Geniza Lab

A formula of bill of gift, written on parchment. Seems early- no later than 11th century

Book of legal formularies and some literary text. Bifolium. The spaces remaining at the bottom of two of the pages are filled in with magical spells, one for calling down eternal fire on your enemies ("sure; good; tested").

Recto: Instructions for drawing up a bill of divorce. In Judaeo-Arabic. Listing various scenarios. Of note, Qūṣ and Aswān are listed as two potential cities, suggesting likely origins for this fragment. Verso: Formulary for a bill of divorce. The margins have text in Arabic script, perhaps accounts.

Legal document from Fustat written in the hand of Ḥalfon Ha-Levi b. Menashshe.

A formula of bill of partnership.

Bi-folio, from a book of legal deeds. Here we have a bill of divorce and a bill of refusal for marriage (שטר מיאון)

From a book of collection of legal deeds, contains ketubah, bill of divorce, Bill of divorce from levirate marriage, bill of loan. (Data from FGP by Dan Greenberger)

Formula of a bill of loan.

A late ketubah. From the date only the end of the year-36- is preserved, The groom name is Shemuel.

very damaged fragments of a legal deed

Records of obtaining and releasing a female slave. Bahiyya bt. Yusuf b. Awkal gives her slave, Nuja’im, to her husband’s cousin, and he releases her. Nuja’im was probably from Byzantium. The document also mentions the names of her former owners. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #224) VMR

Hebrew instructions for producing silver and gold, followed by Hebrew writing exercises in a different hand. At the bottom of recto there is a draft of an Arabic deed of acknowledgment (iqrār), in which ʿAwfar(?) b. Mufadḍal acknowledges a debt of 130 nuqra dirhams to his wife Kharīfa(?) bt. ʿAbdallāh the convert (al-muhtadī). In the right margin there is a draft of a petition in Arabic script in which the sender describes his distress. (Information in part from CUDL)

The original text may be the remannts of the lines in Arabic script on the right-hand page of image 1, which appears to be a legal document involving Abū l-Ḥasan, Alexandria, and boats. The other pages were reused for drafts of Hebrew elegiac poetry, and copious jottings in Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic, naming various people. Needs further examination. ASE.

Order of payment from Abū Zikrī Kohen. Khalīl is to give the bearer one raṭl of lamp/linseed oil (zayt ḥār).

Accounts by a communal official. In Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Fustat. Dated: Middle decade of Iyyār 1461 Seleucid, which is May 1150 CE. Described by Moshe Yagur as follows: "The account records the inheritance of a deceased woman, which was spent to cover the expenses of her funeral and of the suits of her converted children. The deceased's sister, who was supposed to inherit what had remained, was left with nothing, since her converted nephews, and the various figures involved in the compromise settlement with them, took all that was left. The case relates to the different and contradicting opinions in both Jewish and Islamic legal traditions regarding inheritance of non-Muslims by their Muslim relatives." Partially translated by Moshe Yagur as follows (with transliterations slightly modified for PGP): "[. . .] for the testimony of the qāḍī—ten silver coins. Payment for Abū Muḥammad— 1.5. This was on Sunday, in the middle ten days (al-ʿashar al-awsaṭ) of the month of Iyyar 1461 (mid-Muḥarram 545/mid-May 1150), in the presence of Barakāt al-Kohen, Khūlayf b. al-Ḥazzan, and Furayj b. Mūnīn. Abū Muḥammad took it [the sum] in their presence when the apostate (poshʿim) children of her [deceased] sister demanded their share. The next day they took forty silver coins by way of compromise (ṣulḥ). In addition—six dirhams to the representative. In addition— two dirhams to the messenger [. . .] in the presence of Khūlayf b. al-Ḥazza[n . . .] and for the document to the second qāḍī—five coins. In sum: sixty-four and a half, out of a total of one hundred and sixty-four. Taken from our pocket: four coins." (Information from Moshe Yagur, "Several Documents from the Cairo Geniza Concerning Conversion to Islam," (2020).)

State document, Ayyubid period. Petition to an Ayyubid ruler regarding the appointment of military personnel: ʿUmar b. Masʿūd, leader of the archers in Alexandria of long experience (since the day of al-Kāmil) is asking that two boys he trained be employed in his unit. Mid-13th century. On verso are the Hebrew piyyuṭim במה אקדם ומה אמר אליך and Abraham ibn Ezra, אם רח אבנים כחי, and a draft of the basmala and tarjama of the document on recto. (Information from CUDL)

Rental contract of some kind. In Arabic script. The bottom 19 lines are preserved. Involving an agent named Abū l-Ṭāhir Ismāʿīl (l. 1), a drug store (al-ʿiṭr wa-l-ʿaqāqīr, l. 4), and describing the boundaries of a property. Dated: Dhū l-Ḥijja [..]5 AH (the full year should be legible with further examination). Signed by ʿAbd al-Khāliq b. Ismāʿīl. On verso there is a calendar in Hebrew script for the 263rd and 264th cycles (maḥzors), corresponding to 1217–55 CE. Needs further examination.

Ketubba, Palestinian, dated to the 10th or early 11th century. Reused for a magical text in Hebrew. Unusually, the later scribe also wrote over the text of the original ketubba. See Ginsburskaya, M. (2009). A Ketubba in Palimpsest (T-S K23.3). [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, December 2009]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.55272

Legal deed or letter. In Judaeo-Persian. There are at least two separate sections, one of which is a list of names. The document mentions Khurāsūh(?, כוראסוה) bt. ʿAbbās and [...] b. Yusūf-i Ardabīlī. The text might discuss to their marriage. The bottom part of the text contains witness signatures, suggesting that the text is of a legal nature. The names of the witnesses are: Siman-Ṭov b. Men[aḥem]; Siman-Ṭov b. Si[man-Ṭov]; Daniel b. Bundād; Moses b. Samuel; Ezra b. Eli; Faḍlān b. Yosef; Ḥasan b. Yaḥyā. On verso there is a Judaeo-Arabic literary text discussing the Land of Israel in question-answer format. The fragment is labeled "L17" in Shaul Shaked's (unpublished) classification of Early Judeo-Persian texts. OH. See Thamar Gindin's edition on FGP for further information.

Legal testimony. Mentions Evyatar ha-Shelishi; Eliyyahu ha-Kohen Rosh Yeshivat Ge'on Yaʿaqov; and the estate of Avraham Ibn al-Zayyāt(?).