Geniza Lab

Legal document concerning a trousseau. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan (1150–81). Wife: Sitt al-Jamīʿ. Husband: Yeshaʿya ha-Levi. On verso there are pen trials. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document in the hand of Natan b. Shemuel. Dated Shevat 1450 Seleucid, which is approximately January 1139 CE, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon. (This is the latest known document to invoke the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon before his death.) Dalāl bt. Maḥbūb sells to Munā bt. Yiṣḥaq a quarter of a house with two shops in the Great Bazaar for 14½ dinars. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 280, 352.)

Ketubba fragment. Likely in the hand of Natan b. Shemuel (Goitein initially thought it was his son Mevorakh b. Natan). Dating: ca. 1140 CE. Part of the dowry list is preserved. The bride is a virgin. She will live with her husband in Fustat/Egypt. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Top right strip from a Ketubbah of Ṣedaqa [b. ...] (groom), with no further details preserved. AA

Legal document, probably a bill of release. Fragment: lower left corner. Dating: Early 13th century. In which Shela b. Berakhot acknowledges that he has no claims against Yaḥya ha-Sar ha-Nikhbad. Witnesses: Eliyya b. Zekharya; [...] b. Meyuppe (probably the same as in T-S AS 152.1, where his own name is missing as well). The validation (qiyyum) is written and signed by Yeḥiel b. Elyaqim. On verso there are pen trials. AA

Legal document. Location: Alexandria. Dated: 4980 AM, which is 1219/20 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. Involving Yefet ha-Rofe and his wife Sitt al-[..]Mʿ, and the right of living in an upper floor. Witnesses: the teacher Berakhot b. Ḥalfon; Raṣon b. Fityān. Witnesses for the validation (qiyyum): the judge Anaṭoli b. Yosef; Shemuel b. Yaʿaqov; and Ḥafeṣ b. Yosef. (Information from Frenkel and Goitein's index card.)

Bottom of a legal document. On parchment. Dating: 12th century. Involves medicinal syrups (sharārīb). Witnesses: Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen; Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver. AA

Bill of divorce, Qaraite. In Hebrew. T-S 12.54 and T-S 12.70 are two very rare examples of Qaraite bills of divorce. Husband: ʿAmmār al-Khāṭirī. Witnesses: Yefet Kohen b. ʿEli; Mevorakh b. Yehuda ha-Levi.

Small strip from the top a Ketubbah of Sason b. [...] (groom), in Fusṭāṭ. No further details are preserved. Written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe Halevi. AA

Recto: Last lines of a legal document, probably pre-nuptial agreement. Party issuing: Abū ʿAlī b. Abū l-Faḍl. written by Nathan b. Samuel and signed by Beraḵot ha-Kohen b. Shela, Mevorakh b. Sar-Shalom. Attested by the Bet Din and signed by Menaḥem b. Beraḵot, Ja[cob] b. Joseph. Written by Mevorakh b. Natan (1150-1181). Verso: Judaeo-Arabic note. AA

Legal document: power of attorney (authorization), written by Yefet b. David on behalf of Efrayim he-Ḥaver b. Shemarya to a certain [...] b. Aharon he-Ḥaver 'in the great Sanhedrin' (probably b. Hiyya). Dated [1]341 (= 1029/30 CE). Verso: unfinished legal document, party: Moshe b. Yishaq dated Tishri [...].

Fragment from a bill of release to Abu al-Faraj b. Judah. Probably by the hand of Hillel b. Eli. AA

Bottom part of a Legal document, on vellum, only the signature of Avraham ha-Levi b. Ḥāriṯ Zeqan ha-Qehillot is preserved. This Avraham is known from other documents, such as TS 10 J 28.9 (1130-1138; published by Friedman, Polygyny, pp. 88-91). AA

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Last decade of Iyyar 1438 Seleucid, which is 1127 CE; the signing was deferred to the first decade of Sivan. This fragment contains the end of an agreement about a fictive sale of 1/3 of a house possessed by one Shelomo known as Tamīm, also involving a woman. On "fictive sales" as vehicles for obtaining interest, see Med Soc III, p. 330n77 and T-S 12.502 (doc. 43 in Gershon Weiss's dissertation). (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Recto: ketubbah, with a trousseau list including a short robe (jukāniyya), a mantle (ridā) and a face cover (niqāb). Verso: Bill of release of dowry from [...] to her husband Abū l-Barakāt b. Abū [al-...] b. al-muqaddasī. Signed by Hillel b. Abraham, Eleazar b. Yeshuʿa. AA

Verso: Partnership contract. In Hebrew. Dated: Thursday, 24 Tammuz 1298 Seleucid, which is 23 June 987 CE. Yosef b. Yaʿaqov and ʿEli b. Qimoy each contribute two units of money with which they will trade. Goitein notes that as ʿEli b. Qimoy must have been very rich (see his ketubba, T-S 16.70, from 995 CE), this partnership was a form of philanthropy/charity. (Information from Goitein's notes.) Alternate description: Verso: Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: June 987. Location: Fustat. Joseph b. Jacob and ‘Alī b. Qīmoī each place two silver coins in a common purse; each will transact with discretion in unnamed commodities. The document is incomplete and unsigned; the clauses concerning distribution of profits and losses, if any, are not preserved. ‘Ali b. Qīmoī is known from his marriage-document (see T-S 16.70, PGPID 4091). (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 114)

Fragment of a marriage contract. This portion contains part of the trousseau list. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Formula of a will. AA

Court record describing an inheritance dispute concerning two brothers and two sisters. One sister was married to the paternal uncle of the claimant, and after she and her husband died, each of their two daughters retained one thousand dinars from the estate and gave the rest to their maternal aunt. She then married a man with sons from a previous marriage to whom he allegedly owed money. He passed away before his wife, resulting in a long and complicated legal process. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:286-287) EMS 

Marriage contract (ketubba), Qaraite. Bride: Sara bt. Sahl. Groom: Avraham b. Yaʿaqov. Signed by Saʿīd ha-Kohen b. Naḥum and Yosef ha-Melammed. Dating: 1089–1187 CE. Location: Egypt(?). Information from FGP.