Geniza Lab

Iqrar ('acknowledgment') document stipulating a term of three months for the repayment of a sum of 10 dinars and noting that repayment is to entered on the reverse side, Iyyar 1418/April 1107.

The widow of Abu al-Fadl Sela b. 'Amram arranges with his bride Mubaraka bt. Shelomo ha-Kohen that she agrees to live with his son in the same apartment and to eat with him at the same table. In the case the son marries, she promises to be like a sister to his future wife. In the case her husband dies, she has no right to live in the house. Elul 1112, Wednesday, September 4, 1112. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Testimony in which a wife, a widow with three sons, releases her husband from from all obligations other than paying the delayed marriage gift and dowry and letting her live in his house for five years after his death as promised, and declares that her three sons would have no claims whatsoever against him and that her husband would not sue her sons, in Sanbutya/Sunbat, Adar 1427/February 1116.

Al-Asad b. Abu al-Faraj al-Sayrafi known as Ben Numan receives a loan of 1580 (the half 790) dirhams from al-Muwaffaq b. Nusayr of which 180 will be paid back after one month and then 30 dirhams every month (at its end). Mirs, November 1337. Verso: note concerning al-Muwaffaq, 1326 Nov./Dec., Tevet. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Legal document [[written in Damietta and validated in Fustat in the court of the synagogue of the Palestinians, which describes itself as acting on behalf of the High Court of the Yeshiva of Jerusalem which had now moved to Cairo]](??). Nissan 1448/March 1137.

Court record concerning the posthumous settlement of the affairs of a merchant who had sold partnership goods from Tripoli, Lebanon, in the various 'houses of the wukala' in Fustat, and had died leaving behind him two sons, Tammuz 1405/July 1094.

Legal document. Abu al-Hasan Shelomo b. Menashshe haKohen gifts a new enslaved woman, Rahaj, to his wife after selling the enslaved woman, ʿIlm, who was part of the wife's ketubba. The wife's name is Sitt al-Nasab bt. Abu al-Muna Yitzhaq. Scribed and signed by Halfon b. Menashshe. Also signed by Natan b. Shelomo. (Information from Goitein's index card and Weiss's dissertation)

Sitt al-Baha bt. Eliyya, the bride of Abu l-Ḥasan, receives on the day of her qiddushin from Abu Kathir b. Yahya 18 1/2 dinars deposited wth him. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Legal document connected with the tax-farmer of Atfīḥ. In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel. Location: Fustat. Dated: Adar 1450 Seleucid, which is approximately February 1139 CE, under the authority of Shelomo. This Shelomo was evidently from Damascus and briefly served the head of the Jews after the death of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (last seen alive in T-S 12.694, January 1139 CE). (Information from M. A. Friedman's article on Zuta, p. 474 note 3.)

Court minute, in the hand of Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver. Location: Fustat. Legal document concerning the Sicilian Abū Yaʿaqov Yosef b. Moshe al-Kohen awho has a first wife in Damascus and is not allowed to marry a second wife in Cairo before depositing what is due to the first wife with the court. Dated: Ṭevet 1451 of the Seleucid Era (= 1140 CE). Signed by Yeshuʿa b. Yoshiyya, descendant of Shemaʿya Gaʾon and Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver. (Information from CUDL.) There is a translation and commentary in Goitein's attached notes.

Betrothal record from 1093 in which the obligatory betrothal gift is 4 and one/sixth dinars. The document also stipulates the daughter receives the uppermost floor of a house; if she preferred to live elsewhere, she would receive rent, but her father and his heirs were responsible for the payment of the ground rent and watchman. Signed by Eli ha-Kohen b. Yahya, Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq (the Scholar), and Ezekiel II ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver b. Eli he-Ḥaver I. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:522, 3:445, 4:96, 374) EMS

Court record bearing the signature of judge Shelomo b. Yosef, late Head of the court of the Academy,' Fustat, Kislev 1405/December 1093 (date and day of the week do not seem to match).

Legal document. Record f release. Dated: February 1095. Location: Fustat. This document was drawn up following the termination and settlement of a commenda between Solomon b. David al-Dustarī/al-Tustarī and Benaiah b. Moses. As part of the settlement, Solomon was allocated ten dinars and change, five dinars and one qirāṭ to be paid immediately by Benaiah. The balance is to be collected by Solomon, acting as an agent to collect on debts owed by Jacob al-Ḥarīrī and Jacob al-Ṣabbāgh to Benaiah. The debtors will then make monthly payments of the balance to Solomon. Benaiah stands as guarantor for the debts. This document is a final release from Solomon to Benaiah, leaving only the uncollected debts. Goitein writes that "the investor lost almost 50 out of 70 dinars confided to an overseas trader, but was convinced by ‘the elders of the community’ that he had no claim against him." The "convincing" seems to have been the normal settlement procedure required for release; though the document refers to the agreement as a commenda (muḍāraba), its details don't confirm that it totally follows the model of the Islamic muḍāraba – for example, the active partner is left owing funds to the investor, suggesting that simply liquidating the invested assets was insufficient to satisfy his obligations to the latter. However, had the active partner borne no responsibility for loss (as in an Islamic muḍāraba), this would have sufficed. The verso – as yet untranscribed – is a form for a power of attorney, with "John Doe" substituted for parties’ names. This document seems to be unrelated to the recto, despite the allusion to a power of attorney ("wakāla"). (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 215)

Recto: legal document dealing with financial matters arising from a partnership. Solomon b. David (known as al-Dustarī) claimed from Benayya b. Moses 70 dinars, of which he had received back only a part, the rest being paid in installments by Jacob the dyer and Jacob al-Ḥarīrī. Dated Ševaṭ 1406 of the Seleucid Era (= 1095 CE). Information from CUDL. See also Goitein notes and index card linked below.

Fragment of a record of evidence by Eviatar ha-Kohen who was called by the name of God, the son of Gaon and the grandson of Gaon. The witnesses are Yehuda b. Shabat and Ula haLevi b. Yosef. (ca. 1100, according to Cambridge). VMR (Lines in Arabic were not included in Goitein's text)

Record detailing the action of a court in Fustat in preparing a claim to an estate in Aleppo, made by a man residing in Fustat. The man’s uncle was from Aleppo and died in Akko; having never been married, his heirs included two brothers and this nephew from a deceased third brother. Three competent witnesses in Fustat attested to the nephew’s claim. From winter, 1099-1100, signed by Perahya b. Arah, who calls himself here ‘ha-melammed’ (teacher). (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:61, 288-9, 440, 445) EMS

Memorandum of testimony concerning the legacy of a certain Isma'il al-'Azazi al-Halabi, who died in Acre, written in Fustat, Kislev 1411/November 1099.

al-Nusayr b. al-Hakim, a Muslim, declares before Yosef b. Yefet the teacher (who wrote the document) and Ya'ish Zayn al-Tujjar, that he would transfer to the diwan a document stating that Yefet b. Yehoshuaʿ (alias al-Makin b. Abu al-Majd) owed him around 4160 dirhams, for he owed the diwan 100 dinars. When asked how much Yosef still owed him, he replied that he owed him around 100 dirhams. Dated 1217 (Friday 4th of Av. Year 1528 Seleucid Era. Place: al-Mahalla. (Information from Goitein's index cards; also Mediterranean Society, I, p. 242; II, 402)

Legal query draft regarding a man who willed his executor to buy landed property worth 500 dinars, the proceeds of which were to be divided equally between the poor of his town and the family of his paternal uncle. Question: have the great-grandchildren of that paternal uncle rights on the will? It is unclear if this was written before or after the letter from 1208 on recto. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 436, and Goitein's note card.)

Recto: Statute for tenants of the Qodesh. Dating: ca. 1215 (according to Gil, but his handwriting comparison may not be sound, and this document could be as late as ca. 1300). The document preserves a number of conditions imposed upon the lessees of the qodesh. It proclaims 1) a ban (herem) against anyone who defaults on the monthly payment, for any reason whatsoever. Therefore, exactly as one would beg money for food, one should do so, if necessary, in order to pay rent. 2) The ban will also operate also on anyone who does not accept the amount of the rent as established by three Jews, the muqawwimin. 3) The lessee is obliged to present his deeds of lease whenever asked to do so in the name of the waqf. 4) The ban will also be applied to anybody making use of a Muslim's intervention in order to obtain a lodging in the houses of the qodesh or a reduction of rent imposed on him. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 411 #112.) On verso there is a Hebrew poem in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī (d. after 1298).