Geniza Lab

Court record in the hand of David b. Daniʾel and Hillel b. Eli (draft). This is the testimony of Yefet b. Menashshe, acting as power of attorney for his wife Banat, daughter of Abu al-Rida. Abu al-Rida died in a shipwreck on his way from Mahdiyya to Spain, and has left two daughters. Banat claims her father’s share of what remains (700 dinars) from his partnership with Musfir b. Shemuel, but Musfir insists the two were not in partnership when Abu el-Rida died. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 667-669, #824, and CUDL). VMR. ENA 4010.31 and T-S 20.162 are from the same case.

Court record of an excommunication ban pronounced against Sulayman the blacksmith after he insulted the court when it failed to take his side in a court case between him and Salman b. Shabib over the sum of 40 dinars. The court appointed Yefet ha-Levi b. Toviyya as Sulayman the blacksmith’s representative. Fustat, August or September 1031.

Partnership agreement from Fustat/Cairo, dated 1668 CE (״חכתה״ = 5428) between Yaʿaqov ha-Levi and a certain Yosef and a certain Refa'el.

Narrow strip torn from the signature section of a large legal document. Witnesses include *[Yefet?] ha-Ḥazan b. David ha-Ḥazzan; [...] b. Menashshe; *Avraham b. David; Shemuel b. Shemuel b. Shekhanya; Shariya (?) ha-Kohen b. Natan, Shemuel b. Yosef, *Khalaf b. Yosef, Avraham b. Seʿadya, and [...]ʿa ha-Levi b. Aharon. The asterisked names all appear in documents from the first half of the 11th century.

Debt contract. Written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: First decade of Elul 1447 Seleucid, which is 1136 CE, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon. One of the parties is Hiba. Also signed by Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen and Moshe b. Binyamin ha-Sefaradi.

Deed of sale. In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel (dated documents: 1128–53). A few words from the reshut formula are preserved, but it is not possible to tell if Maṣliaḥ Gaon or Shemuel b. Hananya is intended. Fāḍila bt. Ḥalfon/Khalaf ha-Kohen sells a quarter (of a house) to Abū l-ʿAlā b. Abū l-Surūr. Signed by: Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, Yosef ha-Levi, Yeshuʿa b. Ḥotam, ha-Levi Natan b. Ḥalfon ha-Kohen, Yakhin b. Yeshuʿa, Yehuda b. Elʿazar, Avraham b. Yosef, and Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen. Verso: Addendum (faṣl). Subsequent deed of sale certifying that the blind man Ṣadaqa b. Yiṣḥaq has purchased the same property from Abū l-ʿAlā b. Abū l-Surūr for the same price, namely 12.5 dinars. (Information in part from CUDL and from Goitein's index card(?).) Join: Alan Elbaum. AA. ASE.

Power of attorney. Location: Zawīlat al-Mahdiyya, Tunisia. Monday, 1 Av [4]833 AM, which is July 1073 CE. In which the Qaraite Abū Saʿd Isḥāq b. Khalaf b. ʿAllūn al-Kātib al-Miṣrī gives to Ḥassūn b. Abū l-Faraj Mahdawī the right to act on his behalf and recover a long list of household utensils, which Abū Saʿd had left with Sittūna bt. Sulaymān b. Hiba known as Sirāj Ummihi ("Lamp of His Mother"), the wife of Mūsā b. Khalaf. Signed by the parnas Mevorah b. Avraham, the scribe ʿAyyāsh b. Yehuda, and Moshe b. David. The validation of the document is then signed by Yehuda b. Seʿadya, Moshe b. Shela ha-Levi, and Yosef b. Faraḥ. One of the legal records on T-S 28.6 may be related to the same case or a version of the same document (Goitein). (Information from Goitein's notes and from CUDL.)

Ketubba, Qaraite. he date and location are not preserved but the town is next to a ‘salty sea’ (possibly the Mediterranean or the Dead Sea). Dating: ca. early 11th century. Groom: Mevorakh b. Shemuel. Bride: Sitt al-Ahl. Part of the dowry list is preserved. The bride’s representative is ʿEli b. Shelomo, and Maymūn b. Fuḍayl and his son Shelomo b. Maymūn witnessed his appointment. Signed by: Mubārak b. Ḥusayn; Shilo/Shela b. Mevasser ha-Kohen; Mevorakh b. Yefet; Mevasser b. Avraham; and Shelomo b. Yosef. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Legal document. Record of release. Dating: April 1076. Location: Fustat. Ṣedaqa b. Muvḥar and Shemuel b. Aharon ha-Kohen al-Ṣayrafī ("the money-changer") are released from a partnership between Ṣedaqa’s father and Aaron, apparently at the death of Ṣedaqa’s father. Unlike trading partnerships, which often include allusions to consignments in general or traded commodities in specific in their release clauses, this release includes mention of both bills of exchange (suftaja) and vouchers (khaṭṭ). Apparently the partnership had encountered some difficulties (a "streak of ill fortune" is mentioned). The signatory Yefet b. Avraham b. Yaʾir the Judge is identified in other documents as a money-changer as well; perhaps the court contained expert witnesses who could testify to the probity of the parties in their line of work. Other signatories include Yaʾir b. Elʿazar and Ghālib b. Ḥalfōn al-Zayyāt (the olive-oil dealer), both known from other contemporary documents, and Yaḥyā b. Avraham ha-Levi he-Ḥaver. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 149)

Bill of release. Dated: First decade of Ḥeshvan 1459 Seleucid, which is 1148 CE. in which Yeshuʿa ha-Levi releases Netanʾel and Menashshe b. Ḥalfon. Signed by Shelomo b. Araḥ and Shelomo b. Ḥalfon. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Bill of release. Dated: 10 Nisan 1360 of the Seleucid Era (= 1049 CE). Location: Fusṭāṭ. In which Avraham b. Ṣedaqa b. Eliyya b. Yehoshuaʿ ha-Kohen releases his uncles Ḥalfon b. Eliyya and Seʿadya b. Ekliyya, and their mother Miryam bt. Maymūn, from claims concerning the inheritance from his father or of the latter from his grandfather. Witnessed by Surūr b. Ḥayyim b. Sikkīr, Yeshuʿa b. Avraham ha-Levi, Naḥum b. Yehoshuaʿ ha-Kohen, the parnas Yaʿīsh b. Avraham ha-Kohen, Muʿammar b. Yosef b. Muʿammar the judge, Maṣliaḥ b. Shemuel, and attested by the Bet Din. (Information from CUDL; see also Goitein's index card and Med Soc. section IX, C, 4, note 52.)

Legal document: a deed of gift, ca. 1117. A woman, whose name is not preserved, bequeaths a house partly owned by her, to another woman, Sitt al-Dar, probably her daughter. This is a will made "by a healthy person," and therefore irrevocable. As appears from the deed, another part of the duwayra (small compound) was owned by al-'aniyim, i.e. by the qodesh. To prevent any loss to the qodesh, the recipient of the estate was forbidden to sell it to non-Jews or to build an additional floor over it. In case she sold it (to a Jew, of course) the same restrictions would have to be applied to the purchaser. The deed is written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe; its upper part is missing. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 232 #41) Alternative description: Two legal documents: The first is a deed, dated 1117 CE, in which an unnamed woman gifts part of a house to her housekeeper Sitt al-Dār bt. Shaʾul, and the second is a bill of release. The rest of the compound was owned by the Heqdesh, and to keep the property in Jewish hands, Sitt al-Dār is forbidden to sell her inheritance to non-Jews, and future buyers of the property are instructed to continue this policy. It is also stated that Sitt al-Dār will serve and care for the her benefactor, until her benefactor's death. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Bill of release. Dating: 1094–1111 CE, as it was written during the period in which Mevorakh b. Seʿadya was known as Sar ha-Sarim (this is found in the margin, and in the related document T-S 12.94). (CUDL dates the document to 1066 CE, but this cannot be correct, since Meshullam b. Hiba Ibn al-Shuwaykiyya was still alive in 1091 CE per ENA 4020.47.) In which Shemuel b. Aharon reaches a settlement (ṣulḥ) and releases Nissim b. Meshullam and his brother Ṣedaqa b. Meshullam, along with their mother Bahiyya bt. Ḥalfon, from any debts incurred by their deceased father Abū l-ʿAlā Meshullam b. Hiba known as Ibn Shuwaykiyya ("the little artichoke"). Shemuel b. Aharon’s agent is Yosef b. Ṣedaqa. The document and its drafts are possibly in the hand of the parnas ʿEli b. Hayyim/Yaʿīsh ha-Kohen. There are at least three related fragments: T-S 12.94, T-S 10J5.13, and T-S 13J37.9, which may be a draft of the same document or of (an)other document(s) related to the same case. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Complicated settlement in which a debtor named Saadya b. Yeshua promises to pay 40 out of 101 dinars on the forthcoming Passover holiday, which fell a week after the signature of the document. The balance of 61 dinars was to be paid in 48 monthly installments by 'Ulla b. Yosef, and in case he moved to another city, by another notable. Dated spring 1092. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 260)

Verso: Legal document written by ʿEli b. ʿAmram. Dated: Thursday, 20 Av 1368 Seleucid, which is 1057 CE. A release for Bahiyya, wife of Mevorakh b. Efrayim, of a debt paid by her husband. Signed by Yeshuʿa b. Avraham ha-Levi, ʿEli b. Ḥayyim/Yaʿīsh ha-Kohen and Yefet b. Ṭoviyya ha-Levi. (Information in part from E. Bareket, Shafrir Misrayim, p. 271) For recto, see separate entry.

Marriage contract. On parchment. Fragment (lower left corner). Might be in the hand of Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver. Grand total of marriage payments: 350. Border contains 2 vertical lines (and a teardrop loop) of micrography. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Ketubba for Mikhal bat Sason b. Yefet and Saʿadya b. Nathan, in the hand of Nathan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. Verso: part of another document relating to the same couple, dated 1451 of the Seleucid Era (= 1140 CE) in Fusṭāṭ, witnessed by Nathan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo ha-Kohen and Joseph b. Ayyūb ha-Levi. The bride’s father, Sason b. Yefet, is known from T-S 13J2.17 (dated 1116 CE), T-S 13J6.21, and T-S 8J4.23 (dated 1110 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Recto: autograph responsa by Shemarya b. Elḥanan (active 966–1011 CE) with his signature. Verso: an abridgement of BT Yevamot 65b-72a. (Information from CUDL)

Ketubba or prenuptial agreement in the hand of the scribe Hillel b. ʿEli (1066–1108 CE). Bride: Sitt al-Wafā b. Shela ha-Levi. Groom: Berakhot ha-Levi. The woman agrees to live in the home of her mother-in-law. Witnessed by Peraḥya b. Yeḥezqel, Eliyya b. ʿEli the Adept, and Yosef b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Rav. Attested by the Bet Din. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Legal testimony. Location: Aden. Dating: Ca. summer 1131 CE. Concerns the controversy caused by a Persian Jew, the nephew of the exilarch in Baghdad, who came to Aden and opposed the invocation of the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon in the qaddish prayer. Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq supported Maṣliaḥ and was the only one willing to set the controversy down in writing; the other Jews of Aden were too afraid to do so. This document may be written in the hand of the North African trader Yosef Ibn ʿEzra, a partner of Ḥalfon. The Egyptian members of the congregation, by contrast, saw Maṣliaḥ as their authority. (Information from Goitein, The Yemenites, pp. 57–61, and Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV; Hebrew description below.)