Geniza Lab

Drafts of documents, made by Mevorakh b. Natan b. Shemuel and other scribes. Dating: 1159 CE. Includes a contract of sale of a Muslim female slave, Ṣayd, for 19 and a half dinars, a contract for a partnership between Khalaf b. Samuel and Barakāt b. Mūsā b. Miska, a will of a dying man asking his brother to let his daughter stay with him and take care of her possessions, betrothal deeds, a list of funeral expenses for Mubārak b. Abū l-Munā al-Dimashqī, etc. Mentions Abū l-Surūr the doctor, Sason ha-Levi, Abū ʿAlī, Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon b. ʿEli ha-Levi the dyer, Mufaḍḍal b. Abū Saʿd, Tamīm b. Abū l-Faraj, Ḥayya b. Isaac, Efrayim b. Mešullam, Abū Naṣr b. Saʿīd, Elʿazar b. ʿAmram b. Abū l-Faraj, ʿImrān b. Mevorakh, Shela b. Yaaqov, Miska Berakhot b. Avraham al-Ḥaver, Makārim al-Parnas, Abū l-Ḥasan Kohen b. Ṣāliḥ, Abū Saʿd (known as Ibn al-[..]ṭ), Yehuda b. Shelomo and Shelomo ha-Levi b. Shemu’el. Information from CUDL. See also Goitein's note cards.

Record of testimony regarding a settlement according to which a debt is to be repaid in six monthly installments, concluded under the authority of Mevorakh b. Saadya, in Alexandria. Dated by Goitein to ca. 1075. This is before Mevorakh's first term as head of the Jews, which began ca. 1078. It further evidences his ties with Alexandria well before his political exile there later on, as ousted head of the Jews and Nagid, ca. 1082 (Mark Cohen) (Information from Goitein's index cards) Nice Arabic script for few lines on verso.

Legal deed concerning Yosef ha-Parnas the physician, who claims to be unable to support his daughter Sittūna, and her little son, after she was divorced by Netanel. Her ex-husband responds that she has assets and can indeed support herself. The text also mentions Avraham (known as Abū Kathīr) b. Shelomo b. [...]. Written by Efrayim b. Shemarya (thus Fusṭāṭ c. 1030s CE). (Information from CUDL)

Power of attorney granted in a divorce settlement. Dated to the 11th century (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment from a power of attorney mentioning Abraham b. Asher. Probably 19th century, from Fusṭāṭ. No witnesses. (Information from CUDL)

Court record. In Judaeo-Arabic. In a Yemeni hand (Worman's handlist desribes it as "Modern Yemenite.") concerning a debt of 2.5 qirsh between Ṣaliḥ b. Mūsā ʿUmīsī and Ḥasan b. Sālim Mūsā Zanār. Several witnesses: Sālim Ḥadī (חדי), Ḥasan al-Dhīb (אלדיב, wolf), Yaḥyā Hārūn (ṣāḥib al-qumʿa(?)), Mūsā Nissīm, and Menaḥem (?). (Information in part from CUDL)

Fragment of a document concerning a husband and wife, written in Cairo during the time of Mevorakh b. Saadya (d. 1111). Later its signatories were confirmed in Fustat.

Document concerning a settlement of accounts in which Hillel b. ʿEli the cantor was both party and scribe. Involves ʿAlam al-Dawla b. Quraysh. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragmentary record of testimony (left half missing). Dated: [..]68 Seleucid, so probably 1056/57 CE or 1156/57 CE. Signed by Moshe b. Shelomo and [...] b. Avraham.

Court testimony. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Concerning fifty new Egyptian dinars which were recorded in the will of Yosef b. Banan and are now acknowledged to be owed to the son of his paternal uncle known as Ibn Banan. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Certificate for Natan b. Shemarya concerning his cheese. Signed by Menashshe b. Yiṣḥaq. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Verso: Part of a text in Judaeo-Arabic, discussing a divorce document and the settling of the dowry with Yaʿaqov, the ex-husband. (Information from CUDL.)

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: Dhū l-Qaʿda 530 AH, which is August 1136 CE. A wine-making partnership, the amount of the partnership being 1,510 dinars. The manager, Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Abū l-Ḥusayn Yefet b. Benaya, is to take a third of the profit. Two of the remaining three partners, Abū Saʿd Netanel al-Zajjāj and Ṣedaqa b. Bunān, contribute 400 and 100 dinars respectively; the name of the fourth partner and the amount of his contribution is not preserved. The verso seems to record the partnership receipts of 540 dinars. Yeshuʿa apparently violated a prohibited from trading or contracting with others outside the partnership for its duration, but the partners have stated that his violation need not be notarized by witnesses. Yeshuʿa is also the party under whose name the wine-producing enterprise has been registered with the tax-collecting authorities. Signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 204)

Court record of a case in which Yeshua b. Shemuel claims the sum of ten and a half dinars which his wife Mubaraka bat Shemuel al-Qabisi had given her brother Farah. Probably dated to the 11th century. This is one of two manuscripts given the same mark by error. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 183, 465)

Maimonides' decree on menstrual purity. Dated 1487 Seleucid, which is 1176 CE. See Eve Krakowski, "Maimonides' Menstrual Reform in Egypt," JQR (2020), 245–89.

Responsum of Avraham b. Maimonides.

Testimony by Nissim b. Shemarya that Sasson b. Natan had deposited with him seventeen counterfeit dinars. When Nissim tried to exchange the dinars the deceit was discovered and he was in mortal danger. Ya'ir ha-shofet b. Avraham quelled the matter but the money was lost. Dated ca. 1090. (Information from Gil and from Goitein's index cards)

Halakhic discussion about the responsibility for fire damage, probably from a geonic responsum. The leaf is blank on verso, and, given the layout of the page, this is probably the original responsum rather than a later copy. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in the hand of Natan b. Shemuel. Location: Fustat. Dating: under the jurisdiction of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya (1140–59). In which a man agrees to repay a debt of 8 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/8 dinars in installments. The parties are Abū Saʿd b. Yosef and Abū l-Faraj b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi. (Information from CUDL.)

Fragment of a ketubba. Qaraite? In Aramaic and Hebrew (no Judaeo-Arabic). The signatures of the witnesses have been scratched out. On verso there is a draft of a magical work in Judaeo-Arabic with several lines crossed through. (Information in part from CUDL.)