Geniza Lab

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Unclear if the text on verso and recto constitute one document or two. Dated: 1431 Seleucid, which is 1119/20 CE.

Legal testimony. Small fragment.

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Uncharacteristically, there is also text on verso, which looks literary.

Leaves from a Karaite book of formularies, containing formulae for betrothal, divorce, and liturgy for mourning the dead, for use in Jerusalem and Ramla. The year is given according to the Exile, and according to the Seleucid Era, corresponding to 1009 CE.

Bifolium from the book of legal formularies of Hayya Gaon.

Ketubba or marital dispute resolution involving a Rabbanite wife and Karaite husband (Sarah bt. Efrayim and Yosef b. Avraham). Location: Fustat. Dated 24 Kislev 1364 Seleucid which is 1052 CE. The document states that the couple was married by means of a "Rabbanite ketubba" and that Yosef b. Avraham commits to respect the Rabbanite holidays. (Information from FGP). MCD.

Legal document related to remission of debts. Location: Fustat. Dating: 966-1011CE. The legal parties mentioned in the document include: Saʿa[dya], Ishmael, Salāma and Yefet. The attestation section mentions Nathan b. Manasseh, [Samue]l b. Jacob, Munīr b. [...]. The document is signed by Šemarya ha-Rav [b. Elḥanan ha-Rav], who served as the head of the Babylonian community in Fustat. (Information from FGP). MCD.

Legal queries addressed to Shemarya b. Elḥanan regarding marital laws. One in Hebrew and one in Judaeo-Arabic (this one crossed out)

Court record from the court of Shemarya b. Elhanan. Around 1000. A claim by Avraham b. Sa’da against his brother Tabian, regarding trades of small pearls. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #229) VMR

Aram - Copies of six announcements made by a legal court dealing with cases of lost property, libel, slander of a fellow Jew before non-Jewish authorities, recommending a respectable person to coreligionists and condemning the action of certain Jews who desecrated Shabbat.

Legal query addressed to Rabbenu Ḥananʾel (b. Shemuel). In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning a man who became sick and had some mental confusion (ikhtibāl al-ʿaql wa-shughl al-dhihn) and something happened with a geṭ. Fragmentary (left side only).

Bill of emancipation of a slave (גט שחרור). Location: Fustat. Dated: Thursday, 25 Iyyar 1396 Seleucid, which is 1085 CE. Owner: Mudallala bt. Shelomo. Freedman: Makhlūf. Witnesses: Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq; Shelomo b. Mevorakh ha-Ḥaver; Ṣadaqa b. [...]el, Avraham b. Shalom, and Meshullam b. Yefet. (Information in part from Moshe Yagur via FGP.)

Ketubba fragment. The groom may be named Namir (the word after וקבל עלוהי). The bride's is [...] bt. Tamim ha-Zaqen ha-Rofe. The wife's earnings will go to the husband, and he will be responsible for her upkeep. Witnesses: [...] b. Shelomo; Elʿazar ha-Kohen b. Shelomo ha-Rosh Nin ha-Geonim.

Legal query addressed to Shemuel b. ʿEli (active ca. 1164–97; identification based on handwriting of the responsum on verso) concerning a man whose son becomes engaged to a woman but calls off the wedding. Can they recoup the early marriage payment that was already paid? On verso is the full responsum in the hand of Shemuel b. ʿEli, answering that whatever was already paid is like a deposit and does not belong to the bride until the wedding, so she must return it. It seems that precisely because of this eventuality, many engagement contracts stipulate that the bride would receive the muqaddam in full or in part if the groom should renege on the promise to marry (and he would get it back if she reneges). Information from Ashur dissertation and FGP description. See also Goitein's note card.

Recto: Legal query sent to Maimonides along with his autograph responsum. This was published by Goitein as well as Blau, Maimonides Responsa, no. 283. Verso: Draft of a long dirge in Hebrew, in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, upon the death of three prominent members of the Jewish community: the rabbis Shemuel, Shelomo and Yiṣḥaq. These three figures were identified by M. A. Friedman as the judges in Maimonides’ court, see Friedman, India Book IVA, pp. 36–37. Shemuel is Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi, who died in 1203. (Information in part from Amir Ashur's Fragments of the Month, April 2011, November 2016.)

Legal queries addressed to Avraham Maimonides. One involves a man who confesses to adultery with the wife of another man. Another involves a complex inheritance case.

Responsum draft. On the question whether a dead man continues to acquire merit and reject evil. (This is less whimsical than it sounds, e.g., if he has endowed a charitable waqf, does he continue to acquire merit from all the people it helps in the future?) The answer is no, he is rewarded on the basis of the intention that he had when he did the good deed in his lifetime, not on the basis of events that occur after his death. The text has corrections and deletions. Two lines at the bottom of the leaf are in a different hand. (Information in part from GRU catalogue via FGP.)

6 bifolia. These all appear to be literary except for the left folio of P5, which is a legal document. Dated: Tishrei 1437 Seleucid, which is 1125 CE. Concerning a house. Naming people such as Abū l-Fakhr; Abū l-Surūr al-Nassāl(?); ʿOvadya ha-Levi b. Efrayim; Elʿazar ha-Kohen; and Abū ʿAlī. Needs examination.

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Fustat. Dated: 5453 AM, which is 1692/93 CE. Only the last two lines of the legal document are preserved. There is a frame, suggesting that it was a monumental document like a ketubba. There are perhaps 100 signatures, including one in Latin script (Abraham something).

Marital agreement between groom David b. Efrayim ha-parnas and bride Mubaraka bat Farah ha-Kohen, listing early and later additional payments for the ketubba, trousseau items, and stipulations regarding residence of the couple.