Geniza Lab

Legal document. In Arabic script, in a relatively difficult hand. Bottom part only. Includes signatures and dates. On verso there is a single line of text, mentioning Zakariyyā. Needs examination.

Verso: Court records (shimmush). Three entries. In the hand of (and signed by) Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. Dated: Elul 1441 and Tishrei 1442 Seleucid, which is 1130 CE. Goitein summarizes the entry in the lefthand column as "a woman makes payments to a Samaritan under duress." (Information from Med Soc II, pp. 341–42, 602, n. 42, in the section dealing with the "secret deposition" (modaʿ).)

Recto: Fragment of a large legal document in Arabic script. The top and the lower left corner are missing. Names several people and sums of money (e.g., 32 dinars in l. 2). It is not immediately clear if this is related to the document on verso or not. Verso: Legal document consisting of an acknowledgment (iqrār). In Arabic script. Concerns Muḥammad b. Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad known as al-Ṭaḥḥān ("the Miller") and al-Muʿallim Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ʿUthmān. Needs further examination.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Dated: 6[.]7 AH, which corresponds to 1210–1298; the decade digit is probably legible, so this can be narrowed further. Several of the witness signatures are prefaced with the word "ḥaḍara," and they are (strangely) located in the right margin and upper margin. The scribe gives his name at the upper left [...] wakīl [...]. The document itself needs examination for content.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Dated: 14 Rabīʿ I 934 AH, which is December 1527 CE. Includes witness signatures (prefaced "ḥaḍara..."). Recto contains an Ottoman circular seal imprint in margin. Needs examination for content.

Legal document, probably, or less likely a formal letter about a legal case. In Arabic script. Dating: Unknown. Mentions names such as ʿAbdallāh b. Jaʿfar al-Dhabbāḥ and Aḥmad b. Muḥammad and records testimonies that were given before the court. There is text on both sides. Needs further examination.

Document including signatures. Verso contains only six lines, consisting of signatures - needs examination.

Muslim marriage contract. In Arabic script. Dating: Unknown. Written in a calligraphic hand, in pairs of two lines separated by moderately wide spaces. For other such marriage contracts (though none have this layout), see Khan, ALAD, docs. 32–34, especially doc. 32 (T-S 18J1.10), which shares some of the same formulae. The top of the document are missing. This fragment begins in the section describing the duties of husband toward wife and vice versa. The bride's legal guardian (waliyy) for the purposes of the marriage is her brother Abu ʿAlī Ḥasan b. ʿAbd al-Aḥad b. Faraj. Mentions [...] al-Anmāṭī and Isḥāq b. Muḥammad al-Maghribī who attest that the bride is free, Muslim, a virgin, mature, and sound of mind and body. The groom is called a faqīh (jurisprudent). There are two witness signatures preserved (which need examination). Found (and joined) by Alan Elbaum and edited by Naïm Vanthieghem.

Document overwritten with notes and other jottings - needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Fragmentary (right side only). Dating: Unclear if this is the date of the document itself, but the document mentions the year 955 AH, which is 1548/49 CE (l. 11). The judge is al-ḥākim al-shamsī Shams al-Dīn [...]. The document mentions several people, notably Yehuda b. Avraham b. Yosef Castro, presumably identical with the merchant Yehuda Castro known from CUL Or.1080 J133, ENA 2808.2, ENA NS 54.7 (though this seems too late), T-S NS 320.127, and probably other Geniza documents. Also mentions Isḥāq b. Isrāʾīl b. Yaḥyā al-Yahūdī. Also mentions al-Raʾīs Muḥammad; certification (taṣdīq) of claims; various large sums of money (including 800 medins/niṣfs and al-dhhab al-sulṭānī); a ship; and Istanbul (اسطنبول). There is one witness signature preserved here, of [...] al-Ḥanafī. Needs further examination.

Recto: Deed of acknowledgment (iqrār). In Arabic script. The muqirr is ʿAlī b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Needs further examination. Verso: Informal note (petition?) in Arabic script addressed to "al-Shaykh al-Rayyis al-Muwaffaq." Needs examination for content. There is a version of a raʾy clause (والراي ما يراه المولى). The sender says he is waiting for the addressee in the house. Needs further examination.

Fragment of a bill of divorce (geṭ). The formulary and handwriting resemble T-S 13J6.28 (14th century). Location: New Cairo. The husband appears to be named שבריה b. Sh[...], but this is an odd name. Verso has the mirror-image imprint of a marriage-related legal document.

Legal document(s) in Arabic script. The two sides appear to be distinct documents. Recto mentions two people and also "nails and iron." Verso mentions collection of sums of money; maybe payments toward a debt obligation from the document on recto ("bi-bāṭin hādha l-kitāb"). Needs examination.

Legal documents in Arabic script. Verso is dated: 575 AH, which is 1179/80 CE. There is an elaborate signature at the foot of recto. Needs examination.

Legal or official document. In Arabic script. Dated: Apparently 15 January (يناير) [18]84 CE. Refers to the railroad (ṭarīq al-sikkat al-ḥadīd). Signed by Shamʿūn b. Yaʿqūb (Shimʿon b. Yaʿaqov). Needs further examination.

Recto: Legal document, probably. In Arabic script. Mentions "Abū l-Surūr al-madhkūr." Needs examination. Verso: Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 154[.] Seleucid, which is approximately the 1230s CE, under the reshut of Avraham Maimonides. It is too faded to read much of the substance, but it mentions people such as Ṭahor, Elʿazar ha-Zaqen, Me'ir and a Rayyis.

Trousseau list. Gives the prices of items in Greek/Coptic numerals. The sums are given at the bottom, together with a figure for the delayed marriage payment. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Will of Wuhsha, the broker, detailing various items and sums of money willed to relatives and charitable and religious purposes; appointment and provisions for a son born out of wedlock as heir and what to do if he dies before reaching maturity; funeral expenses; and references to previously-made declarations. The total amount of sums referred to in the will is 689 dinars, a large fortune, and the denoted funeral expenses were lavish for the time. Regarding the father of her only child, Wuhsha notes, “He shall not get a penny.” (S. D. Goitein, “A Jewish Business Woman of the Eleventh Century,” Jewish Quarterly Review, 1967, 229-41) EMS

Formularies of legal documents, mentioning Rav Hayya. (Information from Baker/Polliack catalog.)

Legal document in Arabic script. "Aqarra Yūsuf b. [...] b. Yūsuf Yahūdī bi-Dār al-Ṣarf ʿurrifa(?) bi-l-Qudsī iqrāran...." Later in the document there appears Yūsuf Khādim al-Kanīs as well as a Yaʿqūb ... al-ʿAṭṭār known as the brother-in-law of the Sicilian. There are two witness signatures. Dated: 3 Rajab 876 AH, which is December 1471 CE. Information in part from Baker/Polliack catalog via FGP.