Geniza Lab

Order of payment by Abū Zikrī Kohen. Munajjā is to give the bearer 3 ounces of laymūn and rose. See India Book, 139b. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Recto: draft of a legal document with the testimony of Abū l-Khayr [Shelomo b. ...] al-Ṣūrī. Mentions Abū Kathīr Efrayim b. Sasson, Yehuda b. [...], someone's wife, and [... b.] ʿIzrūn. Some of the same parties appear in ENA NS 33.17, which enables us to fill in the name Shelomo and which may relate to the same case. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Ketubba fragment (right lower corner). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Groom: Yefet ha-Zaqen b. [...] ba-Ḥavura. Witnesses: Peraḥya b. Araḥ; Yefet b. Ṣadaqa. (Information from Goitein's index card)

Engagement deed. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Groom: Ṭoviyya b. Tiqva. Bride: Sitt al-Kull bt. Peraḥya, a virgin. Her paternal uncle received on her behalf 3 rings of fine gold, a ring of amber, and two silver "unbūbas." Witnessed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya he-Ḥaver; Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefardi; and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Kislev 1431 Seleucid, which is 1119 CE. This is in fact the earliest known example of such a deed, since formalising a couple’s engagement with a legal document appears to have been an innovation of the 12th century. Jewish marriage is a three-stage process: engagement (shiddukhin), betrothal (erusin/qiddushin), and marriage. Betrothal, at which the couple are declared married but do not move in together, and marriage, when the woman leaves her father’s house and lives with her husband, are both formal events requiring a written document. Engagement, however, was an oral agreement of a more informal nature. In 12th-century Fustat, Egypt, however, the Jewish community began to formalise engagements through a written deed, in order to better protect the rights of women in the partnership. The deeds mostly consist of prenuptial conditions to be imposed on the husband: where the couple would live (and who has the right to choose), the right of the woman to ask for a divorce, various restrictions on the husband’s movements, etc, and testify to the relative power that Jewish women had in the marriage agreement. (Information mainly from CUDL and some from Goitein's index card.)

Legal testimony. Dating: Late 11th or early 12th century. Pinḥas b. [...] claims from Tiqva b. ʿAmram a ruqʿa worth 5 dinars. Tiqva is prepared to swear on a Bible. Pinḥas releases him from the claim after he undergoes a ḥerem stam in the same session. Scribed and signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya ha-Ḥaver. Also signed by Shelomo b. Shemuel. On verso there are pen trials (or accounts?) in Arabic script with Greek/Coptic numerals. The financial dealings of Tiqva b. ʿAmram of Ashqelon are known from several other Genizah manuscripts, including T-S 8J4.14 (dated 1098 CE) and T-S 28.4 (dated 1100 CE). (Information from Goitein's index card and CUDL.)

Bill of divorce (geṭ). Husband: Ṣedaqa b. Ḥalfon. Wife: Sumr bt. Yosef. Location: Fustat. Signed by Mevorakh b. Natan he-Ḥaver and Levi ha-Levi b. Abraham. Dated: 28 Tishrei 1492 Seleucid, which is 1180 CE. On verso the certification that Sumr received the geṭ.

Ketubba or dowry list. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Dating: ca. 1100 CE. See Goitein's index card for further information.

Legal deed. On parchment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In which Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan al-Tinnīsī (aka Yefet b. Shemarya) appoints Makārim b. Shelomo b. Yeshuʿa ha-Ḥaver known as Ibn al-Sulamī as his agent to claim what the late Ṣāfī b. Yakhin (see T-S NS 224.40 + T-S NS 184.67) had willed him and which was deposited with [...]. The name of this person was vigorously erased, and the lower part of the document was crossed out with diagonal strokes. (Information in part from Goitein's notes.)

Court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: Monday, 18 Adar 1409 Seleucid, which is February 1098 CE. Dealing with a lawsuit of Mevasser/Bishāra b. Ḥalfon against Shelomo b. Hillel, involving the proceeds of a partnership in oil sold in al-Mahdiyya, with addenda concerning the same matter in smaller script and in a cruder hand on verso. The top margin on recto mentions Bishāra and Abū l-ʿAlā, both from Aleppo, and Ibn Majjān Abū l-Surūr b. ʿAṭiyya. T-S 8J4.15 is a court record from Av of the same year, concerned with the dealings of the Aleppan trader Solomon b. Hillel. (Information from Goitein's hand list and CUDL.)

Ketubba fragment. Dating: Perhaps 10th or 11th century (Goitein just writes "old.") Vertical strip from the middle. The dowry list mentions a bed of shisham/sheesham wood (sarīr sāsim/sāsam), 6 dyed pillows, and an item called עקביה כחלי. The order: first bedding, then clothing. There are five signatures partially preserved. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Court records. Recto: Sasson b. Natan sues Moshe b. Moshe ha-Levi known as Ibn Majān concerning the sale of goods, dated Nisan and Iyyar 1409 of the Seleucid Era (= 1098 CE). Signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel, Avraham b. Shemaʿya he-Ḥaver (descendant of Shemaʿya Gaʾon), and Netanel b. Yefet. Also mentions Abū Isḥāq b. Ṭibān. Sasson b. Natan also appears in T-S 12.1 (ca. 1090 CE), in which testimony is given regarding Sasson’s attempt to defraud with counterfeit currency, and Moses Ibn Majān features in a dispute over a Bible codex in T-S 18J5.2 + T-S 10J5.16. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein notes and index card linked below.

Legal document signed by Sahlān b. Avraham. There are numerous citations in Bareket's publications. Awaiting fuller description.

Legal document. Fragment of a ketubba, left upper corner. With ornate decorations. Dated: Adar 1817 Seleucid, which is 1506 CE. (Information from Goitein’s index card and CUDL.)

Legal document. Ketubba. Dating: early 11th century. Bride: Dalāl. Early marriage payment: 30 dinars. (Information from Goitein’s index card and CUDL.)

Order of payment from Abū Zikrī Kohen. Munajjā is to give (the bearer?) 4 ounces of rose and lemon. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Payment request by the "Nāmūha" association of a hundred qirsh contribution to the association by the bank "Kobān-Ān"[?] in Jerusalem in Palestine – May 30 1928CE – Museum of Islamic Art – number 102) – in French. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 67). MCD.

Model of "a marriage contract" – undated – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 103) – in Hebrew. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 54). MCD.

Receipt from the committee of Jewish pious endowments in Cairo for the value of rent on a residence whose total is 260 qirsh in the qodesh of the Jewish quarter – 24 March 1924CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 106) – in Arabic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 70). MCD.

Receipt for a night in the dormitory of a synagogue and the Zionist man was staying in Cairo – 15 July 1949CE – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 107) – in Arabic and Hebrew. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 70). MCD.

Certificate from a charitable institution and the committee declaring the intent of assistance in the circumstances of the student – undated – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 113) – in Arabic and Hebrew. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa. ed. Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 28). MCD.