Geniza Lab

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: New Cairo. Dated: Thursday, 23 Av 1394 Seleucid, which is 1083 CE. Bride: Kūfiyya bt. Ṭāhir. Groom: Benyamin b. Moshe. A very poor couple. The addition to the obligatory bride money is only 3 + 5 = 8 dinars. No dowry. Signed by Ṣedaqa b. Manṣūr ha-Kohen. (Information from Goitein's index card.) On verso there are two short lines in Arabic script referring to items in different colors (green, blue)—unclear significance.

Legal document fragment involving בן שבארש and R. Khallūf.

Marriage contract in which a widow contributes one sixth of a house from a previous marriage and stands surety for her husband in case he is sued by her two sons and/or a fourth party in the house, a Muslim. Drafted by judge Natan b. Shemuel (in office ca. 1140-1147) in Tevet 1459/November-December 1147. (Information from Goitein, Mediterranean Society, III, p. 386, item 9)

Partnership agreement dated Sivan 1735 CE (5495), to last for eight years, it seems for a business venture dealing in etrogim. The six partners are (1) Yaʿaqov Bonsenyor (whose signature is preserved at the bottom), (2) Yeshuʿa al-Ḥāmī, (3) Avraham [...], (4) David Mizraḥī known as Nawwār (?), and (5) the youth Avraham Rozanes known as Ghazzāwī, and (6) Avraham's father, Shemuel al-Ghazzāwī. (There are a few missing words so it is not certain that Shemuel al-Ghazzāwī is the 6th partner.) An interesting detail mentioned is that Yaʿaqov Bonsenyor is about to set forth for a sheliḥut in Hebron and in Yemen. ASE.

Marriage contract from Minyat Zifta, circa 1120, opening with an excerpt from Psalm 92. The marriage gift was 40 Dinars and the dowry another 50. Information from Med. Soc. According to Reif, this document is also mentioned in Ashtor, Histoire des Prix, p.173

Formulary for a ketubba. With some unusual clauses. Dated: 1393 Seleucid, which is 1081/82 CE. On verso there is Hebrew piyyuṭ. (Information from Friedman's edition.)

Legal testimony. Location: Qalyūb. Dating: 1205–37 CE, as the document is intended to reach Avraham Maimonides. The community asks the Nagid to reappoint Tamīm b. Yosef as the muqaddam (cantor, slaughterer, and teacher) of Qalyūb. They will pay him 8 dirhams a week "due to our poverty." Information in part from Goitein's notes.

Release in the name of Banāt bt. Ezra for the sons of her sister (?), dated 1129/30 CE (4890), from Alexandria (?). On verso is a note about the transference of a share to Shemuel b. Aharon, Beth Din. Information from Worman catalog and FGP.

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. "The court acts as the guardian of orphans in securing their late father's inheritance. Date not preserved. What can be drawn out from this fragment may be summarized as follows: the court, as the guardian of orphans (l. 4) and Abū l-Faraj Netanel (l. 5) (probably the deceased man's partner) came to terms (l. 7) concerning the rent (l. 8) of a house (l. 13), which was conveyed to the orphans as inheritance. What seems to be agreed upon is that Abū l-Faraj who owned a sugar factory, (maṭbakh) (l. 8), assigned it as security if something happened to the house, e.g., be confiscated by the government (l. 9), so that the orphans will not be deprived of their rights (l. 10), and will receive their due every month without delay (l. 11). Abū l-Wafāʾ was probably the executor of the deceased man's estate (ll. 2–3, 9), who concluded the deal with Abū l-Faraj. The record was duplicated and each party involved received a copy. Since the document in our possession is not signed, it is understood to be a copy rather than the original." (Information from Gershon Weiss.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fictive sale (bayʿ ṭāliq) of half of a house in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ for 4 years. Right to buy back. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document, quite faded. Needs further examination.

Court notebook. I (right column): A woman gives her daughter 1/2 of a house on the occasion of her marriage. She promises to register it in Muslim courts and stipulates that the rent for the first year should be given to herself (the mother of the bride). Signed by Yehuda b. Moshe ha-Mumḥe and Yosef b. Hillel. II (recto, left column and verso): Dowry evaluation (taqwīm). for [...] b. Yeḥezqel ha-Kohen and the orphan Sitt al-Maʿālī bt. Yeshuʿa b. Peraḥya. Dowry: 55. Marriage payments: 5 + 25 = 30. The bride receives half a house in partnership with her infant brother Bū Manṣūr. Her mother is Sitt al-Fakhr. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Release document from Saadya b. Yehoshuaʿ in favour of his son-in-law Abu al-Surur Farhiya (Peraḥya) b. Yosef for everything he owed in the marriage contract of his deceased daughter Sitt al-Ḥasan and all other obligations due him. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: [..]3[.], which must be 143[.] Seleucid, meaning 1118–28 CE. Also signed by Nissim b. Shemuel.

Power of attorney. In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver. Dated: Tishrei 1556 Seleucid, which is 1144 CE. Yosef b. Yeshuʿa known as Ibn al-Dijlī(?) appoints Meshullam b. Yefet known as Ibn al-Musk(?) as his agent to sell one half of his house in al-Maḥalla which he had bought from his daughter Sitt al-Yumn. No details about the border and situation of the house. On verso there are jottings in Hebrew script. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashse. Dated: 1444 Seleucid, which is 1132/33 CE. Yakhin Rosh ha-Qehillot gives a gift to his son Abū Saʿd Netanʾel, and the latter's wife [...] bt. Yefet promises that she will have no claim on this gift from her ketubba or otherwise. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. It seems the daughter of a dead person asked the court to declare her trustworthy (neʾemenet). Involves [...] b. [...] ha-Levi ha-Meshorer known as Ibn Ḥamā[..]. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tishrei 1465 Seleucid, which is 1153 CE, under the reshut of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Debt contract between Abū l-Maʿālī (lender) and Abū l-Faraj b. Ḥasūn (borrower). Signed: Hillel b. Ṣadoq Av Beit Din and Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver.

Acknowledgement made in front of the rabbinical court of Denia, Spain, by Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham. Yiṣḥaq states that a certain Ḥasan b. Ḥasan had received nothing from a consignment of cinnamon carried by Qasim's slave, Mufarrij, a business agent from al-Mahdiyya, Ifrīqiya. Dated Tuesday 10 January, 1083. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Ketubba fragment. Only the ornate text in the upper margin and a few words from the first two lines are preserved.