Geniza Lab

Legal document. Dated: 1488 Seleucid, which is 1176/77 CE. Mentions Berakhot ha-Ḥazzan, Yefet, and Yosef ha-Melammed. Refers to money changing hands. Some signatures are here, but they are very damaged. More information could probably be extracted with some effort.

Legal document in Arabic script. Involving Ibrāhīm b. Sulaymān al-Yahūdī. Dated: 25(?) Jumādā II 6[..] AH. The rest of the date should be legible; the words are strangely elongated. Perhaps 684? There are additional pen trials/jottings in Arabic script, and two doodles of candelabras. Needs further examination.

Legal document. Fragment (right part only). Sitt al-Kull (named 2 lines from the bottom) makes a declaration that involves the will of the widow of Pinḥas ha-Zaqen (perhaps her sister–see 12 lines from the bottom). Mentions "my sister's son Abū ʿAlī"; sums of 58 dinars, 14 dinars, and 29 dinars; and two female slaves that she left behind (or just daughters? jāriyatayn). The margins and verso have jottings in Arabic script and poetry in Hebrew. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Document in the form of a legal query addressed to ha-Dayyan ha-Mufla. Asking about the meter (min ayy al-aʿārīḍ/al-buḥūr) and any metrical deviations (ziḥāf) of a Hebrew poem by a deceased poet which begins מי זאת... (based on Song of Songs 3:6). Probably מִי זֹאת כְּמוֹ שַׁחַר עוֹלָה וְנִשְׁקָפָה by Ibn Gabirol; identification kindly provided by Fred MacDowell. The querier also asks if there is anything on the pattern of "meshuhemet" (משוהמת), a category of words criticized by Moshe Ibn ʿEzra in Kitāb al-Muḥāḍara (see Aurora Ossorio, "Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera: From Logic to Ethics," Comparative Literature Studies 45 no. 2 (2008), 165–81).

Legal document. A very thorough release that involves Abū Zikrī al-Kohen. Unclear if any more details of the case are preserved. (NB: There may be Goitein notes somewhere, but they are currently missing.)

Legal document. Two pages of claims filed by Sason/Surūr b. Natan against Shela b. Shelomo Ibn Qatāʾif concerning two adjacent houses in Zuqāq Marzubān. Dated: 1093 CE. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document, fragment. Refers to a power of attorney; Eliyyahu; Simḥa ha-Zaqen; and someone's wife Sitt al-Milāḥ.

Deed of sale for a female slave (jāriya waṣīfa). Location: New Cairo. Dated: 14 Ḥeshvan 1455 Seleucid, which is 24 October 1143 CE. Buyer: Pinḥas b. Elʿazar. Seller: the cantor Shabbetay b. Yosef ha-Mumḥe. The slave's name does not appear to be given. The price is 15 dinars. The buyer will not hold the seller accountable for any blemishes or diseases. After the document was completed, an extra clause was squeezed in, specifying which of the parties (the name is torn away) will be obligated to pay any "government duty" (ḥaqq al-sulṭān). Signed: Ḥalfon b. Seʿadya; Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi (this document is cited in India Book IV1, p. 347). On verso there are Hebrew piyyutim and marginal notes. (Information in part from Shivtiel/Niessen catalogue.)

Legal document. In which Yeshuʿa b. Avraham enumerates before the court the items that he has in his possession from the estate of the late Tammām b. Elishaʿ by way of collateral for money that the latter owed him. On verso, Hebrew pen trials. (Information from Goitein's index cards.)

Verso: Legal document. Fragmentary (upper left corner). Location: Fustat. Dated: Tammuz 48[..], which corresponds to the range 1040–1139 CE. Involves [...] b. Muvḥar (possibly Berakhot b. Muvḥar, since the name Berakhot appears throughout the document) and Yefet Tifʾeret ha-Qahal b. Avraham (who also appears in T-S 20.31 in 1092 CE, T-S Misc.24.137.1 in 1108 CE, and T-S NS J259 in 1099 CE). This may be a partnership agreement.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In which Eliyya b. [...] acknowledges that he has received 18.25 dinars from Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya; then mentions "all the coral given to me by way of [...]"; then [...] ha-Levi ha-Sar ha-Nikhbad (=Eliyya?). This might be related to T-S NS 320.111 (or even a join?). NB: When Goitein and Gershon Weiss cite "T-S NS 320.54," they mean T-S NS 320.142.

Recto: Legal testimony. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Kislev 4917 AM, which is November/December 1156 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. A legal authority in Alexandria [...] b. Meshullam writes to the judges of Fustat and Cairo, the representatives of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya, in order to confirm the kashrut of the 8 moulds of Cretan "mixed" (with herbs) cheese (weighing 80 jarawī raṭls) which are being transported by the bearer of this document Abū l-Munā Tiqva b. Abū ʿAlī Yefet. The moulds are stamped with the names of Zeraḥ and Amaṣya, the merchants who imported the cheese from Crete (איקריטיש). The buyer was an Alexandrian Jew, and Abū l-Munā bought the 8 moulds from that buyer. When Zeraḥ and Amaṣya originally imported the cheese, they brought with them letters/documents bearing the signatures of the elders of Crete, which were recognized as valid in Alexandria. Those documents from Crete described the entire cheese-making process, from the milking stage onward, and proved that there was no blemish disqualifying the cheese. When the authorities in Alexandria saw this, they allowed the cheese to be sold. (Information in part from Frenkel and Goitein, Med. Soc. 1, 124n66, 429.) Join: Alan Elbaum. ASE

Verso: Legal note in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1156/57 CE, based on the date of the document on recto. Begins, "Thus claimed Abū l-Faraj Amīn al-Dawla against Abū ʿAlī al-Levi: he heard from his maternal uncle that Abū l-Karam said to him that he sold the codex. . . for 15 dinars. . . ." There follows a description of a dispute over the nature of the sale or loan (as one party maintains that it was).

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Halfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. The case involves a husband named Yosef ha-Kohen and his wife; the husband has traveled and failed to pay maintenance for his wife and daughter. They are "hungry and without anyone" and have asked the court to investigate. This document is related to the documents found on T-S NS 320.142 (which is the current shelfmark for the manuscript cited as T-S NS 320.54 by Goitein and Weiss). Goitein writes (index card #11899) that Sitt al-Ahl, the wife of Yosef ha-Kohen, is granted 20 dirhams per month for her little daughters since her husband traveled and left her no money. (The join—ENA 2386.4—clarifies that Sitt al-Ahl is actually the daughter of Yosef ha-Kohen.) "The wife, as usual, had applied directly to the Nagid, who then ordered the court and the elders to propose an equitable solution." Apparently dated Tammuz 1437 Seleucid, which is 1126 CE. This document is discussed in Med Soc III, 192–93, 467 n.152, and also in the cluster of documents edited by Gershon Weiss, Ḥalfon, #200–02. Join: Alan Elbaum. The wording of the document is nearly identical to T-S 6J1.20, another document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, describing a similar case. AA. ASE.

Order of payment. In Judaeo-Arabic. In which Tamīm b. Yaʿaqov asks Abū Saʿīd to give Abū l-Ḥasan b. Masʿūd the price of the bundle (ṣurra) of ben (al-bān), because the latter kindly made some wine for Tamīm. Goitein's notes indicate that the use of the term "ṣurra" proves a connection to the India trade. His notes also translate al-bān as "nutmeg."

Bill of divorce (geṭ). Dated: Monday, 18 Adar 1430 Seleucid, which is 1119 CE. Husband: Ḥalfon b. Mevorakh. Wife: Sitt al-Ahl bt. Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi. On verso, confirmation that Sitt al-Ahl received the geṭ, signed by Meshullam b. Menashshe he-Ḥaver and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe.

Legal document. This is the signature portion, torn away from the main document. It is a huge horizontal strip with writing only in the middle section. Witnesses: Moshe b. Ṣadoq b. Yoshiyyahu the son of the grandson of Rabbenu ha-Qadosh; and ʿEli b. Netanel ha-Levi. Moshe b. Ṣadoq signed other documents in the 12th century. There are small letters of authentication above and below his name.

Verso: Order. Probably in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (dating: early 13th century). (On recto there is the upper left corner of a letter, also in his handwriting, with part of his name at the top.) He tells Abū l-Ḥasan to give 'the boy' rose conserve, 1 oz; myrtle rob, 1 oz., and quince rob, 1 oz.

Deed of manumission for a female slave, given by Yefet b. Yosef. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Tuesday, 2[.] Shevaṭ 1341 Seleucid, which is 1030 CE. The slave's name is missing; a large piece from the middle of the document seems to have been deliberately cut away. A portion of one witness signature is preserved. On verso there are pen trials in both Arabic and Hebrew script.

Enormous legal document. Fragment (upper left corner). Very faded. Probably a ketubba (בשעה מעולה...) or replacement ketubba (based on the phrase used to introduce the bride, אמר לנא דסת אלחסן...). The wife/bride is Sitt al-Ḥusn. Many more details could be extracted with effort (or with multispectral imaging).