Geniza Lab

Fragment of a prenuptial agreement. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Few details preserved.

Legal document. Needs examination.

Legal document. Needs examination.

Legal document. Needs examination.

Confirmation of a payment ca. 1220. The beadle Abu'l-Farah (known also as Tahir) pays 30 wariq dirhams for removal of garbage, apparently from the synagogue. The elder 'Amram b. Ḥalfon ha-Levi records it on a note. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 428 #127)

Court record regarding business issues between two partners, written by Hillel b. Eli and signed by Tuvia b. Khalaf, Mevorakh b. Saadya (the Head of the Jews 1094-1112) and another very faded signature. Alexandria and Tripoli are mentioned. The partners are Sahl b. Fadl b. Farah and Abu al-Surur Farah b. 'Atiyya. AA

Verso: Outline of a deed of sale. Elʿazar b. Yaʿaqov sells to Shelomo b. Avraham ha-Kohen Peʾer ha-Kohanim 2.25 shares of the maṭbakh known by the name of the residence of al-Rashīd Samawʾal for 25 dinars. Dating: ca. 1240 CE according to Goitein (based on recto?).

Legal document regarding the settlement of the dispute between Zayn al-Dār and her (?) mother Ḥusn (?) bt. Sulaymān. The substance of the dispute was possibly recorded on the bottom part of the document, now missing.

A mother buys her little son the privilege of reading the book of Esther in public, Damira in the Nile Delta, February/March 1244.

Large legal document (drafts?) at least partially in the hand of Meʾir b. Hillel b. Ṣadoq. Dated: Thursday, 1 Tammuz 4940 AM = 26 June 1180 CE. A man named Moshe b. Shelomo who had inherited from his wife 8 out of 24 shares of a house in the neighborhood of Ḥammām al-Akhawayn, which had belonged to his father-in-law Hillel b. Avraham b. Elishaʿ, gives two shares to his mother-in-law Sitt al-Tujjār bt. Yaʿaqov b. Ḥananʾel as a gift and leases the remaining 6 shares to his two sisters-in-law (Sitt al-Kafāʾa and Sitt al-Turaf the wife of Elʿazar b. Nadiv) for a 5-year period ending Iyyar 4945 AM (= 1185 CE) for a total rent of 15 dinars, which sum he renounces to them. In the margin (in another hand), these shares are given to them as a gift. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) Oded Zinger identified that T-S NS J20 and T-S 12.477 are from the same document; Alan Elbaum identified that T-S AS 168.232 bridges the gap and joins the two larger pieces. Merits further examination.

Settlement between a husband and his wife, Fustat, 1334.

Legal document containing the wording of the vow to be made by Bū Isḥāq Ibn Kathīr. Also mentions ʿOvadya b. Aharon and the wife of the baker. Deals with custom duties (maks), mentioning a shop, money changers and 'The Apple House' (Dār al-Tuffāḥ). Money (dirhams and dinars) are weighed and kept with different men. Among many other things, Bū Isḥāq must vow that he reported all of the profits from the sale of a special kind of watermelon (al-Burullusī) and that he embezzled nothing "except what a mosquito (baʿūẓa) can carry." Join: Alan Elbaum. ASE.

Legal document, fragment, regarding a drug business in Fustat to last for a period of two years. Dating: After 1188, based on the Selucid date of 15[..], and probably from the years 1188–95, based on the name of Sar Shalom ha-Levi appearing on verso. There are many other fragments in the same handwriting (see Joins Suggestions on FGP). ASE.

Legal document. Fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Involves an Ibrahīm and an Ibn Qays.

Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment, left side only. Drawn up in Fustat, dated 1049/50 CE (1361 Seleucid). Signed [...] ha-Levi b. Yiẓhaq and Shelomo ha-Levi b. Yaʿaqov. ASE.

Deed of release. Written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: Middle third of Shevaṭ 1447 Seleucid, which is 15–25 January 1136 CE. Abū Zikrī Yehuda (b. Yosef) ha-Kohen releases Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon (b. Netanel) ha-Levi from all claims. (Information from India Book 4, Hebrew description below.)

Bifolium from a court notebook. Dating: 1244 CE. Several entries. (1) Valuation (taqwīm) of a dowry. Bride: Sitt al-Majd bt. ʿOvadya. Groom: Saʿadya b. Mevorakh. Dowry is valued at 120 dinars. (2) Marriage of a divorcee or widow. Bride: Sitt al-Waqār bt. Yosef. Groom: ʿAfīf b. Elʿazar. Marriage payments: 2 + 20. He will provide for her son Khalaf for 5 years and for her daughter for 10 years. One witness: Shelomo b. Sar Shalom ha-Kohen. (3) Draft of a bill of divorce. Husband: Yefet b. Elʿazar. Wife: Dhahab a freedwoman. The messenger is Yosef. "This miserable entry is submitted to the Nagid for approval" (yunʿim sayyidnā yuʿarrif mamlūkah). The superscription refers to a place called Minyat גימה(?). (Information from Goitein's index cards.)

Dowry evaluation (taqwīm). Dated: Thursday, 7 Tishrei 1537 Seleucid = September 1225 CE. Bride: Fāḍila bt. Abū l-Faḍl Ibn Shammāʿ al-Ḥazzan, who is mature and a virgin. Groom: Sulaymān b. Hiba Ibn al-Ṭabīb. Marriage payments: 5 + 30. The dowry has about 37 items and its value is approximately 90 dinars. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Informal notes on the settlement of a legal dispute (or several), involving [...] ha-Ḥazzan b. Avraham, Abū l-Khayr Ṣedaqa, Yūsuf b. Barakāt, Shelomo b. Yiṣḥaq, and someone's mother, it seems mostly around houses and living arrangements. Needs further examination.

Quittance by the rabbinical court of Fustat for money sent to Madmun II. Fustat, probably 1214.