Geniza Lab

Court declaration in which Moshe b. Yeshua testifies to having received all due him from Elazar Abu Ghalib b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, working for him in the jahbadha (office of fiscal cashier), and to having no claims against him, his sons or brothers. Dated December 1124. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 249, 250)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Possibly from Ṣanʿāʾ, like CUL Add.3338.2. The groom is named Saʿīd, and the bride is named [...]da bt. Muʿayyaḍ(?) b. Saʿīd. Needs further examination. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document. Location: Ṣanʿā', Yemen. In which David b. Saʿīd and Sulaymān b. Yosef promise not to curse each other. Dated: Adar 1946 Seleucid, which isJanuary/February 1635 CE. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Court record from Bilbays in which an elder brother accepts the administration of a minor sibling's share in his deceased brother's inheritance and takes it upon himself to maintain the orphan until he reached maturity at thirteen. Dated Adar 1528/ February-March 1217. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 236, 237)

Court testimony from Bilbays in which Sulayman ha-Levi b. Shelomo states that his brother Barakat made his will at the beginning of Shevat and died on the 26th of Tevet, and that his widow had agreed to a reduction of the late marriage gift to thirty dinars, probably because two minor daughters had to be provided for. Dated Kislev 1530/ December 1218. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 390, and from Goitein's index cards)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Not completed (perhaps because of an error in lines 4 and 5). Location: Fustat. Dated: Elul 1552 Seleucid, which is 1241 CE. Groom: Yeshuʿa ha-Talmid b. Shemuel ha-Levi. Bride: Sitt al-Rashīda bt. Yeshuʿa ha-Talmid, an orphan and a virgin. The document also states that he 'betrothed' her, indicating that there was no formal betrothal which preceded this document. Marriage payments: 40 + 10 = 50. The script resembles that of ʿImmanuel b. Yeḥiel but is not identical. On verso there are jottings in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Bill of divorce (geṭ). Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 22 Adar II 1472 Seleucid, which is 1161 CE. Husband: Yaʿaqov b. Binyamin. Wife: Sitt al-ʿIrāq bt. Moshe. Written by Peraḥya b. Yosef. Also signed by Nadiv b. Yeshuʿa. The agent to give her the geṭ (documented on verso) was Yaʿaqov b. Yosef ha-Kohen. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Lease of a ruin belonging to the Great Synagogue of Ramla, ca. 1038. The "people of the Great Synagogue," i.e. the representatives of the congregation of the Palestinians, in Ramla, lease one half of a ruin owned by the synagogue, to a certain Sedaqa b. Yefet al-Shiraji. The lease is for a period of 20 years, at the price of hald a dinar yearly, to serve for repairs and other needs of the synagogue. The lessee intends to repair the ruin. His investments in stones and timber will be considered as covered after that period. He will then have to decide whether he wants to live there and pay rent at the prices then current or to live elsewhere; in either case, if there is a balance from his investment which will not have been covered, the congregation will return it to him. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 147 #5)

Marriage contract of a ransomed captive woman, Damascus, possibly [10]82/3 or [11]82/3.

Court record written by Avraham b. Shemaya, concerning a settlement between Abu Surur b. Natan and Moshe b. Moshe. Dated 1099. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 452, and from Goitein's index cards)

One folio from a court ledger. Recto: Court record in the hand of Avraham b. Shemaʿya. Dated: End of Nisan, probably 1410 Seleucid, which is 1099 CE. Abū (l-)Surūr (Sason) b. Natan says that he previously sued Abū ʿImrān Moshe b. Moshe Ibn Majjān about various business disputes (maybe this is the lawsuit recorded in L-G Misc. 50), but now that he has found the relevant accounts, they can settle. He lists the commodities/values that he thinks he is still owed. Moshe b. Moshe says that they split up a long time ago and that he doesn't owe a penny, but if Abū l-Surūr takes an oath, he will pay. Verso: Court record in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Dated: Thursday, 10 Sivan 1410 Seleucid, which is 1099 CE. Sason b. Natan appears before the court and asks them to summon Abū ʿAlī Yefet b. Sahlān al-Arjawānī. The court summons Abū ʿAlī, who acknowledges that his business partner Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Arjawānī had given him a vessel (fuqqāʿa) containing mercury (zaybaq) intended for Abū l-Surūr Sason b. Natan. Abū ʿAlī states that if Sason pays him the 12 dirhams which he paid for the mercury, he will give it to him. On the next page after this document, there is a fragment of a third court record, with the name Nissim b. Nah[ray?] at the bottom. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

Court record containing an agreement between Abu al-Muna and Abu al-Fadl regarding a debt of 55 dinars, 35 of which were to be paid immediately and the remaining 20 at the middle of Kislev. Dated Heshvan 1410/ October 1098. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 512, and from Goitein's index cards)

CUL Add.3414 (c?). Noted and copied by Baneth. Goitein looked for this document in 1965 and could not find it; speculated that perhaps it was removed from this folder and placed under glass. Legal document. Shelomo b. Yefet al-Qudsī owes 102 dinars to Mevorakh b. Elʿazar. A delay of seven months is granted. Meanwhile Mevorakh will sell 70 garments (thawb) for Shlomo in Damietta. If he cannot provide all of the garments, he will pay 1 1/3 dinars for every garment. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

India Book I, 10–11: Court proceedings from Fustat dealing with the dispute between Yosef ha-Lebdi the India trader, and Yequtiʾel b. Moshe, 'the representative of merchants' in Fustat. Dated: Monday, 12 Tammuz 1409 Seleucid, which is 14 June 1098 CE. These are the proceedings of the seventh session. Just before Lebdi and Yequtiʾel were about to make a solemn oath by the Torah, important merchants intervened in an attempt to prevent such a serious undertaking. The two sides agree to postpone the oath ritual until the arrival of the messenger of 'Yemen and India.' This agent was to deliver the testimony of Ḥasan b. Bundar, the representative of the merchants in Aden. A few further claims between the two were also dealt with.

India Book I, 16: Two court records regarding Moshe b. Labrat b. Moshe b. Sugmar and Yosef b. David al-Tarabulusi, from the court in Fustat. November 12, 1097 and March 8, 1098. In the handwriting of Hillel b. Eli. The records are regarding a disagreement about selling pearls. Yosef refuses to give Moshe his money and profit, because he has counter-claims. The disagreement came before the court twice (November 1097 and March 1098). Moshe is a judge in Mahdiyya, as his father was before him. The court members in Fustat are Hillel b. Eli, Shlomo ha-Kohen b. Yosef, Ishaq b. Shemuel ha-Sfaradi, Avraham b. Natan, Netanel b. Yefet, and Avraham b. Shma’aya. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #625.) VMR.

India Book I, 18b: The settlement of the lawsuit between David ibn Sighmar, the representative of Moshe b. Labrat, and Yosef Lebdi. A draft of the settlement is preserved in the recto (I, 18a). This final version was signed by five prominent members of the community: Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel, Avraham b. Natan, Nethanel b. Yefet, Hillel b. Eli and Avraham b. Shemaya.

India Book I, 18a: Settlement (canceled draft) in the lawsuit between David ibn Sighmar, the representative of Moshe b. Labrat, against Yosef Lebdi. The final version of the settlement is preserved on the verso (I, 18b). The cancellation is marked by three vertical strokes.

Recto and verso: Draft of a legal document. Abu Saʿd al-Levi undertakes to provide his elderly father Shemuel with food and drink and the money for the capitation tax, since his father had traveled widely on business and was too exhausted for regular work. This fragment also contains an unrelated legal document dated 1232 CE (see separate PGP record). (Information from Mediterranean Society, vol. 5, pp. 122–23, and from Goitein's index cards.)

Recto: Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Monday, 1 Av 1543 Seleucid, which is 1232 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. The young man Abū l-Bahāʾ b. Abū l-Baqāʾ, known as the indigo merchant (tājir al-nīl), declares that he will diligently try to provide for himself(?). (Information from Goitein’s index card)

India Book I, 1–2: Court proceedings dealing with the dispute between Yosef ha-Lebdi the India trader and Yequtiʾel b. Moshe, 'the representative of merchants' in Fustat. Dated: Monday, 2 Kislev 1409 Seleucid, which is 9 November 1097 CE. The document lists their commercial dealings and contains much information on trade of textiles, silverware and corals. The document is written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. Note that the lower part of CUL Add.3421 is Doc. I, 4 in the India Book (see separate record).