Geniza Lab

Fragment of a legal testimony regarding the financial rights of a widow, perhaps the widow of [...]n al-Bazzāz (Abu l-Ḥasan?). Probably medieval.

Betrothal document and dowry list: "The clothes and the nedunya and the contante [Italian for cash] of the widow Ms. Dona (name or honorific?) bt. Moshe P[.]so"). The document is in Hebrew but several of the items on the dowry list seem to be in Judaeo-Arabic. She is going to marry Shelomo Maymūn b. Yaʿaqov Maymūn. Dated 1 July 1794 (3 Tamuz 5554).

Recto: Legal document from Fustat/Cairo, dated March 1819 (last third of Adar 5579), in which Yiṣḥaq Zamiro acknowledges receipt of an investment of 9000 muayyadis (silver half-dirhams) from Ḥabība the widow of Moshe Zakkai. The document details how he is to use Ḥabība's investment and how they will divide the profits. Verso: In the same (or very similar) hand, a eulogy for a deceased woman and some neat accounts partially in Judaeo-Arabic. Diamonds and Yaʿaqov al-Marankātī (?) are mentioned.

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dated: End of Iyyar 5555 AM, which is 1795 CE. (The signing of the document was deferred until Kislev 5556—but there are no signatures on this fragment, so either they were torn away or they were never added.) In which Jamīla, the widow of Avraham ha-Levi Skandarī, invests 28,000 medins with three business partners (Eliyyahu Palombo, [...], and Merkado [...]) for a period of 1 year. Profits will be divided in four equal shares.

Legal testimony. Location: Fustat. Dated: Shevaṭ 1462 Seleucid, which is 1151 CE, under the authority of Shemuel ha-Nagid. A woman named ʿAmāʾim bt. Abū l-Faraj Menahem ha-Levi al-Shammāʿ b. Shemarya ha-Levi, who is the widow of the clothier (bazzāz) Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf b. Munajjā, acknowledges that she has received in full the 40 dinars of her delayed marriage gift (muʾakhkhar) from the ʿAsqalānī perfumer Abū ʿAlī Yefet b. Tiqva. Witnesses: Berakhot b. Yefet and Natan b. Shemarya ha-Kohen. The qiyyum (validation) is written in a different hand and is signed by Yaʿaqov b. Avraham, Efrayim b. Meshullam, and Mevorakh b. Natan.

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?

Letter from an unknown man to his niece (bint al-akh). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 13th century. He opens, "How long will you remain a widow?" The writer has found her a promising suitor who recently visited Bilbays, a learned man who works as a teacher, the son of the sister of the teacher Bū l-Ḥasan Hillel al-Shanshāwī. The writer urges the addressee to send the suitor a letter (? תדפעי לה מן ענדך) and go along with this plan. He continues to urge her to cease wasting her youth in spinsterhood ("for I am a man and I was older(?) than you and I did not sit (i.e. as a widower)."). Cairo is also mentioned. The letter ends very abruptly with none of the formulaic regards, so this was probably a draft.

Bill of release written in Tyre 11th century. Malīḥa bt. Shemarya (?) the widow of [...[ yedid ha-yeshiva b. Peraḥya declares that she had sent what was in the possesion of Abu al-Faḍā'il Ṣadaqa b. Yosef and releases him from any claims regarding any loss due to the dangers of travel.

Legal document from 1145 in the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Sitt al-Tujjar comes to court to collect her ketubba. the cort examines her ketubba and finds that she is trustworthy. The rest of the document deals with the sums she is owed and what she receives from the court and the orphans - since a third of the deed is still missing it is hard to understand the exact details. Join by Oded Zinger.

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dated: 1 Elul 5579 AM, which is 1819 CE. The widow of Avraham Yerid(?) invests 9000 medins with Yeḥezqel Ḥefeẓ.

Accounts related to the Must'arabi community of Cairo in the year 5556 which is 1795/1796CE. The bifolium is very damaged along the edges but the paper's extensive length is still apparent and suggests that this was possibly a part of a broader communal charity register. Many individuals are listed as orphans or widows "[נה]אלמ" with corresponding figures in eastern Arabic numerals, namely: the widow of Nissim Binyamin, the widow of Ḥayyim 'Esur, the orphan of Nissim Kohen, the orphan of Shemuel 'Eṣmi. It is crucial to note that the first names of the widows and orphans themselves do note appear. The verso is blank. MCD.

Letter from a woman requesting help in receiving her share from her late husband’s inheritance, with various signatures of support. Mentions government interference as well as her husband's other (simultaneous) wife, the daughter of Abū l-Ṭāhir. Long, well-preserved, and full of interesting details. Should be edited. (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Involves a woman "[sit]ting in the house of her widowhood"; children; and a son named Abū Manṣūr.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Recto is extremely damaged/faded, while verso is mostly legible. The hand may be known. Recto mentions ʿImrān; a woman; legal proceedings; corrupt judgments (al-dīn al-fāsid); a favor requested of the addressee; and Sayyidnā Sar ha-Sarim (generally the title of Sar Shalom ha-Levi, Head of the Jews for part of the period 1171–95 CE); and relief that the sender already received from Sar ha-Sarim. He might also mention his physical tribulations (from dust? a broken rib?): אני מקאץ אלגבאר מכסור אלגנב (last line). On verso he says that he lives peaceably with his neighbors; he plans to go to the woman (the wife or widow of Nissim?) and bring her and her children to make a legal declaration that they will repay the addressee the dinars that they owe him; everyone is in agreement with this plan. The original letter ends here with greetings and a yeshaʿ yiqrav. He adds a postscript to the effect that he has sent another letter to Sayyidnā, summarizing its contents or urging the addressee to intervene with Sayyidnā to make sure it gets acted upon. He complains about a certain "madman" (majnūn) to whose name he appends curses. The madman sowed discord between the sender and his sister and her children. He quotes Proverbs 6:19 (וּמְשַׁלֵּחַ מְדָנִים בֵּין אַחִים). He says that the addressee is already aware of 'what they did' with the widow, the daughter of Ḥasan(?) and with Dā'ūd and Yūsuf with an inheritance. He concludes by complaining once again about the madman. (Information in part from Amir Ashur via http://www5.kb.dk/manus/judsam/2009/sep/dsh/object44694/en/#kbOSD-0=page:4). ASE

Two paper leaves, very damaged, which form a part of a collection of letters from Evyatar ha-Kohen Gaon b. Eliyyahu, sent from Tyre. The first letter is addressed to Isaac b. Shemuel, the Spaniard, a Dayyan in Fustat. Evyatar appeals to Isaac to help the parnas "ha-Kohen we-ne'eman" ("trustee"), referring to Eli b. Yahya of Fustat. Greetings are sent to a certain parnas Abu al-Ridha and to the Hazzan Abu al-Mu'mar. Dated 1091. The second epistle is evidently addressed to a priestly scholar in Iraq who was authorized by the exilarch Hezekiah. It appears he had written Evyatar about a widow who had become liable to the levirate as her husband Yefet had died without issue. Evyatar sends greetings in the names of his two sons, Eliyyahu and Sadoq, and the banker Shemuel b. Aaron and the shaykh Abu 'Ali Ḥasan are also mentioned. (Jacob Mann, The Jews in Egypt and Palestine under the Fatimids, NY: Ktav Pub., 1920-22, rpt. 1970, 1:192-4, 2:228-9; and Mark Cohen, Jewish Self-government in Medieval Egypt, Princeton University, 1980, 112) EMS

Recto: Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Concerning the claims of Turfa Sitt al-Kamāl, the widow of Abū Sahl Mukhtār, to an estate. Mentions Abū Mūsā Aharon b. (Yesh)uʿa ha-Kohen and Abū Saʿīd. She has to get 100 dinars from her ketubba from her married daughter and another 50 dinars from another claim. Payment to be made in Alexandria. In Fustat, a guarantor (ḍāmin) stands security that he would pay in Fustat, if a letter from Alexandria to the court in Fustat states that the debtor had not paid within 15 days of his arrival in Alexandria. Verso: Receipts, acknowledging the payment of 15 dinars and 68 dinars (the latter apparently in Alexandria) to Sitt al-Kamāl, widow of Abū Sahl Muḵtār, witnessed by Yefet b. Ṣedaqa, ʿUla ha-Levi b. Joseph and Saʿadya ha-Levi (left side). Dated: left side Tevet of 1434 Seleucid, right side Shevat of that year (= 1122/23 CE). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (left side) and another hand (right side), which was written in Alexandria. She received 15 dinars on 8 Tevet 1434/8 December 1122 and 68 dinars on 13 Shevat 1434/11 January 1123. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index cards.)

Legal document fragment mentioning "his travel to al-Andalus," various sums of money, a widow named Umm al-ʿAysh, and Yefet ha-Zaqen. ASE.

Court document dated 15 Kislev 1469/26 November 1157 acknowledging that the court had heard the testimony of the wife of the addressee, the Shaykh Abu Mansur b. Shemuel, including testimony enumerating the assets of her son, Abu Imran, which were in her possession. List of these assets follows: Inventory of a silk-weaver's shop. Includes 32 items, most either effaced or partly torn away: 4 looms, 3 combs for silkweaving, 3 wooden rolls on which the bolts of silk were rolled, 2 irons, one for robes and another for turbans, wicker baskets full of warps, various quantities of bleached and other linen (which was woven together with silk), a small pot with weaver's reeds, copper threads covered with silver, and other items not preserved. (Information from Mediterranean Society, 1:412
s s
24; Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 1, 412; vol. 2, 150, 312; and Marina Rustow)

Letter from the widow of the cantor Ben Nahman to a Head of the Jews (entitled Gaon) concerning the difficulties she is having with her husband's sons and their aunt over her right to domicile in the house to which she had a claim. Cf. T-S 10J16.4, an earlier plea from the same woman, also T-S Ar.18(1).107.

The widow of Abu al-Fadl Sela b. 'Amram arranges with his bride Mubaraka bt. Shelomo ha-Kohen that she agrees to live with his son in the same apartment and to eat with him at the same table. In the case the son marries, she promises to be like a sister to his future wife. In the case her husband dies, she has no right to live in the house. Elul 1112, Wednesday, September 4, 1112. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR