Geniza Lab

Recto and verso relate to the same case: the betrothal of a nine year old orphan girl. A court document recording the refusal of the grandmother of an orphaned bride to pay her granddaughter's dowry in full when the groom Abraham b. Yefet, fails to live up to the promises he made in the betrothal agreement. The elders arranged a compromise between the groom and bride's grandmother. Bilbays 1221. See also PGPID 2223.

(I) Document concerning claims on trousseau items between Tahir b. Abu Sa'd and his wife Fard bat Abu Isaac. (II) Payment of a debt of five dinars less twelve dirhems in monthly installments. Khalaf al-Mutasawwiq b. Abu al-Surur owes Abu al-Muna b. Barakat; October 3, 1160. (III) Legal document concerning the partnership of a house. (Information from Goitein’s index cards) EMS

I. Sale of 1/12 of a house containing two connected apartments and four silk workers shops. 1160. II. Note concerning claims on trousseau items between Tahir b. Abu Sa'd and his wife Fakhr bt. Abu Yiṣḥaq.

Agreement to pay back a debt. Qalyub, March 1265.

Copy of three court proceedings involving the sale of a house. Najiya, the wife of the Yefet b. Avraham, 'The Pride of the Community,' made a 'conditional sale' of a house to Yosef Lebdi for 500 dinars. Lebdi moved his family to the ground floor and rented out the upper floors. For a year and ten months after the sale of the house, Lebdi still owed Najiya 80 dinars for the house. Only after he returned from another successful India voyage, he could pay this debt. The three court sessions were concerned with the rents due Najiya, an issue compounded by Lebdi's claim that the rent for the ground floor was included in the 80 dinars and the fact that the subtenants claimed that they paid part of their rent by repairs and upkeep to the house. The last court proceeding is apparently dated to April, 20, 1103. T-S 8J9.2 = IB I,24a.

Deed about paying a debt in installments, probably by a husband (Meshullam, known as Abu al-Makarim) to his wife (Sitt al-Baha bt. Yehuda). The document likely includes the condition that if the husband were to claim that he has paid without it being written on the back of the deed or corroborated by two witnesses, his claim would be void. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital disputes according to documents of the Cairo Geniza, 150-1) EMS

Financial settlement between Shela b. Yoel Ibn al-Sofer and his divorced wife and the mother of his child, Ḥusn bt. Avraham ha-Kohen. Dating: Probably second half of the 13th century. The former wife will keep and nurse the boy in exchange of a daily payment of 1/2 nuqra from the moment the child was born. The arrangement is initially for one year with the prospect of further agreements. In case she wishes to retain the boy after that period, she has no further claim on him. The name "Yoel" is vocalized, as it was a rare name. On verso there are several entries recording monthly payments in Arabic script; one of them appears to mention the year 68[.] AH, which would be 1281–91 CE. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document draft in which Mevorakh b. Shelomo, known as Ibn al-Natira, declares to owe Meshullam b. Mevasser b. Pinhas al-Damiri 120 and one-half dinars. Dated 1409 of the Seleucid Era (Iyyar 1100). (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Legal transaction made in front of witnesses in which Nethanel b. Shelomo acknowledges to owe Amram b. Nafia three dinars for a sold commodity.

Betrothal agreement between Perahya b. Arah and Sitt al-Ahl whose trustworthiness is mentioned in the document. Both the bride and groom are fatherless. The bride's representative, a brother of her mother, received twenty dinars as betrothal silver. At the wedding she would receive another fifty dinars as the first installment of her marriage gift. The second half was seventy or ninety dinars. In addition she was promised a khila, a festive attire consisting of a robe, a tiara and a wimple for the wedding. Her dowry included a house (or parts in it) and half a store. Ca. 1100.

Partnership (sharika) agreement. In Arabic script. Dated: 24 Shawwāl 450 AH, which is 14 December 1058 CE. The three partners are Wuḥaysh b. Saʿīd b. Ibrāhīm the Jew; Barakāt b. Ismāʿīl; and Futūḥ b. Nassāj b. Rajā. The partnership is for the trade of horse-cloth in the shop known as 'horse bit' in the compound (rabʿ) of Sulaymān b. Kisā. The capital is 173 dinars. Wuḥaysh is assigned 23, and the remaining money is divided equally between Barakāt and Futūḥ. Wuḥaysh attests that he has received all the money due to him. See Khan's edition for the term "compound" (rabʿ) and the other potential meanings if it is to be read rubʿ instead. (Information from Khan.)

Court record concerning the inheritance of Abū ʿImrān Mūsā b. Yaʿaqov Qābisī, of the Ibn Jāmiʿ family, left to him after the death of his father Yaʿaqov b. Mūsā in Palermo and of his brother Sahlūn in Alexandria. Mūsā b. Yaʿaqov presented to the court in Fusṭāṭ an earlier document issued by a court in Qayrawān on Wednesday, 20 Elul 4792 (1032). The Qayrawān document showed that Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Ṭarābulusī was authorized to govern the inheritance. It also contained a statement of Yaʿaqov b. Mūsā’s widow that she had no claims to the inheritance. Two years later Mūsā b. Yaʿaqov appeared before a court in Fusṭāṭ asking them to issue a document exempting Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Ṭarābulusī from responsibility for the inheritance, which Mūsā has now received in full. The document was issued on Thursday, 21 of the second Adar 4794 (1034). The surviving Fusṭāṭ court record was prepared at the end of Adar 4794. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 406.)

Rough draft of a ketubba (marriage contract), with instructions to the scribe for drawing up the final version. Possibly written by the judge Ḥayyim known from other documents as a judge in the court of David I Maimonides and a relation by marriage. Dating: late 13th century, perhaps 1291–92. Written under the authority of the Nagid David b. Avraham b. Moshe Maimonides. The groom, Avraham, redeemed a woman who had been taken captive in ʿAkko, and now wishes to marry her. His wife consents for him to take a second wife and to even take two more wives after her (for a total of 4). Friedman deduces that the year is probably 1291 or 1292, because David Maimonides was in exile in ʿAkko from his enemies in Egypt from approximately 1285–89, and the Muslim conquest of ʿAkko from the Crusaders in 1291 is a likely occasion for a Jewish woman to have been taken captive and need to be redeemed. The Nagid David, back in Cairo, could have presided over this legal case due to his connections to the remaining Jewish community in ʿAkko. This is a very unusual document, and Goitein went so far as to call it, "the most bizarre Geniza document, both in content and outer appearance, I have ever seen." (Information from Friedman Polygyny, pp. 95–106.)

Legal query addressed to Maimonides, whose autograph responsum is written underneath the query. The question regards an elderly widow who accused a teacher of asking her to sleep with him. The writer insists that she is merely trying to destroy the reputation of a man who would never do such a thing, and he asks how the man should proclaim his innocence. Maimonides responds that her claim should not be believed without witnesses, that anyone who has been slandered can excommunicate his slanderer by name, but may not obtain a blanket excommunication against all who accuse him. However, still better in this case is to put an end to the gossip and avoid any kind of public discussion or excommunication. The handwriting of the questioner closely resembles that of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (see also ENA 2808.16 in which Moshe b. Levi asks the recipient to obtain an answer to a fatwa that he had previously sent to Fustat). ASE. Ed. Joshua Blau, R. Moses b. Maimon: Responsa, (Hebrew; 3 vols; Jerusalem, 1957–1986): Vol. 2, pp. 522-3, #274.

Court notebook. #1 (fol. 1r): Goitein summarizes the case as follows: Fāʾiza bt. Shelomo b. Netanel (aka Kathīr) was about to be divorced by Barhūn b. Sahlān, another banker. (Goitein does not believe this man is identical with his contemporary and compatriot, the communal leader Avraham aka Barhūn b. Sahlān who died in 1032 CE.) Part of her dowry, especially utensils of silver and copper, as well as some textiles, had been given by her husband as collateral and had to be redeemed. Other items formed the object of a lawsuit. The first document (T-S 8J4.3.2v), undated, deals with these matters. After they had been settled and Barhūn delivered the other objects still kept by him, he would receive the desired release. On 23 January 1028 CE, Barhūn declared (in T-S 13J5.1c) that he had received a release but could produce it only in the next session of the court. Three months later, however, on 28 March 1028 CE, Fāʾiza declared (in T-S 8K20.1, fol. 1r) that she was prepared to accept the divorce only if and when her husband delivered the sums and objects still owed by him. (Goitein, Med Soc III, 248, 486.) #2 (fol. 1v): Barhūn b. Sahlān continues to owe Menashshe b. Yosef 30 dinars which he will pay over a period of 10 months, beginning on 1 Nisan.

Court notebook (continuation of T-S 8K 20.1.1). Record #3 (fol. 2r): Maḥfūẓ b. Yiṣḥaq al-ʿAzāzī (i.e., from ʿAzāz, north of Aleppo) sues Yosef b. Avraham for a sum of money. They are each questioned, Yosef denies that he owes that much, and Maḥfūẓ says that he will come back with witnesses. They make an appointment for 30 Nisan (~1 month later). No signatures. #4 (fol. 2v): Yeshuʿa b. Ṣadaqa sues Yosef b. Seʿadya for a dinar. "Long story short: they compromised at 1/2 dinar." 1/4 is to be paid now and 1/4 at the time of 'travel' (i.e., when they are next together). #5 (also on fol. 2v): Mubāraka bt. Ḥātim ha-Kohen sues Abū Yaʿaqov Yosef b. Yefet for 22.5 dirhams, and she presents a witness. Yosef pays up and even releases her from having to take an oath. Then he sues her for some bedding (firāsh), but she takes an oath that she owes him nothing, and he gives up.

Verso (original use): Legal document in Arabic script. Concerning the renting of an upper-storey apartment (ṭabaqa). One of the conditions specified is about the renter building a new storey. Needs further examination.

Fol. 4v bears 33 lines of a legal formulary for a bill of release (barā’a), drawn up in Fustat, but with date and names replaced by פל, כן וכן etc. For similar texts see e.g. S. Assaf, Shetaroth, 22-4; CUL Or. 1080 5.13 and Or. 1080J.51 given in G. Weiss, Halfon ben Manasse as nos. 251-2 (parts of the same document) and A. Merx, Documents, ch. VI. (Information from Hopkins Catalog via FGP.) The main text on this shelfmark is the Scroll of Antiochus.

Responsum of Hai Gaon, on the management of orphans’ property. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: court record in the hand of Nathan b. Shemuʾel, ca. 1145 CE, dealing with the case of an oil merchant who had borrowed 20 dinars from a Muslim four years before and had not repaid it. A clothier, who had stood bail for the oil merchant, was given permission by the court to sell two gold bracelets deposited with him by the oil merchant. Verso: Arabic document. (Information from CUDL)