Geniza Lab

Legal query in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi regarding a man who married a widow, then found in her a "hidden defect" from which he contracted an illness. He is a poor man without even enough money for food and has no source of livelihood except public charity. He is in bad straits because whenever he demands a divorce, she insists on receiving her ketubba payment in full. Does the law permit him to pay it in installments? He insists that he is unable to pay one lump sum because of his illness and poverty. On verso there is a fragment of a page of piyyutim in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. ASE.

Legal document (witness statement), dated 1424 of the Seleucid Era (= 1113 CE). Mentions Sason b. Yefet and his wife Hilāla bint [Hiba?]. (Information from CUDL)

On recto an order to impose excommunication on a person who took books from 'our house' and didn't return them. At the end a signature 'so wrote Shelomo'. On verso, after stating that the excommunication will be imposed in Cairo, Fustat and Damuh, signatures of the sages approve it, but it seems that all were copied by the same person who wrote the document- Shelomo b. Elya. To be published by MAF in his forthcoming editions of Abraham Maimuni and his contemporaries. AA

Legal document (witness statement). (Information from CUDL)

Minute fragment from a legal document.

Order of payment to the elder Ibrahim, ordering him give to the bearer of the note the donkey that his father had promised. Signed and written by Shelomo b. Elijah. Accounts on verso.

Fragment of a marriage contract, the section listing the outfit of the bride. ( E. Bareket, Shafrir misrayim, 267, and from Goitein's index cards)

Recto: Legal document/testimony of Abū l-Faḍāʾil and his brother Abū l-Barakāt the sons of the late 'leader' (rayyis) Abū l-Ghayth Yeshuʿa. The case involves a house (dār) and Ibn Abū Ṣāliḥ. Verso: The witnessing of the receipt of a bill of divorce by Sara bt. [[Avraham]] Yosef. (Information in part from CUDL)

Accounts with Coptic numerals. On margin formulae from a legal document. (Information from CUDL)

Small fragment (upper right corner) from a court record. In Hebrew. Dating: Probably 16th century. Involves [...] Pordonil/Fordonil (the family is sometimes called Perwho owes 13 Istanbuli gold coins

Minute fragment from the bottom of a legal document. Only few signature: Shemarya Halevi, Sa'aday and Moshe. AA

Minute fragment, opening line of a court record. The name Ze[daq]a the elder is partially preserved. AA

Legal document in the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Two brothers confirm in a Cairene court under the authority of Shemuel ha-Nagid (1140-1159) having received from a maternal uncle, the physician Elazar ha-Levi,12.5 dinars, representing the price of a maidservant called Sumr (for Sitt al-Sumr), left to them by another maternal uncle. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 289, 491)

Furaji ha-Kohen appears before the court in Alexandria and declares that he sold to Bu al-Faraj b. Barakat 160 pounds of Sicilian Kosher cheese. Since he wishes now to sell the cheese in the Egyptian country-side, the court issues him a certificate about the information supplied to them by him. Dated Marheshvan 4975/ October 1214. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, 251)

Narrow strip from a legal document, mentioning the sum of 25 dinars and a half. AA

Small fragment from the end of a ketubah. One of the witnesses is Yehezkel. AA

Legal document, probably a bill of release from a woman. Written by Mevorakh b, Nathan (Date: 1150-1181) and signed by [...] b. Ḥalfon ha-Melammed. Verso: Arabic jottings. AA

Draft of the opening date of a legal document (probably a ketubah). AA

Few faded words, probably regarding a debt

Very damaged and faded. Hardly legible, but seems to contain a dowry list.