Geniza Lab

Legal document concerning debts, mentioning [...] b. Ḥayya ha-Kohen and Abū [...] b. Shemuʾel. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, and dated 1438 of the Seleucid Era (= 1127 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Legal documents in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Recto: betrothal deed between [...] b. ʿEli (known as Ibn Ḥunayn) and the daughter of Ṭahor. Verso: legal document concerning a house. (Information from CUDL)

Fragmentary legal record drafted in Fustat and including an incomplete date (Sivan 14..). Dated to the 11th-12th century.

Declaration given on request stating that someone had been under tarsim (house arrest) for a period of time. Written in Fustat. The end is complete, but the main part is missing at the top.

End of a legal document in Hebrew, drawn up in Egypt in the year 13..)? (Seleucid Era).

Fragments, gifts on deathbed of two houses to his daughter al-'Atiqa by a representative of the merchants, Yekutiel

Bill of divorce between Kulla bat Yefet and Ṣedaqa (?) [...]. Written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and signed by Isaac b. Shemuʾel ha-Sefardi and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe on recto and (attesting the delivery) on verso (partly embellished). (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in Hebrew. Dating: 1517 CE(?). Stating that 93 peraḥim (ducat equivalents) of the coinage of the Sultan Selim which were destined for the Yeshiva in Jerusalem were given to another Yeshiva. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Yosef the cantor, son of Michael, sells a little house in Fustat, one half of which belonged to him and the other to his daughter, the wife of the beadle Hiba b. Ibrahim the water carrier, for 6 dinars. Dated 1153.

Power of attorney, written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of the beginning of a deathbed declaration, issued by a court whose judges were appointed by Moshe b. Mevorakh (1112-ca.1126) and Mevorakh b. Saadya (1099-1111) in Fustat.

Legal document concerning a gift, probably between ha-Sar Nathaniel Rosh ha-Qehillot and his wife Sitt Milāḥ. Written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Margins of recto and verso: Will, presumably a draft, concerning gold for a man's daughter Karīma. Mentions various other family members, such as her maternal aunt, her sister, Khalaf, Yūsuf b. Yiṣḥaq, and her maternal uncle Manṣūr. A sum of 6 dinars is mentioned in line 9. Several names appear at the bottom of the document, but these appear to be the scribe's notes rather than actual signatures: Sulaymān b. Saʿīd; Avraham b. ʿAlī; Munā bt. Ismāʿīl; the maternal uncle Avraham b. Zudaybilāt(?); the paternal uncle Mūsā b. ʿUqayb al-Mastī(?).

Hebrew court testimony by Yehoshuaʿ b. Mansur saying that his wife has no debts to him.

Very effaced record of testimony with partially visible date reading Iyyar 15?5.

Court record in which the wife of Bishr b. Semah, who had stood security for her husband, declares in the presence of two witnesses to his creditor Abu al-Maymun b. Avraham al-Saluki (from Seleucia) that she is no longer responsible for him. Abu al-Maymun replies that he holds only her responsible. Written and signed by Yefet b. David; dated 1339 of the Seleucid Era (= 1028 CE). (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS. Alternate description: F. 2v: Court record concerning affairs between Abū l-Maymūn b. Abraham, Bušr b. Ṣemaḥ and his wife, dated 1339 of the Seleucid Era (= 1028 CE); signed (?) by Yefet the cantor b. David. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. Shemuel b. Moshe b. Sahl brings Menashshe b. Yaʿaqov b. al-Nihmi to court. The latter promises to pay him one and one-fourth dinars until Iyyar 1028 CE; he owed him three and one-eighth dinars. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS. Alternate description: 2r: Release from debt by Samuel b. Moses b. Sahl for Menashshe b. Jacob Ibn al-Nihmī, 1339 of the Seleucid Era (= 1028 CE) in Fusṭāṭ. (Information from CUDL.)

1r-v: Agreement between Sari b. ‘Eli and Sedaqa b. […] with regard to goods left by Musafir b. Yish‘i. Shari undertakes to pay after his return from Alexandria, no later than after 40 days. Dated Iyyar, 1028, and witnessed by seven signatories, headed by Yosef ha-Kohen, the judge. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Beginning of a court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: Tammuz 1402 of the Seleucid Era (1091 C.E.). Avraham b. Ṭoviyya ha-Levi is mentioned, no other details preserved. EMS. Probably a join with T-S 8J8.7 + T-S AS 150.120, in which case this is a debt contract certifying that Ibrāhīm owes money to Meshullam. Join by Oded Zinger.

Recto: Legal document. Partnership record. Dated: February 1092. Location: Fustat. T-S 8J4.11 and T-S NS J6 are part of a record of a trading partnership between Yaḥyā ha-Kohen b. Samuel and ‘Ulla ha-Levi b. Joseph al-Dimashqī, investors with Bishāra the freedman. The full document is comprised of T-S 8J4.11and T-S NS J6 (this record), and T-S 8J4.12 (PGPID 7624). Bishara is to journey to Aleppo and Antioch and to sell goods purchased there in Fusṭāṭ. Bishāra is under instructions to sell only for cash and not to accept credit. Yaḥyā and ‘Ulla are to take two-thirds of the profit, having invested 155 and 1/3 dinars together. Bishāra contributed 20 dinars, and was entitled to one-third of the profit as well as expenses related to the merchandise. Bishāra is not to receive any further daily allowance. Bishāra takes on “the faith of the Heavens”, and agrees not to cheat his partners. Lieberman speculates that T-S Misc 27.4.29 (PGPID 8366) may be a renewal of this partnership relationship. See T-S 8J4.12 (PGPID 2094) for further information about this agreement. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 172-173) Alternate description: Legal document. Partnership record. Dated: February 1092. Location: Fustat. T-S 8J4.11 is part of a record of a trading partnership between Yaḥyā ha-Kohen b. Samuel and ‘Ulla ha-Levi b. Joseph al-Dimashqī, investors with Bishāra the freedman. The full document is comprised of T-S 8J4.12 (this record), and T-S 8J4.11 and T-S NS J6 (PGPID 7623). Bishara is to journey to Aleppo and Antioch and to sell goods purchased there in Fusṭāṭ. Bishāra is under instructions to sell only for cash and not to accept credit. Yaḥyā and ‘Ulla are to take two-thirds of the profit, having invested 155 and 1/3 dinars together. Bishāra contributed 20 dinars, and was entitled to one-third of the profit as well as expenses related to the merchandise. Bishāra is not to receive any further daily allowance. Bishāra takes on “the faith of the Heavens”, and agrees not to cheat his partners. Lieberman speculates that T-S Misc 27.4.29 (PGPID 8366) may be a renewal of this partnership relationship. Witnessed by Ṣedaqa ha-Kohen b. David, Yakhin he-Ḥazzan b. Abraham and Yiṣḥaq b. Elʿazar. Confirmed by Abraham b. Nathan, Avraham b. Shemaʿya he-Ḥaver and Shelomo b. Yosef ha-Kohen. This document was written in duplicate and given to the two investors, Yaḥyā and ‘Ulla. Bishāra, the active partner, seems not to have received a copy. See also T-S 8J4.11 and T-S NS J6 (PGPID 7623). (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 172-173).