Geniza Lab

Legal queries and responsa of Shlomo ibn Aderet. All having to do with marriage laws. Late.

Legal query in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to "sayyidnā al-shelishi" regarding a man who died and left his entire estate to one of his two cousins, but did not explicitly exclude the other one, to whom he gave the equivalent of a peruṭa (penny). A more complete version of T-S G1.2 (PGPID 1307). (AA)

Legal queries and responsa. Late.

A draft version of the same legal query to a jurist (istiftāʾ) as in T-S Ar.41.105 (edited by Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents, doc. no. 65), concerning changes introduced in Jewish liturgical practice. A major difference is that this query is addressed to the qāḍī al-quḍāt ʿImād al-Dīn (d. 624 AH, which is 1226/27 CE). A full list of variants can be found in Fenton's edition of T-S Ar.41.105 (as cited by Khan). A very imperfect edition of this text was provided by Gottheil in Mélanges Hartwig Derenbourg, p. 98. On verso there is Hebrew literary text.

Cryptic document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Headed ב, then "in which your slave Abū l-[...] asked Sayyidnā (=you) . . . the letter from al-Muʿaẓẓam to al-Qāḍī al-Makīn," then goes into the details of a legal case involving Alexandria and ma'ūna (provisions?). Dating: Maybe late 12th or early 13th century based on appearance. Needs further examination.

A query seeking a responsum, addressed to Avraham Maimonides regarding an unmarried man living with a female slave. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 486 and from Goitein's index cards)

Legal query addressed to Yiṣḥaq b. Sasson ha-Dayyan, with his responsum and signature. Concerning an upstanding man whose only trade is teaching Torah but who is a bachelor. If someone objects to his teaching Torah because he is unmarried, what is the law? The responsum cites the Mishna and Gemara of Qiddushin 82a and explains that he may continue teaching children but that he may not go to their houses to teach them, because there are usually women around. ASE

Legal query addressed to Avraham Maimonides. Reuven b. Yaʿaqov married a widow. He sickened and died, when she was 6 months pregnant. He left behind household goods such as earthenware and copper pots (birām). His father Yaʿqūb demanded the household goods. Reuven's widow refused to hand them over, arguing that she had to pawn them to raise money to pay for syrups and chickens for Reuven in his illness and also to repay his debts. Yaʿqūb continues to demand the goods, and she continues to refuse. What should be done?

Legal query involving Sitt al-Ḥusn and the property of an orphan. With responsa from Moshe Maimonides, Sason ha-Dayyan, and Shelomo b. Natan. There is another legal query with responsum on verso. This document has been published by both M. A. Friedman and Joshua Blau. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Legal query addressed to Avraham Maimonides. Concerning a certain Kohen who is seeking a restraining order against his divorcee and to prohibit her from entering the alley where he lives, because he is scared of her and her witchcraft (כישוף). She keeps visiting her female friends who live the same alley as he. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.) ASE

Fragment of a double query, presented to Avraham Maimonides about (1) a man who keeps a female slave—not for service—although he was married and a father of children. (2) a man who had a Christian female slave accept Judaism but lived with her out of wedlock. This seems to be another version of the same two questions contained in T-S 10K8.13. Information from Goitein's note card.

Legal query addressed to Yehosef Rosh ha-Seder. Concerning a muqaddam who demanded that his name be included in the kaddish as had been done for his predecessors (man taqaddamahu min al-muqaddamīn). "Some of the congregation opposed him, for their own reasons" (M. A. Friedman has suggested that these were also opponents of Avraham Maimonides, see "A Bitter Protest about Elimination of Piyyutim from the Service — A Request to Appeal to the Sultan [Hebrew]," Peʿamim 1999). One of the groups excommunicated the other group. The name Elʿazar ha-Kohen b. Aharon ha-Ḥaver appears at the upper left (and perhaps at the bottom of another document that was originally above this document). (Information in part from Goitein, Med Soc III, p. 480, n. 154). ASE

A legal query. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, 309-311, suggested that it might be addressed to R. Isaac the Spaniard). Concerning an adopted girl who fled her marriage to a foster brother and was driven out of her house by her foster siblings. A woman, mother of 3 girls and 2 boys, took a captive girl into her house, regarding her bringing up as a 'thawāb' (mitzva). After 4-5 years, the girl matured and one of the boys of the woman wished to marry her. After 4 (months?) she returned to the house of her foster mother and declared she would not remain with him. Dating: Goitein dates this document to the Crusader period, but see Goldman, "Arabic-Speaking Jews in Crusader Syria" (diss.), p. 37, "Many undated Geniza documents have been ascribed to the period of the Crusades simply because they relate to warfare, ransoming, refugees, and/or massacres." (some data added by AA)

Recto: Legal query with responsum. Dating: First half of the 11th century. Concerning a cantor who took an oath not to lead prayers in the synagogue or to slaughter for the congregation in the market. In order to release him from the vow, the heads of the congregation asked him questions such as, would he have taken this oath if he knew that people would say that he was an idiot? If he knew that his family would get mad at him? If he knew that people would say that he was a melancholic (sawdāwī) and therefore prone to taking many oaths? He responded that he would not have taken the oath. Thus, they released him from his oath. The responsum is damaged but appears to state that the release from the vow is invalid. (Information from Amir Ashur via FGP.)

Legal query in Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning a man who had a debt to the heqdesh. He pawned his wife's property against her well, promising her that he would redeem it within a few days. He had property of his own (a chest of jewels and gold, perhaps in partnership with his father), but he wished to pay the debt out of his wife's property. The querier, apparently a local judge, emphasizes that the agent of the heqdesh must not accept the payment from the wife's property, but rather only from the property of the husband. Cites Ketubbot 101b, Mishna Bava Batra 10:7, Bava Batra 174a, and Ketubbot 81b. Information from Amir Ashur via FGP.

Legal query. In Arabic script. Addressed to "al-sāda al-fuqahāʾ al-ajillāʾ." Regarding a woman who sold a property; what happened next is not entirely clear. Mentions "the aḥbās" and an order of the government (amr al-sulṭān). There are two lines underneath, also written in Arabic script, likely the response/ruling (fatwā). On verso there is Aramaic poetry.

Query addressed to R. Yosef 'the Rav' concerning a case of inheritance. Headed by the unusual בשמ רחמ וחנינא. Involves several brothers, one minor. Quite damaged. (Information from Goitein's index cards.)

Legal query addressed to Abū ʿImrān, perhaps Maimonides. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary handwriting. The question regards a certain Tamīm in Qalyūb. It seems that he refuses to take the vow that the addressee had previously ordered him to make, because he is worried about making a vow and not being able to fulfill it. But needs further examination.

Legal query in Judaeo-Arabic (fa-yuftūnā sādātunā).

Left side of a page of legal queries in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (found by Amir Ashur).