Geniza Lab

Letter from a certain Mūsā, in Alexandria, to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. The sender, who is apparently engaged to a minor girl soon to reach maturity, asks Eliyyahu to intervene with his future father-in-law Bū Zikrī b. Netanel b. Hillel so that Bū Zikrī does not try to delay the wedding any further. (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal query with the autograph responsum of Yehuda ha-Kohen Rosh ha-Seder b. Yosef (aka "the Rav"). Yehuda b. Yosef was a student of Rabbenu Nissim b. Yaʿaqov of Qayrawān. He appears in the letters of the Maghribī merchants of the second half of the 11th century simply with the name "the Rav." This query concerns an orphan girl whose mother married her off while she was still a minor. Some time after the wedding, she stated that she had committed adultery. The man initially denied this claim but confessed upon examination by the court. The querier wishes to know if the wife is permitted to her husband. The responsum begins: "There are two sides to this ruling." The Rav ultimately rules that she is permitted to her husband. On verso, in Arabic script, "hādhihi ʿindī bi-khaṭṭihi raḥimahu Allāh" ("I have this in his handwriting, may God have mercy on him"). Information from Amir Ashur via FGP and from Friedman, "A Responsum by 'The Rav.'"

Letter from a man to his brother. In Judaeo-Arabic, in a lovely hand. Dating: 11th or 12th century. Refers to the addressee's pilgrimage the preceding year; Qayrawān; how the sender's wife died in giving birth to a son, while he himself was away in Byzantium; how her mother and family sent to recover her dowry (raḥl), valued at 200 quarter-dinars; how he subsequently married a minor girl (ṣabiyya saghīra) who is now pregnant (wa-hiya minnī [fī ḥāl]). (The phrase "...qām al-ḍawʾ" also appears here—the full first word and the meaning are unclear.) The sender has set up a shop in the square of the perfumers, and he is in good health. He refers to a woman (probably their mother) who is in good health and yearns to see the addressee's face. There are a couple lines of business matters at the end (mentions 1000 mithqāls of something and a ship). ASE