Geniza Lab

Details of an oath to be taken by Abu al-Ḥasan Qasim as demanded by the haver Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham with regard to a consignment of cinnabar which had to be delivered by his servant to Ḥasan b. Ḥasan in al-Mahdiyya. This document was written in Denia, Spain, in 1083. (Information from Goitein index cards)

Recto: Acknowledgment of debt. Lender: Abū l-ʿAlā al-Ṣabbāgh (the dyer) b. Abū Saʿd. Borrower: Abu ʿImrān ʿAmram ha-Levi ha-Talmid. Verso: Records of completed payments. (Information from CUDL.) VMR Should be dated to early 13th century.

Legal document. Deathbed will of the wife of a scholar, ca. probably 1151. A personal record of an anonymous writer, apparently a member of the court. Together with four other people he was called to attend the deathbed declaration of Sitt al-Husn, the wife of Judge Natan b. Shemuʾel ha-Ḥaver, "the Diadem of the Scholars." Since it was a Saturday, the official report could not be written, and the writer noted the main parts of the declaration immediately after Saturday was over, in order not to forget it. He was probably a court clerk, since his record contains the main formal elements of a regular deed. The woman frees her two female slaves and bequeaths them a quarter of a compound belonging to her, and dedicates half the compound in which the declaration is given to the qodesh. The two female slaves can live in the room in which the declaration is given, provided they keep the Jewish faith. An eighth of another compound partly owned by her is to be sold to cover the expenses ofher burial. She also states which of her belongings should be given to her husband. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 270 #55)

Letter from Umm Makīn, the wife of al-Sadīd, in Bilbays, to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. The writer inquires from Eliyyahu about her son who was left under the judge's supervision, and requests release of money left to her other children. She is also concerned about the son's capitation tax.

Fragment of a learned opinion on different subjects. The last section, preserved here and transcribed by Goitein, is against the 'direct method' in teaching children reading, Fustat, early twelfth century.

Legal document in which a woman sells, with the consent of her husband and father, one quarter of her father's house, to another woman named Shamsiyya. The property had been given to her as part of her dowry and it bordered the residence of the Nagid. Dated ca. 1235. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, 281)

Writ of agency written in Tyre, approximately 1025.

A Karaite legal deed in which the bride, Dhukhr, who is in Tyre, appoints her father, David b. Ishaq ha-Levi, in Fustat to betroth her to any man he wishes. Published by Gil, Addenda to Palestine. Mentions Abu Nasr ha-nasi. The bride's sister's husband is named Adiyya, known as Abu Sai'd b. Menashshe. The two witnesses in court are Moshe b. Sib'a and Aharon b. Faraj. Signed by Shemuel Hakohen b. Wahab, Musafir b. Simha, Yosef Hakoen b. Efrayim, Yosef Hakohen ha-haver b. Ya'aqov the scribe, Eli b. Shelomo. Join: M. A. Friedman, JMP, I, 218, n. 5 (see Ashur, PhD diss., p. 65. n. 54).

Legal document concerning houses that are part of the estate of the deceased Abraham Castro. At the time of writing, Mordechai רקאק is renting one property, and Shemuʾel Ibn Yaḥyā rents another. The document also mentions the following individuals, who have a family connection to the estate of Abraham Castro: Jacob Castro he-Ḥakham, Isaac Castro, Joseph Saʿadya, and Esther the sister of Isaac. This document refers to several previous documents that were brought to the judges for authorisation. The first of these was dated Thursday 3rd Nisan 5402 (= 1642 CE), signed by Habib דנון and Moses [...]. The second document was dated 1643 CE, signed Moses Reuben the scribe, Isaac Castro and Judah [...]. The following judges approved the previous documents: Judah (?) b. Hezekiah ha-Kohen, Menaḥem ha-Kohen, and [...] Barukh, dated Monday 8th [...] 5416 (= 1656 CE) in Cairo. The document is signed by Shelomo b. Shemuʾel, Somekh ha-Kohen (scribe), and Shelomo b. Ezra (?). (Information from CUDL)

Responsum, including financial matters relating to inheritance and to purchasing property. (Information from CUDL)

Query about a debtor who had taken an oath before the Jewish court and then had recourse to a Muslim court. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 402, and from Goitein's index cards) Written by Berakhot b. Shmuel and probably addressed to Abraham Maimuni. AA

Legal document in the hand of Natan b. Shemuel Ha-Ḥaver, Fustat. Concerning marrying a secong wife, and conditions with the first wife.

Six pages of court records in the handwriting of Mevorakh b. Natan (b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver). Fol. 1, recto (doc. a): After the death in Sicily of Abū l-Surūr b. Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥibrī, his brother Futūḥ claimed his inheritance and the court establishes that as their third brother (Abū Saʿīd) has already died, Futūḥ is indeed the only known heir. Fol. 1, verso (doc. b): Abū Saʿīd Khalaf/Ḥalfon (aka "Segulat ha-Nedivim" or simply "al-Segulat") received 18 dinars from Abū l-Maʿālī Shemuel the trader, who had been guarantor on behalf of the banker from al-Maḥalla Abū l-Maʿālī b. ʿOvadya for the orphan Bayān b. Ḥashīsh(!). The court orders Ḥalfon to keep the money as a deposit for the orphan. Dated: Adar 1470 Seleucid, which is 1159 CE. Fol. 2, recto and verso (doc. c): Trousseau list (taqwīm). Bride: Sitt al-Maʿālī bt. Mevorakh ha-Kohen. Groom: Netanel b. Aharon ha-Kohen. Dating: Between Nisan and Sivan 1470 Seleucid, which is 1159 CE (based on the records that appear before and after). The marriage gifts amounted to 30 plus 80 dinars. The ornaments and dressing table objects brought to the bride were evaluated as worth 155 dinars. Both spouses were Kohens and probably cousins. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 4:343, 466.) Fol. 3, recto (doc. d): Two entries, unclear if they are related. Above, the court orders Abū l-Faraj Ibn al-Shofeṭ to provide sustenance (mezonot) for his wife Sārra for a period of 30 days Dated: Wendesday, 9 Sivan 1470 Seleucid, which is 1159 CE. (An earlier description on PGP said that this is probably a payment for the deferment of a marriage.) Below is another trousseau list (taqwīm). Bride and groom are not named, which is perhaps an argument for connecting this to the entry above. Payments are 5 + 17. Fol.3, verso (doc. e): Dated: Wednesday, 9 Sivan 1470 Seleucid, which is 1159 CE. Sitt al-Sāda bt. Sayyid al-Ahl b. Naḥman appears before the court and claims her property and her ketubba of 30 dinars following the death of her husband Abū l-Ḥasan. She specifies the household goods left by the latter and is asked about her income from her work. Afterwards she marries. Signed by Efrayim b. Meshullam and Hillel b. Ṣadoq. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index cards.) VMR. ASE.

Release granted by a brother and heir of a deceased man to his sister-in-law, the wife of the deceased, in Fustat, Elul 1476/August 1165.

Settlement of a complicated dispute in Fustat recording that Abu al-Ḥasan b. Numayla had rented from Abu al-Ma'ali Shemuel b. Yehuda a house in Alexandria for two years (rent: 9 dinars). Abu Sa'd, the former tax farmer of Benha Sa'adya b. Efrayim b. Hudhaifa had given 8 dinars, which he had owed to Ben Numaila, to Abu al-Ma'ali. The latter retained the 8 dinars as payment for the rent of Ben Numaila, who had meanwhile died. But as Abu Sa'd had to return the debt to Ben Numaila’s heirs, he had to take recourse to Abu Ma'ali; ca. 1165., in the hand of Shemuel b. Seadya ha-Levi. (Information from Goitein's index cards). VMR and EMS

Recto: Legal document. Dated: Adar 1448 Seleucid, which is 1137 CE. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, and signed by himself and Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. Concerning a loan of 5 dinars from Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon b. Elʿazar/Manṣūr to his wife Turfa bt. [...] al-ʿAsqalānī. Against a security (rahn) of a golden bracelet (siwār). Every month beginning from Adar II, she will pay 1/2 dinar at the end of the month. The loan was given on the day "they reconciled and renewed their betrothal (? taqdīs), namely the date of the ketubba between them." Verso: receipt of payment, and "to Abū Saʿīd al-Zajjāj." Cf. T-S NS J468, possibly involving the same couple. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Legal document. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Last decade of Adar 1481 Seleucid, which is March 1170 CE, under the authority of the Gaʾon Sar Shalom b. Moshe ha-Levi. (This is the first known document invoking his authority during his first term in office, 1170–71 CE.) Concerning the installments of payments of the delayed wedding gift from Surūr b. Ghālib al-Dajājī to his divorcee Sitt al-Jamīʿ bt. Shemarya. Receipts of payments are recorded on verso. Signed by Shelomo b. Shemuel ha-Levi and Yehoshuaʿ b. Aharon. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Legal document. Record of release. Location: Fustat. Dated: Second third of Elul 1482 Seleucid, which is August 1171 CE. The mutual release of the metal caster (al-sabbāk) Faḍāʾil/Shela b. Mūsā and the metal caster Abū l-Barakāt/Berakhot b. Abū Naṣr Yefet al-Mūrid, formerly partners in an unspecified industry, likely to have been in minting as both of the partners bear the same by-name al-Sabbāk (metal-caster) and Berakhot’s father is called al-Mūrid (supplier of metal to the mint). Other details of the partnership (e.g., the amount of the partners’ investment, division of profits and losses) are absent from the release. The act of qinyan is recorded twice in the document, once for each party's release of the other. Interestingly, the specific claims from which the partners are released are different in each case: Shela releases Berakhot from any claim "arising from a bill of exchange" (ḥawāla), a clause absent when Berakhot releases Shela. Conversely, when Berakhot releases Shela, he retains claims for neither "a commenda (muḍāraba), nor a loan, nor a commenda (qirāḍ), nor a demand for rent nor [for leasing …]", all clauses which are absent from Shela’s release of Berakhot. While partnership release clauses generally seem to be formulaic, other documents' release clauses often contain information concerning the partnerships' commodities. Here, it's possible that these clauses were tailored to the roles of the specific partners. If so, the fact that Berakhot releases Shela from these obligations (which would have been incumbent upon a borrower) suggests that Berakhot was a senior partner or investor. As well, in his lifetime, Berakhot’s father was himself involved in a corollary business concerning precious metals; this partnership may have relied upon Berakhot’s family connections or wealth. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 222)

Document concerning the sale of a female slave named Saʿāda. Dated: 27 Nisan 1509 Seleucid, which is 5 April 1198 CE. (The main bill of sale was drawn up on the same day.) The buyer, Sitt Qaḍīb Sāda bt. Abū l-Bayān, promises to pay after two months the remaining 5 mithqāls (out of the original price of 12 mithqāls) which she still owes to the seller Abū l-Barakāt Berakhot (or Yefet?) b. Moshe. She also pays the market fee and the broker. (Incidentally, the buyer's name means “the mistress of the scepter of lords,” or, if an abbreviation for Sitt Qaḍīb (Sitt al-)Sāda, "the mistress of the scepter, (the mistress of) lords.") Signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Sason “Head of the Judges” and Yehuda b. Shelomo. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards and Mediterranean Society, 2:514.) EMS

Deathbed declaration of a physician who includes in his will a gift to his wife in addition to the money owed to her as written in her ketubba, Fustat, Ab 1552/July-August 1241.