Eger [ed.]. Berlin, 1886, p. 187)."

Legal query with responsum. In Judaeo-Arabic. Quite faded.

Responsa. One query on the Meaning of the words תשבץ and שש. The answer did not survived. On recto a discussion on the difference between animals that can not be sacrificing and man, that can repent his sins (from FGP). Hebrew. AA

Recto: Probably a legal query. Verso: The responsum? A discussion based on rabbinic literature. Damaged

Query in Judeo-Arabic addressed to an unidentified legal authority concerning a husband's financial obligations towards his wife. The text mentions several objects including the wife's household effects and gold and silver jewelry, and the existence of three children. Undated. Recto is largely effaced and appears to be unrelated.

Responsum of Avraham Maimonides. Autograph. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioned in India Book I, p. 276.

Responsum/letter regarding different versions of the Tosefta, mentioning Fustat, Damascus, and Babylonia. Verso: "This letter pertains to the venerable elder Shela b. Nissim." See FGP for further information by Amir Ashur.