Geniza Lab

Small fragment of a legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. No details preserved. Mentions the parties "striving in this" (mujtahidīn fī dhālik), so maybe a partnership agreement.

Damaged legal deed, probably a settlement, in which a man (Manṣ[ūr]?) accepts a number of stipulations upon himself concerning a house and household goods. He agrees not to annoy (ḍājara) his wife, and he will provide for the two daughters of Yaʿqūb b. M[...] Ibn Jumayʿ, who are named Sitt al-Ahl and Sitt al-Qawām. The situation is not totally clear; this might be a divorce agreement or another kind of agreement based on the conditions that were written in the ketubba. At the bottom of verso, at 180 degrees, there is an unrelated legal note concerning the marriage payments of Elʿazar b. Ṭ[...]. The early installment is 8 dinars and the dowry is 43 dinars. Underneath, there is a note about the conditions agreed upon, involving property in the al-Qālūs neighborhood. There are additional jottings in both Arabic script and Hebrew script. AA. ASE.

Legal document. Much damaged. A bill of release granted by a husband (named Sh[...]) to his wife Sitt al-Ḥusn. One document ends two-thirds of the way down the page with some signatures: Pinḥas b. [...]; [...] b. [...] ha-Rofe; Nissim b. [...]. Another document or record then begins, probably related to the same case. Perhaps the top is from him to her and the bottom from her to him.

Minute fragment from a legal deed written by Efraim b. Shemarya. One of the parties named Halfon.

Digest of a deed of sale for a house. Mostly written by Halfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi in his worst cursive hand. The first few lines were written by another scribe, and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe took over the writing mid-sentence. The house is in Fustat, in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ, Zuqāq al-Yahūd. There follows a detailed description of its boundaries; one is the house of Abū l-Khayr al-Yahūdī known as Ibn אלערקי. A sum of 13 (dinars) is mentioned. The date is Wednesday, 21 Ḥeshvan (plausible options: 1108, 1111, 1115, 1128, or 1135).

Fragment of a divorce contract.

A page from a court register. On verso a register of marriage agreement between Namer al-Khiyat and Hasna d. Halfon Hakohen. Also a register of sell of floor in a house between Mevurakh and Aziza d. […] known as al-Miksar? On recto remains of another register. All written by Halfon b. Menashshe Halevi. AA

End of a legal document in which several people promise to leave a house that was sold. Written at the end of Adar in Fustat 14xx/March-April 11xx.

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Nothing preserved apart from some release formulae.

Small fragment from a draft of a legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Concerning a dispute. "...the garments... said to him, 'yā fāʿil yā ṣāniʿ' [compare ENA 4010.7 + ENA NS 19.14]... to the police station (al-shurṭa) this elder... ugly (f.) of eye, and witnesses came... the Muslims from the... the Jews to the qāḍī..."

Ketubba, Rabbanite. (Refers to שטר כתובתא דא in the fifth line of the lower fragment.) Groom: ʿOvadya b. [...] Elishaʿ (spelled אליסע). Probably dated Elul [47]67 AM, which would be 1007 CE, but it could theoretically be 1107 CE or even 1207 CE. On verso there is part of a calendar including for the years 969–75, which are either reckoned from the destruction of the temple, i.e., 1037–43 CE, or from the creation of the world (which is much more common), yielding 1208–15 CE. The layout of the ketubba is quite odd, and the phrase כך וכך appears in the bottom line, suggesting that this could be a copy or a draft. The calendar on verso could have been written a long time after the ketubba on recto. (Information in part from CUDL via FGP, and dating advice kindly provided by Amir Ashur.)

Deed of lease. In Arabic script. Fragment (upper right corner). The lessee is named Yūsuf b. Ibrāhīm al-Sāmirī (the Samaritan). In the upper margin, there is the draft of the beginning of a Jewish legal deed. On verso there is Hebrew literary text.

Acknowledgment that a legal purchase (qinyan) was made by Abu al-Fadl the cheese maker known as Ibn 'Awad that he obliged to pay half a dirham a day for certain period to Abu Hasan. Continues on verso which is too faded to read properly.

Recto: Legal document in Arabic script. Dating: Late, probably Ottoman-era, based on the hand. Mentions Yūsuf b. Naṣṣār(?).

Verso: Legal document, possibly. In Hebrew. Dating: Late, probably Ottoman-era, based on the hand. Mentions various people including Yehuda b. Yaqar. Needs examination.

Likely the bottom of a legal document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Receipt in Arabic script.

Legal document(s). In Arabic script. On vellum. The documents on both recto and verso concern Ismāʿīl b. Yūsuf al-Sharīf(?). The document on recto (listed as verso on FGP) may have to do with a property; also mentions something built out of brick (mabniyy bi-l-ṭūb) and something buried in it (fīhi madfūn). The document on verso may have to do with Ismāʿīl's will (mā awṣā bihī). Dated: 416 AH, which is 1025/26 CE. Needs further examination.

Recto: Bottom of a contract of debt. In Arabic script. One of the parties is Abū l-Ḥasan. Stipulates installments at the end of every month. Dated: Ramaḍān 425 AH = July/August 1034 CE. The signature of a qāḍī is preserved. Verso: Note in Judaeo-Arabic, unclear if it is related to recto. "Maḥfūẓ and Sālim shall pay the bearer [....] inshāllāh."

Small fragment from the top of a legal document in Arabic script. Mentions Mūsā b. Yūsuf b. ʿAbdallāh. Dating: Maybe late Mamluk or Ottoman, based on the hand.