Geniza Lab

Court record in which Abū Sulaymān Dāʾūd b. Abū al-Khaṣīb Zurʿa confirms to owe to Abū al-Maʿālī al-Tājir b. Abū al-Ḥasan al-Tājir, aka Shemuʾel b. Judah Ben Asad, 100 dinars which he will return in two yearly installments. If he were to be late in doing so, he owes a fine of 10 dinars to the poor of Egypt to be collected for them by the Court. This debt was originally made before a Muslim court. Here it is prolonged. Fustat, Marḥeshvan 1153, written but not signed by Natan b. Shemuʿel. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Goitein, MedSoc, Vol. 3, p. 9, Vol. 2, p. 110.)

Court record. A settlement between a brother and his two sisters concerning their late father’s inheritance, dated 1128/9. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. The late father’s property consisted of a perfumery, a storehouse, goods, capital and profit. The brother, Hillel, and the father were running the business as partners. According to the settlement, the older sister received a certain sum of money plus a monthly payment of 1 dinar. Her minor sister granted her share to her brother Hillel, as a gift, except for a certain amount of money, which was legally recorded in a bill of indebtness granted to her by Hillel, who continued to manage the business. The widow, Sitt al-Bayt, confirmed her daughter’s actions and guaranteed to be responsible to Hillel for any claims against him which the younger daughter might once make as heir of her father. No signatures are preserved. Verso is blank. (Information form Weiss, Legal Documents Written by Ḥalfon ben Manasse, Vol. 1, pp. 79-80 and Goitein index card and notes linked below.)

Legal contract in Judaeo-Persian. Location: Hormshīr (Ahwāz). Dated: Shevat 1332 Seleucid (1020 CE). Signed by ʿAzarya b. Avraham b. ʿAmmār and Saʿdān b. Daniel b. Saʿdān. Ḥana bat Yisrael b. Yaʿaqov received a payment of 25 dinars (described as qawāmī sulṭānī) in exchange for six pairs of pearls which her husband, Daniel b. Reuven b. ʿAzarya, had illegally appropriated. The pearls belonged to Ḥana and her three brothers, the Tustarī brothers Sahl, Yosef and Saʿīd. Verso is blank. (Information from Olszowy-Schlanger, Karaite Marriage Documents, p. 41. See also Goitein notes and index card linked below.) The letter is labeled "L14" in Shaul Shaked's (unpublished) classification of Early Judeo-Persian texts. OH

Witness statement given on 25 April 1028. Mubārak b. Hiba, a beadle of the Babylonian community in Fustat, declares that he had caught a man on the last day of Passover and confined him in his house. Yaʿaqov Levi b. Yosef testifies that he saw the imprisoned man escape through a window of the beadle’s house. (Information from Goitein notes linked below.) Another court record from the same date is found in Bodl. MS heb. c 13/21 recto.

Court record, 1039. Banīna bt. Avraham in Alexandria, who had been deserted by her husband Yosef, appointed her brother Shelomo as her attorney. Accompanied by two witnesses to this arrangement, the brother appeared before Efrayim b. Shemarya’s court in Fustat, where the power of attorney was ratified. The brother appointed a cantor and clerk of the court as his sister’s permanent representative. Verso is blank. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below, Goitein, MedSoc, Vol. 3, p. 203.)

A court record, Fustat, 1148. Bu al-Ḥasan, the cantor, confesses to have beaten and cursed his wife and to have falsely accused her of filching money and utensils from his house. The wife ran away from the house as a result. In the present settlement, Bu al-Ḥasan forgoes all his claims against his wife and promises not to beat or curse her, under penalty to divorce her and to pay in cash the sums due to her under her marriage contract, in case he relapses. Written and witnessed by Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. Recto is blank. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Goitein, Med Soc, Vol. 3, pp. 187-188.)

Court record about the settlement of various claims between Shela ha-Kohen b. ʿAyyāsh and Tiqva b. ʿAmram. Fustat, dated 1099. Describes a dispute over a debt. The defendant paid part of the debt at the time of becoming engaged to a sister of the complainant. An oath was to be given by one party declaring to have meddled with wine adjudicated to the other party by a previous decision of the court. Receipt of sums adjudicated. In the hand of Nissim b. Nahray (Goitein). In the hand of Iṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi (Ashur). Verso is blank. See also T-S NS 324.30 in relation to this document. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below, Goitein, Med Soc, Vol. 2, p. 513, Ashur, Engagement and Betrothal Documents from the Cairo Geniza (PhD, Tel-Aviv, 2006). p. 14.)

Deposition in court by Abū al-Baqā ha-Kohen, son of Abū al-Ḥasan, that his step daughter owed him nothing with regard to the heritage of his wife, while he and his brother were in possession of certain ornaments belonging to the former. Dated 24 Sivan, 1541 Seleucid (1230). One of the witnesses if Shelomo, son of the judge Eliahu b. Zakhariya ha-dayyan. Verso is blank. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below.)

Court record, fragmentary, dated 1227; see Gotein Nachlass material

Dowry list for the marriage of Jamila bt. Meir and Netanel b. Moshe. The early marriage gift is 10 dinars. Dated: 1169 CE.

Ruling in absentia against the blacksmith Jawhar Maḥmūd of al-Sakākīnī Street where he runs a blacksmith workshop without a permit and he is fined 50 pounds and to be shut down – August 24 1934CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 201) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 65). MCD.

Ruling in absentia obligating Maʿtūq Dāūd al-Jamāl to pay the amount of 985 pounds toward the rent of a store in the inheritance of the deceased Muḥammad ʾAẖī Qāsim – January 11 1938CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 229) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 67). MCD.

Court record mentioning Daniel the Nasi and Hezekiah, Head of the Diaspora. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document in which Sar Shalom, son of Rabana Yosef, affirms that he collected his debt from the daughter of Rabbi Nahum in 1344 ED/ 12 Dec. 1032 in Zoar near the Dead Sea.

Legal document. Court proceedings. Yaʿqūb b. Yūsuf claims that Da’ūd and Ṣedaqa, sons of Ṣemaḥ b. Da’ūd al-Raqqī, have withheld profits from a partnership in a store. The brothers were also involved in long distance trading on behalf of the partnership. Yaʿqūb himself seems to have contributed the sum total of the partnership capital, amounting to four thousand dinars, which yielded a one time payment of ten dinars to Yaʿqūb and a single dinar each week, of which Yaʿqūb would receive half and the brothers the other half. Yaʿqūb also received 30 dinars each month to satisfy a debt on the store. After working as partners for a month, Yaʿqūb produces witnesses who notarize a detailed description of responsibilities for the partners (presumably the partners previously had an informal yet specific agreement). The document validates the testimony of Da’ūd and Ṣedaqa that their profits were scanty. Unlike in many other documents, the brothers are called to swear concerning the outcome of their long-distance trading. Their testimony does not preclude the possibility that Ya‘qūb will pursue further legal action against the brothers, but simply confirms that the profits represented the sum total of profits of the partnership. The identity and role of the character “Bishr”, mentioned in line 24, is unclear. It may refer to one of the witnesses, Mubashir b. Fahīd. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 163)

Legal declaration. Dating: refers to the year 4826 AM, which is 1065/66 CE. (The document itself may be later.) Concerning Nahray b. Nissim's occupancy of larger of his wife's family's house. Nahray sends two witnesses (the narrator and ʿAmmār b. Farrāḥ al-Iṭrābulsī) to his in-law Abū ʿAlī al-Kohen, promising to pay him 1 dinar per month for the part of the house which may exceed one sixth. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document. Court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: 17 July 1162. This document is an incomplete record of proceedings of the court of Nathaniel ha-Levi (Gaon b. Moses the sixth) concerning a silk trading partnership between Samuel b. Solomon and (Abū) Manṣūr Eleazar b. Isaac al-Dimashqī. Samuel attests to the existence of a partnership agreement, which stipulated that profits were to be split 1/3 to 2/3, the bulk going to Eleazar. This roughly corresponded with their investment in the partnership capital, Samuel bringing 55 dinars and Eleazar bringing 95. Each of the partners has the right of disposal of partnership assets. The funds are invested with local workers in various towns in the Nile Delta (Sammanūd and al-Maḥalla) as well as in longer-distance investments (such as in Tyre). The record does not discuss any dispute between the partners, but is instead largely concerned with the details of sales, investments, and profits of the partnership. Each attests to transactions and deposits; apparently, the partners did not trust one another "as two proper witnesses", and they required direct testimony of the partnership accounting. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 190)

Beginning of a court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tammuz 1402 of the Seleucid Era (1091 C.E.). Avraham b. Ṭoviyya ha-Levi is mentioned, no other details preserved. EMS. Probably a join with T-S 8J8.7 + T-S AS 150.120, in which case this is a debt contract certifying that Ibrāhīm owes money to Meshullam. Join by Oded Zinger.

Recto: Legal document. Partnership record. Dated: February 1092. Location: Fustat. T-S 8J4.11 and T-S NS J6 are part of a record of a trading partnership between Yaḥyā ha-Kohen b. Samuel and ‘Ulla ha-Levi b. Joseph al-Dimashqī, investors with Bishāra the freedman. The full document is comprised of T-S 8J4.11and T-S NS J6 (this record), and T-S 8J4.12 (PGPID 7624). Bishara is to journey to Aleppo and Antioch and to sell goods purchased there in Fusṭāṭ. Bishāra is under instructions to sell only for cash and not to accept credit. Yaḥyā and ‘Ulla are to take two-thirds of the profit, having invested 155 and 1/3 dinars together. Bishāra contributed 20 dinars, and was entitled to one-third of the profit as well as expenses related to the merchandise. Bishāra is not to receive any further daily allowance. Bishāra takes on “the faith of the Heavens”, and agrees not to cheat his partners. Lieberman speculates that T-S Misc 27.4.29 (PGPID 8366) may be a renewal of this partnership relationship. See T-S 8J4.12 (PGPID 2094) for further information about this agreement. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 172-173) Alternate description: Legal document. Partnership record. Dated: February 1092. Location: Fustat. T-S 8J4.11 is part of a record of a trading partnership between Yaḥyā ha-Kohen b. Samuel and ‘Ulla ha-Levi b. Joseph al-Dimashqī, investors with Bishāra the freedman. The full document is comprised of T-S 8J4.12 (this record), and T-S 8J4.11 and T-S NS J6 (PGPID 7623). Bishara is to journey to Aleppo and Antioch and to sell goods purchased there in Fusṭāṭ. Bishāra is under instructions to sell only for cash and not to accept credit. Yaḥyā and ‘Ulla are to take two-thirds of the profit, having invested 155 and 1/3 dinars together. Bishāra contributed 20 dinars, and was entitled to one-third of the profit as well as expenses related to the merchandise. Bishāra is not to receive any further daily allowance. Bishāra takes on “the faith of the Heavens”, and agrees not to cheat his partners. Lieberman speculates that T-S Misc 27.4.29 (PGPID 8366) may be a renewal of this partnership relationship. Witnessed by Ṣedaqa ha-Kohen b. David, Yakhin he-Ḥazzan b. Abraham and Yiṣḥaq b. Elʿazar. Confirmed by Abraham b. Nathan, Avraham b. Shemaʿya he-Ḥaver and Shelomo b. Yosef ha-Kohen. This document was written in duplicate and given to the two investors, Yaḥyā and ‘Ulla. Bishāra, the active partner, seems not to have received a copy. See also T-S 8J4.11 and T-S NS J6 (PGPID 7623). (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 172-173).

Legal document. Court record (copy). This document concerns the settlement of an account between Abū al-Mufaḍḍal Netanel b. Yefet and Abū al-Ḥasan Ṭoviyya b. Avraham ha-Levi. Netanel brought a court-validated document specifying that Ṭoviyya owed him 65 dinars. Ṭoviyya claimed that he sent the amount in various commodities (15 pounds of silk worth 15 dirhams, and fragrances worth 15 dinars, in addition to kābulī murabbā (preserve of chebulic myrobalan), as well as 10 dinars in cash) by means of the agent Abū al-Faraj to be sold in Tunisia. It is unclear whether the 65 dinars is a partnership account or a debt owed Netanel by Ṭoviyya. However, that the commodities were sent to be sold in Tunisia (see T-S 8J4.9) suggests that Ṭoviyya has a financial interest in the sale. Depositing the funds with Abū al-Faraj, Netanel and Ṭoviyya have contracted a partnership of sorts for repayment of Ṭoviyya's debt. Lieberman speculates that the Abū al-Faraj al-Wakīl mentioned here may have been Abū al-Faraj Yeshu‘a b. Isma‘īl al-Maghribī, a well-known Tunisian merchant from the late 11th century (see T-S 12.566, PGPID 3181; and T-S 10J20.7, PGPID 2953). A draft copy of this document also exists; see (see T-S 8J4.9, PGPID 2128. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 177).