Geniza Lab

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: 1122-1153. A one-year partnership in an apothecary between Sayyid al-Ahl and his partner Faraḥ b. Abū al-‘Alā. The relationship may have been an apprenticeship; both parties are entitled to 1.5 dirhams a day, but profits from the sale of some commodities within the shop will accrue only to Sayyid al-Ahl, who seems to be the primary partner. However, Faraḥ’s investment is significant; the pharmacy inventory was only 7 dinars, but Faraḥ brings a total of 20 dinars, 16 of which are invested immediately. This document lacks most of the formulae seen in partnership agreements (including stock qinyan phrases, which effect the contract) – it may have been simply the personal outline of a scribe who would later add in the framework from a formulary, as it also lacks signatures. Goitein identifies the handwriting as that of Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver (active 1122-1153). (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 38-39)

Legal minutes (tadhkira or tadhkir) regarding Ibn Bishr's case. Written in the hand of Natan b. Shmuel. Fustat 1153. Nazar bt. David, the wife of Musa b. Bishr also known as Moshe b. Mevasser, gives her husband a free hand (tasarruf) in half of a house she owns in Qasr al-shamʿ between the two synagogues. Then her husband gives this same half of a house to his son Abu al-Wafa Tamim as a gift on the condition that his child cannot sell it or give it as a gift as long as his father is alive. signed by Mevorakh b. Natan and Sa'adya b. Avraham. Musa b. Bishr also appears in ENA 4011.56. || Legal document written and signed by Mevorakh b. Natan in which Nazar bat David gives her husband complete freedom of disposition over one-half of a house belonging to him, which was also serving as their domicile. Second, the father gives this half to a son. Third, the son is not permitted to sell or give away that half during his father's lifetime. Dated Adar 1474/ March 1163. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 243, 479)

Legal document written and signed by Natan b. Shmuel in which Nazar bat David gives her husband complete freedom of disposition over one-half of a house belonging to him, which was also serving as their domicile. Second, the father gives this half to a son. Third, the son is not permitted to sell or give away that half during his father's lifetime. Dated Adar 1474/ March 1163. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 243, 479)

Legal document dealing with the death of a certain Yishaq. Abu al-Khayr Khiyar al-Sirafi and a parnas are mentioned. Signed by Yeshu'a b. Yoshiyyahu b. Shema'yahu and Natan b. Shemuʾel he-haver - who probably wrote the document. | Abu al-Khayr Khiyar the banker receives a testimony concerning one named Ishaq who died 3-4 days after he had made a declaration in his favor. Signed by Elazar b. Yosef, Yeshua b. Josiah nin Shemaya Gaon and Natan b. Shemuel. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

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)

Legal document in the hand of Natan b. Shemuel Ha-Ḥaver, Fustat. Concerning marrying a secong wife, and conditions with the first wife.

Letter to the head of the Academy, Avraham b. Mazhir, from [Natan] b. Shemuel ha-Haver. Dated Marheshvan 1453 sel. (October 1141).

Document containing a lines of poetry in the hand of the judge Natan b. Shemuel. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:235, 574) EMS

Court records and notes in the hand of the judge Natan b. Shemuel. Dating: Ca. 1143 CE. Entries include the estate inventory of Abū l-Barakāt Ibn al-Sharābī (including a huge library containing 200 bound codices), payment of a debt, an instruction to charge the community fund with 75 dirhams, and the sale of a house. (Information from CUDL.) Gil edited one of the entries; this is the transcription below. Record of a payment to an Amir, ca. 1143. Two payments in wheat, due the army commander (amir) Hiṣn al-Dawla, are effected through the qodesh; the account is briefly recorded among other records of the court. The date corresponding to 1143 appears on the reverse side of the document, written in the same hand. A previous PGP description erroneously called this "Rough draft of an agreement between spouses, in the hand of Hillel b. Eli."

Strongly formulated note by the prominent judge Natan b. Shemuel to a prominent member of the community, urging the man to send him money for the sick people while staying in his house. EMS. On verso there is a probably-unrelated name in Arabic script, perhaps from a chancery document: ʿabduhā al-Kāmilī Masʿūd.