Geniza Lab

Legal document. Yaʿqūb b. Yūsuf known as בן כדורה attests that he owes 71 dinars to Barakāt b. Yosef Ibn al-Lebdī (who died prior to 1146 CE, giving an approximate date for this document). It seems that Yaʿqūb is now paying 20 dinars toward the total. Mentions "al-muʿāmilīn."

Legal query concerning a house owned by two sisters in partnership. (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 612) EMS

Court record concerning a divorce. Location: Aleppo. Dated: 1189 CE. The husband, from Fustat but now in Aleppo, divorced his wife who had remained in the Egyptian capital. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:262, 485.) EMS. See description for MS 8254, fol. 15 (PGPID 32292) for the whole story.

Bifolium from a court ledger. The dates range from Adar II through Sivan of 1410 Seleucid, which is 1099 CE. At least one is in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli, with his signature. Needs much more examination.

Court record of a divorce settlement initiated by Haskana bat R. Yiṣḥaq against her husband Perahya. (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 613) EMS

Betrothal contract between Sitt al-Ahl bt. Yosef Lebdī and Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya ha-Levi b. Binyamin/Binyām. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 10 June 1124 CE.

Contract in which a scholar known from a number of dated manuscripts gives sums of money to his two daughters. The money is destined for their trousseaus when they reach maturity, but will in the meantime be supervised by a merchant in the form of a partnership to which the merchant himself contributes a small sum. The capital is ensured as a 'deposit of the court,' for which the highest possible form of security had to be given. Dated to the last third of the 11th century. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:175-176, 442.) Previous description: "List of trousseau received from Ezra ha-Kohen b. Abraham by his bride Khiba bat Hillel. The groom agrees to pay his late marriage gift in dinars "of the worst sort". (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 254, 482)"

Document in the hand of the judge Natan b. Shemuel concerning Zikri b. Ḥalfon, who received 50 dinars from funds belonging to two orphan girls, to be kept by him until they were ready to be betrothed. He had to mortgage his apartment and the share of a house that he owned as collateral before the court. (S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 3:297, 493) EMS

Legal document from al-Mahalla mentioning ha-zaqen b. R. Pinhas. (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 614) EMS

Digests of legal documents. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe? Document #1: Manṣūr/Elʿazar b. M[...] sells 1/8 of a house for 14 dinars. Specifies the amount of the ḥikr (ground rent, see Med Soc IV, p. 37). Document #2: Conditions for the betrothal (erusin/qiddushin) of Ḥalfon b. Elʿazar. The fiancee's name may be Turfa, but not enough is preserved to be certain.

Report of the death of a Jewish woman. In Arabic script. The deceased was an adult (kāmil) woman Ḥusn bt. Mūsā, and she was survived by her three sons and heirs, Futūḥ, Ibrāhīm and Makīn. Dated: Thursday, 23 Rabīʿ II 655 AH, which is 10 May 1257 CE.

Bottom of a legal document. No details preserved. Location: Fustat. Dating: 1140–59 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Signed by: Yosef b. Iyov / Yūsuf b. Ayyūb ha-Levi (perhaps the same as in AIU VII.A.38, fol. 1, fragment b); and ʿAzaryahu b. Efrayim (perhaps the distinguished physician known from documents such as CUL Add.3342 + T-S 8J19.8).

Folio from a court notebook. Location: Minyat Zifta. Dated: 1140/41 CE, under the authority of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. There are 3 betrothal (erusin/qiddushin) documents (all edited in Ashur's dissertation) and a 4th document concerning a debt (unedited). Document #1: Fiancé: Natan(?) b. Avraham ha-Kohen. Fiancée: [...] bt. Yosef ha-Kohen. Early marriage payment: 10 dinars. Delayed marriage payment: 40 dinars. Witnessed by Shabbetay b. Avraham (active 1135–78) and Yeshuʿa b. Shemuel. Document #2: The fiancé Yefet b. Yaʿaqov accepts the condition that he will not make his future wife move away from Minyat Zifta. Witnessed by Yeshuʿa b. Shemuel. Document #3: The fiancé is named Yefet. The document is too faded to discern many of the details. Mentions "laʿb" (playing musical instruments? games? gambling?). Document #4: Concerns the remaining money owed to Tammām b. Nissīm by a certain Abū l-Faraj.

Bill of divorce (geṭ). Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday, 7 Ḥeshvan 1445 Seleucid, which is 1133 CE. Written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Also signed by Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. Husband: Yeshuʿa b. Mevasser. Wife: Diyār bt. Yefet. Verso is blank (i.e., lacking confirmation that she received the geṭ). Goitein's index card notes that the Diyār bt. Yefet in ENA 4011.6 (ca. 1158 CE) is probably a different person.

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Someone named Natan/Hiba makes a declaration of some kind.

Recto: Legal fragment (lower right corner). Dating: First half of 11th century. Signed by Yefet b. Ṭoviyya ha-Levi. The validation is signed by Efrayim [...] and the cantor Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. Verso: End of a letter, or maybe just a draft of a letter.

Deed of manumission of a female slave. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Monday, 5 Kislev 14[0]8 Seleucid, which is 1096 CE (if indeed there is no decade digit in the missing lefthand margin). The owner's name is Menashshe b. Yaʿaqov. The slave's name starts with תוכ or תומ. Witnesses: Avraham b. ʿAmram and Aharon b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi. On verso there is an attestation that she received it before witnesses (but this attestation is not itself signed). There are also several more lines of unidentified Hebrew script on verso. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 547 and from Goitein's index cards).

Fragment of a ketubba of a second marriage (or at least for a non-virgin bride, based on the ʿiqqar ketubba payment of 12(.5) silver coins). The groom is named Moshe. Part of the dowry list is preserved and a mention of Dār al-Wazīr, likely as a landmark for a property description. EMS

Legal document. In Hebrew. On parchment. Fragment (lower left corner). Dating: Probably 10th or 11th century. One of the parties is named Nissim b. Barukh. No details of the case are preserved except for release formulae. Signed: Maymūn b. Seʿadya ha-Kohen; Shemuel b. Yehuda.

Legal note in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. No date preserved, no signatures. Stating that 'her mature son' Ibrāhīm b. Rabbenu Yiftaḥ ha-Dayyan (ZL) acknowledges that he has no claim on a book possessed by Abū l-Barakāt (perhaps Shelomo himself). Niessen and Shivtiel identify the book as Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed. ("The Ḥibbur" typically refers to the Mishneh Torah in this period; see T-S K6.170, ed. Allony, The Jewish Library, #99. Information from Amir Asur.) EMS. ASE.