Geniza Lab

Legal document concerning payments of large sums of money, mentioning precious objects of pearls and gold. Mentions Shemuʾel ha-Kohen b. Yaḥyā and Isaac b. Shemuʾel. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document from Fusṭāṭ in the hand of Shelomo b. Elijah, written under the authority of Abraham Maimonides and dated Tammuz 1531 of the Seleucid Era (= 1220 CE), concerning Abū l-ʿAzz b. Abū ʿImrān, known as al-Sharābī. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document with testimony from Abraham b. Shemuʾel (known as Ibn al-Nabāt) concerning financial matters involving [...] bat Jacob. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a pre-nuptial agreement written under the authority of David b. Abraham (David Maimonides) concerning the groom Aaron and the bride Shamsiyya. (Information from CUDL)

Beginning of a legal document from Fusṭāṭ, written under the authority of Abraham Maimonides and dated Iyyar 1531 of the Seleucid Era (= 1220 CE). Probably in the hand of Shelomo b. Elijah. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document from Fusṭāṭ in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, concerning financial arrangements after a divorce. Written under the authority of Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen and dated Ṭevet 1444 of the Seleucid Era (= 1133 CE). Signed by Nathan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo. Verso: list of monthly payments, also mentioning Abū l-Riḍā b. Faraj b. ʿAzarya and Hillel b. Nathan. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document with the testimony of Natanʾel b. Tamīm concerning a signature he witnessed for Saʿīd b. Yūsuf, who releases Mufaḍḍal b. Salāma b. Saʿīd of any future claims related to a signature that he, in turn, had given on behalf of Ibn Najīb al-Dawla. Signed by Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo ha-Kohen and, in the right margin at ninety degrees, Efrayim b. Yosef. There was a Fatimid official named Ibn Najīb al-Dawla who was active in the early twelfth century. MR

Recto: accounts submitted by Abū l-Barakāt Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to al-Talmid Abu l-Faraj, headed by مملوكه שלמה אמת. In Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. The first row is a list of names (e.g., Sulaymān, Hilāl, Bū l-ʿIzz) with numbers underneath. In the next section, mentions a copper worker (naḥḥās) and a Jewish silk dealer (al-ḥarīrī al-yahūdī) and various goods. At the bottom, فكتب بو البركات للتلميذ ابو الفرج اليهودي وصلولات الله علا سيدنا(؟) والحمد لله. On verso there are four more lines of commodities' names in Arabic script accompanied by Greek/Coptic numerals. Finally, there are legal jottings in Judaeo-Arabic written by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. In the upper left corner: the name Seʿadya b. Shelomo. At the bottom, "Before us, the court, the above witnesses signed and sealed and witnessed for the groom and the bride. Written by Shelomo b. Eliyya. Ḥalfon ha-M[...] b. [...] ha-Ḥazzan. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: legal document concerning ʿArūs b. Joseph and Sibāʿ al-Lādiqī. In the margin is a draft of a legal deed in another hand. Verso: draft of a power of attorney, mentioning Abū l-Mufaḍḍal. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's note card.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, mentioning Tamīm ha-Kohen. (Information from CUDL)

Levirate case in which a widow appoints an attorney to sue her brother-in-law with the demand either to marry or to free her. Dated: 20 Sivan 164. The dating clause is written clearly, but there's a key to interpreting it. Ashtor interpreted it incorrectly as (5)164 (AM) = 1404 (History of the Jews in Egypt and Syria under the Mamluks, vol. 3, p. 100 n. 2). Goitein corrected Ashtor's reading to 1204 because, as with many other 13th c documents in the geniza, you have to add 4800 to the stated date, so 4964 AM = 1204. To write 4964 in Hebrew, you would have to use a lot of characters, since the alef-bet only covers up until 400. So 4964 would be דתתקסד (that is, 4(000) + 400 + 400 + 100 + 60 + 4). But since in 1204, everyone knew the 4000 + 400 + 400 part, they just omitted it and wrote 164. So the document dates to 1204.

Legal document: testimony about the will of Yosef Lebdi. This fragment, written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli, records that before leaving for his last journey, Lebdi made the will. Friedman dates the fragment to the beginning of the 12th century.

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involving Abū l-Ḥasan Shelomo ha-Kohen and Abū Isḥāq Avraham. Regarding a business partnership (sharika).

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Refers to "the dues of the people of Ashqelon now living in Bulbays" (Goitein saw this as evidence of a Landsmannschaft-like organization). Mentions a qintar of something, a man named Yaḥyā b. Najm al-ʿAkkawī (see DK 237.1, l. 32), probably the appointment of an agent, and the aforementioned Yosef and Isḥāq. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Fragmentary scrap that contains multiple hands. The recto has been identified as a responsum, whereas the verso is a short note to Abu al-Ḥasan (or Abu-l-Hakan), requesting him to give the bearer wine. There are two hands on the recto: the more fainted one states the problem (line 1-5), a more fresh black ink continues the answer to the query (lines 6-10). The second hand is more cursive and uses more connections. The subject of the responsum on the recto seems to be wine and wine selling, which makes this a interesting case of paper reuse: the main subject of both the older and the newer documents is wine. It is also possible that the shaykh, mentioned in the verso of the document, is the same Abu al-Ḥasan as in fragments Moss. II 135.1 and TS NS J 224.1. See Phukoiava's database "Wine Accross the Geniza" for translation. (Information from Ekaterina Pukhovaia)

Court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: 16 Elul 1355 Seleucid, which is 13 August 1044 CE. Written and signed by the cantor Yefet b. David; also signed by Khalaf b. Yefet and Raḥamūn b. Yiṣḥaq. Concerns a marriage settlement after a dispute. The husband[...] b. Saʿīd b. Ḥallūf and his wife, in which he promises not to beat her and to set her up in a house separate from his family, while she agrees not to leave the house. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index cards.) Join: Oded Zinger. VMR.

Small fragment of a court record for a case involving a man who had arrived from Damascus.

Beginning of a marriage match agreement drawn up in the presence of witnesses and written three times, the last version written in the shape of a circle.

Acknowledgement of debt between Elʿazar Kondiote (קאנדייוטי) and Shabbetay ʿAdda (עדה). Dated Kislev 5527 of the Era of Creation (= 1766 CE) and signed by Ezekiel Ḥefeṣ, David b. Elʿazar Kondiote and Saʿadya Maʿālī ha-Kohen. (Information from CUDL)

Bill of sale for a female slave. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1470 Seleucid, which is 1158/59 CE, under the reshut of Shemuel b. Ḥananya. One of the parties is Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū l-Karam. Signed: Berakhot ha-Kohen b. Shela; Avraham ha-Kohen b. Aharon.