Geniza Lab

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe.

Testimony given by Moshe b. Ṭahor concerning the sale of a Nubian female slave. Location: Fusṭāṭ. Dated: Heshvan 1542 Seleucid, which is 1230 CE. Under the authority of Avraham Maimonides (‘the Great Nagid’). There is a decorated title, זכרון עדות ברורה. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: Late 13th century CE. Location: Fustat. Moshe ha-Talmid b. Ṭahor partners with Abū Saʿd b. Abū l-ʿAlā al-Ṣabbāgh in an apothecary shop. Moshe is paid 6 dirhams a month agrees to work for a year and a half. His wage is guaranteed by Abū Sa‘d’s father Abū al-‘Alā’ (ll.7-8). Because of the guarantee of Abū al-‘Alā, three qinyanim are performed: Moshe's agreement to work, Abū Saʿd’s agreement to pay, and the guarantee of Abū al-‘Alā’. Although the parties’ relationship is described as a partnership, Moshe's wages being fixed suggests an employment agreement, though likely not an apprenticeship, both because Moshe is not a youth (line 5 alludes to his five sons) and is said to manage or set up the store. The date and signatures are missing from the document in its current state of preservation, though T-S NS J405 (PGPID 26473) reveals Abū Saʿd agreeing to repay a debt of some eight hundred dirhams from November 1275. Perhaps Abū Saʿd had come upon difficult times and needed the guarantee of his father in order to convince Moshe to manage the apothecary shop. Note: Abū al-‘Alā’'s guarantee is for fulfillment of the obligation “to the store”, suggesting a sense of corporate identity ascribed to the store and its creditors. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Society", 100)

Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. On verso there are three words in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Small fragment of a ketubba, referring to ‘[.]5 gold dinars’. (Information from CUDL)

Debt acknowledgement that Abu Zikri owed ten dinars to 'our lord Moshe,' namely, Moses Maimonides, head of the Jews at that time. Signed by Shemuel ha-Levi b. Saadya. (Information from Catalogue of the Jack Mosseri Collection, p.189)

Lease contract for an entire top-floor apartment rented by Abu al-Ḥasan Shelomo ha-Kohen b. Menashshe. from Abu al-Fadl Mevorakh b. Yefet. The place is described in great detail. (Information from Goitein's index cards). Written by Halfon b. Menashshe Halevi (Date: 1100-1138)

Recto: Legal fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mainly formulaic phrases are preserved. Verso: Mysterious text in Judaeo-Arabic. "That which I exhorted (or willed?) Abū l-Māʿālī(?) b. Asad...." Includes the phrase "min dār al-fanā' ilā dār al-baqā'."

Legal record or records. There are several distinct text blocks. Very faded. Needs further examination.

Legal document. Looks like a release. Signed: ʿUlla ha-Levi and Yaʿaqov b. Shelomo.

The end of a will, mentioning the names Yehoshuaʿ b. Nathan, Abū l-Surūr, [Abū] Kaṯīr b. Ezra, Abū Sahl b. Azhar and Menashshe al-Maḡrebi. It is signed by Moses b. Shelomo and Shemuʾel b. Shemuʾel. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Apparently a released granted by Muvḥar to Berakhot.

Recto: partnership agreement between butchers, named Dāʾūd Kohen, Ezra Bargut (ברגות) and Saʿīd b. Nissim. Verso: list of names and numbers, and mirrored text. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: [14]38 Seleucid, which is 1126/27 CE. Involves [...] b. ʿAmram and Nuʿmān ha-Kohen.

Marriage document, small fragment.

Deathbed will. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: 29 Kislev 1448 Seleucid, which is 1136/37 CE. The testator mentions his niece (brother's daughter) Sitt al-Fakhr.

Fragmentary document from Damascus in which [...] b. al-Tarir gives a house adjacent to his own to Yefet ha-Levi b. Ḥalfon, presumably his son-in-law. Dated 1040-1141 (Goitein). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 38)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Saadya ha-Kohen acknowledges to have received from Abu al-Makarim a large silver plate (siniya) and acquits him from everything he owed him. Dated Tevet 1437/November-December, 1125 in Fustat.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involves a Nubian female slave named ʿAlam, but it is not a deed of sale (or at least not a straightforward one). Involves: David b. Shelomo ha-Kohen; Natan b. Yosef; Abū l-Waḥsh Sibāʿ al-Arjawānī; [...] b. Efrayim; a woman and her husband; and confirmation of receipt of a sum of money. (Information in part from Goitein's attached notes.)

Qaraite settlement at court between Dāʾūd b. Mūsā and his divorcee ʿAzīza bt. Ḥusayn b. David the teacher. An alimony of 14 dinars had been fixed of which 2.5 dinars had been paid and the rest will now be paid on a monthly basis. ʿAzīza agrees to deliver her ex-husband's books to the court. Written in the hand of Abū l-Faraj Ṣemah b. al-Ḥasan b. Boʿaz. Dated: 429 AH, which is 1037/38 CE (perhaps specifically March 1038 CE). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 426, and Goitein's index cards)