Geniza Lab

Release. Fragment (lower left corner). Involves someone named Yeshuʿa. Signed by [Moshe b. Ṣadoq] Av Bet Din the descendant of Rabbenu ha-Qadosh. Probably drawn up under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya (l. 15).

Recto: Engagement (shiddukhin) contract in the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan (wrote documents 1150–81). Dated: Sunday, 27 Sivan 1470 Seleucid = 1159 CE. The document is torn and only partially legible. In addition to many familiar clauses, this document contains an unusual stipulation apparently obligating the husband to live with his wife in the Jewish neighborhood. (Information from A. Ashur's MA Thesis, '"Engagement Documents from the Cairo Geniza.")

Recto: text of a numinous prayer to God. Verso: fragment of a legal document, mentioning the holy city. Date not preserved.

Small legal fragment, probably a contract of debt. Mentions a town in the area of Bilbays. The debtor is Abū l-Bahāʾ b. Abū [...]. Dated: 4 Iyyar [..]76, but it is not clear which calendar is intended or which century is most likely; maybe 1576 Seleucid = 1265 CE, but this is a guess.

Recto: fragment of a legal document. Date not preserved. Verso: quotation from a Hebrew poem by Shemuel ha-Nagid ibn Naghrela of Granada (d.1056), apparently quoted from memory and somewhat altered. See Jarden, Diwan Shemuʾel hanagid p. 33 (poem no. 7, lines 38ff) or Schirmann, Hashira ha-'ivrit 1:111.

Fragment of a legal document, apparently a release. Date not preserved.

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dealing with alimony/maintenance (mezonot) for a wife and son.. People mentioned: Ibn al-[...] (first line); Abū ʿAlī Yefet ha-Kohen and Moshe b. Shemuel. The wording of the document is nearly identical to T-S NS 320.57 + ENA 2386.4, another document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, describing a similar case. ASE

Fragment of a legal document preserving one signature, Saadya b. Mevorakh (likely the son of the Nagid, Mevorakh b. Saadya, d. 1111), with the court's confirmation of the witness signatures below. One of the judges is Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver (dated documents 1128-1153).

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (lower left corner). Dating: [14]41 Seleucid, which is 1129/30 CE, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen (served as head of the Jews in Egypt 1127–39). No or almost no details of the case are preserved.

Fragment of a legal document. Menahem b. Shemuel mentioned. Avraham b. Shemaya and Avraham b. Natan Av are signatories, which dates this to end of 11th, beginning of 12th century.

Beginnings of two legal documents and one responsum. The legal documents are from the rabbinical court of Avraham Maimonides, and the responsum is addressed to him.

Deed of sale for a slave. Dated: Thursday, 28 Tammuz 1571 Seleucid = 8 July 1260 CE. Seller: the Bilbaysī Mūsā b. Abū l-ʿIzz al-Kohen. Buyer: Abū l-Faḍl b. Abū l-ʿAlāʾ (both son and father are called "al-Rayyis"). Slave: An Abyssinian woman, unnamed, with leukoma of the left eye. Price: 266.5 nuqra dirhams. Unsigned (unless the signatures were on the lower part, now torn away).

Fragment of a legal document. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli? Mentions Ṣedaqa ha-Levi, Abū ʿImrān, Yeshuʿa, and [...] bt. Yefet. Also mentions trade in rose preserve (ward murabbā). Date not preserved.

Fragment of a legal document, signed by Yefet b. Nethanel. Dated 1413/1101-1102.

Fragment of a legal document, Fustat, regarding business matters. Date not preserved, though under the authority of the head of the Jews, Avraham b. Maimonides (1205-1237).

Legal document settling a dispute between Abu al-Faraj and Abu al-'Ala Ulla ha-Levi b. Yosef, the well known parnas in Fustat (dated documents 1084-1117), regarding shops of the former. Verso: account of expenditures

Recto: note to Abū l-Maḥāsin, asking for guidance in a personal problem (probably in relation to the query on verso), which also involves the fact that ‘she brought 33 and a half’. The writer asks for a quick reply. Verso: legal query in the hand of Shelomo b. Elijah to Abraham Maimonides concerning a man who lives with his wife in a house together with another man and suspects his wife and the housemate of having an affair, and therefore wants to move out, but the wife is refusing to go along with his plans. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document, possibly in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, concerning a matter between Yosef the doctor and a certain Ḥaver Efrayim. Refers to the date 1352 of the Seleucid Era (= 1042 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in the hand of Abraham b. Nathan, concerning financial matters. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document concerning a house, apparently in the quarter of Qaṣr al-Rūm, which includes a lengthy description of the location and conditions of the house. Mentions Abū l-Mufaḍḍal Saʿadya ha-Kohen and ʿOvadya b. Shemuʾel, as well as Christians and Muslims. (Information from CUDL)