Geniza Lab

Court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tuesday, 21 Adar II 1377 Seleucid, which is 21 March 1066 CE. Maymūn b. Yaʿaqov declares that he acted as the authorized person for the brothers Shelomo and Moshe b. Avraham b. al-Lebdī, to receive the inheritance(?) of their father’s maternal uncle from Nissim b. Ḥalfon b. Benaya. It seems that Nissim b. Ḥalfon was supposed to pass on the money, books, and other items to the sons in Sicily, but he had traveled to Egypt instead. The completed document, signed by five people, shows that the brothers lived somewhere in the Maghrib and the problem was how to preserve for them the items concerned until they had them in hand. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #823, and from Goitein and Friedman, India Book.) The witnesses: Yosef b. Yiṣḥaq Fāsī; Salāma b. Avraham; Menashshe b. Yefet ha-Levi; ʿEli b. ʿAmram ha-Levi; Yehuda b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi. The validation (qiyyum) is signed by the ḥaver ʿEli b. ʿAmram (distinct from the ʿEli b. ʿAmram ha-Levi who signed the main document); Mevorakh b. Seʿadya; and Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe. VMR

Testimony about power of attorney regarding Musa b. Alush’s bequest, 1046. Musa, from Jerba, had businesses in Sicily and he drowned on his way to Alexandria. The people that are involved in managing his belongings, including the judge Masliah b. Eliya and Avi Musa, approve that all of his money belongs to his partner Berekhya b. Nissim. Berekhya gives the money to Yehoshua b. Natan, for purchase of goods. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #821) VMR

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Sitt al-Milāḥ sells her Nubian female slave ʿAlam to Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā for 23 dinars. Her husband Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe confirms that he has no objection. Large document with many legal details. Dated: 1137 CE. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and Menashshe b. Yiṣḥaq the cantor. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Part of a Karaite betrothal deed from the time of the Nasi Ḥezekiah b. Shelomo b. David, dated 9th Shevaṭ 1373 of the Seleucid Era (= 1062-1063 CE) in Fusṭāṭ. It is identified as a betrothal deed and not a ketubba because the quotation from Hosea 2:21-22 is typically found in betrothal deeds. The names of the couple are not preserved. (Information from CUDL)

Memorandum of testimony written at the margins of an inventory belonging to the synagogue of the Iraqis in Fustat, made out on the same day, June 28th 1080. (Information from Goitein, typed texts and S. Reif, Published Material from the Cambridge Genizah Collection)

Legal document. Marriage agreement in the hand of Yosef b. Moshe, son and assistant of the provincial judge. The agreement is a tawqīm ("estimate") of the trousseaux for the bride, Sitt al-Suʿada ("Mistress over the Happy Ones"). The groom approved of the evaluation of the tawqīm of the dowry and took on the responsibility of keeping the items safe. The items listed include twelve items of gold and silver jewelry, thirty-four articles of clothing, four pieces of bedding, and thirteen copper items and other household goods, totaling 145 dinars. The verso contains two statements, one by the father of the bride stating that the dowry has been given to the bride as her exclusive irrevocable property, and one by the groom stating he would be responsible for the care of these items as his "iron sheep," i.e. something which he would need to return in full in the event of divorce. The judge had a preference for obtaining explicit acknowledgement of the contents of the document in simple Arabic in order to ensure everyone understood and was in agreement. This was because the official Rabbinate marriage contract, which also listed these details, would be in formulaic Aramaic. This would be further reiterated by T-S 10J21.13, another document which outlines the groom's acceptance of the estimate. (Information Goitein's index card and Mediterranean Society)

Ketubba. Groom: Sahlān b. Avraham, the leader of the Babylonian community in Fusṭāṭ. Bride: Esther bt. Yosef b. ʿAmram the judge. Location: Fustat. Dated: 26 Elul 1348 Seleucid, which is 9 September 1037 CE. The dowry includes a half share in the house of the al-Ghallāq family. Witnessed by Yefet b. Ṭoviyya ha-Levi, the ‘Ḥaver in the great Sanhedrin’ Yaʿaqov b. Shemuel, Shelomo b. Natan, Aaron b. Efrayim, […] b. ʿAmram, Salaḥ b. Yosef, Aharon b. Moshe, and Mubārak b. Yisrael. (Information from CUDL.) This document was originally published by Assaf in Tarbiz 9 (1937), pp. 30–32.

Court record written by Yefet b. Ṭoviyya. In which Yefet and Yosef b. Binyamin the banker, as guardians of Avraham b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi, collect a debt that was owed by Shemarya b. Shelomo to the late Shemuel. Dating: 1020–30 CE. (Information from CUDL and E. Bareket, Shafrir misrayim, pp. 207, 208)

Recto: Marriage contract (ketubba), with an ornate heading. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1125 CE. Groom: the poet Yehoshuaʿ b. Shemuel b. Yehuda. Bride: Sitt al-Ahl bt. Yefet.The bride undertakes to honor her father-in-law and to obey his instructions. Interesting details of trousseau. Grand total of payments: 185 dinars. On verso, there are two legal records that were added later, also in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (A) Mubāraka, the mother of Sitt al-Ahl, gives her daughter two ornaments worth 6 3/4 dinars as a gift. They are added to the marriage portion. (Dated: 1126 CE.) (B) After Sitt al-Ahl's hubsnand had taken a solemn oath to divorce her, he retreated. Consequently, the bill of divorce is written and, after its being torn, a new wedding ceremony is held. (Dated: 1132 CE.) (Information from Goitein's index card and CUDL.)

Deed of release. Written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi. Location: Probably Bharuch, India. Dating: First third of Ṭevet 1445 Seleucid, which is 29 November–8 December 1133 CE. Isḥāq b. Makhlūf al-Nafūsī acknowledges that he received money and goods (pearls and coral) from Barakāt b. Mūsā al-Ḥalabī. Witnesses: Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi; Avraham b. Shemuel. The validation (qiyyum) is written on a piece of paper pasted on top of the original piece, and it is not signed. India Book 4 (Hebrew description below; full English to come)

Replacement ketubba drawn up in Safed in February 1539 (23 Adar 5299) for Moshe b. Yosef ʿAynos (? עיינוס) and Doña Hora Buena bt. Barukh Shabīb.

Bill of release, dated 1066 in Fusṭāṭ (29 Kislev 1377), in which Natan ha-Kohen b. Yeshuʿa gives a bill of divorce to his fiancée Sittān bat Yaḥyā, and she releases him from any claim. The release is given to Yefet who serves as a proxy to take the document to Tyre. Signed by Shemuel b. Yizhaq, Ḥayyim b. ʿAmmār, Faraḥ b. Yosef, […] b. Naʿm, Moshe ha-Levi b. Shela, Elʿazar Ibn ha-Shofeṭ, […] ha-Levi b. Ḥalfon, and Yehuda b. […]. Information from GRU catalog via FGP.

Ketubba dated 1551 of the Seleucid Era (= 1240 CE), for […] bat Ṣedaqa the elder. Witnessed by Saʿadya b. Solomon ha-Levi. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Recto: agreement between Moshe b. Yehuda the cantor and Ḥasan b. Salmān. Another copy of the same contract found in T-S NS J161 + T-S 12.5. Verso is faded and illegible. (Information from CUDL and Moshe Yagur.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Dated: 12 Ḥeshvan 1467 Seleucid, which is 1156 CE. Groom: Peraḥya b. Tiqva ha-Levi. Bride: Sitt al-Thanāʾ bt. Avraham. Signed by Berakhot b. Shela ha-Kohen, Nadiv b. Yeshuʿa, and Shelomo b. Shemuel ha-Levi. Approved by Ḥiyya b. Yiṣḥaq, Efrayim b. Meshullam, and Hillel b. Ṣadoq. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Bill of release, dated 1066 CE, concerning the heirs of Ḥasan b. Solomon: his children Ḥalfon b. Ḥasan and Shela b. Ḥasan, his brother Ḥalfon b. Solomon, and his wife Hinda. Signed by Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef, Yehuda b. Menashshe, and Ḥayyim b. ʿAmmār, and approved by Mevorakh b. Seʿadya, Joseph b. Elʿazar Ibn ha-Shofet, and Ruwayya (רויה) b. Shemuel. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Recto: Bill of gift, in which a house in Qaṣr al-Šamʿ is given by [Isaa]c b. Abraham to his daughter, the wife of Mevasser b. Ḡalib. The house is described as abutting the houses of Abū Yaḥyā (אבו יחיי) the uncircumcised, Yošaʿnaʾ (יושענא) the uncircumcised (both Christians), and Abdah Zerah Šalalʿabʾad (עבדה זרה שללעבאד). Witnessed by [...] b. Ṣemaḥ. Dated 126[.] of the Seleucid Era (= 948-958 CE). Verso: alchemical text mentioning a cooking pot and the following ingredients: lead, arsenic, urine, silver, egg white, salt, and blood. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Beginning of a ketubba.Location: Fusṭāṭ. Bride: Sitt al-Milāḥ bt. Moshe, a widow. Groom: Sason. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (1100-1138 CE), and written under the jurisdiction of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (1127–1139 CE).

Legal document(s) in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Recto: Decision of the court on repairs in a compound partly owned by the Qodesh. Dated: 1134 CE. A certain Obadiah, co-proprieter of a compound of which a quarter belonged to the qodesh, carried out repairs in that compound. The repairs were agreed upon by the representatives of the qodesh, their urgency having been recognized. Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Ṣedaqa al-Ramli was appointed to supervise the building operations, and Obadiah advanced the sums that were necessary. A total expenditure of 24 dinars was now recognized by the court. Obadiah was given the right to collect rent from the part of the compound belonging to the qodesh, up to a total of 6.25 dinars, which included the sum due him from the qodesh, and a former debt of .25 dinar. Verso: Approval of the court record. The verso, which is very deteriorated, includes details of an accounting between the qodesh and the same Obadiah, here called 'Abdallah, the Arabic equivalent of the former. This accounting obviously represents the fulfillment of the agreement between the two parties. The representative of the qodesh is Abū l-Maʿālī, which nickname most probably referred to Judge Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen ha-Meʿulle, who is also a signatory of the agreement. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 254 #47 and CUDL)

Avraham b. Rason buys from Yeshua Abu al-Fadl b. Eliyyahu 9/24 of a sugar factory for 150 dinars. He permits him to buy it back for this sum any time during 3 years. (Information from Goitein's index cards)