Geniza Lab

Fragment of a marriage contract listing items such as a pair of golden ‘dablas’ (a ring without a stone). The notation “’lq” opens the jewelry section, likely indicating a‘laq, meaning precious items. Thirteenth century. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:454; 4:201, 221, 419, 429) EMS

Ketubba fragment. In the hand of Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya. This portion contains mostly a trousseau list.

Account of repairs of a house, written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (ca. 1127–39 CE). (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 600) EMS

Legal record concerning a house, apparently in Fustat, and signed by […] ha-Kohen. (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 600) EMS

Legal document in the form of a letter addressed to the Gaon (Maṣliaḥ?). In Judaeo-Arabic. Signed by Yefet b. Shelomo and Elʿazar b. [...]. The bearer of the letter is Yosef b. Berakhot ha-Levi. He and his brother Hillel ha-Levi had shown up to the local court escorted by a messenger of the qāḍī, since Yosef had sued his brother Hillel in the Muslim courts, and Hillel was under house arrest (tarsīm). The dispute is over a female slave. Hillel claims that he purchased her from Yosef for 21.5 dinars 'without mushāwara.' However, Yosef claims that he sold her only 'with mushāwara,' and moreover, he only received 14 dinars. Yosef was asked why he sued his brother in the Muslim courts, and he said that he demanded from Hillel multiple times that he return the female slave and take his 14 dinars back. But Hillel refused, and Yosef became angry and took an oath to sue him in the Muslim courts. What happened next is harder to understand, and the document needs further examination. It seems they put the female slave and the 14 dinars in escrow for the time being. Hillel brought two witnesses 'who live with them in אלב[..."—"al-balad" would be the most common word, but the next letter doesn't look like a ל; maybe al-Bahnasā. The brothers, equipped with a letter each, are now coming to the capital for their suit to be resolved. Joins: Oded Zinger and Craig Perry. Description: ASE.

Legal document in which Abu al-Baqa gives to his married son Mukaram the rights to one half of the black female slave named Musk he had inherited from his deceased wife.

Legal document. Bottom only. Scribed and signed by Hillel b. ʿEli.

Notification by the court referring to a decision made in July 1238 and announcing that the collector of the alms for the poor was empowered to make the necessary arrangements for the payment of a certain elder’s need. (Information from Goitein's index cards) EMS

Responsum from Shelomo b. Yehuda Gaon, in the hand of his son Avraham, regarding levirate marriage, Palestine.

Legal document. Five lines from the middle of the document. Involves a deceased Shela.

Court record mentioning Yehuda ha-zaqen, Ḥalfon ha-zaqen, Avraham ha-zaqen, Meshullam, and Abu Yaqub. (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 602) EMS

Legal documents (one each on recto and verso). Recto: Involves a certain Seʿadya and Sitt al-Tujjār bt. Peraḥya b. Zuwayn. It might be the sale of an eighth of a house. Interestingly, the word "taqlīb" is used in the section where the recipient accepts all the blemishes in the new acquisition. This word often appears in the context of inspecting slaves, but maybe it simply means physical inspection in general. One of the witnesses is [Faraḥ?] b. Karmī (maybe the same one as in T-S 6J3.26, from 1210/11 CE). Verso: Involves a certain Seʿadya, a certain Meʾir, a sum of 15 dinars, a period of one year, and a house. Dated: Nisan 4979 AM, which is 1219 CE. Signed by the teacher Yehuda b. Aharon the physician (Ibn al-ʿAmmānī).

Will of a wealthy man in favor of his wife, concerning twenty-seven assets and liabilities. Dated: 1431 Seleucid, which is 1219/20 CE. (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 602) EMS

Recto: Legal document dated 1089–1188 CE, describing a son whose father, before traveling to Yemen, had given him, as ẓedaqa, two houses. The father then gives this on his death-bed to his wife (the son's mother) and declares that everything in and outside the house either belongs to or is given to her. He frees her from all oaths. (Information from Goitein's index card). VMR

Legal document. Upper right corner. Dated: Tammuz 15[..] Seleucid, which is 1189–1288 CE. Involves Abū l-Faraj, Abū Saʿd, 40 dinars, a bustān and a qāʿa, and a sale.

Legal document. Scribed and signed by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. Dated: Thursday, 17 Nisan 1540 Seleucid, which is 1229 CE. Also signed by Ṣadaqa b. Elʿazar. A woman appoints her father Mūsā to sue her husband for money that he owes her. The addendum on verso, from the same date, attests that Tamīm gives (or wills?) all of his possessions to her.

Upper part of a will in a hand that resembles that of ʿImmanuʾel b. Yeḥiʾel (active ca. 1231–65), in which the husband of Sutayt bt. Nadiv clarifies that half of the house in which he lives belongs to his wife, as well as the jewelry that has been given as collateral to Yosef Ibn Nufayʿ in Fustat against a loan of 150 nuqra dirhams; "it must be ransomed with the money of the orphans." Lastly, the female slave named Nasrīn [belongs to Sutayt]. (Information from Goitein's index card and from Med Soc III, p. 255 n. 35.)

Ketubba fragment (upper left corner). Bride: Baṭrīqa bt. Aharon. From the time of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. (Goitein, Med Soc, 3:409.) EMS

Lower middle part of a ketubba in which the groom renounces his rights to the bride's earnings. Dated to the 13th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society III, p.134, and from Goitein's index cards)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Dating: ca. 1030 CE or older. Beautiful monumental cursive. Groom: ʿEli b. Wahb. Bride: Malka/Milka, a virgin. One of the payments is specified in Baghdadi dinars. (Information from Goitein's index card.)