Geniza Lab

Settlement made in the court of Fustat between Mufarraj b. Yefet b. Shuʿayb the Damascene and Yaʿaqov b. Yosef the Iraqi. The Dayyan consulted the Gaon, probably Shelomo b. Yehuda, who said that one of the two must take an oath. (Information from E. Bareket, Shafrir misrayim, pp. 51, 60, 84 and from Ben-Sasson, Yehudei Sitzilya, p. 187.) Draft in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya (ca. 1020-1050) (MR).

Statute in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 11th century. Condemning and prohibiting all the alleged abuses in vogue at the sanctuary at Dammūh. Here is Goitein's summary of the document (Med Soc V, 21–22): I have no doubt that this document was issued at the time of the rigorous enforcement of Islamic law and mores by the caliph al-Ḥākim (996–1021). When the Jewish authorities realized what was happening in their environment, they understood that they had better put their own house in order. Like al-Ḥākim himself they overreacted, and, as happened with the caliph's reforms, the disapproved practices at Dammūh probably surfaced again after some time. In order to enable the reader to join me in the study of this intriguing document, which is almost a thousand years old, I provide here a full analysis of its contents. As so often happens in the Geniza, about one half of the sheet is torn away and much precious material is lost. It is all the more remarkable how much can be learned from what has been preserved.The Hebrew preamble states that "the Court," that is, the judge, and the elders had proposed to the members of the community to take action to remove all abuses from the sanctuary of Dammūy, that the community had accepted the proposal, whereby it had become a statute binding for all and forever, like an ordinance imposed by the God-fearing sages of old and approved by God. In the [Judaeo-]Arabic text, as far as preserved, the following points are stressed, enumerated here in the sequence they appear in the manuscript. The reader must keep in mind that originally there was at least one item between each two items noted here. 1. All should attend solely for devotion. No merrymaking would be tolerated. 2. Marionette shows ("Chinese shades," the medieval movies) and similar entertainments are not permitted. 54 3. No beer should be brewed there. 55 4. No visitor should be accompanied by [a Gentile] or an apostate. 56 5. No woman should be admitted except when accompanied by [a father, a husband,] a brother, or a grown-up son, unless she is a very old woman. 6. The synagogue building should be respected and revered like any other synagogue. 57 7. Boys, or a grown-up man together with a boy, should not [ ... ], in order not to expose themselves to suspicion and make for themselves a bad name. 8. Both men and women should take utmost care not to desecrate the Sabbath in any way.58 9. Playing chess and [ ... ] is forbidden. 59 10. Likewise games like "watermelon and clay" and [ ... ]. 11. Making noise by hitting something with a bang or clasping hands is disapproved. 12. No instrumental music. 13. No dancing. 14. On Sabbath water should be drawn from the well only when needed for drinking. 60 15. Men should not mix with women, nor come near them [ ... ], nor are they permitted to look at them. 16. In the synagogue women should pray in the gallery upstairs and men in the hall downstairs, as is established by ancient custom, sunna. 61 17. Visitors to the place62 (in times other than those of pilgrimages) should go there only for a serious purpose, not for pleasure or for something that, by deed or word, might endanger them or others or damage the compound. They should provide themselves with keys and not tamper with the locks, nor enter through the gardens or by scaling a wall.63 18. The community has empowered [ ... ] to represent them in anything concerning that synagogue-may God keep it. The statute summarized above had no reason to mention one important aspect of the pilgrimage to Dammūh besides prayers and pastimes: the place and time when so many people flocked together provided a convenient opportunity for public announcements, especially those that had serious consequences for the persons concerned, such as bans and excommunications.

Legal document. Sitt al-Fakhr bt. Peraḥya, the widow of Yeshuʿa b. Ḥalfon the cantor, confirms to have received from Nadiv b. Meshullam ha-Levi payments of 30 dirhams per month and various clothing and household goods for Khalaf and Sitt al-Ahl, the orphans of Yeshuʿa, and claims others. May specify the period 1167–69 CE. Dated: 1170 CE. Verso: Four barely legible entries of other actions in this matter. Location: Sammanūd. Dated: 1176 CE. Yiṣḥaq b. Sason signs the validation on recto and Yehuda b. Ṭoviyyahu ha-Meʿulle the entries on verso (which are also at least partially in his hand). (Information from Goitein's index card and CUDL.)

Two repeated testimonies regarding a commercial dispute which took place in Alexandria. The dispute was first brought before the local court of Shela b. Mevasser. After he was unable to reach a decision, the case was forwarded to Fustat. The court record is written in the hand of Avraham b. Natan, the President of the Court of All Israel (Heb. Av beit Din shel kol Israel) and is dated around the year 1100. (Information from Frenkel)

Lower part of a marriage contract (ketubba). Written and signed by Avraham b. Shabbetay. Groom: Yefet b. Nissim. Bride: Sitt al-Dār bt. Yiṣḥaq. Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday, 21 Adar 1374 Seleucid, which is 1063 CE. On verso of Halper 339, there is Hebrew poetry (written after the document was torn up). (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 47, 532.)

One of three draft versions of a document concerning the leadership of the community of al-Maḥalla during the administration of Mevorakh b. Seʿadya (active 1079–1111). In the handwriting of Hillel b. ʿEli (active 1066–1108). The spiritual leader of al-Maḥalla had left them two years ago. On Sabbaths and holidays, people sat under the sycamores in the streets instead of attending synagogues and lectures. The Nagid Mevorakh decided to send the spiritual leader back after having warned him to make himself acceptable. Cf. T-S 12.9. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Deed of sale given in Jerusalem and executed in Fustat, March 1066. Sittuna bat Yefet sells of a quarter of two shops (probably in Ramla) to Avraham b. Natan. (Information from CUDL)

Power of attorney. Efrayim appoints Abbūn as his agent (wakīl) for his affairs in Egypt (diyār Miṣr). Witnessed by Barukh b. Yaʿaqov and Palṭiyya b. Avraham. First validation by Yosef b. Yisraʾel and Moshe b. Labrāṭ (in al-Mahdiyya). Second validation by Shela b. Mevasser, Ayyūb b. David ha-Levi and Merayot b. Yosef ha-Kohen Av (comprising the court of Mevorakh b. Seʿadya in Alexandria). Dated: 4861 AM, which is 1100/01 CE. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Ketubba for Muʿazaza bat Mevorakh, a divorcee, and Meʾir. Written under the jurisdiction of Sar Shalom ha-Levi (1171–1195 CE) and witnessed by Levi ha-Levi b. Abraham. Dated the 4th of the month, in Fusṭāṭ. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract (ketubba), fragment.

Power of attorney from Sason b. Nathan to ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Yaḥyā (Parnas), in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli (1066-1108 CE). Signed by Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Solomon and Joseph b. Elʿazar. Information from CUDL.

Marriage contract (ketubba), fragment. Includes a portion of a dowry list. Signed: Ḥalfon b. Mevasser; Elʿazar ha-Mumḥe; Mevorakh b. Avraham. On verso there are a few words in Hebrew, significance unclear.

Right side of a legal document. a A barter of 2.5 pieces (thawb) of Indian red silk (ליניס/lēnīs = lānas) against two pots of rose preserve (ward murabbā). Other commodities are also mentioned (such as myrobalan). The parties are Elʿazar ha-Kohen and Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya ha-Kohen. Witnessed by Netanel b. Yosef. Dated: Dated: Iyyar 1420 Seleucid, which is 1109 CE. On verso there are piyyutim. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Bottom of a legal document in Arabic script. About a dozen signatures are preserved. Reused for medico-magical recipes in Judaeo-Arabic, on the uses and preparation of the brains of animals, marrows, and seeds.

Ketubba fragment (lower left corner). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (1100–38). Bride: Sitt al-Kull, a virgin. Early marriage payment: 10 dinars. Grand total: 95. Witnessed by Meshullam b. […]. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Legal query addressed to the Gaon and Nasi Daniel b. ʿAzarya in Jerusalem with regard to the goods of an Egyptian merchant, which had been requested by the Jewish court of Tripoli, Libya, after the carrier, his Sicilian ? had died on the sea. Dated: January 5, 1059 CE. There is a document quoted that is dated 23 February 1058 CE. See also T-S NS J161 + T-S 12.5 and Bodl. MS heb. a 3/9 (also known as Oxford a3 (2873), f.9, and published by Asaf, Responsa Geonica, 1942, 125–26). On verso there is poetry.

Karaite marriage contract, dated ca. 1000. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 407)

Bill of release. Written (also validated) by Avraham b. Natan Av. Dated: 1104 or 1107 CE. Berakhot ha-Kohen releases Avraham ha-Dayyan and David(?) from a claim that his wife(?) sold a house and other belongings of their late daughter who was married to Berakhot(?) to Abū Naṣr during the prolonged absence of Berakhot in Syria. Abū Naṣr said that Berakhot had made קינוניא(?) with the family of his late wife, since a long time after his return from Syria with his daguther, he had not made any claim. Finally, Berakhot received 12 dinars and gives this bill of release, especially specifying that he will not file a claim in Muslim courts. The house was in Qaṣr al-Rūm, 2 doors, one on the street (shāriʿ), the other on the alley (zuqāq) of Azhar al-Shofeṭ. One of the boundaries: Umm Abū l-Faḍl Ibn al-Shofeṭ. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Yoef, Menaḥam b. Shemuel, Yakhin b. Mevorakh, the parnas and trustee Yosef b. Shelomo, Peraḥya b. Yeḥezqel, Ḥalfon […], […] b. Mevorakh, and […] b. Shemuel. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1 Kislev 1359 Seleucid, which is 22 November 1047 CE. An undertaking by Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli b. Khalaf Ibn Zaffān ("son of the buffoon") before marrying his bride Fāʾiza bt. Shelomo b. Netanel to sever his relations with disreputable people, not to buy a female slave, and never to leave Fustat except with Fāʾiza's consent. Signed by: Shemuel b. Avraham; Shelomo b. [...]. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Legal record of an inheritance, issued in the court of R. Levi b. Ḥabib in Jerusalem in September 1532 CE (3 Tishrei 5293), for the estate of the late Naṣr bt. Eliyyahu b. ʿAbd al-Waliyy Melammed, the widow of R. Fuhayd known as Barābak (?), who died without direct descendants. Her nephew, ʿAbd al-Kāfi b. Sulaymān ha-Ḥazzan—whose mother Ẓarīfa was Naṣr's sister—presented a power of attorney drawn up in Fusṭāṭ in May 1532 (7 Sivan 5292), witnessed by Yosef Abuhab and Yosef b. David Moreno, entitling him to claim the amount of the inheritance willed to him (subsequently it transpires that his aunt willed his mother Ẓarīfa and her family a full 2/3 of the inheritance, while the other 1/3 was to go to their other sister Rivka and her family). ʿAbd al-Kāfī brought a suit against Shemuel ha-Levi b. Shelomo ha-Levi, aka Shemuel Kalaḥ, the guardian/executor of the estate, to receive his share of the inheritance. Shemuel then claimed that he had already sent enough of the money to David Ḥavriya (? חבריא), who was supposed to give a portion to his wife Rivka bt. Zubayda (the other sister of Naṣr) and to give the remainder to ʿAbd al-Kāfī, who, however, didn't receive a penny. Shemuel responded that there was not enough money left from the inheritance to pay ʿAbd al-Kāfī his share (and his mother's and siblings'), but there was enough if he made up the difference with property and jewelry and clothing. The document continues for another 100 lines or so, detailing all the different denominations of currency that Shemuel handed over to ʿAbd al-Kāfī, along with all the jewelry, clothing, and other items (with a detailed inventory of 70 items of mainly clothing appearing in a separate list on the facing page). However, of these items, some were to go to David Ḥavriya, and the jewelry in particular was put in a bag and sealed with the seal of Ovadya Kohen, and ʿAbd al-Kāfī had to take an oath not to open it until the pair of them could go through it together in Fusṭāṭ under the supervision of Shemuel ha-Levi b. Ḥakīm. Among the currencies named are gold Sholali peraḥim and gold Ibrahimi peraḥim, respectively coins minted in the mint of R. Yiṣḥaq Sholal and Avraham Castro. Information largely from Avraham David's description on FGP