Geniza Lab

Legal document. Deathbed will of the wife of a scholar, ca. probably 1151. A personal record of an anonymous writer, apparently a member of the court. Together with four other people he was called to attend the deathbed declaration of Sitt al-Husn, the wife of Judge Natan b. Shemuʾel ha-Ḥaver, "the Diadem of the Scholars." Since it was a Saturday, the official report could not be written, and the writer noted the main parts of the declaration immediately after Saturday was over, in order not to forget it. He was probably a court clerk, since his record contains the main formal elements of a regular deed. The woman frees her two female slaves and bequeaths them a quarter of a compound belonging to her, and dedicates half the compound in which the declaration is given to the qodesh. The two female slaves can live in the room in which the declaration is given, provided they keep the Jewish faith. An eighth of another compound partly owned by her is to be sold to cover the expenses ofher burial. She also states which of her belongings should be given to her husband. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 270 #55)

Fragment of a learned opinion on different subjects. The last section, preserved here and transcribed by Goitein, is against the 'direct method' in teaching children reading, Fustat, early twelfth century.

Letter from Abū l-Manṣūr b. Ṭāhir al-Kohen, in Alexandria, to the Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr b. Yiṣḥaq al-Dimashqī, in Fustat. Dating: 1170s CE. The addressee was just then beginning his commercial career. The letter reports on an decree of Saladin that was proclaimed in Alexandria, halving the customs dues (maks) that had been incumbent on local and foreign Jews and Christians. The ṣāḥib al-dīwān authenticated and registered the decree (athbatahū), and the amir Fakhr al-Dīn ordered for it to be implemented. The local Jews took out the Torah scroll and prostrated themselves and prayed for the government. Also mentions various business dealings, including in sugar, and people including Hibatallāh the trader from Tripoli and Abū l-ʿIzz b. Bishr. (Information in part from CUDL and Frenkel.)

Letter from Yosef b. Peraḥya Yijū, in Mazara, writing to an important merchant, also in Sicily., ca. 1154. Yosef states that his sins are the source of his misfortunes. These misfortunes include a swelling (waram) in the finger of his eldest son Peraḥya who assisted him as schoolteacher. They have been looking for an effective medicine for some time without success. ASE.

Bill of sale in which a seller of potions sells to a perfumer 1/8 of a house in the great Bazaar in the Surayya Lane, a blind alley, for 7.5 dinars. Half the house belonged to Christians and 1/6 to a seller of oil. Dated July 1179. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, 281)

Recto: Lease of a compound in Ascalon, ca. 1120(?)-1147. A compound in Ascalon is leased by the representatives of the qodesh to to Shelomo ha-Zariz b. Ḥalfon. Verso: Record of the yearly rent paid to the elders of the Heqdesh, kept by the tenant. The yearly rent was one quarter of a dinar or 8.5 wariq dirhams, which covered the rent from Tishri to Elul. The payments were generally made several months after the end of the year. Records of ten such parments are preserved, from a period extending from 1131 through 1147. The lease itself bears four signatures, whereas the yearly payments are confirmed by two members of the court. The document includes writing in three different languges: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. Confirmations of the payments are listed in chronological order. (Information from CUDL and Gil, Documents, pp. 277 #57)

Verso: Hebrew formulary of an acknowledgment of a debt. Dated to the 11th century. (Information from Goitein's index cards) Recto: Ketubba portion for Jawhara the widow bat Salma and Isaac b. Hosea dated Thursday 13th Marḥešvan 1[..]2 in Fustat. Names of witnesses not preserved. Ca. 11th century. (Information from CUDL)

Legal agreement between spouses on the issue of second wife, in the hand of Natan b. Shemuel Ha-Ḥaver, Fustat. The groom, Saʿadya b. Siman Tov, known as Abu l-Ḥasan, states that if his wife permits him to marry another woman, if she should then desire a divorce, he will divorce her, and she will have access to her delayed settlement throughout the marriage. The document also states ‘Her mother is present and hears all this’. (Information from CUDL)

Lease of a plantation owned by the Qodesh, ca. 1150 CE. A deed of lease is drawn up by the court, by which a plantation of date palms is taken over for cultivation by a certain Hiba. The plantation belongs to the qodesh, and is probably located near the synagogue of Dammuh. The tenant will pay the qodesh 88 dinars, in annual payments of 11 dinars each, for eight years, i.e. the period of the lease. Out of the 11 dinars, 1.33 dinar will be paid in eleven monthly installments, whereas 9.67 dinars will be paid in the month of Tishri (when the harvest is over). The tenant will also have to carry 1000 palm branches to the Nile (apparently also in the month of Tishri, intended for the feast of Sukkot). The tenant agrees to run the ox-driven irrigation water wheel continuously, and will not cut down any plants aside from necessary pruning. The deed is written in the hand of Judge Natan b. Shemuel. (Information from CUDL and Gil, Documents, pp. 262 #50)

Letter from Petaḥya b. (abū al-?)Maḥāsin, a refugee from Palestine, to Avraham b. Shelomo, his relative in Fustat, shortly after the Crusader conquests at the beginning of the twelfth century. Ed. Goitein, also G. Weiss.

Letter from Shemuel b. Yehuda ha-Bavli to Berakhot ha-Khaver. Shemuel writes that after searching the book dealers of Egypt for rare titles, he learned in Alexandria that the Greeks had many schools with fine scholars, and so he has made up his mind to go on to Thebes and Salonika in Greece after Passover. First, however, he will come to Fustat to collect the books that he had ordered. Ca. 1130s CE. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Poems by Yehuda ha-Levi, copied by the India trader Avraham Ibn Yijū. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card)

Letter. Appointment of a general administrator of the qodesh, ca. 1150. Copy of a decision taken in the court presided over by Nagid Shemuel b. Hananya by which Yesha'yahu ha-Levi is appointed general administrator of the properties belonging to the qodesh. After an enumeration of different kinds of property, the decision stresses the full prerogratives and the immunity of the appointee from any interference with his activities by the court. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 259 #49)

Strongly worded circular letter sent by Moses Maimonides to the country-side community, soliciting them to contribute to the ransom of captives. The two senior judges of Fustat, Hiyya b. Yiṣḥaq and Efrayim b. Meshullam had been sent to Palestine, probably to approach the Franks, who might have taken captives when they sacked Bilbays on November 3, 1168. A sermon in Hebrew is written in the wide spaces between the lines. verso, in Hebrew, unrelated. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 548, 549; V, pp. 54, 55.) BL OR 5533.1, T-S 12.238, and T-S 16.9 are all versions of the same letter.

Ketubba fragment for an unnamed bride and groom. Dated the 1st of Shevat 1415 (= 1104 CE), in Fustat. NB: Goitein and Worman referred to T-S 16.90 as T-S 16.91, and vice versa.

Letter of a refugee from Acre, who lives in Alexandria and who is experiencing problems with the community there, to Yosef b. Yahya, Fustat. Approximately 1115.

Recto: Letter from a Karaite in Alexandria to the Karaite Nasi David b. Hasdai, concerning support for the Nasi from the Karaite communities in the Maghreb. Dating: 12th century. The letter opens with many very deferent phrases and congratulations on the addressee's recovery from illness. Verso: Draft of a rhymed Hebrew opening to a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Legal deed. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: Av 1413 Seleucid, which is July/August 1102 CE. The blind teacher Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon b. Mevorakh sells to Turfa, the daughter of the late Ṭayyib al-ʿIblānī, half of a house in the Ḥarrānī street in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ for 51 dinars. The money was offered to him by the daughter’s mother, who is described as being from Aden. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 283, and from Goitein’s index card, where he adds: cf. Worman, JQR 18 (1905): 25–26.)

Segment of a court testimony. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (Date: 1100-1138). Regarding dowry arrangements after the renewal of a lost ketubba. The ketubba of Abu l-Fadl Ṣadoq b. Ḥalfon b. Moshe and his wife […] bt. Berakhot b. Yehuda ha-Levi was lost when the Franks (‘May God ruin them’) captured Tripoli (Lebanon, in 1109 CE) and Abū l-Faḍl and his wife were taken prisoner. On verso there is Genesis 1:1-3. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Legal declaration in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe involving a bridegroom and his fiancee, Sitt al-Ahl. After a temporary dissolution of the engagement, the prospective groom agrees that all future income from his fiancee, Sitt al-Ahl, would be considered her property. Verso: Short document in Arabic script. Needs further examination. (Information from Goitein's note card and CUDL)