Geniza Lab

India Book I, 9: Draft of court proceedings from Fustat dealing with the dispute between Yosef ha-Lebdi the India trader and Yequtiʾel b. Moshe, 'the representative of merchants' in Fustat. After seven weeks had past from the last session (see I, 8), it was clear that Lebdi and Yequtiʾel had reached no agreement between them. They returned to court and the trial continued. We hear that Lebdi was considering the desperate act of delaying the prayer in the synagogue (or appealing to Muslim authorities see p. 81 n. 1 in the Hebrew edition). The document is dated June 10, 1098.

Saadya releases Eliyyahu b. Yiṣḥaq b. al-Qash'ami from an obligation. Dated Thursday, the 10th of Nisan 1046, written in Fustat. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

First part of an engagement document. Names mentioned in the document: Ibn Mahfuz. Dated Thursday in the month of Tammuz. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document. Qaraite betrothal deed for Amat al-Qadar and Khalaf b. Mahfuz. Dated 1357 Sel. (1045 CE). Joins: Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (three fragments, 1998) and Mordechai Akiva Friedman (upper left fragment, 2006).

Legal document. Concerning a betrothal (qiddushin). Mentions the witnesses Bū ʿAlī b. al-Faḍlī (or al-Faṣlī?) and Ṭayyib al-Ṣayrafī. Early portion of 5 dinars. The transfer of part of a building was executed. The currency is Muʿizzī dinars. Signed by [...] b. Efrayim and [...] b. Ṭoviyya. (Information from Goitein's index card and CUDL.)

Legal document. Acknowledgement of loan. Dating: February 1135, in (new) Cairo. Document recognizing a loan of 10 dinars from Yosef ha-Levi to Yefet b. Yaḥyā for the term of one year, to coincide exactly with the term of a partnership between them ("the beginning of Adar II", 1446). Per Maimonides, whenever one gives funds to another person to transact, half of the funds comprise a loan for which the active partner is fully responsible, even in the case of an unavoidable circumstance. The concurrent nature of the loan and the partnership to which the loan agreement alludes suggests the application of this principle, as does the fact that Yefet is responsible for the debt. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 211)

Recto: Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Concerning the claims of Turfa Sitt al-Kamāl, the widow of Abū Sahl Mukhtār, to an estate. Mentions Abū Mūsā Aharon b. (Yesh)uʿa ha-Kohen and Abū Saʿīd. She has to get 100 dinars from her ketubba from her married daughter and another 50 dinars from another claim. Payment to be made in Alexandria. In Fustat, a guarantor (ḍāmin) stands security that he would pay in Fustat, if a letter from Alexandria to the court in Fustat states that the debtor had not paid within 15 days of his arrival in Alexandria. Verso: Receipts, acknowledging the payment of 15 dinars and 68 dinars (the latter apparently in Alexandria) to Sitt al-Kamāl, widow of Abū Sahl Muḵtār, witnessed by Yefet b. Ṣedaqa, ʿUla ha-Levi b. Joseph and Saʿadya ha-Levi (left side). Dated: left side Tevet of 1434 Seleucid, right side Shevat of that year (= 1122/23 CE). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (left side) and another hand (right side), which was written in Alexandria. She received 15 dinars on 8 Tevet 1434/8 December 1122 and 68 dinars on 13 Shevat 1434/11 January 1123. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index cards.)

Legal document in which Abu al-Khayr Hananel b. Yaʿaqov releases Benaya b. Moshe from a partnership with Allan b. Nahray, after the former had handed over to him corals deposited with Abu Ishaq Avraham b. Yefet ha-Levi and Abu al-Khayr Shelomo b. Saadya al-Suri (ot Tyre). Dated 1110. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Formula for a validation by the court in the hand of Hillel b. Eli (1066-1107), including an interesting addition. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document (written by Yosef b. Shemuel. AA) . Lease of an apartment of the Qodesh ca. 1194 and 1199. A deed of lease is concluded between the qodesh and a certain Abu'l-Surur. The deed is written in the name of the court, by a scribe whose handwriting we know from other documents of the qodesh of this period. It is validated by Shemuel b. Saadya. Abu'l-Surur was apparently in the perfume business, and the representatives of the qodesh wished to prevent the qa'a rented by him from being used for anything connected with his occupation. He is therefore absolutely forbidden to arrange for any reservoir of rose water, or to make any breach in the wall, or to use arsenic or any other drugs whose production entails the use of fire. The verso of the document, written five years later by Shemuel b. Saadya, lists a series of payments collected by him from the same Abu'l-Surur, on account of another period of lease during which he occupied the same qa'a. Some of the payments are made indirectly through a third party. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 372 #98)

Fragment of an effaced court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: Middle decade of Ṭevet 1417 Seleucid, which is December 1105 CE. Among other matters, Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi testifies that Mudallala (aka Sitt Baghdād, as we know from T-S 13J2.14) received her bill of divorce together with her ketubba payment of 10 dinars in cash, and also her belongings valued at 10 dinars. She deposited the dinars with Abū l-Ṭāhir al-Ṣayrafī. Witnesses: Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel, Sasson b. Natan, and Avraham b. Aharon ha-Kohen. T-S 13J2.14 and T-S 10J28.14 appear to be two copies of the same document (Goitein). (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (thin vertical strip from the left side). In which a wife releases her husband from claims in exchange for receiving part of her dowry (the items are enumerated). (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Deed of manumission written by Mevorakh b. Natan in which Sitt al-Hasab, daughter of Shela ha-Levi 'the sar', manumits a female slave, named Salaf, who was probably given to another lady as a marriage gift. Dated Kislev 1469/ November 1157. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 138, 433; IV, pp. 325, 456)

Beginning of a settlement in court in Fustat between Wafi b. 'Amram and Ibn Yefet Tiferet ha-Qahal. Dated Sivan 1407/ June 1096. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of an agreement specifying the conditions imposed on the slaughterers licensed by the Palestinian congregation in Fustat and signed by ha-Ḥaver b. Mevorakh, Elazar b. Shemuel, Natan b. Avraham, Nissim ha-Kohen b. Aharon and Mashiah b. Semah. Dated beginning of the 11th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 227, and from Goitein's index cards)

Court deposition testifying that Naḥum b. Yeshuaʿ Ibn al-Shāmiyya showed a caliphal rescript (ruqʿa mutarjama ... wa-fihā tawqīʿ) to Yehuda b. Yosef al-Rumi to the effect that the followers of Yosef have permission to hold their prayers wherever they wish. Other names mentioned in the document: (part of name preserved) b. Mevorakh; and signatories Wahb b. Mevorakh, Ezra b. Menahem; Shemarya ha-Levi b. Aharon. Dated Av 1052. (Marina Rustow)

Upper part of a legal document. Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū Mansur al-Kohen, known as Ibn Qasāsa, receives from Avraham b. Masliah and Elʿazar b. Menaḥem one dinar each and releases them from claims. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Release document in which three partners release their fourth partner, Abu al-Wahsh b. Saadya, (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Power of attorney in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, dated 1447 of the Seleucid Era (= 1136 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Bill of release in which a certain Yeshua releases another Yeshua from their partnership. Signatories: Moshe the cantor b. Yehuda; Natan b. Shemarya ha-Kohen; Natan b. Meshullam ha-Levi. Dated Tevet 1139. (Information from Goitein's index cards)