Geniza Lab

Fragment of an engagement contract concerning an esteemed family; five generations headed by a “grand mufti,” the highest juridical authority. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:103, 447.) EMS. Document consisting of the genealogy (to five generations) of Yeshuʿa ‘the honored bridegroom, the discerning student’ b. Daniel ‘the honored Sar’, and was presumably to be attached to a betrothal deed or to be copied into it. Possibly Qaraite, as it is in Hebrew. (Information from CUDL.)

Legal declaration. Dating: refers to the year 4826 AM, which is 1065/66 CE. (The document itself may be later.) Concerning Nahray b. Nissim's occupancy of larger of his wife's family's house. Nahray sends two witnesses (the narrator and ʿAmmār b. Farrāḥ al-Iṭrābulsī) to his in-law Abū ʿAlī al-Kohen, promising to pay him 1 dinar per month for the part of the house which may exceed one sixth. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Query from Nadiv b. Yiṣḥaq, “the son of the brother of Umm Nadiv,” asking whether a woman who was deserted by her husband with whom she had lived for ten years, but had not received a bill of repudiation from him, may marry another man. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society,1:591; 3:264, 485.) EMS. The remainder of the fragment is also filled with text. Apart from difficult Arabic text on verso, there is what Goitein calls an Arabic/medieval Greek/Romanesque (laʿaz) glossary, partially in Arabic script on recto and partially in Hebrew script on verso. There is some overlap between the Arabic script glossary and the Hebrew script glossary. Examples: khubz --> אבסומי (= Ψωμί), mawlāy --> senyor. Merits further examination

Legal document concerning inheritance issues of Jamīla, mother of Abraham and Elijah Levi, who converted to Islam and married Ḥasan al-Sharqāwī. C. 18th century. (Information from CUDL)

Contract of debt in which Mufaḍḍal b. [...] ha-Kohen acknowledges that he owes a sum of money to someone. (Dating: 13th century. Probably written by Halfon b. El'azar. AA) Previous description on PGP, which refers to an unknown shelfmark: Document to collect the ketubba (marriage contract or payment after divorce) belonging to Sitt al-Bayt, bt. Aharon al-Tājir; 1565 CE. (Shimon Shtuber, Sefer Divrei Yosef, 404.) VMR

Court record concerning financial matters between Munajjā and Abū l-Surūr. Dated 49[..] of the Era of Creation and [..]25 Era of documents. so it is 1214 CE. AA Information from CUDL. (Previous description, referring to an unknown shelfmark: Verso: draft of poetry, with a citation from Psalms 33:11. VMR)

Deposition in court by a woman that had sold her book to her former husband for thirty dinars and that her two sons had no right on them. The sale was confirmed by her second husband, a Kohen. VMR (Written by Shmuel b. Sa'adya Halevi [Date: 1163-1204]. AA)

Recto: Deed of sale of a house bought by Mufaddal. The house had been split into two apartments by the buyer. The description of the boundaries of the house is inserted in Judaeo-Arabic (it appears the writer left space for it). (Goitein estimation: handwriting by Imanuel b. Yehiel, around 1250) VMR Verso: Jottings in Arabic and Hebrew script. (Information from CUDL)

Statement about money due of a Parnas, ca. 1151. The parnas Abu Sa'd b. Hatim was in charge of the collection of rent from the "Estate of the Jerusalemites." The monthly sum was 118 dir. He also was in charge of the collection from another place, whose name is lost, the monthly sum there being 110 dir. The document seems to be a hawala from this parnas to Abu'l-Khayr al-parnas, (known as al-Sayrafi, the banker); three members of the court signed it, apparently after the sum was cashed in. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 264 #51)

Statement about the debt of a Parnas, ca. 1151. Written on the verso of the previous statement, apparently as part of a current recording of the pecuniary rights and obligations of the same parnas as regards the qodesh, this statement confirms a debt owed to him by the latter. The upper part is a confirmation of 209.75 dir. due him for repairs in the Estate of the Jerusalemites, and 230 dir. for a banker's note which he presented. The other part is a declaraion by another elder, Yosef, testifying that the sum mentioned as having been spent for repairs is correct, except for 13 dir. that were spent on removal of garbage. Both parts are duly signed by members of the court. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 265 #52)

Deed of manumission of a female slave. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Wednesday, 18 Sivan 1421 Seleucid, which is 1110 CE. The owner's name is Ṭoviyya b. Yefet the physician. The slave's name is Thabāt, from the land of Greece (מארץ יון). The document is written, signed and witnessed by Avraham b. Natan Av Bet Din and Avraham b. Ḥalfon b. Avraham at the foot of recto and again on verso (attesting that the bill was given to her). (Information in part from CUDL.) VMR. ASE.

Deed of emancipation. Avraham b. Aharon frees his slave Nasiyya ('Youth') on Friday, October 8, 1176, Cairo. VMR Written by Mevotakh b. Natan. AA

Deed of manumission in which three daughters emancipate a female slave, Wafa, from Jan. 20, 1181. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:436; 2:449) EMS. Written by Mevorakh b. Natan. AA

Recto: Deed of manumission for a slave. Fragment, with a note in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic underneath.. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:436) EMS Verso: Short note in Judaeo-Arabic concerning a book. Two individuals, Yeshu'a and Rabbi Yosef, are mentioned. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Ḥisday ha-Nasi (a Qaraite communal leader) concerning a husband who wishes to divorce the wife he had been coerced into marrying in Alexandria. The husband demands to pay the marriage gift in installments (i.e., never completely) after all that he had suffered from her bad character (al-tarbut raʿa). He has been with her for three years, but it feels like twenty. He is perishing from his illness (maraḍ) and poverty and bad wife. If his request is refused, he threatens to flee the country and leave her an ʿaguna. Shelomo is probably not writing on his own behalf, as it is unlikely that he would consult a Qaraite Nasi for a legal opinion. Contains elements of both a petition and responsum. There is a provocative (mis)quotation of Leviticus 14:45 on verso: "I have broken (should be: he shall break) down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, etc." With this the husband is comparing his wife (referred to as one's 'house' in Judaeo-Arabic) with a house stricken with ẓaraʿat. (Information from CUDL and Oded Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 87, 149, 180, 220, 260.) EMS. ASE.

Response to the inquiry on the recto, in which the judge replies, “I learned that this girl was engaged several times, but it is not clear to me whether a marriage was contracted with anyone of those who proposed and became engaged to her.” There was a ‘milak’ but it’s not clear if there was a ‘qiddushin’. The judge states that the mother would know. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:80, 443) EMS

Legal query, draft. In the hand of Berakhot b. Shemuel. Addressed to Yosef Rosh ha-Seder. The page is crossed out. A man gives half a house (which actually belongs to his wife) as pledge for a debt of 8 dinars, and after the man dies the creditor demands the money from the widow. The same case is probably described in Moss. VIII,403 and several other fragments: see Friedman's article for complete discussion.

Legal document draft in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu about a gift from his father of almost all his books and copper vessels; brother Abu Zikri gets only a few small books.

Verso: Legal document in Arabic script. Headed by an ʿalāma: tawakkaltu [...] ʿalā Allāh. The Arabic word at the bottom of the page may also be some sort of registration mark (or signature of the scribe?). In which the undersigned Bayān b. Mūsā and Abū Surūr b. Abū l-Majd report the death of the Jew Yūsuf al-[...] al-Ṣaghīr b. Ibrāhīm al-Ṣabbāgh on the date of Tuesday, 27 Dhū l-Qaʿda 632 AH, which is 13 August 1235 CE. Yūsuf's heirs are his father Ibrāhīm al-M[...] and his son [...] [...] Makārim(?). Cf. Khan, ALAD, docs. 125–31 for a cluster of similar documents from the same period.

Autographed Responsum by Avraham Maimonides regarding the estate of a freed female slave. Written by MOshe b. Perahya, who was the muqaddam of MInyat Ghmar. AA