Geniza Lab

Recto: part of a ketubba. The name of the bride and groom, date, location and names of witnesses are not preserved. Verso: court record in Judaeo-Arabic, presumably of the dissolution of the marriage, in which an agreement is reached concerning the contents of the ketubba. Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday, 19 Sivan 1446 Seleucid, which is 1135 CE, under the authority of [Maṣ]liaḥ ha-Kohen. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi and witnessed by him and Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen.

Legal document: three legal documents on a single rotulus. Dated 27 Iyyar 4846 (14 May 1086). All the cases concern Maʿālī b. Khalaf and some ʿadliyya dinars, apparently worth three regular dinars and not in use by the public. Goitein defines ʿadliyya dinars as "special deluxe issues that were not supposed to be circulated" (Med. Soc. 1:231). In the first case, which is fragmentary, Maʿālī b. Khalaf sued his brother Abū Naṣr Manṣūr in connection with a deal in flax valued between 40 and 50 dinars. There is also reference to Yefet b. Avraham, the administrator of the mint (mutawallī dār al-ḍarb), who had rented or purchased part of a house from Manṣūr b. Khalaf and transferred to it a disputed treasure found near the Qubba mosque in the Fortress of the Greeks. Line 6: "He showed him dinars buried in the neighborhood of the Mosque of the Qubba. The continuation seems to contain some suggestion of embezzlement from the mint: the ending, in Goitein's translation (with a light edit by Marina Rustow): "Finally, there appeared before us Barakāt b. Khalaf, who made the following deposition: Maʿālī b. Khalaf brought me to the house of Yefet b. Avraham and gave me a basket with gold dust, which I carried to the house of his brother Manṣūr at nighttime. On the following morning, Manṣūr b. Khalaf sifted the dust that I had carried to him, brought a Muslim customer and sold it to him for about three dinars in my presence. We have written down what has been said before us and signed, so that it may serve as an instrument of securing rights and as a proof." In the second legal document on the recto, which carries the date 27 Iyyar 4846, Menashshe b. Yaʿaqov, testifies that many years prior, Manṣūr b. Khalaf, brother of Maʿālī, had come to him accompanied by two Muslims who demanded payment from him for flax that he had bought from them. Manṣur handed him (Menashshe) some dinars to weigh, and Menashshe found among them 15 or 17 ʿAdliyya dinars, which frightened him, as such coins weren't available to the public. He weighed them and handed them to the Muslims in payment for the flax, and later asked one of the Muslims to exchange three or four of the dinars with him, despite his earlier fear. Menashshe took the ʿAdliyya dinars, presumably in order to prevent Manṣūr from getting into trouble from using them openly; Menashshe then advised Manṣūr that if he had any more of them, he shouldn't show them in public but dispose of them secretly. So ends Menashshe's statement, at which point the court asks Manṣūr what he did next. Manṣūr replied: "I told him that I didn't have any more of these coins, but had borrowed them from my brother," Maʿālī. Two weeks later, the affair of Maʿālī and his embezzlement in the household of Yefet b. Avraham, manager of the mint, came to light. The third document, on verso, is written by Hillel b. ʿEli and signed by him and by ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Yaḥyā and Yoshiyyaʿhu b. Moshe. Yefet presents claims against Manṣūr also involving ʿAdliyya dinars. (Information from Goitein's translation)

Recto: part of a deed of sale in which Michal (מיכל) bat Yeshuʿa the dyer sells her female slave (Bidʿa ‘Innovation’, also called ‘Gazelle’) to Yaʿaqov b. Abraham b. ʿAllān (עלאן), an old and needy man to whom the Bet Din have given permission to keep a female slave, for 13 dinars. Also mentions the sons of Sahl b. Abraham b. Ezekiel and Abraham the orphan b. Naḥman (נחמאן). The date is not preserved. A faded note on verso mentions Yehoshuaʿ ha-Kohen, and does not appear to be related to the text on recto. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Legal document. Abū Manṣūr Ḥayyim b. Sahlawayh appoints Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb b. Shaʿyā, known as Ibn Tawwazī, to investigate accounts relating to the estate of Abū Kathīr Ibrahīm b. Salmān b. ʿEzra. Abū Kathīr had died while some assets of his were still with two brothers of Abū Manṣūr, Daniel and Eli, and the brothers had also meanwhile died, leaving Abū Manṣūr as their heir. Abū Yūsuf is appointed to examine the accounts of all three dead men, so that Abū Kathīr’s heirs can receive what is due to them. Abū Yūsuf’s investigation will be supervised by Abū Naṣr Shelomo/Salāma b. Saʿīd Ibn Ṣaghīr. Location: Fusṭāṭ. Dated: Wednesday, 23 Iyyar 1368 Seleucid, which is April 1057 CE, under the authority of Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen ("the Great Rav"). (Information from Goitein's index card and from CUDL)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Ṭevet 1441 Seleucid, which is 1130 CE. Acknowledging the deposit of an inheritance. Abū l-Ḥusayn Shemarya ha-Kohen had deposited items with Abū l-Faḍl Shela before traveling abroad, but his return home was overdue and no one was sure whether the man was still alive. In this document, Shemarya’s brother, Abū Naṣr Elʿazar ha-Kohen, receives the items deposited with Shela and releases him from any responsibility. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, Natan b. Shelomo, Moshe b. Yehuda, and ʿEli b. Eliyya. Written under the jurisdiction of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon, and, unusually, he also signs the validation giving his full name. (Information from CUDL.)

Legal document. Record of release. Dated: 1014. Location: Fustat. This partnership release, from the court of Abraham Maimonides, describes itself using the Aramaic term "tavra", referring to the "breaking" of the partnership relationship and a renunciation of further claims. Abū al-Bahā b. Abū al-Ḥasan al-Dilātī the beekeeper releases his nephew Moses ha-Kohen from all obligations resulting from "all of the joint enterprises (mu‘āmalāt) which were between us from the beginning of time until now", as well as any concomitant oaths. Any further details of this family partnership are not included in the release. Goitein identifies three other financial documents between Abū al-Bahā and Moses, all of which concern loans from Moses to his uncle. That the present document is dated between the dates of two of these documents suggests that despite this document ending a partnership, their mutual financial dealings continued. As the other documents are all concerned with the repayment of loans from Moses to his uncle, it seems likely that Moses was the source of capital for this partnership, and one of their "mutual dealings" was an investment partnership. Presumably Moses would have released his uncle from any further claims in a separate document. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 135)

Legal document in which Yesu'a b. Avraham withdraws any claim against Sa'id b. Israel al-Tustari.

Mostly torn and effaced release in which Khalaf and Musafir, sons of Shemuel b. Khalaf, acknowledge to have received through Yiṣḥaq ha-Kohen 250 gold pieces deposited with Mahfuz b. Yiṣḥaq. Signed by Sar Shalom b. Yosef, Saadya b. Efrayim, and Shelomo b. Saadya. Dated Elul 1360/August 1049. (Information from Bareket, p. 273 and from Goitein's index cards)

Legal settlement in the hand of the addressee, written between the end of the letter and the address. The senior partner Khallūf b. Mūsā the goldsmith, who is described here as Ḥamawī, that is, native of Ḥamāh in Syria, but still as resident in Palermo, Sicily, had made Moshe Samarqandī his attorney against Yeshuʿa. The matter came before the court of Mevorakh b. Saadya, later Nagid, or head of the Jews in the Fatimid empire, but was finally settled by "elders," who took the trouble to go through all the accounts and came up with a complicated settlement. Since the draft is in the hand of Yeshuʿa, we do not know whether this was the end of the story. (Information from Goitein, Letters, p. 134.) ASE

Geʾonic responsa, including discussion of the laws of inheritance. (Information from CUDL)

Geʾonic responsa. (Information from CUDL)

Geʾonic responsa. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract (ketubba) stating that the 200 zuz were "established by the holy college" and the dinars bear the sign "of the temporal ruler." Date, location and witnesses are not preserved, but the marriage probably took place outside of Egypt, as a gift of an ‘Egyptian sheet’ is mentioned. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 301-9) EMS

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: 1406 Seleucid, which is 1094/95 CE. Written in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Location: Fustat. Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Mevorakh al-Maqdisī and Abū Saʿīd ʿAmram b. Yosef each bring three hundred dinars into a joint venture in an apothecary shop, and agree to split profit and loss equally. Line 11 mentions Avraham b. Yefet the Mumḥe, who traded with Avraham b. Mevorakh in the absence of ʿAmram. Goitein deduces that ʿAmram "was not supposed to contribute work regularly" as the text implies that he will not always be in Fusṭāṭ. However, it's also possible that ʿAmram traveled as part of his responsibilities to the partnership, perhaps buying commodities to be sold in the apothecary shop. The sale of certain commodities in the shop were allocated to the partnership, while the partners were also allowed to sell other commodities and credit their individual accounts with the proceeds. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 141)

Draft of a legal document. Dating: 13th century. Abū l-Karam b. Ḥananyahu the Judge buys from Abū l-Ḥasan Yefet ha-Levi one quarter of a flour mill (ṭāḥūn) in the Mamṣūṣa quarter of Fustat, in the portico of Ibn Khīra, for his unmarried daughter, Sitt al-Khafar. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 327, and from Goitein's index cards)

Verso: Draft of a legal document in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. Dating: Mentions a period beginning Iyyar 1542 Seleucid, which is 1331 CE. Concerning the lease of two properties owned by Sitt al-Nabaʾ bt. Abū Isḥāq Ibn al-Amshāṭī, the wife of Abū l-Baqāʾ Elʿazar b. Abū l-Faḍāʾil. She leases a bustān with a house and a qāʿa (also referred to as a half-house) to Abū l-Riḍā for 7 years against 52.5 dirhams (i.e., 7.5 per year), which will be used for renovation of these properties. Abū l-Riḍā may also use the fruits of the bustān for himself. (Information from Goitein's index card and Mediterranean Society, 3:327, 328, 500, 501.) EMS

Ghulayb ha-Levi b. Shelomo receives from his brother Salama ha-Levi b. Salman (!) a loan of seven 'good dinars' for two years and pledges as a collateral a part of the house the two had inherited from their father. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Early legal document, in Hebrew rather than Arabic, in which the widow of Zekharya b. Othniel and his daughter Farha, acting for the still-minor boys, appoint the widow's father, R. Aharon, and his brother Maymun as their representative to retrieve whatever possible from the dead man's estate. The document is addressed to a prominent person abroad and signed by 23 persons. Tunis, 10th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 410, and from Goitein's index cards)

Betrothal register (53b according to Friedman) between Manṣur b. [...] b. Yiṣḥaq b. Saʿīd b. Pinḥas to Zahara bt. Yaʿaqov haKohen the scribe. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS

Betrothal register (53c according to Friedman) between Hillel b. Aharon haLevi and Tāma bt. Yiṣḥaq. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS