Geniza Lab

Record of a division of an estate detailing the items included. Dated Av 1413/July-August 1102.

Note written on the verso of a court document (technically a legal query) concerning litigation between a separated husband and wife. This note invites the plaintiff to court to receive the answer to his queries orally. The recto is written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal query addressed to Maṣliaḥ Gaon. In Judaeo-Arabic. Scribed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Signed by Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo, Nathan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Halakhic question concerning a possible excommunication over a legal dispute. Mentions a reclamation document (ורקה אלדעאוי), al-Kohen Abū l-Faraj, al-Melammed Sayyid al-Kull the cantor and Ṣadaqa. Regarding certain claims on clothing, on tamarind (kept on hand as medicine for when they fell sick), 43 dinars and 20 dirhams between husband and father of divorcee. Husband refuses to pay alimony (mezonot) to the amount of 1 dirham. (Information from CUDL and from Goitein's note card.)

Testimony signed by Aharon ha-Kohen b. Amram and two others regarding the kashruth (ritual lawfulness) of some cheese made by the Karaites (of Samaritiqa), ca 1050.

Court record of a case in which a man appoints an agent to deliver a bill of divorce to his ex-wife, releasing her from any claims he might have against her. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Agreement from Fusṭāṭ, dated 5562 (= 1802 CE), between Abram ‘the witness’ b. Shabbetay ‘the witness’, and Yaaqov Abzaradel. Witnessed by Yehezqel Ḥaffaḍ, Efrayim [...], and Yosef Ḥassān. (Information from CUDL)

Unwitnessed agreement from Fusṭāṭ, dated 5570 (= 1810 CE), between Jacob ha-Levi (known as ʿAkubas) and Moses Ṣevi (known as Ḥakari)š. (Information from CUDL)

Agreement of partnership from Fusṭāṭ, dated 14th Nisan 5576 (= 1816 CE), between Joseph Romano and Nissīm Ḥāmī. Witnessed by Jacob ha-Kohen and Ezekiel Basrī. (Information from CUDL)

Release granted by the wife of Abu al-Makarim al-Katib to Abu al-Ḥasan, whom she released from all obligations after having received from him three deeds of a house in the Mamsusa quarter inherited by her father. Signed by Mevorakh b. Natan. Dated to the mid 12th century. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Court record of the settlement of accounts and debts after the death of Moshe b. Ishaq, written by Efrayim b. Shemarya. Dated spring 1041. (Information from Bareket)

Drafts of two legal documents, the first a declaration by a father regarding bequests to his sons. Incompletely drafted in Fustat. Dated 155?/1238-1248. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 135, 543)

Drafts of two legal documents, the second (on the top of the verso) is a deathbed will by Yeshuʿa b. Avraham. He bequeaths to Sitt al-____ bt. ʿElazar five maṣrī dinārs (and something else that's effaced). RR

Power of attorney given by Yosef the hazzan b. Nissim to Yefet b. Natan to deal with the grantor's house. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Copy of the will of Khulla bt. Shabbat in which she lists her assets (three different dārs held in partnership with her two sisters and one of their sons) and her intention to sell her ghulām (enslaved man) and split the proceeds as charity for Dammūh and burial expenses for the poor. The court tries to convince her that her charitable funds should be used to restore a bible codex (muṣḥaf) worth the same amount of money, but Khulla declines. The document also mentions: Yehuda Ibn al-Sofer (as the scribe of the original will), the daughter of Khulla’s brother Abū ʿAlī al-Kohen (as being owed 6 dinārs) and Yeshuʿa b. ʿEli ha-Kohen (as a witness). RR This is folio 1v in a bifolio of a court register in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashse consisting of four pages and containing four court cases. Another folio is dated 1135 CE. For transcription see attached edition by Goitein, or see Rivlin, Inheritance and Wills, #47, pp. 371-373

Bifolio of a court register in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe consisting of four pages and containing four court cases. 1r: Legal document concerning a quittance of debt, dated 1440 Sel. (1129 CE), written under the authority of the gaon Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen. Mentions Abū l-Maʿālī b. Yūsuf (known as Ibn Tamar) and Yeshuʿa b. Ḥananya. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo. 1v: Will of Kulla b. Shabbat, mentioning Yehuda Ibn al-Sofer, the daughter of Kulla’s brother Abū ʿAlī al-Kohen and Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen b. ʿEli. 2r: Legal document concerning a quittance of debt, dated 1446 Sel. (1135 CE). Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and Elʿazar b. Yosef. Mentions Yaʿqūb Abū l-Maʿālī b. Yūsuf, known as Ibn Kujik (כוגך, Kushek, Persian 'Small') and Abū ʿAlī b. Shemuʾel b. Shelomo, known as Ibn al-Dustarī. 2v: Legal testimony declaring that Hassun of Ascalon was the father of Abū Saʿd, the illegitimate son of Wuhsha the Broker. Mentions Abū ʿAlī al-Parnas Yefet b. Maṣliaḥ, Ibn al-Sukkarī, Ḥalfon ha-Kohen b. Yosef and Abū Naṣr al-Kohen Ibn al-Kamūkhī. (Information in part from CUDL)

Bifolio of a court register in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe consisting of four pages and containing four court cases. 1r: Legal document concerning a quittance of debt, dated 1440 Sel. (1129 CE), written under the authority of the gaon Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen. Mentions Abū l-Maʿālī b. Yūsuf (known as Ibn Tamar) and Yeshuʿa b. Ḥananya. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo. 1v: Will of Kulla b. Shabbat, mentioning Yehuda Ibn al-Sofer, the daughter of Kulla’s brother Abū ʿAlī al-Kohen and Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen b. ʿEli. 2r: Legal document concerning a quittance of debt, dated 1446 Sel. (1135 CE). Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and Elʿazar b. Yosef. Mentions Yaʿqūb Abū l-Maʿālī b. Yūsuf, known as Ibn Kujik (כוגך, Kushek, Persian 'Small') and Abū ʿAlī b. Shemuʾel b. Shelomo, known as Ibn al-Dustarī. 2v: Legal testimony declaring that Hassun of Ascalon was the father of Abū Saʿd, the illegitimate son of Wuhsha the Broker. Mentions Abū ʿAlī al-Parnas Yefet b. Maṣliaḥ, Ibn al-Sukkarī, Ḥalfon ha-Kohen b. Yosef and Abū Naṣr al-Kohen Ibn al-Kamūkhī. (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment. It seems that Abū l-Mufaḍḍal (line 9) undertakes to salvage something from the authorities (sulṭān, line 4). Information from Goitein's note card.

Draft by Avraham b. Natan of a document appointing 'Ulla ha-Levi ha-Parnas as the wakil of an orphan in Damietta, whose father had died in Fustat. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 295, 492, and Goitein's index cards)

Legal document. Testimony. Dated: May-June 1149. Testimony around the engagement of Tamīm b. Abū al-Faraj and Fakhr bt. Joseph, imposing a penalty if Tamīm is found to have an impediment to the marriage. This fragment reveals a brief partnership agreement between Khalaf b. Samuel and Barakāt b. Mūsā Ibn Muska, the term of which is to be one full year. Although short on details, this would seem to have been a joint active partnership situated in a single location rather than an investment partnership, since 1.3 dinars of the profit are to be allocated for the partnership to cover joint capital expenses, the balance of which is to be split evenly between the two partners. Although the partners do not describe their relationship as a shirka, mu‘āmala, muḍāraba, or even shutafut, they do use the verb sh-r-k in Form VIII. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 203)

Claim concerning a gift the doctor Abu al-Surur Sasson gave his daughter at the time of her marriage, namely half of a quarter of a large house that was in his and his brother's possession. The gift was to be forever, as long as he did not need to sell it to make a living for himself. The father claimed he did indeed need to sell the house to provide for himself. The daughter and all she possesses resides with the father's brother who has been appointed her trustee.