Geniza Lab

Small fragments from the left side of a legal document. Involves Abū l-Ḥasan.

Court notebook, fragment. One of the entries involves Abū l-Ḥasan b. Masʿūd al-Nīlī (the indigo merchant).

Legal fragment. Appears to mention a jāriya belonging to a woman, who may be making arrangements for after her death. But needs examination.

Legal fragment. Testimony of Abū Saʿd b. ʿUlla(?), perhaps that he received the money due him from [... b.] Shemuel. Witness: Berakhot b. Yefet.

Legal fragment. Witnesses: Yiṣḥaq b. Shem[uel] and Ḥiyya b. Yeshuʿa. Little of the content remains. There are two separate documents on recto and verso.

Ketubba fragment (lower left corner). Groom: [...] b. Elʿazar. Bride: Farjiyya bt. Mukht[ār]. Signed be: [...] b. Aharon; Mevorakh b. Saʿīd.

Legal document. Fragment (upper left corner of recto). Location: Fustat. Dated: Adar II 1404 Seleucid, which is 1093 CE, under the authority of the Nasi David b. Daniel. On recto no specifics of the case are preserved. On verso there are references to various payments and sums of money, but it is faded and the context is missing.

Recto: Legal fragment regarding a loan. In Hebrew. On verso there is a literary text in Hebrew.

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. It appears that Meshullam takes over the responsibility for the six years of alimony payments (farḍ) to a certain female relative of his, which a Muslim court had previously imposed on her ex-husband Ṭoviya. But it is not entirely clear. See Goitein's note card.

Legal document in Hebrew. Very faded. Fragment (lower part only). Dating: Perhaps 10th or 11th century. Mentions Avraham, Moshe, Yosef b. Aharon, and Yosef b. [...]. On verso two lines in Arabic script, likely a pious invocation.

Legal document. Fragment (upper right corner). Wide space between the lines, in which someone has copied some of the text as writing practice. [...] bt. Yosef the wife of Bishr b. Mubārak testifies something to do with giving something to a man and a guardian and selling something. On verso there is poetry in Arabic script.

Legal testimony. Fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Involves a certain Manṣūr. There are pen trials in Hebrew and Arabic on verso.

Torn fragments from a court record regarding claim of inheritance of 31 dinars, between Ḥasūna and Manṣūr b. Efrayim her uncle. It seems that one of the parties went to Gentile court regarding this claim. The letters are quite strange looking. Join: Oded Zinger. AA

Opening of a legal document, written in Fusṭāṭ in the year 4[...] of the Creation. It mentions David ha-Nasi ha-Gadol [b.] Daniel ha-Nasi ha-Gadol. (Information from CUDL)

End of a legal document concerning the sale of flax, signed by Ḥayya b. Isaac and Isaac b. Moses. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a general prenuptial agreement in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. The agreement contains remarkable conditions that favor the woman: the bride demanded to live separately from her husband's sisters. In addition, the husband vows to behave well toward his wife and not to beat her. The husband also vows not to forbid the wife from leaving the home. The wife received as a gift a part of her mother's house and the husband vows that her mother will be allowed to live with them. The husband must transfer the rent paid for his wife's share of her mother's house to his mother-in-law for five years. The wife may do as she pleases with her wealth and the husband has no right to it. There is also a special condition that specifies that the groom must provide any medical and burial expenses for his mother-in-law.

Business agreement from Egypt, concerning raisins. The parties include Raḥamim and Avraham. It is signed by Yosef b. Ṣefanya Kohen. Dated: Monday, 11 [...] [5]305 AM = 1544/45 CE. Conceivably the same people as in T-S 13J7.30, a 16th-century letter in Ladino from Avraham Mayo, also involving a Raḥamim and the raisin trade. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Verso: Draft of a legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. Partnership agreement. In this unsigned and undated draft, an unnamed active partner receives 200 dinars from Sibāʿ, with which he is to travel to Alexandria and transact in unnamed commodities. Sibāʿ agrees to share equally in all losses to the partnership as a whole (e.g. losses due to work stoppage or broken merchandise). Lines 12-16 indicate that if commodities may end up traveling for sale in Alexandria escorted by someone other than the active partner, the active partner should inform Sibāʿ. The risk of loss is wholly carried by Sibāʿ. The active partner’s testimony concerning profits and losses does not require the support of witness testimony. The active partner seems to be entitled to all profits except for the maintenance of Sibāʿ(excluding Sibāʿ's rent and education costs for his son). Sibāʿ's share of the profits – a fixed amount unrelated to the success of partnership assets – might contravene the rabbinic prohibition of usury, but he does bear responsibility for losses. The use of the first person throughout the document suggests that it was prepared and notarized for the active partner, as with powers of attorney. The active partner could then present it as supporting documentation in the event of a dispute concerning distribution of partnership profits. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 97–98.) See also Hebrew description from India Book IV, below. On recto there is a business letter in Arabic script; see PGPID 9140.

Responsum of Maimonides addressed to his brother-in-law al-Shaykh al-Thiqa. Answers a legal query about how to deal with the ketubba of a divorcee who had converted to Islam. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) Translated by Moshe Yagur as follows (with transliterations slightly modified for PGP): "Shall his honor, my father and patron, al-Shaykh al-Thiqa al-Amīn, send for al-Shaykh al-Ḥaver, [may his] r[ock] p[reserve him], and inform him that he is not permitted, under any circumstances, to testify at the [court of] the Muslim qāḍī regarding the dowry (ketubba) of that apostate woman (poshaʿat). Instead, he should claim that this is a bill of dower (ṣadāq), and we do not know the witnesses. I do not allow, under any circumstances, deviation from this. Also, the witnesses are not allowed to testify regarding this bill. May your peace increase." (Information from Moshe Yagur, "Several Documents from the Cairo Geniza Concerning Conversion to Islam," (2020).)

Legal document. Agreement between Abū l-ʿIzz Moshe b. Abū l-Barakāt and his newly divorced wife. She agrees to accept 30 instead of 70 dirhams due to her from the ketubba, and in exchange the ex-husband foregoes claims against her concerning 'nafaqa.' Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday night, 28 Tevet 1579 Seleucid, which is 16 January 1268 CE. On verso there is Genesis 33:19–34:7. (Information from Goitein's index card and from CUDL.)