Geniza Lab

Fragment page of record book, 16 June 1186. Persuing, finding a debtor "beyond Qus," namely in Aydhab

Court case brought before Shemuel ha-Nagid (1142-1159). Dated: Monday, 21 Sivan 1467 Seleucid, which is 1156 CE. Concerning a disagreement over financial matters between Menashshe and Hillel b. [...].

One of four pages from a legal notebook containing a detailed query about a case of inheritance, mostly providing details about silk. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS Written by Mevorakh b. Natan. AA

Bifolium from a court register containing a copy (nuskha; naqalnāhā mila be-mila) of a marriage contract between Tahir b. Abu al-Yemen [?] and Binat bint Ḥalfon whose fathers are both deceased. The marriage gift is fifty dinars and the dowry (partially mentioned) consists of valuable items like a neckband made of jets and pearls worth seven dinars, a pear pin, a shepherd's staff, a choker (hanak) with pearls and a lazam (jewelry worn on the chest) made of gold and pearls worth nine dinars. Written in the hand of Judge Mevorakh b. Natan. August 27, 1157.

Legal document from Damira, Egypt. The city is referred to as עיר דמירה הקטנה in Hebrew (‘the city of little Damira’). Dated 1158 C.E. (Jacob Mann, The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine under the Fatimid Caliphs, 1:230, 2:290; and Eliyyahu Ashtor, “The Number of Jews in Medieval Egypt,” JJS, vol. 18 (1967), 42) EMS

A bill of release between El'azar b. Tamim and El'azar b. Binyamin. AA

Betrothal deed. Location: al-Maḥalla. Dated: Tuesday, 24 Sivan 1471 Seleucid (31 May 1160 CE), under the authority of the Gaʾon Netanʾel b. Moshe ha-Levi. Bride: Sitt al-Tujjār bt. Yiṣḥaq. Groom: Netanʾel b. Efrayim ha-Levi ("Ḥemdat ha-Leviim"). Marriage payments: 30 + 60 = 90, i.e., the marriage gift was 90 dinars, 30 accepted at the time of betrothal by the bride's father. Also one golden ring and two silver rings given at the betrothal. The bride has the right to determine the couple's place of dwelling. Apparently in the handwriting of Meʾir b. Hillel b. Ṣadoq Av (per Goitein's index card). On verso there is a document in Arabic script (see separate record). (Information from Frenkel, Goitein's index card, and Goitein, Med. Soc. 3:389 note 14).

Engagement (shiddukhin) contract. Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 9 Kislev 1473 Seleucid, which is 29 November 1161 CE, under the authority of the Gaʾon Netanʾel b. Moshe ha-Levi. Groom: the teacher Shemuel b. Yosef. Bride: Sitt al-Baqāʾ bt. Yefet. Marriage payments: 10 + 20 = 30 dinars (the 10 dinars will be paid at the time of the wedding, 'dukhūl'). The bride’s representative (wakīl) is Abū Yaʿqūb b. Avraham Ibn Abū l-Zakkār, the paternal uncle of her mother. She will live with the groom’s mother and brother in one domicile (maskan) as long as this does her no harm. At the engagement, one ring of silver and of gold was handed over to the representative. Signed by Avraham b. Elʿazar and Avraham b. Yaḥyā ha-Levi. The validation (qiyyum) is written in the margin at 90 degrees and it is signed by Menaḥem b. Berakhot and Mevorakh b. Natan he-Ḥaver. (Information in part from Goitein’s index cards.) EMS

Conditional bill of divorce. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Dated: Av 1480 Seleucid, which is 1169 CE. The trader Bū Saʿd Moshe b. Yefet gives this conditional divorce to his wife before setting out on a journey to Yemen. Signed by: Mevorakh b. Natan and Shemuel b. Seʿadya. See also T-S 12.585 recto and verso. (Information in part from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:192, 467; Amir Ashur and Ben Outhwaite, “Between Egypt and Yemen in the Cairo Genizah,” Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, Vol. 5 (2014), 213.) EMS.

Avraham al-Najib I, a community official, wrote this document recording the support of two witnesses of the religiosity, piety and meticulous observance of Abu Zikri b. Mevorakh, in reaction to a claim made to the contrary by Avraham al-Najib. Fall 1172.

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday, 1 Sivan 1572 Seleucid, which is 1 May 1261 CE. Concerning a legal/administrative action taken by “Avraham ha-Darshan (the preacher) and the elders of the holy congregation” regarding the estate of the late Fakhriyya bt. Sulaymān b. Ḥananya of Mosul, daughter of Miryam. Her maternal uncle, Yosef b. Ḥabīb, was her sole heir. Signed by the elder Muḥriz b. Ṭahor, an almoner and public figure. (Information from CUDL and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:219, 494, 568; 3:188, 466.) EMS

Power of attorney given by a woman to a representative of hers by a third person, confirmed by her husband. She was introduced to the court by ‘Umm Abu al-Faraj, a woman from Jerusalem. July, 1127. Witnessed by Abu al-Faraj Yeshu‘a ha-Levi b. Sedaqa ha-Zaqen al-Musta‘mil al-Ramli. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society 3:497; Moshe Gil, Documents of the Jewish Pious Foundations from the Cairo Geniza, Brill, 1976, 258; and from Goitein’s index cards) EMS Written by Halfon b. Menashshe Halevi. AA

Legal document. Employment agreement. Dated: June 1127. This document records a qinyan between Abraham ha-Kohen b. Aaron and Isḥaq b. Sa‘īd in which Isḥaq agrees to work for Abraham to repay a debt of an unspecified amount. Isḥaq is to be compensated the fixed wage of 2 dirhams a day, with half a dirham going towards repayment of the loan. If Isḥaq leaves before the debt is fully repaid, his compensation is to be retroactively reduced to 1.5 dirhams a day, and he must still repay the debt; and if Abraham terminates him before the debt is fully repaid, his compensation is to be retroactively raised to 2.5 dirhams a day. As the two work together for a longer period, the incentive for each not to terminate the relationship increases. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 181)

Yusuf b. Ali buys a Moroccan female slave from Shelomo b. Sameh for fourteen Egyptian dinars.

Court proceedings in the case of al-Wuhsha (or al-Wahsha) against Yosef Lebdi. Wuhsha's representative, Moshe b. Yeshua, sued Lebdi for what he claimed was the share of Wuhsha's brother, Abu Nasr, in Lebdi's merchandise, sold or unsold. The document is written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and was signed by Eli ha-Levi b. Nethanel and Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel, one of the two Fustat judges. The document is dated to June 30, 1104.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: shortly before Elul 1437 Seleucid, which is 1126 CE. Abū l-Munā Yiṣḥaq b. Netanel ha-Levi sued Abū l-Faraj Menaḥem b. Shemarya ha-Levi with a document that had been drawn up in Muslim courts requiring Abū l-Faraj to repay debts and silk and everything else owed to Abū l-Munā (perhaps after the dissolution of a partnership?). A compromise was reached in Jewish court, namely, that Abū l-Faraj will settle and pay 1 defective (? ʿālil) dinar and 2 proper dinars. He pays the defective dinar at this time and agrees to a monthly payment plan (for a period of 3 months) for the outstanding 2 dinars. Joins: Oded Zinger.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location; Fustat. Dated: Monday night, 29 Ṭevet 1438 Seleucid, which is 1127 CE. The wife, "out of her free will," gives the husband Yeshuʿa the right to lock her in whenever he likes and accepts upon herself not to leave the house without his permission. There is mention (details missing) of 20 dinars owed by him to her. Signed by: Ḥalfon b. Ghālib the cantor; Ḥalfon b. Menashshe.

Acknowledgement of receipt of money by Abu al-Faraj b. Shanuda the Christian seaman, leader of the sailors of "the weavers," from Abu Sa’d Daniyal b. Mina in the town of Akhmim. Dated: Jumada II 534 (January–February 1140). (Information from Khan) EMS Reused by Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo (see PGPID 34347).

Court record concerning evidence of possession of a compound in Fustat, mentioning lanes and buildings in the city. July 1130.

Record of testimony. Fragment (upper left corner). Location: Fustat. Dated: End of Sivan 152[.] Seleucid, which is 1209–18 CE, under the reshut of Avraham Maimonides. Involves [...] b. Abū l-Yumn (ZL) and [...] al-Ṣabbāgh b. Abū l-Surūr. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterannean Society, 3:327, 500.) EMS. Same scribe: T-S 8J6.1, T-S 8J6.2, T-S 8J11.6, and probably T-S 16.341.