Geniza Lab

Legal document. On parchment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involves [...] b. Ṣadaqa ha-Zaqen and an Abū l-Riḍā. Mentions the port of ʿAkka and somebody who drowned in the Indian Ocean. Med Soc III, IX, C, 4, n. 48. Acre was taken by the Crusaders in 1104. (Information from Goitein's attached notes.)

Poem by Avraham Ben Yiju in honor of Judge Labrāṭ II (aka Labrāṭ b. Moshe b. Labrāt Ibn Sughmār. Location: Yemen. Dating: Possibly ca. 1140 CE.

Maqāma-like work in rhymed Hebrew prose by a certain Shelomo b. Yehuda (not the 11th-century gaʾon, as this fragment is probably 12th–13th century), describing how his father Yehuda migrated from Spain to Egypt to Yemen, married a woman in Yemen, and returned to Egypt, where Shelomo was born. But then the devil led the father astray to take a second wife, who gave birth to a son named Evyatar and two daughters "of different religions"(?!). One of the girls died; Shelomo accuses his brother Evyatar of trying to sleep with the remaining sister; both Evyatar and the remaining sister died; and now Shelomo is writing this hymn of gratitude on account of how God liberated him from his wicked half-siblings. Recto is written over jottings in Arabic script, mainly formulae. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Yosef Ibn Ghiyāt, in Spain, to Ḥalfon b. Netanʾel ha-Levi. Dating: ca. 1138/39 CE. The letter mostly consists of pleasantries. Yiṣḥaq received Ḥalfon's letters "perfumed with myrrh and frankincense" (כתבך אלכראם מקוטרות מור ולבונה), praises Ḥalfon's nobility and generosity, and asks him when he plans to travel. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)

Bill of sale for the purchase of a house by Maḥrūz. Constructed from three fragments: T-S NS 184 52, T-S NS 184 55 and T-S NS 184 56. Location: Fustat. Dating: 1131–32 CE.

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.

Spain; Probably Tamuz or Av, 1138 This is a large remnant of the epistle written in Ḥalfon’s handwriting and the addressee is Rabbi Yosef ha-Levi b. Meir, that is Rabbi b. Migash. Although it is not the original letter, as we learned from two matters: the very fact that it is in the Genizah and the fact that it is written on invalid government paper, a sheet on which there are remains of monumental Arabic writing, and it is unlikely that Ḥalfon would have sent his letter to the rabbi on used paper. However, the writing is neat and beautiful and has no erasures or corrections, and it turns out to be a clean copy after the completion of the letter. Less than half the width of page A survived. The first lines of page B survive intact, but a large part is torn and missing later. Yes, the last lines of the entire manuscript are missing, however, based on the surviving text, Goitein assume that the number of lines that are completely missing at the end of the page is only small. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Ṣāfī b. Yakhin appoints [Yaʿ]aqov(?) b. Yiṣḥaq(?) al-Sijilmāsī as his agent to collect aloe from another merchant, probably Abū ʿUmar b. [...] ha-Levi Ibn al-Baghdādī. Ṣāfī b. Yakhin also appears posthumously in L-G Misc. 48. (Information in part from Goitein notes linked below.) Join: Alan Elbaum and Oded Zinger. AA. ASE.

Notes in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Netanel regarding a sugya in Bava Metzia. Very possibly written during his stay in Lucena, Spain, 1138/39 CE, while he was studying under Yosef Ibn Migash. (Information from India Book IV, Hebrew description below). Probably Spain; 1138-1139

Letter fragment from Saʿīd b. Marḥab, in Aden, to Abū l-ʿAlā b. Abū Naṣr ha-Kohen, probably in Fustat. In Hebrew (for the introduction) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body). Dating: mid-12th century. Abū l-ʿAlā’s father is dead, indicated not only by the usual post-mortem blessing after his name (זכ׳׳ל) but also the Hebrew חיי before his name. The address is on verso. Blank spaces on both sides contain Arabic script, seemingly practice for the beginnings of letters. (Information from CUDL.)

Document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (left side). Concerning business in pepper in Yemen. Involves Seʿadya ha-Kohen, Abū l-Khayr, Yeshuʿa ha-Levi b. [...] Rosh ha-Qahal, and Abū l-Mufaḍḍal. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Order of delivery for one raṭl of olive oil (zayt ṭayyib). From Abū Zikrī Kohen to al-Shaykh Khalīl (or Khalaf?).

Accounts in the hand of Abū Zikrī Kohen. Mentions the purchase of two silk cushions for 364 dinars (!?). On verso there is an order of payment (see separate record).

An order from Abū Zikrī Kohen. Khalīl is to give the bearer 1 raṭl of linseed oil (zayt ḥār). On the other side, there are business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Abū Zikrī Kohen evidently tore up the accounts to get scrap paper for the order.

Draft of a letter from Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, perhaps in Damascus, to R. Ḥiyya. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1145–46 CE. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come)

Legal testimony. Location: Aden. Dating: ca. summer 1131 CE. Fragment (upper right corner). The handwriting is very similar to that of the North African trader Yosef b. ʿEzra (cf. T-S 20.37 and BL OR 5566D.24 + T-S 10J16.8). This document alludes to controversies and confusion in Aden; the details of the story are almost entirely missing. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV.)

Order of payment. In Judaeo-Arabic. In which Tamīm b. Yaʿaqov asks Abū Saʿīd to give Abū l-Ḥasan b. Masʿūd the price of the bundle (ṣurra) of ben (al-bān), because the latter kindly made some wine for Tamīm. Goitein's notes indicate that the use of the term "ṣurra" proves a connection to the India trade. His notes also translate al-bān as "nutmeg."

Court register, fragment. Upper left corner of a legal record. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dating: 1127–39, under the reshut of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. Naḥman ha-Kohen sues his paternal uncle Yosef b. Moshe ha-Kohen concerning the estate of Yosef's brother Avraham b. Moshe ha-Kohen, who died in Yemen and had assets in both Yemen and Egypt. Information from Goitein notes linked below.

Letter from an India trader, in ʿAydhāb, to his family or colleagues, presumably in Fustat. In Arabic script. There is a transcription in Goitein's attached notes. He comments that "al-Asʿad is the tax farmer of the customs in ʿAydhāb. He receives 5 dinars customs duties and his employees (ghilmān) 1 dinar. Letters of recommendations were sent
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him with the sender. But he bheaved nicely even before he had seen the letters."

Abū Zikrī Kohen settles accounts with his banker Khiyār b. Nissim. Dated: 1134 CE. See Goitein's translation (attached).