Geniza Lab

Legal document. Partnership record. Dated: October 1039.Location: Cairo. In April 1039, the parties Tuviyah b. Yefet ha-Levi and ‘Allūn b. Faraj (and perhaps Salāma ha-Kohen b. Nissan) came to the home of Suleymān b. Isḥāq b. Meir in Cairo. Suleymān was involved in a partnership (mufāwaḍa) with Tuviyah and ‘Allūn. The other partner to the agreement is Khalaf b. Ibrāhīm. When Tuviyah and ‘Allūn demand a payout from the partnership, to be distributed by Suleymān (evidently the senior partner), Suleymān disputes this, explaining that Tuviyah and ‘Allūn have received their final settlements, and Khalaf is free from his obligations to them. Suleymān and Khalaf terminate their relationship, and the April document is given to Khalaf as proof. ‘Allūn's attestation that Suleymān and Khalaf had “a joint enterprise (mu‘āmala) and not a qinyan”, complicating the understanding of partnership models in this period; the difference between a mufāwaḍa and a mu‘āmala (or between either of these and a qinyan) is unclear Immediately below, in different handwriting, appears the testimony of Salāma b. Nissan ha-Kohen to Suleymān that he (Salama) has made the same statement in a different location, at the home of an elder. Goitein believed that the Khalaf b. Ibrahīm mentioned in this document was the same one that appeared in T-S 18J1.6 (PGPID 3523); Lieberman disputes this. In yet another handwriting, the document validates the signatures of Tuviyah and ‘Allūn in the permanent court in Fusṭāṭ some months after their initial testimony was recorded in the home of Suleymān in Cairo. The signatories are the three judges Efrayim b. Shemarya, Avraham b. Mevaser, and Yefet ha-Ḥazan b. David. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 281-284)

Will of Moshe b. Adiyya who declares that his wife did not owe him anything, but that not all she was owed in her marriage contract had been delivered to her. In addition he gives her a present of some wheat. He gives his sister two dinars and his niece one dinar and donates a Torah codex to the synagogue of the Palestinians in Fustat. His son is the only and exclusive heir who cannot be sued by anyone. Dated Tammuz 1351/ June 1040. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 139, 544)

Legal document. Apprenticeship agreement. Dated: Thursday, 25 Tishri 1339 (September 1027). Location: Fustat. Written in the hand of Yefet b. David. Bishr b. Efrayim apprentices his son Yosef to the weaver Barhūn b. Yiḥye for a period of four months, for which Yosef is to be paid 15 dirhams a month. By the end of this period, Yosef should have gained competence in working the loom; if not, the apprenticeship is to be renewed for an additional four months and his wage is to be raised to that of an ordinary worker. Barhūn promises to feed Yosef for the entire period, subtracting the cost of maintenance from his wages. He also promises that Yosef will learn the craft. Yosef must have been quite young since it is his father rather than he who makes the contract, but the parties clearly thought that Yosef’s acceptance and understanding of the terms of the contract to have been important, because the contract's conditions were read to him and he agreed with them. The agreement was executed in the court at the synagogue of the Palestinians and signed by Yefet b. David and Shelomo b. Ḥakīm. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 71-73)

List of debts. Written by Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. AA

Letter from Daniel b. Azarya to a man in Fustat concerning a replacement for the supervisor who was responsible for the butchers in Fustat, after Yefet b. David passed away. The beginning and end are missing. VMR

Recto: Letter fragment from Daniel b. Azarya, probably to Eli b. Amram, Fustat. Mentions the Gaon's opposition to Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 p. 625, #342) VMR

Legal document: power of attorney (authorization), written by Yefet b. David on behalf of Efrayim he-Ḥaver b. Shemarya to a certain [...] b. Aharon he-Ḥaver 'in the great Sanhedrin' (probably b. Hiyya). Dated [1]341 (= 1029/30 CE). Verso: unfinished legal document, party: Moshe b. Yishaq dated Tishri [...].

Recto: Letter from Yefet b. David, Tyre, to his father, David b. Shekhanya, Fustat, informing him of his arrival in Tyre and expressing his disappointment at finding only two letters waiting for him. Greetings are sent to various family members. Dated ca. 1007 or 1010 CE. Verso: Address in Arabic along with a draft of a document in a different hand. (Information from CUDL)

Letter from Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya, Fustat, to Daniel b. Azarya, approximately 1053.

Letter from Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya, Fustat, to Daniel b. Azarya, approximately 1053. The tear between the two sides is indicated here by the following sign /. (Gil, Palestine, Pt. 2).

Letter from Yefet b. David in Tyre to his father David b. Shekhanya (c. 1008-11 CE). A collection (pesiqa) for the young hazzan Husayn b. Dawud b. Sakan of Fustat in Acre (well-known under the name Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya). (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:221, 222, 569, and CUDL) EMS

Confirmation by witness of the divorce of Raisa b. Kathir, who wanted to marry Yosef. Written by Yefet ha-Hazan b. David. (information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Letter from the Jerusalem community in Fustat, in the hand of ha-Hazan Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya in Tamuz (July) 1028. R. Shlomo b. Yehuda was appointed to be the new head of the Yeshiva in Jerusalem and the Jerusalem community in Fustat are writing to get his re-approval for their leader and judge - Efrayim b. Shemarya. (Information from Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, pp. 83-86). VMR

Page from a court notebook dated Thursday, 12 Kislev, 1026, in the hand of Yefet ha-Hazan b. Daud, who signs alone. Sulayman b. Yusuf made ‘amlāk’ (denoting the transferring of ownership of properties) for Sitt al-Dar bt. Yusuf and gave 15 dinars to ‘Umar, the brother of Sitt al-Dar. These were ‘rahīna’ (security, i.e. collateral). See also T-S 8J6.18 C and T-S 8J6.18 D. (Information from Goitein's index card). EMS and VMR

C1: Page from a court notebook dated Thursday, 26 Kislev, 1026, December, unsigned, because only one witness appeared, Eli ha-Kohen b. Yefet. He conferred the right from Mawhuba bt. Yusuf ha-Kohen b. Avraham, widow of Yusuf ha-Yadu'a b. Bikar, vouching (ḍaminat) for Shlomo (Sulayman) b. Yusuf, that he could marry her daughter Sitt al-Dar bt. Yusuf ha-Kohen any time between now and Passover. If it was prevented, she would have to pay 15 dinars. If he would not marry until Passover he would have no claim except in the case of illness. He had no claim on this מהר (mahr, pledge of a cash dowry usually divided into two portions).C2: Page from a court notebook dated Monday, 7 Tevet, 1026, December. Netanel b. Aaron ha-Shulhani (known as Ibn al-Qata’if) acknowledges the guarantee likewise that Mawhuba bt. Yusuf made the understanding (mentioned in 1, above) and adds that these 15 dinars were the ones which were claimed from the bride's brother. C1 and C2 are both written by Yefet b. Daud. At the end of page signs Shemuel ha-Kohen b. Avtalyon and Efrayim b. Shemarya. See also T-S 8J6.18 (a, b and d). (Information from Goitein's index cards). EMS and VMR

Letter from Avraham b. David b. Sighmar, Fustat, probably to Daniel b. Azarya, Jerusalem. The beginning of June 1056. After the passing of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya, there were new problems to do with kosher butchering. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 p. 746-748, #402) VMR

Draft of a letter from Yefet b. Shekhanya, from Fustat, to Daniel b. Azarya, around 1053. Daniel did not reply to Yefet's requests to supervise the slaughter in the community. Yefet has heard that a rejection is already included in Daniel's letter to Avraham ha-Masos and feel like people harassing him. The community in Fustat gave Yefet the authority to be the supervisor in the markets. The letter is unfinished. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 p. 745-746, #401) VMR

Fragment of a ketubba for the remarriage of a divorced couple (מחזיר גרושתו). Groom: Shelomo b. [...]. Bride: Ghāliya bt. Peraḥya. Written by Yefet b. David (active 1014–57 CE). AA

Marriage contract (ketubba). Small fragment. Contains part of the dowry list. Written by the cantor Yefet b. David. AA