Geniza Lab

Deathbed will of Khalaf b. Yeshu'a, mentioning the lepers in Tiberias, Elul 1345/August 1034.

End of a legal deed; only the date and signatures are preserved. Nine signatures, Nisan 1041. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Form of excommunication. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 599)

Form of excommunication in Aramaic. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 599)

Part of a formulary for excommunication, beginning with an omen list determining fates according to the stars (sun, moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn), followed by an alphabetic list of biblical curses, missing verses beginning with daleṯ, yod, nun, pe and ṣade. Quotes from Psalms 35:8, Job 18:5, Proverbs 15:19, Jeremiah 18:22, Proverbs 24:22, Job 15:31, 20:6-7, Psalms 109:12, Job 8:18, 18:6, 20:17, 21:19, 27:14, 20:21-22, 15:32, 20:10, Psalms 109:7, Job 18:5, Proverbs 5:23, Psalms 109:17-18, 10, Job 27:22, 18:17, 20:15, 18:10, 20:8, 26, 21:30, 20:4, 18:19, 15:30, 29, 18:16, 20:18, 27:15, 18:11, 20:9, 11, 27:19, 18:20, 8:12, 15:21, 20:16, 27:20, Psalms 109:19 and Job 18:15. (Information from CUDL)

Form of excommunication written in Arabic. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 602)

Forms of excommunication in Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 332) VMR

Order of payment from Ascalon to Fustat, August-September 1116.

Legal document in which Sar Shalom, son of Rabana Yosef, affirms that he collected his debt from the daughter of Rabbi Nahum in 1344 ED/ 12 Dec. 1032 in Zoar near the Dead Sea.

Will of a merchant. Specifying that his assets be cashed for his infant daughter (who should marry before the completion of the year 500 AH = 1107/08 CE). Containing various references to the India trade. Mentioning many people including Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf al-Qudsī, Abū ʿImrān b. Avraham al-Kohen, Abū Manṣūr, Abū l-Barakāt al-Ḥalabī, Yaḥyā ‘the son of the dyer’ and Abū l-Barakāt b. Shuʿayb.

Letter from Judge Eliyyahu to his colleague David ha-Kohen in Bilbays addressing a query; asks whether one Bushr, daughter of Asad, had formally dissolved a previous engagement and is free to remarry.

Marriage contract containing details of a dowry and written at the time of the Nagid ʿAmram (1378-1383). The name Avraham is preserved. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) The hand is very close to that of the clerk of Yehoshua Maimonides (d. 1355); see T-S 13J4.15 for another document from the time of the Nagid ʿAmram possibly written by the same scribe.

Recto: copy of a legal document detailing a financial agreement between Moses b. Meʾir, descendent of Ḡaʿim, and his mother. Dated Tuesday 1st Elul 5586 (= 1826 CE) in Egypt. There are no signatures. Verso: pen trials in square script. (Information from CUDL)

Legal/official document in Arabic script. Drawn up in the majlis al-khidma of an amir with grand titles (...majd al-khilāfa ʿizz al-dīn jamāl al-[...] fakhr al-mulk sayf al-dawla wa-[...]hā b. al-M[...]m ṣanīʿat amīr al-muʾminīn...). Dated: 16 Rabīʿ II 504 AH = 1 November 1110 CE. In which Rawʿ b. Ḥammūd, a Muslim funduqānī (proprietor of a caravanserai), undertakes to transport to the Ṣināʿa ("the Arsenal"), the river port of Old Cairo, all falat (goods that had evaded the payment of dues) and all those for which customs had to be paid, whether they had been brought to his own place or to other caravanserais, or had otherwise come to his knowledge. Reused on recto for Hebrew poems. (Information in part from Goitein's note card and Med Soc I, 189–90.)

Court record. Written by Hillel b. ʿEli. Dated: Thursday, 23 Kislev 1401 of the Seleucid Era (= December 1089 CE). On the day when Elʿazar b. Hillel ha-Kohen married Ḥusān b. Aharon the widow of the cantor Avraham b. Buṣayla, he was approached by the court to let his father's wife be sued. When her minor son Khalaf would come of age and inquire about his father's estate, Elʿazar declares that he had taken care of the boy, whose father and mother (i.e., Elʿazar's bride) were his relatives and accepted the demands of the court. Signed by ʿEli b. Yaḥyā ha-Kohen. (Information from Goitein's index card and CUDL.)

Legal document. Partnership record. Dated July 1103. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. This fragment concerns ownership interest in a partnership between Mōda‘ and Abraham al-‘Assāl. In the document, Mōda‘ calls upon Abū al-Faraj al-Bazzāz to testify that Mōda‘ has an interest in the partnership, while Abraham seems to claim that he or he and his wife are the sole owners of the capital. Abraham apparently invested capital with Mōda‘ for the operation of a shop, and upon distribution of the profits it became unclear whether the capital was intended to be simply a deposit with Mōda‘ or if it would be (per Maimonides) "half a loan…and half a deposit". Apparently, these details were left unspecified when Mōda‘ first became involved in the venture. Subsequently, Mōda‘ seems to have called two individuals – one (perhaps a scholar) identified only as Head of the Congregations ("Rosh ha-Qehillot"), and Abū al-Faraj – to the shop to clarify the nature of his relationship with Abraham. Thus, the present document reports that the Head of the Congregations affirmed in a qinyan that Mōda‘ was indeed a partner with Abraham and not simply an employee. Signed by Abraham b. Shemaiah and Isaac b. Samuel ha-Sefardī. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 218)

Legal document with testimony from Sitt bt. Yosef b. ‘Amram and her mother Jamila bt. Yaqub describing that Yosef (the former’s father and latter’s husband) left 50 dinars with Abu al-Bishr Azhar, whose heirs claim that he gave 157 silver dirhams to Yosef. The remaining amount of 12 and one-dinars is then paid out. The document is signed by Hayya al-Kohen b. Yeshua ha-Kohen and Avraham b. Aharon he-haver; dated Tammuz 1415 of the Seleucid era. EMS

Legal document written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Thursday, 24 Sivan 1416 Seleucid (= 1105 CE). Statement in which Shelomo b. Avraham al-ʿAssāl (the honey maker) asks that his wife Nāshiya bt. Shemuel ha-Kohen should receive a divorce deed from his brother in case he dies and she has to marry him in a levirate marriage. Also signed by ʿEli b. Yosef ha-Kohen. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Official confirmation at court of a debt of 60 dinars contracted three months earlier before a notary, Ab 1417/ July 1106.

Court record. Dated: Middle decade of Ṭevet 1417 Seleucid, which is December 1105 CE. Describing a married woman—Mudallala aka Sitt Baghdād—depositing part of her jewelry as collateral for a debt incurred by her brother, written on the reverse of the woman’s ketubba (marriage contract), as clearly stated: “The court entered the deposition of these objects on the back of her ketubba.” (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:113, 449; 4:430.) T-S 13J2.14 and T-S 10J28.14 appear to be two copies of the same document (Goitein). EMS