Geniza Lab

Verso: Letter from Efrayim b. Shemarya to Natan b. Avraham. Dating: ca. 1034. Relates to the early stages of a conflict between Natan b. Avraham and Shelomo b. Yehuda. Efrayim b. Shemarya gives his support to Natan b. Avraham. Mentions regular correspondence between the writer and the addressee. Mentions a person who arrived from Babylonia, possibly Daniel b. ʿAzarya, who was elected to the Palestinian gaonate after Shelomo b. Yehuda. (Information from Bareket, The Jews of Egypt, p. 99.) On recto there is a document in Arabic script (see separate record).

Legal document. Agency agreement. Location: Fustat. Written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. T-S 10J4.16: agreement granting Abū l-Riḍā Shelomo b. Mevorakh power of attorney to collect from the assets of a partnership between three parties – Abū Sa‘īd Ḥalfōn b. Nissim Abū Ḥusayn al-Tinnīsī (the senior partner), Abū l-Faḍl Amram b. Abū Kathīr Efrayim, and Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Menashshe ha-Levi al-Jubaylī – once the partnership has ended. The partnership lasted three years, from January 1115 to January 1118, and its purpose was to export valuable items from Upper Egypt for resale in Yemen. The principal who retained Shelomo is eligible to collect from the entire partnership, which includes funds which Shelomo himself had placed with the partnership, acting as both principal and agent. Most of the legal form of the power of attorney is missing. The verso contains a copy of a release, in which Shelomo absolves his erstwhile partners from any further obligations, except for part of the profits which they owe him. Shelomo releases Ḥalfon and ʿAmram separately from Yeshu‘a. Here, the word ṣuḥba (T-S 10J4.16, line 4) refers to a joint investment or partnership, not a deposit. The unrelated(?) document (T-S 10J4.17) is a release document from Sitt al-Sāda, daughter of the last Palestinian Gaon Evyatar ha-Kohen to Menashshe b. Seʿadya ha-Kohen. The nature of their relationship is unclear. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 196, 261-263)