Geniza Lab

Legal query addressed to the Gaʾon Moshe (b. Netanʾel) ha-Levi concerning the claims of a creditor against the widow of the man who owed him. Goitein notes in Med Soc II, p. 528 note 46, that there is no document confirming that Moshe b. Netanʾel ever held the title Gaʾon—perhaps he did not consider this legal query to be a true document. But see also the various documents signed by Moshe's son Sar Shalom, who clearly regarded his father as having held the title Gaʾon (e.g., ENA 4020.4, T-S 13J31.3, T-S 10J20.21, and T-S 10J24.7 + T-S 10J29.4), and see M. A. Friedman's article on Zuta, pp. 474–75, for the point that at the time of Yehuda ha-Levi's arrival in Egypt (Elul of 1140 CE), Moshe b. Netanʾel definitely held the title Gaʾon.

Two questions addressed to Avraham Maimonides about milking sheep on Shabbat. (Information from Goitein's index card). VMR

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Nissim of Qayrawan to the Tunisian port of Qabis, c. 1000. The letter concerns legal questions asked by the addressee from Sherira and Hayya Gaon. Verso: Address and an unrelated literary work in Judaeo-Arabic, badly faded. (Information from CUDL)

Legal query addressed to the Gaon and Nasi Daniel b. ʿAzarya in Jerusalem with regard to the goods of an Egyptian merchant, which had been requested by the Jewish court of Tripoli, Libya, after the carrier, his Sicilian ? had died on the sea. Dated: January 5, 1059 CE. There is a document quoted that is dated 23 February 1058 CE. See also T-S NS J161 + T-S 12.5 and Bodl. MS heb. a 3/9 (also known as Oxford a3 (2873), f.9, and published by Asaf, Responsa Geonica, 1942, 125–26). On verso there is poetry.

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. Written by Hananel b. Shemuel. He exhorts the addressee to assist al-Shaykh al-Nafīs, evidently concerning a legal query which the latter had submitted. "The illustrious Judge" will inform the addressee all the details of the case. On verso there are also Greek/Coptic numerals, possibly accounts, together with the word "the total" written in Arabic script. (Information from AA, Oded Zinger's forthcoming edition, and ASE.)

Letter by Menashshe b. Moses referring to a legal query sent to the Nagid. (Information from CUDL)

Query from Nadiv b. Yiṣḥaq, “the son of the brother of Umm Nadiv,” asking whether a woman who was deserted by her husband with whom she had lived for ten years, but had not received a bill of repudiation from him, may marry another man. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society,1:591; 3:264, 485.) EMS. The remainder of the fragment is also filled with text. Apart from difficult Arabic text on verso, there is what Goitein calls an Arabic/medieval Greek/Romanesque (laʿaz) glossary, partially in Arabic script on recto and partially in Hebrew script on verso. There is some overlap between the Arabic script glossary and the Hebrew script glossary. Examples: khubz --> אבסומי (= Ψωμί), mawlāy --> senyor. Merits further examination

Letter from Yeshuʿa b. Elʿazar Shammāʿ (candle maker or seller) to Abū l-Fakhr b. Abū l-Maʿālī. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Only the opening and the address are preserved, along with a note in the upper margin requesting a speedy response, together with the fatwas (responsa) of Bū l-Maʿālī. EMS. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Ḥisday ha-Nasi (a Qaraite communal leader) concerning a husband who wishes to divorce the wife he had been coerced into marrying in Alexandria. The husband demands to pay the marriage gift in installments (i.e., never completely) after all that he had suffered from her bad character (al-tarbut raʿa). He has been with her for three years, but it feels like twenty. He is perishing from his illness (maraḍ) and poverty and bad wife. If his request is refused, he threatens to flee the country and leave her an ʿaguna. Shelomo is probably not writing on his own behalf, as it is unlikely that he would consult a Qaraite Nasi for a legal opinion. Contains elements of both a petition and responsum. There is a provocative (mis)quotation of Leviticus 14:45 on verso: "I have broken (should be: he shall break) down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, etc." With this the husband is comparing his wife (referred to as one's 'house' in Judaeo-Arabic) with a house stricken with ẓaraʿat. (Information from CUDL and Oded Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 87, 149, 180, 220, 260.) EMS. ASE.

Legal query, draft. In the hand of Berakhot b. Shemuel. Addressed to Yosef Rosh ha-Seder. The page is crossed out. A man gives half a house (which actually belongs to his wife) as pledge for a debt of 8 dinars, and after the man dies the creditor demands the money from the widow. The same case is probably described in Moss. VIII,403 and several other fragments: see Friedman's article for complete discussion.

Letter of complaint to Maimonides regarding funds for the Qodesh. Written in the hand of Meʾir b. Hillel b. Ṣadoq Av. The plaintiff asks why arrangements made for him by the mutawallī Isaiah ha-Levi b. Mišaʾel have become void; and if they are void for him, why should not the other leases and deeds of rent of ruined lots be discontinued as well. The complaint was probably submitted in 1171 or somewhat later and it emerges that the agreement made with Isaiah stipulated that the plaintiff was to rebuild a ruin of the qodesh and live in it until his investment in repairs was balanced out by a hypothetical rent, in the meantime paying only the ground rent (ḥikr) to the government. Maimonides was apparently opposed to this agreement, possibly because of legal principles regarding permission to make deals with properties of the qodesh. In the second part of the letter, the writer requests Maimonides to answer various questions on the study of the Law which he had previously asked him, and to which he now adds a question on the attitude to astronomy. He also asks him for some of his books, to be copied for him, the cost to be paid from the money due to him, if the debt is recognized. Below on verso are rhymed Hebrew wedding verses in a crude hand. (Information from CUDL and Gil, Documents, pp. 363 #94)

Autographed Responsum by Avraham Maimonides regarding the estate of a freed female slave. Written by MOshe b. Perahya, who was the muqaddam of MInyat Ghmar. AA

Letter from Ibrahim b. Miṣbāḥ to Eliyyahu the Judge (spelled אליהוא). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: early 13th century. The sender had previously sent with the bearer Ismāʿīl a legal query (fatwā) and other documents (masāṭir). Evidently Eliyyahu brought these to Avraham Maimonides (Sayyidnā al-Rayyis), who wrote his response at the bottom of the query but who did not sign the masṭūr or the pisqei din. The sender now asks Eliyyahu to get Avraham to write his signature on these documents. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Beginning of a query submitted to Maimonides, beginning by telling about a local man who is now living in another city (the rest is too fragmentary to understand). (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal query. Dating: Early 13th century (per Goitein). Concerning the wife of a Kohen who traveled 2 or 3 times without letting her know how long he would remain absent or leaving her sufficient food. She swore "oaths frightening the mountains" (אימאן תרעד אלגבאל) that after his return she would not remain with him. Not complete. (Information from Goitein's note card.)

Fragment of a question mentioning a woman and a daughter, the father having been absent 16 years.

Request for a responsum concerning a carpenter who let his Muslim employees work making doors on a Saturday. He was ordered flogged by some scholars, while others wanted him to be fined and excommunicated as well. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:297, 330, 590, 599) EMS

Legal query, draft. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning a man who had a deposit but claimed he had lost it. There are sundry other jottingss and drafts, too.

Legal query in Arabic script. Question addressed to a Muslim jurisconsult (faqīh) with regard to a man who was frightened by another man concerning the medicine that he had taken, so that he then feared a chronic illness (shayʾ min amrāḍ al-zamān) on account of the fright that he had received. (Information from Goitein’s index card and Khan.)

Legal query in Arabic script. Dating: Late? A completely-preserved query with regard to a jointly owned house including a qāʿa and riwāq (شركة في دار تشتمل على قاعة ورواق). Needs further examination. (Information from Goitein’s index card)