Geniza Lab

Legal document. Agency agreement. Location: Fustat. Written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. T-S 10J4.16: agreement granting Abū l-Riḍā Shelomo b. Mevorakh power of attorney to collect from the assets of a partnership between three parties – Abū Sa‘īd Ḥalfōn b. Nissim Abū Ḥusayn al-Tinnīsī (the senior partner), Abū l-Faḍl Amram b. Abū Kathīr Efrayim, and Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Menashshe ha-Levi al-Jubaylī – once the partnership has ended. The partnership lasted three years, from January 1115 to January 1118, and its purpose was to export valuable items from Upper Egypt for resale in Yemen. The principal who retained Shelomo is eligible to collect from the entire partnership, which includes funds which Shelomo himself had placed with the partnership, acting as both principal and agent. Most of the legal form of the power of attorney is missing. The verso contains a copy of a release, in which Shelomo absolves his erstwhile partners from any further obligations, except for part of the profits which they owe him. Shelomo releases Ḥalfon and ʿAmram separately from Yeshu‘a. Here, the word ṣuḥba (T-S 10J4.16, line 4) refers to a joint investment or partnership, not a deposit. The unrelated(?) document (T-S 10J4.17) is a release document from Sitt al-Sāda, daughter of the last Palestinian Gaon Evyatar ha-Kohen to Menashshe b. Seʿadya ha-Kohen. The nature of their relationship is unclear. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 196, 261-263)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. "A litigation concerning an inheritance. Two partners were operating a store and upon the death of one of them the heir, a certain Naḥman, who was the nephew of the deceased sued the other party for whatever was due to him of this inheritance. He had not protested earlier because he was still a minor then. Abū l-Faḍl b. ʿUmayr was one of the customers. Naḥman, whose share in assets in the partnership was half, demanded his legitimate rights, and in the litigation pursued he asked for half of everything, i.e., capital (aṣl), income (nāqī), and goods such as a lamp made of copper. The sums of money preserved in the document are 600 dinars, 2015 dinars, 5 qirats and half a ḥabba, 20 dinars, and 32 dinars. A freed female slave is also mentioned, whom he manumitted after "he received her price from her." What may be understood from the end of the document preserved is that a settlement was reached according to which the defendant was freed from the oath due to him. No signatures are extant." (Information from Weiss)

Letter in the hand of Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment (upper left corner of recto). Mentions his shop; an inability to pay something; someone who received letters; someone who has many worries; "fulān b. fulān" and Abū ʿAlī.

Letter probably from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (upper left corner of recto). The handwriting is better than usual. There are greetings for the high holidays. Refers to a woman who is 'forgiven' for something; the arrival of Makhlūf; someone apparently having a bone set (injibār) who is unable to walk.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: Middle third of Tevet 143[.] Seleucid, which is 1118–28 CE. Power of attorney, granted by Abū Saʿd Seʿadʾel b. Netanʾel, to the agent Yosef b. Shelomo known as Ibn al-Tawwazī, empowering the absent agent to act in Seʿadʾel’s name against his opponent. (Information in part from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card. NB: There may be one additional join somewhere in this folder. Goitein calls this document T-S NS J185 (2) + (5) + (6).

Legal document written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Ḥeshvan 1432 Seleucid, which is 1120 CE. Court record concerning a father’s will. Abū l-Riḍā, writes his will before leaving on a business trip. His two children, Sittūna and his son, are the beneficiaries. Sittūna’s portion includes one eighth of a house, two female slaves, 25 dinars borrowed by her father against her bridal outfits and dowry, and other items. Avraham b. Ḥananel known as al-Amshāṭī (אלאמשאטי), the comb merchant, was a witness when the father wrote his will (the document notes he was summoned from a ‘drinking party’ in order to be a witness). The court record is signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya, Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, who also wrote the document. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index cards. Goitein referred to these two fragments as T-S NS J185 (8) and (12).

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. See Goitein's index card. NB: Goitein calls this document T-S NS J185 (10)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Settlement of a marital dispute between Elʿazar and his wife.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: 1435 Seleucid, which is 1123/24 CE. Essentially nothing else preserved.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Small fragment from the beginning of a partnership contract, probably for trading abroad. One of the partners is 'known as Ibn Ḥasan al-[...].'

Legal document written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (lower right corner). Dating: 1127–38 CE, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon. Involves Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa and Nissim.

Fragment of a prenuptial agreement. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Few details preserved.

Account of repairs of a house, written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (ca. 1127–39 CE). (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 600) EMS

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (upper left corner of recto). Mentions Abū l-Surur (their brother Peraḥya?); a request to convey information from Ḥassūn b. ʿAllūn. Yefet has sent something for Yehuda b. [...] with this letter. He mentions a good "made in Fustat, cheap."

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Consists almost entirely of legalese. Involves a parnas and his wife Sitt al-Milāḥ.

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Mentions Tinnīs. Mentions: the speaker wishing to will his or her money away; an amount owed to the speaker by Abū l-Munā b. Abū Naṣr; a price of 36 dinars; the speaker going down to Tinnīs (to collect the money?); not wishing to involve a young man in the affair; summoning R. Ṭoviyya al-Kohen and 3 Jews (as a court).

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Refers to a gift given by a woman named Fāḍila and refers to a man's paternal grandfather. No other details preserved.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involves Abū ʿAlī b. al-Sukkarī and 20 dinars.

Legal query, draft, in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Regarding the money left by a dead husband. In the margin: "As for the 70 dinars that my brother mentioned, it is the last of the sale that we made (or: from the last sale that we made). . . and my husband collected it and went out and died." See PGP 2959

Legal query (in a different hand than recto) concerning the case of a widow holding a statement of trustworthiness, who had declared that she possessed none of her husband's possessions. She refused to let the elders into her house as she had been advised, but later opened the door after all. However, the inventory was not taken away. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 255, and from Goitein's index cards.) NB: This used to be called T-S 10J21.16 on PGP.