Geniza Lab

Legal document. Court proceeding. Location: Fustat. Dated: February 1160. Ḥiyya b. Yiṣḥaq (the son of Isaac b. Samuel ha-Sefardī) invested 65 dinars with Abū al-Ḥasan Ibn Ṭibān Tobijah ha-Levi al-Tājir b. Abū Sa‘d Samuel ha-Levi al-Tājir as a commenda, with profits to be split evenly between the two. Trading losses reduced the capital to 39 dinars, and Ḥiyya retained Abū al-Rabī‘ Suleymān Solomon ha-Kohen al-‘Aṭṭār b. Judah ha-Kohen to collect the remaining proceeds from Tobijah. Solomon received 30 of the 39 dinars he expected, the same amount which Solomon seems to have advanced Ḥiyya prior to Solomon’s departure. Abū al-Tājir Adōnīm Nānū collects an additional 10 dinars, which he had also advanced Ḥiyya. The document does not specify any initial partnership stipulations in terms of losses, but the court seems to have ruled that Abū al-Ḥasan was liable for one-third of the losses of 26 dinars (eight and two-thirds dinars). Having already repaid 40 dinars, he still owes seven and two-thirds dinars. For this balance, Abū al-Ḥasan wrote a debt document. Abū al-Ḥasan was then free of any obligation to Ḥiyya, and Solomon handed over the document that obligated Abū al-Ḥasan in the portion of the commenda assets, though he was clear that Abū al-Ḥasan was still subject to the "oath of partners", indicating that Abū al-Ḥasan would be liable for mishandling of the commenda assets. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 238)

Court record written by Efrayim b. Shemarya. A woman named Muluk claims to be the only heir of Tiban, the grandson of her maternal uncle. Dated Elul 1361/ August-September 1050. (Information from E. Bareket, Yehudei misrayim, pp. 194)

Statements by two Yemenite merchants about consignments shipped by Ibn Yiju. The first statement is by Madmun b. Salim and the second is by Avraham b. Fayyumi. The content of these statements should be compared with III, 12. The statements were written in India, probably around 1145.

Statements by two Yemenite merchants about consignments sent by Ibn Yiju from India and mostly lost. [India] Almost certainly 1145. (India Book III, 22)

Deed of guardianship in the hand of Avraham, son of the Gaon, April or May, 1026, in which Eli b. Yefet (known as Bar ʿAdi), is appointed guardian for the orphans of Moshe ha-Kohen b. Gulayb, who had recently died without making a will, two of whom, a son called Gulayb (a future son-in-law of Efrayim b. Shemarya) and a daughter called Mulk, are already of age, as was established by the late Elkhanan ‘Head of the Row’, while another son, called Mufarraj, is only four years old. Among the witnesses is Yeshuʿa b. Ṣedaqa, and ʿEli is to carry out his guardianship under the scrutiny of Shelomo b. Saʿadya (known as Ibn Ṣagir). (Information from CUDL)

Incomplete legal document in the hand of Hillel b. Eli (1066-1108). The cantor Ghalib b. Ḥalfon al-Zayyat claims that his sister Barra was given by their father only the upper floor of the small house adjunct to the brother's own, whereas she had laid her hands on the whole house. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 437)

Legal document, probably some kind of testimony, signed by [...] b. Yefet, ʿOvadya b. Ṭahor and [...] b. Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen, followed by another legal document, probably related to the one above. (Information from CUDL)

Legal opinion of Eli ha-haver b. 'Amram regarding the estate of Shelomo b. Yefet. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 255, 483, 280.) See also Moss. VII,89.4.

Legal deed: Karaite deed of betrothal for Khalaf b. Maḥfūẓ (groom-to-be) and Ama al-Qādar bt. Efrayim b. Manṣūr b. Furāt (bride-to-be). Dated Thursday, 17 Sivan 1357 (= 1045 CE; note interlinear reference to Tammuz), probably in Fusṭāṭ, in the lifetime of the Nasi David b. Ṣemaḥ. There are quotes from Psalms 69:13, Nehemiah 2:18, Psalms 64:11, Hosea 2:21, Deuteronomy 1:11, 7:14, and with testimony from Barakāt b. Menaḥem ha-Kohen, and Yefet b. Abraham ha-Levi. Witnessed by Ṣedaqa b. Maṣliaḥ b. Sahl ha-Levi, David b. Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe ha-Levi, ʿAlān b. Nahum, Yosef b. [...] b. Efrayim, David b. [...], and [...] b. Naḥum. (Information from CUDL)

Legal deed: Qaraite deed of betrothal for Khalaf b. Maḥfūẓ (groom-to-be) and Ama al-Qādar b. Efrayim b. Manṣūr b. Furāt (bride-to-be). Dated Thursday, 17 Sivan 1357 (= 1045 CE; note interlinear reference to Tammuz), probably in Fusṭāṭ, in the lifetime of the Nasi David b. Ṣemaḥ. There are quotes from Psalms 69:13, Nehemiah 2:18, Psalms 64:11, Hosea 2:21, Deuteronomy 1:11, 7:14, and with testimony from Barakāt b. Menaḥem ha-Kohen, and Yefet b. Abraham ha-Levi. Witnessed by Ṣedaqa b. Maṣliaḥ b. Sahl ha-Levi, David b. Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe ha-Levi, ʿAlān b. Nahum, Joseph b. [...] b. Efrayim, David b. [...], and [...] b. Nahum. (Information from CUDL)

Badly rubbed legal document or decree, which mentions ‘his son’ Manṣūr b. Bashāra, followed by a long list of signatures from men including Yefet ha-Kohen b. Joseph, Mevorakh b. Meshullam and Yefet b. Judah. (Information from CUDL)

Some kind of proclamation, apparently in connection with a ketubba. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Ketubba for the remarriage of a divorced couple. Location: Fustat. Dated: 25 Ṭevet 1622 of the Seleucid Era (= 17 December 1310 CE), under the jurisdiction of Avraham II Maimonides. Groom: Elʿazar b. Yeshuʿa ha-Levi. Bride: Shamsiyya bt. Mordekhay b. Yaʿaqov. She has the right to choose the domicile of the couple but renounces her earnings for his obligation to provide her with clothing. Witnessed by [...] b. Yehuda and ʿOvadya b. Binyamin. T-S 13J6.28 (probably dating to 1339 CE) may involve the same couple. Verso: short list of books.(Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Ketubba with a valuable dowry listing gold jewellery, pearls, rubies, and turquoise, second half of the 15th century. (Corrected by comparison with photocopy of MS & Goitein's notes) (Z.F.)

Writ of agency, probably written in Acre, probably the first half of the eleventh century.

Prenuptial agreement. Dating: end of the 13th century. Fiancee: Shamsūn bt. Yaʿaqov b. Yiṣḥaq b. Yeshaʿya ha-Levi, the ex-wife of Avraham. Goitein describes it as a "rather complete example of late conditions." Marriage payments: 5 + 25 = 30. The dirham:dinar exchange rate was 20:1 when this document was written. The husband will not take a second wife. Her handiwork belongs to her. He has to pay for her clothing. Her home will belong to him(?). She will observe menstrual purity laws. She is considered 'trustworthy' without having to take an oath. Signed by Moshe b. Shelomo; Ṣedaqa b. Moshe ha-Kohen. See Med Soc I, 386, sec. 79. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Ketubba from the late 13th–14th century, with no names preserved other than a signatory, Joseph ha-Levi. Information from CUDL.

Rough draft of a deed of partnership in the hand of David b. Daniel, August -September 1086.

Part of a legal document witnessed by ʿEli ha-Kohen b. [...], Yehoshuaʿ, and Avraham, and attested by the Bet Din: Ṭoviyya ‘the Third’ b. [Daniel?], Shelomo [b. Yehuda] (later Gaʾon). Most of the ink has rubbed off. (Information in part from CUDL)

Fifty-two closely written lines of a legal verbiage written by Hillel b. Eli, dealing with the settlement of the debt of half a dinar owed after the purchase of one and one/half hundredweights of flax (worth about 14 dinars). Dated 1088. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 252, 463)