Geniza Lab

Awaiting description

Awaiting description

Deed of sale. In Arabic script. Dated, but the date is tricky to read.

Legal document in Arabic script.

Awaiting description

Upper right fragment: Legal document in Arabic script. Mentions the date 'the end of Ramaḍān [.]65 AH,' but the year is not clear. Needs further examination. There are three more unrelated documents in Arabic script under the same shelfmark; all need examination.

Awaiting description

Deed of acknowledgment (iqrār) in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Perhaps a bill of sale. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Legal document dated Iyyar (4)812 (1052), regarding a business dispute between ʿAllān bar Avraham bar ʿAllān and Yaʿaqov ben Salmān concerning flax, al-Lādhiqiyya, Fustat, and Nahray b. Nissim, Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq al-Talmīd.

Four court records from Fustat, August - September, 1132. Record A: Complaint, followed by retraction thereof, about a load of caraway, which was deposited with the representative of the merchants Record B: Conclusion of a partnership of perfume sellers and doctors. Record C: An agreement by which Natan b. Shemuel promises to take care of an old woman and to arrange her burial as opposed to the gift she gave him. NB: The shelfmark is listed as NLI 4° 577, no. 83 in Goitein's publications (Med Soc V, 539, n. 410, and the Kirjath Sepher article).

Agreement in which someone rents half of a house he sold with the option to buy it back within ten years. Location: Alexandria. Dated: November 3, 1103 CE.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: First third of Elul 1444 Seleucid, which is 1133 CE. Under the reshut of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. Witnesses (both names in the hand of Ḥalfon): Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Needs further examination for content. FGP says that this long document was partially edited by Avinoam Yellin in 1925. Transcription awaiting digitization

Confirmation of a compromise agreement made before Masliah Gaʾon. Dated: Wednesday, 3 Shevaṭ 1444 Seleucid, which is January 1133 CE. Location: Not specified, either Fustat or New Cairo. The validation (qiyyum), beginning with the word בפנינו in line 55, is in the handwriting of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon himself. Two witnesses, Natan b. Elʿazar and Sheraya b. Toviyya attest that 5 days prior, in the court of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon in New Cairo, Shemuel b. Yehuda Ibn Asad and Shemuel b. Moshe Ibn al-Kharrāz ("the cobbler") reached a settlement. Shemuel b. Moshe agreed to pay 40 dinars in 40 monthly payments in return for release from all claims. One of the conditions is that the payments must be recorded on verso of this document (in fact they never were). This document is witnessed by ʿEli b. Netanel ha-Levi (the brother of the India trader Ḥalfon); Yosef b. Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen; and Yosef b. Yaʿaqov ha-Ḥazzan. See T-S 10J5.20 for another validation signed by Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon. (Information from Goitein's edition.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Debt contract. Debtor: Ṣibyān b. Abū Ṣaʿd Efrayim b. Ṣibyān ha-Kohen. Creditor: Abū l-Riḍā Netanel b. Yeshuʿa. Sum: 11 dinars, which Ṣibyān can spend any way he wants. Ṣibyān is probably the grandson of Ṣibyān ha-Kohen b. Seʿadya (active 1040–44). (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.) Join: Alan Elbaum.

Verso: Drafts of legal notes from a court. Some of the text may have been erased. The entries do not appear to be related to each other. #1: Record of the payment of an early marriage gift (muqaddam) of 15 dinars in an engagement (shiddukhin). Dated: Sunday, 4 Nisan 1552 Seleucid, which is 1241 CE. Fiancé: Surūr b. Yiṣḥaq al-Iskandarānī. Fiancée: Karam bt. Yefet. #2: Abū Manṣūr b. Faḍāʾil declares that he owes Ṣadiq b. Moshe [the entry ends here]. #3 (at 180 degrees): Something concerning Rashīda bt. Abū l-ʿIzz ha-Levi ("al-Rayyis al-Ajall") and monthly payments of 20 wariq dirhams. There follows what may be another entry, mainly in Arabic script. (Information in part from Ashur's edition of #1.)

Recto: Legal query involving partners in the royal mint whose money was stolen. In particular, when one of the partners runs away and hides so he doesn't have to pay his share. Written in Hebrew. Probably from the time of Avraham Maimuni, but not addressed to him. (Cf. T-S 20.83: an enormous legal deed dated March 12 1066 CE involving a 1000-dinar claim resulting from two partners work in the royal mint. 20.83 is another document regarding inheritance. It is not connected to this legal query. AA) NB: PGP previously incorrectly listed this document as NLI 577.5/41 (AA).

Marriage contract (ketubba). Large and almost completely preserved. Location: Tyre. Dated: Thursday, 12 Kislev 4784 AM, which is 28 November 1023 CE. The scribe is probably Yosef b. Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen (active in Tyre, 1011–37). Groom: Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen of Safed. Bride: Raḥel bt. [...] b. Avraham, a virgin. (Information from Friedman's edition.)

Bill of divorce (get). Location: Fustat. Dated: 6 Nisan 4973 AM = 1524 Seleucid, which is 1213 CE. Husband: Shela b. Meshullam b. Netanel ha-Zaqen. Wife: Sitt al-Nasab bt. Elʿazar known as Ibn Shalom. Signed: Yeshuʿa b. Daniel; Moshe ha-Kohen b. She'erit.