Geniza Lab

Ketubba fragment. In the hand of the court scribe Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (c.1181–1209).

Legal document. Only a few lines from the introduction are preserved. The date is not preserved. The handwriting is very similar to that of the court scribe Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (c.1181–1209).

Partnership agreement in the hand of Yosef b. Shemuel b. Saʿadya ha-Levi (active ca. 1180–1210). The parties are Abū Saʿīd and [Abū l-]Riḍā. On verso there are the remnants of a halakhic treatise or responsum in the same hand. AA

Legal document in the hand of the court scribe Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (c.1181–1209).

Legal document. Probably a release. In the hand of the court scribe Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (c.1181–1209).

A legal query to Maimonides written by Yosef b. Shmuel b. Sa'adya and Maomonides autographed reply. Published in Maimonides Responsa (Blau) no. 273. The query is dealing with a circumciser who use to perform circumcission in the vilages. He had a quarell with another person, a physician, who use to perform circumcission in order to harm the circumciser's livelihood. Maimonides eulrd that the physician act wrongly. AA

Legal document (written by Yosef b. Shemuel. AA) . Lease of an apartment of the Qodesh ca. 1194 and 1199. A deed of lease is concluded between the qodesh and a certain Abu'l-Surur. The deed is written in the name of the court, by a scribe whose handwriting we know from other documents of the qodesh of this period. It is validated by Shemuel b. Saadya. Abu'l-Surur was apparently in the perfume business, and the representatives of the qodesh wished to prevent the qa'a rented by him from being used for anything connected with his occupation. He is therefore absolutely forbidden to arrange for any reservoir of rose water, or to make any breach in the wall, or to use arsenic or any other drugs whose production entails the use of fire. The verso of the document, written five years later by Shemuel b. Saadya, lists a series of payments collected by him from the same Abu'l-Surur, on account of another period of lease during which he occupied the same qa'a. Some of the payments are made indirectly through a third party. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 372 #98)

Fragment of power of attorney signed by four persons including the judge Shemuel b. Saadya (in office 1165-1203) and deputy judge Jephthah b. Yaʿaqov (in office 1182-1219). Dated to the last quarter of 12th century. (Information from Goitein's index cards and Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 124, 546.) Looks like the hand of the court scribe Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (c. 1181–1209).

Recto, and lower part of verso: Legal document in the hand of Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya. Location: Fustat. Drawn up under the authority of the Gaʾon Sar Shalom ha-Levi. Dating: No later than 1193 CE (the legal document came before the letter draft, since the letter draft is crammed into the remaining margins). Sitt al-Ḥusn bt. Abū l-Makārim al-Tājir al-Kohen known as Ibn Qasāsa, who is the widow of Ṣāʿid b. Abū Manṣūr, declares before the court that she had previously reached a settlement with her half-sister (from the same father) Sitt Khafar, the wife of Yehuda al-Ṣāʾigh al-Maghribī, regarding the inheritance of their brother (from the same father) Abū ʿAlī al-Kohen al-Ṭabīb al-Muwaffaq. Several lines are missing here, but it seems the settlement was for 3.25 dinars, and Sitt al-Ḥusn acknowledges receipt of the money from Sitt Khafar. She has also received an unspecified sum from Sitt al-Maʿālī, the widow of the deceased brother Abū ʿAlī. She releases Sitt Khafar and Sitt al-Maʿālī from all further claims. On verso there are two more drafts of legal documents in the hand of Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya; these are damaged and difficult to read. The first involves a woman named Sitt al-Sāda and mentions "70 dirhams every week." The second involves a physician ('al-ṭabīb al-sadīd) Abū l-Faraj b. Moshe Ibn al-Kharrāz and perhaps a power of attorney. (Information in part from CUDL.) AA. ASE.

Margins of recto, and upper part of verso: Draft of a letter written by Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi, the father of Yosef b. Shemuel, the scribe of the legal document on recto. The text of the letter is written in two columns. Dated: Sivan 1504 Seleucid, which is 1193 CE. The letter is addressed to the Head of Jews and was written before Passover ("may we all be able to celebrate the Feast of Maṣot"). (Information in part from CUDL.) AA. ASE.

Trousseau list in connection with a ketubba, mentioning items such as kerchiefs (mandīl) and cushions (makhādd) and quantities of dinar. Seems to be written by Yosef b. Shemuel Halevi (Date: ca. 1180-1210). AA

Two fragments of a legal deed regarding a debt of Abu al-Karam b. al-Attar, written and signed by Yosef b. Shemuel Halevi (Date: ca. 1180-1211). Also signed by Yefet b. Shem[uel]. AA