Geniza Lab

Clockwise from upper left: (c) Legal fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Almost everything preserved is formulary.

This fragment is actually several fragments stuck together. In the lower right corner of 'recto,' at 90 degrees to the other text blocks, there is the upper right corner of a legal testimony in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, concerning ʿArūs al-Urjuwānī (the purple merchant), probably Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yosef and also [...] b. ʿAmram. Mentions Diyār al-Yaman (the lands of Yemen). All the fragments under the shelfmark AIU VIIA.38 were preserved in a book-binding.

Legal fragment (upper left corner). In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Mentions [...] b. Shemuel and [...] b. Moshe. Either a will or concerning arrangements after someone has already died

Legal fragment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Abū Naṣr Mevorakh b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Zaqen was going to make a declaration, but then the document was abandoned.

Ibra' (release) in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe concerning the repairs and rent of a house. Mentions al-Shaykh Abu l-Muna. Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below.

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: A Monday in the last decade of Tammuz 1[4]34 Seleucid, which is 1123 CE. In which Elʿazar/Manṣūr b. Yefet/Ḥasan ha-Kohen transfers property rights for half of a well-known house in al-Qālūs to his wife Sitthum aka Sitt al-Jamīʿ bt. ʿOvadya. The full names of the couple may be found in T-S NS 323.19 (probably the beginning of this document, but not a continuous join) and T-S 12.82 + T-S 12.553 (probably a distinct document). Joins: Alan Elbaum. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Lower right corner of a get (bill of divorce), signed by Menashshe ha-Kohen b. Yaʿaqov and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe.

Legal fragment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Settlement of a conflict between a husband, Moshe ha-Sar ha-Adir, and his first wife, Sitt al-Kamāl, who nearly got divorced. The husband was spending 2/3 of his funds on his second wife (the 'ḍarra' of Sitt al-Kamāl) instead of treating them equally. He presumably promises to shape up, and she promises not to think or say bad things any more about the second wife or her kin.

Legal. Several fragments, most (or all?) in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. One is dated Heshvan, 1117 CE (1429 Seleucid). The lower left fragment has notes regarding commercial goods on recto, but on verso is a legal document involving Yaḥyā ha-Kohen and [Abū] l-Mufaḍḍal.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (dates: 1100–38 CE). Fragment (upper left corner of recto). There is writing on both sides. Involves ʿUlla b. Yefet and Abū l-Ḥasan the brother of Aharon. The case probably involves the dissolution of a partnership in a shop, after a protracted legal dispute.

Segment of a ketubba (marriage contract), in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi.

Account of the public bread distribution spread over two sheets. In the late style of the handwriting of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dating: 1100–40 CE, based on Goitein's assessment. Ninety-three households in receipt of about 250 (loaves, not money). Summarized in detail in Med Soc II, Appendix B, #32 (p. 447).

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1427 Seleucid, which is 1115/16 CE. Ghāliya bt. Shelomo the divorcee of Ṭahor b. ʿAdiyya al-ʿAkkawī appears before the court and accepts an arrangement under which she will receive a yearly allowance of 4 dinars (from her ex-husband Ṭahor?). A sum of 65 dinars owed to her is also mentioned, which is crossed out and replaced by "all that [...]." Signed by the cantor ʿEli b. Yeḥezqel ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver.

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. This is probably the beginning of a power of attorney granted by the parnas Abū ʿImrān Moshe b. Moshe ha-Levi known as Ibn Majjān (appears also in T-S 10J5.16 + T-S 18J5.2 and L-G Misc. 50) to Abū l-Surūr Simḥa b. ʿAmram ha-Kohen known as Ṣāḥib Shamʿa, for the sake of representing his business interests "in Palermo (Ṣiqilliyya) and elsewhere, the lands of the west, the lands of Sicily (diyār Ṣiqilliyya), and al-Andalus."

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dating: Refers to the beginning of Ḥeshvan 1429 Seleucid, which is 1117 CE, but it is not immediately clear if this refers to a future or past date. The document narrates a protracted dispute which came about when Abū l-Faḍl Maṣliaḥ al-Ṣiqillī sued Abū l-Ḥusayn Yaḥyā al-Ḥalabī al-Ṣayrafī for a few dinars. It seems that this contract is laying out the terms under which Abū l-Ḥusayn will pay back the debt via Abū Saʿd [...] b. Naḥmān. (The debtor here, Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Ḥalabī al-Ṣayrafī, is also known from several other documents, e.g., ENA 3616.22, ENA 4011.72, ENA 4020.2, and T-S 8J4.9.)

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Refers to the ending of a man's period of mourning; 'the middle one, R. Peraḥya'; a number of dinars and a rubāʿī; 3 dinars and a rubāʿī; a period of time involving Elul; an additional payment on top of rent; and Abū l-Surūr.

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Concerns one sixth of the equipment (? ʿudda) of a sugar refinery (? maṭbakh). The brother of Abū l-Faḍl Shela ha-Levi purchases it from Ibn Fahda, while Abū l-Faḍl serves as guarantor. Also mentions a party named Mawhūb. Various conditions for the sale are listed as well as a circumstance under which the sale will be reversed.

Legal document. Record of release. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1125 CE. This document describes release from a partnership in glasswork, explaining that Shemarya ha-Kohen (also known as Abū al-Wafā b. Menashshe ha-Kohen) demanded 9 and 1/6 dinars of his erstwhile partners Yiṣḥaq b. Yehuda and Yiṣḥaq's son Abū al-Karam. Yiṣḥaq gave Shemarya a settlement, andShemariah released him and his son from the partnership. The settlement of the partnership is effected through arbitration (“bederekh peshara”) by a number of “Elders of equity and propriety”. Per Goitein, Jewish courts of the Geniza period generally first sought settlements outside the court. Court decisions themselves not only required the attention of a higher court, such decisions also required an oath (a troublesome process for the court and the community). But a settlement through arbitration did not even require a qinyan. The judges in this case, Avraham b. Shemaʿya and Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi, are the two “permanent judges” of Fusṭāṭ of the period. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 12-14)

Legal document. Court record. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1134. Abū Sa‘d and Abū Sahl form a partnership lasting 6.5 months to manufacture and sell glass. Half the capital (20 dinars in total) invested by Abū Sa‘d is considered a loan to Abū Sahl, who pledges title to his home as a security. This may suggest diversion from the commenda model, where the active partner is not liable for loss. But the partnership also diverges from the ‘eseq model, wherein only the active partner transacts. Both the profit/loss characteristics and the working arrangement between the partners suggests a craft partnership. Abū Sa‘d is likely the senior partner: he is identified as al-Zajjāj, “the glazier” (i.e., a known personage in the field), while Abū Sahl is given no professional designation; as well, Abū Sa‘d invests all of the capital, suggesting that he may be short of liquid assets). Finally, the partnership stipulates that Abū Sa‘d need only work two shifts a week (suggesting he may have other business elsewhere), while Abū Sahl will work the rest of the week. Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen, mentioned in line 54, functioned as leader of the Jewish community of Fusṭāṭ from 1127 to 1139. The signatories to the document, Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen and Natan b. Avraham ha-Levi, signed 5 months after the agreement was initiated, for unknown reasons. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Society", pp. 17-21)

Only the lower part of this document has survived. It is written in the form of a letter and contains a commercial account and also a court record of legal proceedings. The hand is that of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. It seems that on his way to India, Abu Barakat met Issac al-Nafusi in Aden and the latter gave him some merchandise to sell for him there. It is probable that the lost part of the document listed the selling of this merchandise in India. Next we have an account of what Abu Barakat bought for al-Nafusi in India. Then he lists the expenses (taxes, rent of warehouse etc) of his dealings in Aden. The last part consists of a copy of legal proceedings where Abu Barakat declares that he spent the rest of al-Nafusi's money that remained with him on the recently purchased house of al-Nafusi in Fustat. He did this according to the instructions of Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Nethanel, al-Nafusi's appointed representative.