Geniza Lab

Legal document. In which Moshe b. Yehuda ha-Ḥazzan acknowledges receipt of a number of goods from [...] b. Salmān the broker. These include 13 dinars' worth of indigo, 35 1/2 dinars' worth of something else, and cinnamon. On verso there is very faded Hebrew text, likely literary.

Recto: Long query addressed in 1058 to the Gaon of Jerusalem by Eli b. Amram, the head of the Palestinians in Fustat. (Or rather, this may be the partnership contract that is the subject of the legal queries/responsa edited in Gil, Palestine #395, #396. Another copy of the same contract is T-S 20.79.) The note describes a legal matter concerning a Jewish Egyptian merchant who entrusted a business friend returning to his native Sicily with a large shipment of goods, including spices and drugs. The agent died while at sea, and the shipment ended up in Tripoli (Libya?) instead of Sicily. The Jewish authorities in Tripoli seized the goods in order to protect the rights of the deceased agent’s widow and daughter. The Egyptian merchant wanted his goods returned to his possession, but the authorities in Tripoli refused unless he pursued a full-fledged lawsuit against the representatives of the heirs in Sicily. The case went to the rabbinical court in Cairo and then the high court in Jerusalem. Verso: Dirge. (Information from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:236, 395-5, 574, 613; CUDL; EMS; and Moshe Yagur, who also identified the join.

Legal record. Scribed and signed by the judge Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo. Certifying that Abū l-Faḍā'il b. Salāma b. Saʿīd has received 10 dinars from Abū ʿAlī al-Jubaylī, 7 1/8 in gold coins (ʿayn) and 3 in silver coins (wariq). Dated: Sunday, 11 Heshvan 1437 Seleucid, which is October 1125 CE. In another hand, there is a request to find appropriate Bible verses (bawāsīq) for the ceremony of thanksgiving after safe arrival (birkat ha-gomel). (Information from Goitein's index card.) On verso, in the same hand as the second part of recto, there are Judaeo-Arabic translations of selected verses.

Legal document in which an old woman, appointed by the court as guardian of her grandchildren, receives cash and items left by her son for his children and, as collateral, mortgages her home. Another son of hers agrees to be her guarantor. Dated Elul 1512/August-September 1201. List of the items on recto includes books, cups, and cash. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 297, 493)

Lower part of a legal document, in which members of a local community object to a muqaddam imposed on them. (Information from Goitein's typed text)

Record of the auction of the library of the late al-Shaykh al-Sadīd Abū Saʿd al-Ṭabīb. The proceeds are at least in part for the widow. Dated: Tuesday, 13 Kislev 1502 Seleucid, which is 1190/91 CE. This is is a large and tremendously learned library, mostly of medical books, but there are also scattered titles pertaining to bibliography, philosophy, logic, geomancy, and other matters.

Legal document(s). Dating: Possibly 1168 CE, based on the fact that the document was written shortly after the pillage/burning of Fustat (nahb/nawba/ḥarīq Fusṭāṭ). On recto, the parnas Sālim al-Jubaylī makes a first-person declaration making a case for his lack of liability in the loss of the 10,000 dinars that many Jews had deposited in the synagogue ('miqdash') of Fustat under his stewardship. These Jews were apparently suing him to try to recoup some of their losses in the catastrophe. On verso, there is a declaration by witnesses in support of Sālim al-Jubaylī. "Needless to say, the great pillage of Fustat in 1168, nahb misr (referred to also as the affliction, nawba, or burning), the last notorious demonstration of Fatimid impotence, is reflected in the Geniza. The districts preferred by Jews for their homes seem to have been less affected. But a loss of deposits worth about 10,000 dinars, a sum unheard of in the Geniza, shows that the community was by no means spared during that infamous sack" (Goitein, Med Soc V, p. 525).

An Abū Zikrī Kohen cheque. Khalīl is to give the bearer one raṭl of linseed oil.

An Abū Zikrī Kohen cheque. Khalīl is to give the bearer one raṭl of linseed oil.

Order of payment in which the merchant Abū Zikrī Kohen instructs Abū l-Khayr Ḵiyyār to pay the Rayyis half a dinar. Dated: Ḥeshvan 1454 Seleucid, which is 1142 CE. (Information from CUDL.)

Confirmation of transfer of money to Eretz-Yisrael Yeshiva.

Legal document, possibly a draft. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Kislev 1542 Seleucid (=November/December 1230 CE). Abū l-Ṭāhir Hiba b. Yosef the superintendent (al-qayyim) of the small synagogue in Alexandria (see Med Soc II, 77) has to return to his brother's son Sulaymān everything that he owes him, including some 60 jars of wine after the marriage (imlāk) of (Sulaymān with?) Abu l-Tahir's daughter, which had been concluded a long time ago, was dissolved. It is ambiguous whether the job title "qayyim" refers to Abū l-Ṭāhir himself or to his father. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: Middle third of Tevet 143[.] Seleucid, which is 1118–28 CE. Power of attorney, granted by Abū Saʿd Seʿadʾel b. Netanʾel, to the agent Yosef b. Shelomo known as Ibn al-Tawwazī, empowering the absent agent to act in Seʿadʾel’s name against his opponent. (Information in part from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card. NB: There may be one additional join somewhere in this folder. Goitein calls this document T-S NS J185 (2) + (5) + (6).

Legal document written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Ḥeshvan 1432 Seleucid, which is 1120 CE. Court record concerning a father’s will. Abū l-Riḍā, writes his will before leaving on a business trip. His two children, Sittūna and his son, are the beneficiaries. Sittūna’s portion includes one eighth of a house, two female slaves, 25 dinars borrowed by her father against her bridal outfits and dowry, and other items. Avraham b. Ḥananel known as al-Amshāṭī (אלאמשאטי), the comb merchant, was a witness when the father wrote his will (the document notes he was summoned from a ‘drinking party’ in order to be a witness). The court record is signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya, Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe, who also wrote the document. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index cards. Goitein referred to these two fragments as T-S NS J185 (8) and (12).

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. See Goitein's index card. NB: Goitein calls this document T-S NS J185 (10)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Settlement of a marital dispute between Elʿazar and his wife.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: 1435 Seleucid, which is 1123/24 CE. Essentially nothing else preserved.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Small fragment from the beginning of a partnership contract, probably for trading abroad. One of the partners is 'known as Ibn Ḥasan al-[...].'

Legal document. Needs examination.

Legal document written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (lower right corner). Dating: 1127–38 CE, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon. Involves Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa and Nissim.