Geniza Lab

Bill of divorce (get). Location: New Cairo. Dated: Nisan 1[.]83 Seleucid. Husband: [Mu]sāfir b. Avraham.

Legal testimony. involving Sitt al-Nasab known as [...] and Abū ʿImrān known as Ibn Shumayʿ (?). The ends of the lines are missing, and the scribe abandoned the document in line 6.

Small fragment from a ketubba, probably. In the hand of Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya.

Three fragments from a deed of betrothal (erusin). Probably (but not necessarily) Qaraite. The groom is Yefet, and the bride Sirwa (or perhaps Surūr[a]). There is also someone named Iyyov/Ayyūb. These pieces do not join directly. AA. ASE.

Either legal document(s) or a letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic, in a Sefaradi hand. Refers to firewood, arrangements of labor, and an agreement.

Legal fragment (upper right corner). Dated: Ṭevet 157[.] Seleucid, which corresponds to 1259–68 CE, under the authority of David I Maimonides.

Legal document, small fragment. In Hebrew. Written on parchment, with strings still attached. Location: Qiryat Ono. Dating: Probably no later than early 11th century. Published by Mordechai Akiva Friedman in 1982. AA

Court record wherein it is stipulated that a husband who travels to the Rif is required to stay home for two weeks and is not permitted to absent himself for more than a month, during which he has to pay his wife her expenses every week. If he fails to do so, he has to deliver to her the final marriage gift immediately and in full (that is, divorce her). She promises to fulfill her duties in order to avoid divorce. The right side of the document is broken off and it is impossible to determine the extent of the document lost. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 190)

Court record. A husband is approving in the Jewish court a gift he gave to his wife in a Muslim court. Written by Avarham b. Nathan Av (Date: 1098-1114).

Small piece of the decorated rim of a document, perhaps a ketubba. "The happy season" and fleurs-de-lis.

Legal fragment dated 1272/73 CE. Possibly drawn up in [Benha] al-ʿAsal.

Court register, fragment. Upper left corner of a legal record. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dating: 1127–39, under the reshut of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. Naḥman ha-Kohen sues his paternal uncle Yosef b. Moshe ha-Kohen concerning the estate of Yosef's brother Avraham b. Moshe ha-Kohen, who died in Yemen and had assets in both Yemen and Egypt. Information from Goitein notes linked below.

Court proceedings. There are two drafts, possibly of the same document. Involving Nissim and Shemuel ha-Ḥaver and Abū l-Karam and Peraḥya. The hand of the scribe may be known.

Receipt. In Judaeo-Arabic. A teacher, Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū l-Riḍā al-ʿAṭṭār confirms that he has received 12 dirhams for teaching 3 children for the duration of the months Av and Elul. The pupils are the son of Hilāl the water carrier (al-saqqāʾ), the son of the daughter of Khalaf the rice miller (daqqāq al-ruzz), and the son of the daughter of Miska. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 559 and from Goitein's index cards.) On verso there are accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Fragmentary (top part and bottom part are missing). Concerning a house. Needs examination.

Partnership/investment agreement. Location: Fustat. Dated: 13[.]4, probably 1384 Seleucid, which would be 1072/73 CE. (1334 and 1394 Seleucid are also technically possible; the decade word is very faded.) In which Avraham b. [...] acknowledges receipt of 70 dinars from a woman named Mulūk [...] bt. Yiṣḥaq. Profits and losses will be split 50/50. Avraham is connected to the mint (Dār al-Ḍarb), as that is listed as one of the places where the money could potentially be stolen.

Fragment of a writ agency, written in Tyre, 1012.

Legal document. Fragmentary (bottom part). Mentions someone agreeing to receive merchandise, and a power of attorney. Signed by Mevorakh b. Seʿadya, but presumably not the famous one, because the handwriting and spelling are very poor.

Legal document. Partnership agreement (copy). Written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dating: 1112 CE (based on T-S Misc.28.263). Goitein records that this fragment is from a copy of the document from which T-S Misc.28.263, also in this documentary corpus, emerged. Both fragments refer to the renewal of a trading partnership worth 3,750 dinars for which profits are divided equally, and the partners are granted an allowance for their maintenance. The parties are Berakhot b. Yaʿaqov; Abū l-Wafāʾ Tamīm b. Ḥalfon. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 260.)

Legal document. The welfare official Eli ha-Kohen who was in doubt whether he could arrange the marriage of a proselyte freed woman with a Jewish man, was given a guarantee by the mother of Saʿd al-Mulk that she would take up the matter for him should any difficulty arise. Dated: Sunday, 23 Av 1402 Seleucid, which is August 1091 CE. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 358, 507)