Geniza Lab

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (left side only). Location: Fustat. Dating: ca. 1127–38 CE. In which Abū Zikrī b. Yosef ha-Kohen and the ḥaver Berakhot b. Aharon ha-Kohen ha-Jalīlī form a partnership agreement, in which Berakhot will act as an agent and take merchandise to Damascus. Signed by Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver, and validated by […] b. Natan he-Ḥaver, Ḥalfon b. Yosef ha-Kohen, Natan b. Shemuel, Avraham b. Shemaʿya and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. The Abū Zikrī in this document may be identical with the Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen in Bodl. MS heb. b 11/2 (a different partnership agreement). (Information in part from CUDL.) AA. ASE.

Recto: Geonic (?) responsum regarding two orphans who claim property their father had entrusted to another. Verso is barely legible, but seems to be a responsum in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: geonic responsum concerning an individual who had apparently mishandled property belonging to orphans. Verso: pen trials in Hebrew and Arabic. (Information from CUDL. See also Goitein's index card.)

Copy of an engagement deed dated 1202 in Alexandria, sent to Maimonides with a query over whether the contract was legally binding, and the reply in Maimonides’ handwriting. The query itself did not survive, but Maimonides’ reply makes its subject matter clear. The halakhic validity of this type of contract was in doubt, and Maimonides ruled that engagement deeds were in fact permissible according to halakha. (Information from CUDL)

Ketubba (marriage contract). Fragment (last few lines only). The groom is named Yosef. Signed by: ʿEli b. ʿAmram ha-Levi (active 1049–66, not to be confused with ʿEli ha-Mumḥe b. ʿAmram); Yehuda b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi; Thābit b. Yosef. Reused for literary text on verso. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Responsa of R Hananel concerning the using of the Assyrian script for secular purposes. Maimonides responsa om this matter is mentioned. AA

Collection of Geonic responsa, in the same hand as T-S 16.99, T-S G2.29, T-S 12.169, and T-S 16.310. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Fragment (left side only). Location: Fustat. Dating: ca. 1030 CE. Bride: Malika/Milka (מלכה). Groom: ʿAllūn b. Ṣeda[qa]. The dowry includes a house in New Cairo. Written and signed by the cantor Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. Other witnesses are: […] b. Yeshaʿya, [ʿAm]ram b. Yefet, and [...] b. Menashshe. (Information from Goitein’s index card and CUDL.)

Ketubba, Rabbanite. Dated: [13]56 Seleucid, which is 1044/45 CE.Groom: Thābit b. Yaʿaqov. Bride: [...] bt. Abu l-Faraj (based on the filing note on verso). Mentions 20 dinars, but the right half of the document is missing, and it is difficult to reconstruct the quantities of each category of marriage payment. Witnesses include: [...] b. Ḥalfon; Binyamin b. Mevorakh ha-Kohen; Yefet b. David ha-Ḥazzan; Shelomo b. Yosef. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Only the heading and first lines preserved. Dated: 1391 Seleucid, which is 1079/80 CE. The groom is named Naḥum. Handwriting of Hillel b. ʿEli? (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Betrothal deed (or marriage contract?). Location: Ṣafad (צפת). Dated: Sunday, 7 Ḥeshvan 5591 AM, which is 24 October 1830 CE. Fiancée: Raḥel Masʿūda bt. Yiṣḥaq Yishni, a widow. Fiancé: Yiṣḥaq b. Barukh Roqaḥ (רקח). The marriage payments and dowry amount to 1000 gurūsh (גרוש). Witnessed by Shalom Sasportas (ששפורטש) and [...] Sananes (סאנאניס). (Information from CUDL and Goitein’s index card.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: New Cairo. Dated: Friday, 6 Elul 5576 AM, which is 1816 CE. Groom: Refael Tortos b. Merkado. Bride: Esther Tantan (? תנתן) bt. Eliyyahu Reuben. The marriage payments together with the dowry amount to 110,000 medins. Witnessed by three people including the groom(?), David ben Naʿīm, and Angel (אנג'יל). Decorated header and borders with designs of flowers and birds. (Information from CUDL and Goitein’s index card.)

Bill of release by Eli in which Hiba b. Moshe acknowledges to have received from Abu al-Khayr 1.5 dinars. Signed by Shemarya ha-Kohen b. Natan. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. A settlement in connection with the dissolution of a partnership between Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel ha-Levi and Banīn (possibly the druggist Banīn b. Daʿūd), who had jointly run a perfumery in Giza. Abū ʿAlī will continue to run the store on his own, and Banīn will repay him in weekly installments for his share of the rent of the store. The store itself is owned by Sibāʿ the Muslim. Dated: 5 Shevaṭ 1437 Seleucid, which is 1126 CE. Ḥalfon also signed the document, together with the teacher Yiṣḥaq b. Ḥayyim Nafūsī. Join with PER H 92? (Information from CUDL.)

Power of attorney. Mainly in Hebrew. Dated: Monday, 6 Adar 1539 Seleucid, which is 1228 CE, under the jurisdiction of Avraham Maimonides. The physician Elʿazar b. Tiqva ha-Levi, in Ashmūm Ṭannaḥ (אשמום טנאח), instructs Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fusṭāṭ, to betroth on his behalf the widow Yāmūn bt. ʿEli b. Yosef (יאמון האלמנה אלמרכשיה), from Marrakesh in Morocco. Witnesses: Netanel b. Shemarya; Menaḥem b. Yefet; Mevorakh b. Shelomo ha-Kohen known as al-Dilāthī (this transliteration is clarified by comparison with the Arabic script). There is an addendum in Arabic script, which is a message from Hibatallāh b. [...] to Rabbenu Pinḥas (b. Meshullam?). This is essentially a validation (qiyyum) in which he identifies the witnesses to the above document and confirms that their signatures are genuine. One of them is from the Ibn al-Munīr family of physicians, a relation of al-Muhadhdhab Ibn al-Munīr who is also mentioned in T-S 10J12.10. In the second part of this addendum, a physician titled al-Muhadhdhab (unclear if he is identical with the one just mentioned) asks Pinḥas to convey the document to the hands of Eliyyahu the Judge. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Ketubba fragment for Dalāl bt. Yosef and Shelomo b. Natan. Date and location not preserved. Witnessed by Yeshuʿa b. Shabbat (שבאת), Aharon b. Efr[ayim], Ḥalfon b. Avraham, and Mevorakh b. Shemuel. Information from CUDL.

Recto: Abu al-Makarim gives eight pieces of clothing to Abu al-Mufaddal as collateral for 4 dinars. Dated Elul 1525/August 1213. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 413) Verso: Note relating to a marriage. (Information from CUDL)

Two fragments from the outer leaves of a collection of late responsum on agents, citing Haro”sh and other rabbinical authorities. There are six elaborate signatures of the scribe Yeshuʿa b. Shababo (שבאבו). (Information from CUDL)

Court record of a legal agreement between a husband, Abū l-Ḥasan Shelomo b. Menashshe, and his wife, Sitt al-Nasab bt. Abū l-Munā, in which he undertakes to settle her in her own domicile. Before marrying, they had agreed to live apart from his female relatives should she request it. After their marriage, they tried living with his family, but arguments broke out, and Sitt al-Nasab invoked her right to live separately. But Abū l-Ḥasan found himself broken-hearted on separation from his female relatives, so the couple now agreed to live under the same roof as his family again, but (1) to give Sitt al-Nasab a separate apartment in the house, (2) that Abū l-Ḥasan’s mother and sisters would not be allowed to enter it, (3) that they are forbidden from requesting as much as a matchstick from Sitt al-Nasab. The details of this new agreement were negotiated between Abū l-Ḥasan and Sitt al-Nasab’s paternal uncle, Abū ʿAlī. Dated: Kislev 1430 Seleucid, which is 1119 CE. Location: Fusṭāṭ. In the hand of the prolific court clerk Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (no relation). Signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya and ʿOvadya ha-Kohen b. Mevorakh. The same couple also appear in T-S 13J2.20, dated 1445/1134.

Two deeds of sale of houses, Fustat 1261. Written by Emanuel b. Yehiel. AA