Geniza Lab

Notes for drawing up legal documents. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel? On recto: "...the freedwoman (al-maʿtūqa)... and the rest of the furnishings... and the quarter of the... to Sitt al-A[hl?]... the wife of Abū [...]." In the margin: "The giver: Ḥasana bt. Shaʾūl. The [...]: Abū ʿAlī b. al-Ṣabbāgh." Verso includes the details of a deed of sale for a female slave, a black woman named Intijāb. The seller appears to be [...] bt. Ṣadoq, perhaps the wife of Abū l-Faḍl Shela ha-Levi Sar ha-Leviim (who also appears in T-S 10J28.16 in 1157 CE, another slavery-related document). The price is 34.5 (dinars); this is a very large sum, so perhaps there are two slaves being sold (the rest of the line which gives Intijāb's name is effaced). The name of the buyer (al-mushtarī) in the last line might be legible with some effort: Abū l-[...] b. [...].

Bill of sale for a female slave. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1469 Seleucid, which is 1157/58 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Seller: Sitt al-Dalāl bt. Abū Naṣr, probably [the wife or widow of ...] known as Ibn Saʿdān. Buyer: Abū l-Bayān Moshe ha-Levi the merchant in the Dār al-Ṣarf. Price: 13 dinars. Slave: A Persian woman named Qaḍīb. Signed by: Mevorakh b. Natan he-Ḥaver; Peraḥya b. ʿAdiyya. On verso there is a biblical text.

Deed of manumission for a female slave, given by Yefet b. Yosef. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Tuesday, 2[.] Shevaṭ 1341 Seleucid, which is 1030 CE. The slave's name is missing; a large piece from the middle of the document seems to have been deliberately cut away. A portion of one witness signature is preserved. On verso there are pen trials in both Arabic and Hebrew script.

List of deaths in Fustat from the last day of Tevet to the 29th of Nisan 1437 (27 December 1125 - 23 April 1126). By Goitein's count: 41 adults, 18 children, and 6 infants. Includes several female slaves and poor people. Information from Med Soc V, p. 115; Goitein index cards.

Pages (a) through (c): Distribution list for clothing (al-kiswa). Dated: Ṭevet 1488 Seleucid, which began on 5 December 1176 CE. The last but one numeral of the date is not fully visible, but its reading is ascertained by the many names in common with the lists A 25–36 (1181–84 CE). Distribution of about 110 pieces of clothing (40 muqaddar, 49 ordinary, and 15 small jūkhāniyyas, the rest illegible) to community officials and/or their dependents and to needy persons. At the head of the list at least five cantors and three shomers. One beadle of Dammūh is listed at the beginning of the list (p a, l. 5), another at the end (c, l. 6). Almost all the males receive a muqaddar, all but one of the females (p. b, l. 2) a jūkhāniyya. Males receiving a muqaddar: p. a, l. 8 (written above the line), p. b, ll. 1, 6, 18. Various members of the same household each get a piece of clothing: Sālim, the porter, a jūkhāniyya (p. a, l. 8) his wife, a jūkhāniyya (p. a, l.13); Abū l-Majd, the milkman, a muqaddar (p. a, l. 16), his son, a small jūkhāniyya (p. c, l. 3); Maḥfūẓ, the beadle and his son, each a muqaddar. Still, such occurrences are far rarer than one would expect. The conclusion to be derived from this and related documents: normally, only one member of a household received a new piece of cloth at each distribution. Page (d): "Dirhems expended." After the first item, "the judges," is left a blank space. Al-Najīb (the parnas) follows with the number 20 after it and l. 12, Abū ʿAlī the parnas, with 12. The remainder: 6 receive 3 dirhems; 4 receive 4 dirhems; 7 receive 5 dirhems (including "the widow of the man from Tyre; a foreigner"); 2 receive 6 dirhems; 2 receive 8 dirhems (including "the widow of the man from Haifa"). As other lists show, the cash was given as a partial compensation for clothing. Thus the two parts of the manuscript actually form one record. (Information from Goitein, Med Soc II, Appendix B, #71 (p.459).) The recipients also include one female slave and three women who are freed slaves (per Goitein's index card).

Legal fragment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Probably notes for the drawing up of a document. Concerning [...]h b. Elʿazar. There is a list of valuable goods, including a female slave named Rāḍ(?), a silver drinking vessel (qiḥf), a gold crescent (hilāl), and a silver armlet. Needs further examination.

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).

Will of a wealthy man in favor of his wife, concerning twenty-seven assets and liabilities. Dated: 1431 Seleucid, which is 1219/20 CE. (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 602) EMS

Upper part of a will in a hand that resembles that of ʿImmanuʾel b. Yeḥiʾel (active ca. 1231–65), in which the husband of Sutayt bt. Nadiv clarifies that half of the house in which he lives belongs to his wife, as well as the jewelry that has been given as collateral to Yosef Ibn Nufayʿ in Fustat against a loan of 150 nuqra dirhams; "it must be ransomed with the money of the orphans." Lastly, the female slave named Nasrīn [belongs to Sutayt]. (Information from Goitein's index card and from Med Soc III, p. 255 n. 35.)

Legal document. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Fragment (bottom part only). Involves: Abū Kathīr; Bahiyya bt. Ṣadaqa; [...] bt. Yosef known as Umm Abū l-Munā al-Marsūla(?); a female slave valued at 22.5 dinars. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Dowry list (taqwīm). No names No muqaddam or me'uḥar. Among the goods is a female slave named Balgh al-Munā ('fulfillment of wishes'). (Information in part from Goitein's index card)

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Nisan 4977 AM, which is 1217 CE, under the reshut of Avraham Maimonides. It is a bill of sale for a female slave named Muhja. Yefet b. Meir sells her to Yeshuʿa b. Yehuda for 27 dinars. Information in part from Craig Perry.

Legal record (#33). Bill of sale, outline. Dated: Thursday, 17 Sivan 1467 Seleucid. Stating that a bill of sale (ʿuhda) shall be written for the sale of the female slave Nadd. Seller: Bū l-Faḍl Mevorakh b. Shelomo (known as Ibn Qamḥa, according to record #56). Buyer: Bū l-Faraj b. Ghilāth. Price: 15.5 dinars (not including market and broker fees (ḥaqq al-sūq wa-juʿl al-dallāla), which the buyer has to pay). Abū l-Faraj b. al-Ghilāth also appears in #25 (Yevr.-Arab. I 1700.13, recto, b) and #56 (Yevr.-Arab. I 1700.22, verso, a), in which he sells Nadd for 17.5 dinars (fees included).

Legal record (#32). Bill of sale, outline. Stating that a bill of sale (ʿuhda) shall be written for the sale of the slave wailing woman al-ʿAbīr. Seller: Abū l-Barakāt al-Thiqa. Buyer: Not named. Price: 40 dinars + qīrāṭ. She is called both al-mughanniya ("singer") and al-nā'iḥa ("professional wailer"). Information from Goitein's notes.

Legal record (#62). Trousseau list (taqwīm). Groom: Bū l-Makārim al-Ṣā'igh Yosef b. Shemuel. Bride: Sitt al-Riyāsa bt. Shela ha-Levi ("the sister of Sitt al-Ḥasab" - Goitein). Early marriage payment: 50 dinars ('gift'). Delayed marriage payment: 100 dinars. Value of the trousseau: 500 dinars. The bride also brings a female slave named ʿŪd al-Bān worth 20 dinars; a 1/2 house in Cairo, in Ḥārat Zuwayla in 'the alleys of al-Naṣṣār,' which her brother gave her; and a 1/2 house, adjacent to the former, which Amīn al-Dawla gave her. NB: Goitein referred to this document as folio 24–25 (Firk. II NS 1700.24-25) in accordance with the foliation written in pen; but the correct folios are 25 (recto and verso) and 26 (recto), as written in pencil (the librarian with the pen gave two folios the number 8). (Information from Goitein's notes.)