Geniza Lab

Legal fragment from Fustat, involving the business dealings of Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy among others, dated [Iyya]r 1089 CE (1400 Seleucid). The month could also be read as Adar, but the body of the document mentions something that happened in Nisan of the same year (482 Hijri). The reshut of the Nasi David b. Daniel is invoked in lines 4-7. Protagonists/testifiers named include: [Abu Ishaq?] Avraham ha-Levi b. Ṭoviya ha-Levi, Abu ʿImran Moshe b. Abī l-Ḥayy, Abu ʿAlī [Ye]fet ha-Kohen b. Salma (?) al-Dallāl. ASE.

Legal document, deed of acknowledgment, concerning an inheritance dispute between Jamīla bt. Lāḥiq the veterinarian and her brother. Contains three testimonies at the bottom. The document is dated to the first half (niṣf al-awwal) of Rabīʿ II 467 H, which is right after the shidda ʿuzmā (454 - 465 H/ 1062 - 1073 CE), testifying to the restoration of legal and administrative order in the Fatimid empire following the massive famine period. Needs further examination.

Legal testimony from Fustat dated the 11th of Heshvan, 979 CE (1291 Seleucid) involving Sa'dan b. Sa'id from Tzubah (Aleppo) and Mevorakh b. Qiyam. Starting at this point, only the last few words of each line are preserved. Mansur b. Wahb and the brothers Salamah b. 'Amram and Mansur b. 'Amram are mentioned, as is the price of flax. Someone is appointed to be Sa'dan's guardian (? אפטרופא). The scribe is Efrayim b. Sadoq. There are numerous signatures. See also T-S 13J8.21, a legal document involving the same Aleppan Sa'dan b. Sa'id. ASE.

Legal testimony. Location: Fustat. Dated: Shevaṭ 1462 Seleucid, which is 1151 CE, under the authority of Shemuel ha-Nagid. A woman named ʿAmāʾim bt. Abū l-Faraj Menahem ha-Levi al-Shammāʿ b. Shemarya ha-Levi, who is the widow of the clothier (bazzāz) Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf b. Munajjā, acknowledges that she has received in full the 40 dinars of her delayed marriage gift (muʾakhkhar) from the ʿAsqalānī perfumer Abū ʿAlī Yefet b. Tiqva. Witnesses: Berakhot b. Yefet and Natan b. Shemarya ha-Kohen. The qiyyum (validation) is written in a different hand and is signed by Yaʿaqov b. Avraham, Efrayim b. Meshullam, and Mevorakh b. Natan.

Formularies for legal documents, including for a Palestinian-style ketubba. Location: Probably Tyre. Same scribe as T-S NS 243.28. See M. A. Friedman's edition for further information.

Legal document from Damietta [אי כפתור], dated the [2]7th of Tishrei 1155 CE (1467 Seleucid), narrated in the voice of a woman (judging by ואנא קאעדה in the last line of recto). The writer tells how she returned from the synagogue and found the daughters of the sister of Abū l-Faḍl b. al-Ṣabbāgh in her house. One of them (her brother's widow?) claimed that the Dāʿī told her that the writer's brother had left three notebooks in her house (belonging to him?). The next day, the writer went to the wife of Abū l-Riḍā, who told her, "my husband the Dāʿī is a good man, don't hide anything from." So she handed over the key, and the Dāʿī and Abū ʿAlī [b.] Ḥassūn went up and ransacked her library and made off with 17 notebooks. BL OR 5554A.48 is either the continuation of this document or a different document related to the same case (mentions several of the same names and is also dated the 27th of Tishrei 1155 CE). ASE.

Legal. The will of Shela b. Yefet known as Ibn al-Sukkari. No date is preserved, but it mentions the Rayyis Mevorakh. It mentions an orphan daughter and 300 dinars. The Alexandrians Abū Hārūn and Abū Saʿīd Khulayf b. Qays (?) and 'Ezra b. Hillel will be the executors.

Legal document in Arabic script. The beginnings of 23 lines are preserved, the last of which is the signature of a witness named Muḥammad something. Reused for Hebrew liturgical text on verso.

A text on the rabbinic laws of geniza. (Description from FGP)

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Copied in Fustat but originally written in Granada (גרנאטה). Dating: mid-11th century, based on the mentions of Yūshaʿ b. Natan and Faraj/Furayj b. Shuʿayb (information from Moshe Yagur). This copy was requested by Shemuel b. Avraham b. Meir known as Ibn Qālūs from Lucena (אליסאנה) in Andalusia. The court record deals with property, merchandise, and money in Egypt and Palestine left behind by Avraham upon his death. Hosheaʿ b. Natan (known as Abū l-Surūr Yamanī al-Andalusī) was appointed trustee in charge of the property. The record reflects that Natan b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi appeared in court with a deed of attorney written in Granada that appoints him as trustee for the estate of Hosheaʿ. The record seems to imply that Avraham, who did business on quite a large scale, very carefully made plans in the event of his death for his property to be kept secure from 'the ruler who governs Egypt' and seemed to habitually take property that belonged to 'deceased aliens'. (Information from Goitein’s index card and Gil, History of Palestine.)

BL OR 5561A.4 seems to preserve only the imprint of BL OR 5561A.4a; the relationship between these two fragments and how they were folded is not completely clear from the digital images. BL OR 5561A.4a is the one with legible text, and it is a large, well-preserved legal document regarding property arrangements, dated Nisan 1664 CE [5424]. Note that "Image 1" and "Image 2" on FGP are not recto and verso but rather the upper part and the lower part of recto.

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dated: 1 Iyar 5620 AM, which is 1860 CE. This is a partnership agreement for a sarraflık business for a period of 3 months. Partners: Avraham ha-Levi Iskandarī; Mikhaʾel Safriʾel; Moshe ha-Levi Iskandarī. Signed by: Shelomo Elyaqim; Avraham Rozano; and the three partners.

Legal document regarding the appointment of Moshe Albotano "אלבוטאנו" as gabbay of the Maghrebi community in Cairo that also mentions the scribe Yaʿaqov b. Zimra. The document is dated in the month of Iyyar 5260 AM, which is 1500CE. Information from the edition in Dotan Arad's dissertation (p. 352). MCD.

Recto: Partnership agreement, probably late, between four individuals, including Masʿūd and Yehuda. Much of the space is devoted to how they will behave toward one another, e.g., they will never go more than three days without making peace even if one partner behaves badly. Verso: Pen trials. ASE.

Legal document dated Nisan 1651 CE (5411) involving Yiṣḥaq Castro and Ya'aqov al-Darqon. The scribe Shelomo b. Shemuel Somekh ha-Kohen has a remarkable signature. See Avraham David's edition on FGP for the content. ASE.

Rental contract. In Hebrew. Location: Rashīd. Dated: Thursday, 1 Nisan 5442 AM, which is 1682 CE. Lessor: A woman named Konfrada. Lessee: Shemuel [...]. The late Yiṣḥaq Arjīl (? ארגיל) is somehow involved as well. There is a 3-line addendum at the bottom. No witness signatures. Needs further examination.

Recto: Legal document(s). Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dated: 14 Sivan 5547 AM, which is 1787 CE. ʿIsqa agreement. The investor may be referred to only as "maʿalat ha-khediv." The active partner is Yosef b. ʿOvadya ha-Levi known as Khayyāṭ, who receives 50 Abū Ṭāqa (=baṭāqa) reals, 1 real pegged to 90 medins. The period of the partnership is 14 Sivan through the end of Elul. There is an addendum, unclear if or how it is related. It refers to brothers who had to pay a woman 1 real a week, but this obligation was nullified by the sale of the 'vessels,' and now the document called a תמוסוך is null and void; the woman says she doesn't know where it is, so it can't be torn up, so it is annulled in writing here instead. There are no witness signatures underneath this section.

Recto: Legal document involving Saadya ha-Kohen Me'ili (?) and Hayyim Luki (?) the Alexandrian, possibly dated Tammuz 1788 CE (תצמיח i.e. [5]548). Needs further examination for the content. Verso: acconts. ASE.

Legal document or record. Quotes a ketubba verbatim (but is not the ketubba itself). Location: Fustat. Dated: Tuesday, 17 Sivan 1475 Seleucid, which is 1164 CE, under the reshut of Daniel ha-Nasi. Groom: Natan b. Moshe. Bride: Ḥusn bt. Ṣadaqa, virgin. Marriage payments: 5 + 10 = 15. Lists many items of the dowry, with real values given.

Late partnership agreement. Needs further examination for date, place, content.