Geniza Lab

Legal documents from 17th century Egypt, regarding a widow named ריקא (??), the daughter of Hanan She'eltiel. The document on verso is dated the 3rd of Kislev 1677 CE (5438). Needs further examination.

Legal document. Fragment (bottom only). Written and signed by Hillel b. ʿEli. Dating: Uncertain, but it has to be a year in which 2 Elul fell on a Thursday. Someone makes a declaration in favor of a certain Abū Yaʿqūb. Other witnesses (whose names are also written in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli): Shelomo b. Yosef Av ha-Kohen and Avraham b. Shemaʿya. The validation (qiyyum) is signed by Ṣedaqa b. David ha-Kohen and Yiṣḥaq b. Elʿazar. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Certificate in the hand of the judge Mevorakh b. Natan. Location: Fustat. Dated: Middle decade of Kislev 1473 Seleucid, which is December 1161 CE, under the authority of Netanʾel b. Moshe ha-Levi. Stating that the perfumer Abū l-Fakhr Seʿadya b. Avraham Ibn al-Amshāṭī ("son of the comb-maker"), had acted as collector of mezonot, or money for bread for the poor, on the same date. Witnessed by Shelomo b. Yehuda ha-Kohen and Tiqva b. Simḥa b. Mevasser he-Ḥaver. The document is crossed out with a vertical stroke. See BL OR 5542.23 for a letter addressed to the same Abū l-Fakhr Seʿadya Ibn al-Amshāṭī. (Information from Goitein's index card and Med Soc II, Appendix C, #81.)

Legal document. Dated: Monday, 2 Iyyar 1398 Seleucid, which is 1087 CE. Location: Fustat. Moshe b. Elḥanan comes before the court and declares that he has appointed Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon b. Shelomo ha-Levi ("known as Ibn Levi") as his agent for his affairs while he is Yemen. The agent is to look after his compound (rabʿ) in Fustat in Sūq al-Baṭṭāṭin, which consists of two houses. There are a few words in Arabic script on verso referring to a deposit (wadīʿa). (Information from Goitein's attached notes.)

Will of Yaʿaqov b. Dunash b. Yehuda Resh Sidra, dealing mainly with expenses for his burial in Jerusalem. He appoints his brother-in-law Natan b. Shelomo the executor, and leaves 5 dinars to Shalom b. Natan, the son of his sister and brother-in-law. Dated 9 Adar II 1064 CE (4824), Fustat. See Med Soc III, IX A 2, n. 64.

Legal document. Deed of compensation / bill of release. Dated: 1337 Seleucid (1025–26) CE. Location: Fustat. Written in the hand of Avraham, son of the Gaon. From a woman named Turayk ("Little Turk") to the wakīl al-tujjār Muḥsin b. Ḥusayn and a number of his family members: three sons, three daughters (Sarwa, Fāʾiza, and Nabīla) and his wife, Fahda. Turayk had lived in Muḥsin's house for more than 10 years, so her heirs might have been able to argue that she should have given part of it to the female members of the household, who had meanwhile come of age. (Information from Med. Soc. 3:45)

Engagement (shiddukhin) agreeement. Fiance: Yosef b. Yehuda Menaḥem. Fiancee: Esteta (?) bt. David (?) ha-Kohen. Currency: Venetian ducats (פרחים זהב בנאדקה). Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dated: 12 Ḥeshvan [5]330 AM (יקיר), which is October 1569 CE.

Ketubba for Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Saragosi and Sara bt. Nissim Messina (?). Currency: medin. Dated 6 February 1792 (13 Shvat 5552), Cairo. ASE.

Ketubba for Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe ha-Levi known as ʿŪraybī and Sammūḥ bt. Yehuda Ḥaddād. Currency: medin. Dated: 7 October 1805 (14 Tishrei 5566), Cairo. See BL OR 5543.5 for the engagement agreement of Yiṣḥaq's sister ~8 years earlier. ASE

Ketubba for Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi b. Shemuel and Sara bt. Aharon Ḥedef (חידיף). Currency: esedi guruş. Dated 23 May 1831 (11 Sivan 5591), Cairo. ASE.

Engagement (shiddukhin) agreeement between Efrayim b. Shemuel and כואנדה bt. Eliyyahu Sūsī, in a beautifully illuminated frame. Currency: medin. Dated 1720 CE (1 Elul 5480), Fustat. Goitein notes and index card linked below belong to a different shelfmark. ASE.

Engagement (shiddukhin) agreement between Nissim Zeraḥya and Miryam bt. Shelomo ha-Levi. Dated 1749 CE (21 Heshvan 5510), Rashid. Currency: the gold zeri maḥbūb coin (זהובים מחבובים), apparently first minted by Maḥmud I 'the hunchabck' in 1740. Goitein notes and index card linked below belong to a different shelfmark. ASE.

Ketubba for Yosef ha-Levi b. ʿOvadya and Bayda (?) bt. [...] Bibas. Currency: real. Dated 1790 CE (16 Sivan 5550), Cairo. ASE.

Engagement (shiddukhin) agreeement between Avraham b. Yosef Mammon and Bayda (?) bt. Moshe ha-Levi known as ʿŪraybī. Currency: real. Dated 4 January 1797 (6 Tevet 5557), Fustat. See BL OR 5543.11 for the ketubba of Bayda's brother ~8 years later. ASE.

Ketubba for David Farāshī known as Kawuqji (?) b. Avraham and Esther bt. Yaʿaqov Medina (?). Currency: medin. Dated 2 April 1802 (29 Adar II 5562), Cairo. ASE.

Engagement (shiddukhin) agreeement between Eliyyahu b. Moshe de Man (?) of Manṣūra and Raḥel known as Kuḥla bt. Ḥassūn. Currency: real. Dated September 1803 CE (Tishrei 5564), Fustat. ASE.

Legal document dated April 1822 (beginning of Iyyar 5582), Fustat. Probably a partnership agreement between David Dayyan and Moshe אלפרון.

Ketubba for Yosef b. Aharon Shunina and Esther bt. Avraham Shunina. Currency: medin. Dated 22 May 1716 (1 Sivan 5476); the place is Damīr (identical with Damīra?). ASE.

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Fustat. Dated: 2 Heshvan 5320 AM, which is 1560 CE. Regarding the will of the late Avraham Castro. Stating that the entire inheritance will be divided evenly between Avraham's sons Moshe Castro and Yaʿaqov Castro. However, Moshe will not receive anything for two years, and in the meantime, Yaʿaqov will be free to do business with the money. During this period, Yaʿaqov will also have to pay for the maintenance and the wedding of Moshe, "the same amount he spends on himself" plus an additional 10 Venetian ducats (peraḥim) each year. Scribed and signed by Eliyya b. David חברייה. Signed also by Makhlūf b. Avraham עקאב.

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tuesday, 20 Tishrei 5440 AM, which is 1679 CE. Concerning Yaʿaqov Re'uven who had employed Yaʿaqov Maṣliaḥ b. Yiṣḥaq known as Canpanṭon in the collecting and changing of מאל אלכרובגֿייה (unclear what this is) for the last year (though it later turns out that the period of employment has been three years). Mentions a contract dated Friday 14 Tishrei from the previous year (5439 AM = 1678 CE) that was signed or drawn up (? the word looks like ומדיו) by Yaʿaqov Alpalas the scribe and Avraham b. Moshe ha-Kohen the scribe. The present document seems to be a release, stating that the two parties have fully fulfilled their responsibilities toward one another. Along the way it is mentioned that Yaʿaqov Re'uven has been involved in loaning money to al-Jināb al-ʿĀlī al-Amīr Ṣāliḥ Effendi (line 12). This is a long document; merits further examination.