Geniza Lab

Marriage contract. Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday, 20 Sivan 1609 Seleucid, which is 1298 CE. The bride agrees to live wherever (in Egypt) her husband chooses, to observe the laws of menstrual purity, and to free her husband from the obligation to provide her with clothing on the condition that all she earns be her private property. Signed: Seʿadya b. Yehuda and Yoel b. [...].(Information in part from Med Soc III, 455 n. 86 and Goitein's index card.) Joins: Alan Elbaum.

A legal agreement. Yosef b. Zedaqa al-Antakhi is taking responsibility for Ibrahim b. Azhar. Also mentioned Nasir b. Fahd. there are Arabic words on the page on the verso. Needs Examination.

Fragment from the top right section of a ketubah. The reshut formula is partially preserved so it can be dated from the 12th century onwards. AA

Trousseau list. Groom: Ghālib b. Faraj. Bride: Sara bt. Avraham.

Legal note. The first part is in Arabic script: "What remains (owed) to al-Shaykh Abu l-Faraj...." The sum is 25 wariq dirhams. Dated: Shaʿbān 539 AH, which is 1145 CE. (Or possibly 639 AH/1242 CE?) The next part is in Judaeo-Arabic: ṣaḥha dhālika bi-ḥaḍratinā wa-kataba Shelomo b. [...].

Fragment of a Hebrew legal document from Fustat/dated 1771/2 CE (5532) certifying that Yaʿaqov Katāḥ (?) b. Avraham and Me'ir Shapurti (?) b. Afidah (?) have completely settled their accounts with each other.

Recto: Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic letter. Verso: A scrawled record of a property lease dated 23 Nisan 1539 Seleucid = 1228 CE. The renter is Abū Naṣr al-Levi b. Abū l-Maʿānī al-Levi (ZL), and the property owner is Abū Saʿd b. al-Rayyis Mufaḍḍal (ZL).

Legal query, possibly a draft, in Judaeo-Arabic. There is text at multiple angles, including faint text underlying the text that can be seen on the older layer of the palimpsest. From the image it appears that the document is folded in a curious way and there may be more text discoverable underneath the folds.

An agreement between a person and his divorcee, al-Mahalla al-Kubra, 1374.

Small fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Probably a legal query ("mā yaqūl sayyidunā. . . ").

Possibly a legal query in Judaeo-Arabic ("please inform us the meaning of the saying. . . "), mentioning matters such as taxes (maks), debt owed by orphans (or the communal fund for orphans), and the Muslim authorities (sulṭān). Needs further examination

Fragment of a legal deed, probably regarding partnership between Yosef and Ya'aqov. AA

Fragment of a will, probably. On parchment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions "my daughter... all to the two sons, Sulaymān [and ...]... to be paid to my wife... the woman will take... Lāzaward, the female slave...."

Ketubba fragment. Badly damaged yet line five confirms the document type in stating: "כתובתא דא". MCD.

Two small fragments from a legal deed concerning a husband and wife. Name: Ishaq. AA

fol. 1r: partnership agreement; fols 1v-2r: related accounts; From the year 1792. (info FGP). Names: Rahamim Navaro, Moshe's Mar widow and his son Shemuel, Avraham Serano, Shelomo Zerahya, Avraham Sigura, Ishaq Menahem.

Fragment of a responsum dealing with a quarrel between 4 congregations in one town in Morea, Patras: the Romaniotes, two Sicilian, and the Castilian. The congregations mentioned here is the Castilian. A Greek rabbi from Patras excommunicated some of his rivals. In the middle of the 16th century the Romaniotes separated themselves from the other three and his leader ignored the decisions made by them. When R. Yosef Formon elected as the rabbi in Petras (between 1560-1570) he demanded that the Romaniotes will accept his ruling. It seems that the responsum was written by one of his supporters. For more information see Glick, Responsa of the Sages of the Ottoman Empire, III, 1153-1157 (info from FGP)

Damaged legal deed, probably a bill of release. If one of the parties will try to take the other party to gentile court he will be paying a fine to the poor of Jerusalem. The parties are Yeshu'a b. [... pride of?] the congregation and Mansur the banker. From the year only [..]82 is preserved, which could fit with 1071, if era of document is intended.

Minute fragment from a legal deed. Too little remain to identify. The name Zedaqa is visible, and also another Kohen. AA

Torn late legal deed regarding inheritance.