Geniza Lab

Legal query (in a different hand than recto) concerning the case of a widow holding a statement of trustworthiness, who had declared that she possessed none of her husband's possessions. She refused to let the elders into her house as she had been advised, but later opened the door after all. However, the inventory was not taken away. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 255, and from Goitein's index cards.) NB: This used to be called T-S 10J21.16 on PGP.

Legal query, draft, in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Regarding the money left by a dead husband. In the margin: "As for the 70 dinars that my brother mentioned, it is the last of the sale that we made (or: from the last sale that we made). . . and my husband collected it and went out and died." See PGP 2959

Document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe mentioning Yosef b. Job and al-Mahalla. (F. Niessen and A. Shivtiel, ed., Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 616) EMS

Recto: Court record concerning Yaʿaqov b. ʿAyyāsh, a minor reaching maturity who wishes to marry his widowed sister-in-law (in a levirate marriage), but she refuses to do so. Mentions Elḥanan b. Shemarya (now deceased), who was previously involved in the case in Ṣahrajt. Verso: Two court records in the hand of and witnessed by Yefet b. David. The first, probably a continuation of the record on recto, is witnessed by Menashshe b. Avraham ha-Kohen. The second is a court record in which Yosef b. Yaʿaqov, called al-Zamin (‘the ailing’) obliges himself before the court of al-Sahrajt to pay his divorced wife Ra’isa bt. Moshe one-half dirham per day for their son. Signed by Yefet ha-hazzan b. David ha-hazzan, Shelomo b. Yefet. Confirmed by the court and signed by Menashshe ha-Kohen b. Avraham, Yefet ha-hazzan b. David ha-hazzan. Dated: Thursday, 26 Elul 1338 Seleucid, which is 1027 CE. ENA NS 7.24 contains a record concerning the same case from several months later (Kislev 1339 Seleucid). (Information from Goitein; EMS; CUDL; Eliyahu Ashtor, “The Number of Jews in Medieval Egypt,” JJS, Vol. 18 (1967), 15.)

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location not specified. Dated: Tuesday, 4 days into ḥol ha-moʿed Sukkot 5325 AM, which is 1564 CE. Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham Medina the scribe commits to copying out an entire Torah scroll for Meʾir Jibālī for a sum of 30 Venetian ducats (peraḥim zahav banādiqa). They specify the details of how the scribe will allow the patron to erase and rewrite one word and also the payment schedule. No signatures.

Document in Arabic script. Possibly legal, possibly a letter. Mentions ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Iskandarānī.

Legal fragment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Perhaps a release granted from a man to a woman.

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Monday, 1 Kislev 1632 Seleucid (=[...] 720 AH), which is November 1320 CE. Damaged & faded. Perhaps a settlement of a dispute. Mentions "the meat" and "any more than 10 dirhams nuqra." The scribe's name is M[...] b. Y[...]. There do not appear to be any witness signatures.

Legal document. Small horizontal strip from the top. Perhaps a ketubba? On recto, all that is preserved is the date: Monday, 10 Nisan 1528 Seleucid, which is 1217 CE, under the reshut of [Avraham Maimonides]. On verso there are a few more phrases preserved: "the wife of al-Maghribī al-Shābb... and also [...] died, God's mercy on him. Shelomo ha-Talmid b. [...] wrote this."

Deed of sale. In Arabic script. Mūsā b. Yūsuf b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz buys livestock (mentions "two ewes" at the beginning of l. 4) from [...] b. [...] b. Abū l-Ḥasan b. [...] b. Ismāʿīl al-[Yahū]dī (this might be a list of multiple sellers). Needs further examination. On verso there are a few words of (mirror-image?) Hebrew script.

Legal query or responsum. In Judaeo-Arabic. Apparently concerning a brother whose two sisters each own a share of a house, and he swore that he would not enter his sister's house; which portions of the house may he enter?

Legal fragment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Mentions [...] b. Yaʿaqov; Yiṣḥaq ha-Melammed b. Ḥayyim [al-Nafūsī]; Avraham b. Shemʿaya ha-Ḥaver. The next line states that the contract was copied (perhaps this is the copy) verbatim and checked against the original. Possibly the names in the first two lines are the names of the witnesses who signed the original document.

Legal document(s). In the hand of Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Netanel (identification provided by Amir Ashur). It looks like there are portions of at least three distinct documents here. One is only a formulary (fulān instead of people's names). Another has to do with Yeḥezqel ha-Levi b. Netanel getting involved in the empty silk and dyeing workshop of al-Barqānīyya.

Formulary for a legal document, for an abandoned wife (ʿaguna) to appoint a representative (called אפטרופא/"guardian") to receive her bill of divorce and ketubba payment from the husband who has abandoned her. There are two lines of crossed out text on verso.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Small fragment from the top. Dated: 12 Av 14[..] Seleucid, under the reshut of M[aṣliaḥ? Mevorakh?]. The groom may be Yeshuʿa b. ʿEli.

Legal fragment. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe?

Legal document. Fragment: upper left corner. In Hebrew. Ḥasan b. Sulaymān makes a declaration of some kind, with clauses attesting to his clarity of mind (including not being drunk - ולא שותה יין - as in T-S 10J6.6 and T-S 13J8.29).

Legal note. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe? Concerning the merchant Abū l-Makārim Ṣadaqa ha-Kohen Ibn Qasāsa; loans; merchandise; and a partnership agreement whose terms include "a quarter of the profit" and "that he can travel with the (goods) wherever he chooses in the West (diyār al-gharb)." He already has a legal deed to this effect drawn up in a Muslim court.

Legal document. Lower right corner. Involves [...] al-Dīn, someone's wife Sitt al-Nās, the conditions in her ketubba, a quarter (of a house?), and Abū l-Faraj.

Legal fragment. Betrothal (erusin) document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Surviving names include Yeshuʿa ha-Zaqen and Avraham.