Geniza Lab

Legal document. Deed of compensation / bill of release. Dated: 1337 Seleucid (1025–26) CE. Location: Fustat. Written in the hand of Avraham, son of the Gaon. From a woman named Turayk ("Little Turk") to the wakīl al-tujjār Muḥsin b. Ḥusayn and a number of his family members: three sons, three daughters (Sarwa, Fāʾiza, and Nabīla) and his wife, Fahda. Turayk had lived in Muḥsin's house for more than 10 years, so her heirs might have been able to argue that she should have given part of it to the female members of the household, who had meanwhile come of age. (Information from Med. Soc. 3:45)

Legal document. Release. In Hebrew.

Legal document. Quittance or bill of release (barāʾa) from Almeria, in al-Andalus, confirmed in Egypt. Individuals mentioned include […] b. al-Naḡara, Ḥalfon ha-Levi, Yiṣḥaq b. Aharon, Yosef ha-Levi b. Ḥarith, Yiṣḥaq b. ʿOvadya b. Yiṣḥaq, and Yiṣḥaq b. Yaʿaqov. The document is probably connected with Ḥalfon b. Nathaniel ha-Levi. (Information from CUDL.) Join by Mordechai Akiva Friedman.

Legal document. Damaged and faded legal document (bill of release??) from 1053. Judeo-Arabic and Aramaic On verso a poem in Hebrew by Eli b. 'Amram. AA

Partnership release. Dated: 1091. Location: Fustat. Verso: Avraham b. Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen irreversibly releases Abū al-Faḍl/Abū al-Mufaḍḍal Netanel b. Yefet from any obligations concerning a partnership. Avraham had purchased two baskets of indigo and silk as an investment on behalf of his Alexandrian partners – the silk was damaged on its initial journey to Fusṭāṭ and Avraham liquidated it completely, settling the balance with Nathaniel and terminating the partnership. Abraham’s partners include Nathaniel’s mother and sister (see lines 23 and 27-31). The recto is another partnership agreement (for which the verso is possibly a draft), which reveals Abraham to be an investor (not the active partner), investing funds with Peraḥ/Peraḥya ha-Kohen, who also adds funds and takes the total to Damascus to import goods to Fusṭāṭ. The partnership is to last the duration of a single trip to Damascus, and Peraḥ is to receive half of the profits to Abraham’s capital as well as all profits to his own capital. Peraḥ is liabile for losses, as with the isqra. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 65-66)

Legal document. Record of release. Dated: April or May 1164. In the hand of judge Mevorakh b. Natan. Abū l-ʿAlāʾ b. Bū Sahl al-Jubaylī (aka Shemuel b. Yehuda) accepts seven dinars from Abū l-Maʿālī Shemuel b. Yehuda which had been on deposit with the court, and absolves him from any further obligations relating to the deposit. The seven dinars were a pledge that was deposited with the court; thus the first and third clauses of this release may be related to the deposit and the last two may be related to the relationship between the two parties. If so, then shirka and mu‘āmala are clearly related partnership structures, both employed to insure that the release covers the partnership relationship, whether one would choose to describe it as a shirka or as a mu‘āmala. It is unclear exactly what sort of relationship the parties here have. The document may simply have been the disposition of assets of a partnership which was between Abū l-ʿAlāʾ and Shemuel's late father, as lines 3-4 suggest that the Shemuel’s father is dead, whereas line 6 absolves the deceased father from any further obligation. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 42-43)

Legal fragment. In Hebrew. A release. Dating: Late, based on the hand.

Deed of release (שטר אביזאריה/פיצוי). Location: Almost certainly Fustat (and not Tiberias as Gil suggested). Dating: Late 10th century. Concerning property in Tiberias. A man releases his father's partner, Moshe b. Shemuel b. Sahl, from all claims. Witnesses: Yosef b. Seʿadel; Ḥashmonay b. Avraham; [...] b. Ḥasan; Fashshāṭ b. Shemuel; and Efrayim b. Ṣadoq. (Information from Gil and Friedman.)

Release in the name of Banāt bt. Ezra for the sons of her sister (?), dated 1129/30 CE (4890), from Alexandria (?). On verso is a note about the transference of a share to Shemuel b. Aharon, Beth Din. Information from Worman catalog and FGP.

Recto: Acknowledgment of debt. Lender: Abū l-ʿAlā al-Ṣabbāgh (the dyer) b. Abū Saʿd. Borrower: Abu ʿImrān ʿAmram ha-Levi ha-Talmid. Verso: Records of completed payments. (Information from CUDL.) VMR Should be dated to early 13th century.

Release granted by a brother and heir of a deceased man to his sister-in-law, the wife of the deceased, in Fustat, Elul 1476/August 1165.

Document of release concerning Avraham b. Shemuel and Sa’dan b. Sa’id, witnessed by Yosef ha-Kohen. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) See also BL OR 5550.1, another legal document involving Sa'dan b. Sa'id, dated 979 CE. EMS, ASE.

Document of release concerning a partnership, denoted here as ‘mufawwada.’ (Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman, The Business of Identity, Stanford University Press, 2014, 112, 365) EMS

Legal document. Record of release. Dated: 1014. Location: Fustat. This partnership release, from the court of Abraham Maimonides, describes itself using the Aramaic term "tavra", referring to the "breaking" of the partnership relationship and a renunciation of further claims. Abū al-Bahā b. Abū al-Ḥasan al-Dilātī the beekeeper releases his nephew Moses ha-Kohen from all obligations resulting from "all of the joint enterprises (mu‘āmalāt) which were between us from the beginning of time until now", as well as any concomitant oaths. Any further details of this family partnership are not included in the release. Goitein identifies three other financial documents between Abū al-Bahā and Moses, all of which concern loans from Moses to his uncle. That the present document is dated between the dates of two of these documents suggests that despite this document ending a partnership, their mutual financial dealings continued. As the other documents are all concerned with the repayment of loans from Moses to his uncle, it seems likely that Moses was the source of capital for this partnership, and one of their "mutual dealings" was an investment partnership. Presumably Moses would have released his uncle from any further claims in a separate document. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 135)

Legal document. Record of release. Dating: 1150-1181. Written in the hand of Mevorakh b. Nathan. In this document, Abū al-Makārim Nadiv ha-Levi b. Moses ha-Levi settles a partnership account on behalf of Samuel due the father of Abū Naṣr and Abū al-Majd, perhaps upon the death of the father and the termination of the partnership. Upon payment of the balance to the two sons Nadiv is given a document of release, which indicates that Samuel had fulfilled his agency. In addition to the details concerning Nadiv’s payment to the two sons, the fragment is missing the partnership stipulations concerning term and distribution of profits and losses; it refers to the partnership as a "shirka", though the sons release Samuel from mu‘āmalāt. Line 19 replaces the Hebrew "ḥakhamim" with the Arabic "‘ulamā’" in a common rabbinic phrase; Nadiv had dealings in both Jewish and Muslim courts. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 143)

Bill of release by Eli in which Hiba b. Moshe acknowledges to have received from Abu al-Khayr 1.5 dinars. Signed by Shemarya ha-Kohen b. Natan. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document. Record of release. Dating: April 1076. Location: Fustat. Ṣedaqa b. Muvḥar and Shemuel b. Aharon ha-Kohen al-Ṣayrafī ("the money-changer") are released from a partnership between Ṣedaqa’s father and Aaron, apparently at the death of Ṣedaqa’s father. Unlike trading partnerships, which often include allusions to consignments in general or traded commodities in specific in their release clauses, this release includes mention of both bills of exchange (suftaja) and vouchers (khaṭṭ). Apparently the partnership had encountered some difficulties (a "streak of ill fortune" is mentioned). The signatory Yefet b. Avraham b. Yaʾir the Judge is identified in other documents as a money-changer as well; perhaps the court contained expert witnesses who could testify to the probity of the parties in their line of work. Other signatories include Yaʾir b. Elʿazar and Ghālib b. Ḥalfōn al-Zayyāt (the olive-oil dealer), both known from other contemporary documents, and Yaḥyā b. Avraham ha-Levi he-Ḥaver. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 149)

Legal document: a deed of gift, ca. 1117. A woman, whose name is not preserved, bequeaths a house partly owned by her, to another woman, Sitt al-Dar, probably her daughter. This is a will made "by a healthy person," and therefore irrevocable. As appears from the deed, another part of the duwayra (small compound) was owned by al-'aniyim, i.e. by the qodesh. To prevent any loss to the qodesh, the recipient of the estate was forbidden to sell it to non-Jews or to build an additional floor over it. In case she sold it (to a Jew, of course) the same restrictions would have to be applied to the purchaser. The deed is written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe; its upper part is missing. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 232 #41) Alternative description: Two legal documents: The first is a deed, dated 1117 CE, in which an unnamed woman gifts part of a house to her housekeeper Sitt al-Dār bt. Shaʾul, and the second is a bill of release. The rest of the compound was owned by the Heqdesh, and to keep the property in Jewish hands, Sitt al-Dār is forbidden to sell her inheritance to non-Jews, and future buyers of the property are instructed to continue this policy. It is also stated that Sitt al-Dār will serve and care for the her benefactor, until her benefactor's death. (Information from CUDL)

Bill of release, dated 1066 in Fusṭāṭ (29 Kislev 1377), in which Natan ha-Kohen b. Yeshuʿa gives a bill of divorce to his fiancée Sittān bat Yaḥyā, and she releases him from any claim. The release is given to Yefet who serves as a proxy to take the document to Tyre. Signed by Shemuel b. Yizhaq, Ḥayyim b. ʿAmmār, Faraḥ b. Yosef, […] b. Naʿm, Moshe ha-Levi b. Shela, Elʿazar Ibn ha-Shofeṭ, […] ha-Levi b. Ḥalfon, and Yehuda b. […]. Information from GRU catalog via FGP.

Recto: Letter to Judge Elijah from Perahyah b. Joseph about a needed release for a business venture. Verso: Arabic jottings. (Information from CUDL)