Geniza Lab

Order of payment issued by Abū Zikrī Kohen, advising the elder Munajjā to give out two ūqiyyas of rose (preserve) and two ūqiyyas of apples. (Information from CUDL)

Court record in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. Location: Fustat. Dated: Iyyar 1541 Seleucid, which is 1230 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. Concerns a loan of 38 dirhams, times two (so 76 dirhams total), granted by [...] b. Moshe to [...] b. Abū Saʿd al-Kohen, to be paid back over five weeks, thirteen dirhams per week, and then the rest. Refers at one point (l. 21) to a partnership in Bilbays for dyeing and silk manufacture. Verso is filled with accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Money order. In Arabic script with a Hebrew 'emet' at the top. Abū l-Faraj is asked to pay 2.5 dirhams to the bearer Sayyid Muḥammad (or Bū Majd?). Information from Goitein's note card.

Release written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe in Fustat. Using the standard formulae, the wife releases her husband, Abu al-'Ala, from all accusations and oaths in connection with her dowry, etc. except for 17 dinars he owes her. The husband stipulates what should be done should he predecease her or divorce her or should she initiate divorce. Signed by Menashshe ha-Kohen b. Yaʿaqov and Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Menashshe. (Information from Goitein's index cards, and from Goitein's hand list.) Alternate description: Legal documents in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Recto: after a history of abuse, a woman releases her husband, Abū l-ʿAlā, from all obligations to her in exchange for payment of 17 dinars. The formulae cover all possible future scenarios such as divorce, and the death of either party. Her children, Abū l-Khayr and Sitt al-Kull, are also mentioned. Verso: legal document concerning a debt resulting from the sale of a house; the parties being Nissan Abū Saʿd and Abū l-ʿAlā (possibly the same individual on recto). Written in Fusṭāṭ under the authority of Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen, dated 14[4]1 of the Seleucid Era (= 1130 CE). Signed by Menashshe b. Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL.)

One of three draft versions of a document concerning an official (muqaddam) in the community of al-Mahalla during the administration of Mevorakh b. Saadya (active 1079-1111). In the handwriting of Hillel b. Eli (active 1066-1108). The other two drafts are T-S 12.9 and T-S 20.125. Information from GRU catalog via FGP.

Register of dowry items (taqwīm). In Judaeo-Arabic. With additional jottings in Hebrew script and Arabic script. Dating: Late, perhaps 14th–16th century. Sefaradi hand. One of the jottings is in fact a (practice?) signature of Avraham Sefaradi. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: part of a large letter to the courtier Avraham b. Yashar (Abraham b. Sahl Tustari). The writer wishes him recovery from his illness, and has been praying for his health. He sends greetings to Avraham’s son Yefet (Abu 'Ali al-Ḥasan), who is to be married soon. The date is unknown but must be earlier than Avraham's death in 1047 CE. Biblical quotations are vocalised. The writer had sent a previous letter with illness-related quotations from the sages, and this letter presents illness-related verses from the Bible. The theme is that God sends illness as a trial only to the most righteous. Verso: a calligraphic Karaite legal document (engagement deed or ketubba?). Dated Sunday, the 11th of Nisan xxx4, from somewhere on the Nile (Pishon), probably Fustat. The groom is the Nasi David Yedidyah b. Yoshiyahu b. Shelomo b. [Da]vid b. Bo'az b. Yeshoshafat b. Yoshiyahu b. Sha'ul b. 'Anan. The bride is Bahiyyah bt. Shelomo b. Se'adyah. Information in part from the Cambridge University Digital Library. ASE.

Partnership contract. Dated: Tammuz 1460 Seleucid, which is 1149 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Tamīm b. Natan receives from Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Shelomo 51(?) dinars in order to do business with the money abroad. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). In the hand of Avraham b. Natan Av. Groom: Ghālib b. Shelomo. Bride: Jamīla bt. ʿEli. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Groom: Netanel b. Avraham. Bride: and Ṣabiyya bt. [...]. The dignitary Neḥemya b. Avraham he-Ḥaver is mentioned. Dated: 1345 Seleucid, which is 1033/34 CE. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: Fustat. Date: Not preserved, but it was drawn up under the authority of the Nagid David, probably more likely David I Maimonides (d. 1300) than David II Maimonides (d. ca. 1410). Bride: Sharafiyya bt. Makīn b. Abū l-Najm al-Parnas. Groom: Unclear, but the names Abū Naṣr Moshe ha-Sar and Yeshuʿa ha-Sar are mentioned. Joins by SDG. Information in part from CUDL. Needs further examination.

Ketubba. Groom: Yosef b. Neḥemya. Bride: Zuhra bt. Avraham. Signed by the cantor Yefet b. David (b. Shekhanya, active 1014–57 CE), Avraham ha-Levi b. Mulham (?), Avraham b. David, Shemuel b. Shemuel, Yeshuʿa b. Yiṣ[ḥaq], [...] b. Khalaf and [... b.] Yosef. It seems that the total payments add up to 7 dinars. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Two merchants setting out from Alexandria on a voyage to the Muslim West appoint their wives as executors and guardians of their children: (1) Yosef b. Isḥāq al-Fasi gives his daughter Sitt al-Ḥusn 200 dinars and appoints his wife Sitt al-ʿAshīr bt. Barhūn as guardian of his daughter. He asserts that the amount of the principal and profit of a partnership included in the estate has to be accepted according to the word of his partner, because the partner was known for his trustworthiness and religiosity. Dated: Tammuz 4857 AM, which is 1097 CE. (2) Abū l-Faraḥ ʿArūs b. Yosef entrusts Sitt al-Kull bt. Avraham b. Ṭībān, his wife and mother of his boy, with all his affairs and possessions and makes her his heir, as well as guardian of their boy. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 252; V, 133, 205, 333; and from Goitein's index cards; and from Goitein's hand list.) See also detailed description on CUDL.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Groom: Yiftaḥ. Ten dinars are mentioned, and this seems to be the entire obligation. Dated: 24 Adar II 1551 Seleucid, which is 1240 CE (though Goitein's index card suggests that he preferred 1340 CE, for unclear reasons). (Information from CUDL and Goitein’s index card)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (active 1100–38 CE), concerning a business partnership between Natan ha-Kohen and the doctor Mevorakh b. ʿOvadya ha-Kohen. (Information from CUDL.)

Power of attorney. Location: Probably Qayrawān. Dating: ca. 1030s CE. Dealing with a debt of 74 dinars owed by Salmān b. Sahlūn to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov. Signed by Yaḥyā b. Solomon, Yeshuʿa b. Yosef ha-Shofeṭ ha-Kohen (whose signature is surrounded by an elaborate motto), and Avraham b. David b. Labrāṭ. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index cards)

Right fragment of a marriage contract, containing high-priced items in the trousseau (dowry). Groom: Avraham. Dated [13]35 Seleucid, which is 1023/24 CE. (Information from CUDL and Goitein, Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 375, 407.)

Bifolio from a collection of legal documents from Yemen. The first document on f. 1r is in a different, cruder, hand to the rest, and is dated 2186 Seleucid, which is 1874/75 CE. The remainder of the documents are more carefully written and concern a woman, Miriam bt. Sālim and her betrothal (or lack thereof) to Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā. One of the pages is headed "this is the text of the ruling (psaq) that came from Ṣanʿāʾ." These entries are dated Adar 2176 Seleucid, which is 1865 CE. Many elaborate signatures of rabbis from Yemen appear, including an extremely famous one, Yaḥyā/Yiḥyā Qāfiḥ (ca. 1850–1931), who may have only been about 15 years old at the time. Another signatory is Sulaymān b. Yūsuf al-Qārih (אלקארה), perhaps the brother of Qāfiḥ's teacher Yaḥyā b. Yūsuf al-Qārih. Merits further examination. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Legal document in which Ḥusn bt. Yaḥyā ibn al-Zūrīqā, wife of Shelomo Abū Naṣr b. Seʿadya b. Hallun declares that she has received a full twelve months’ worth of food, clothing, water, oil and rent that is due to her and her children from Shelomo. Ḥusn''s daughter Jalīla bt. Shelomo is also mentioned. Dated: 1358 Seleucid, which is 1046/47 CE. (Information from CUDL.)

Fragment of a marriage contract (ketubba). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. The bride is not a virgin. Dowry apparently of little value. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)